In a statement sent to friends and supporters, Ward 5 resident and Zervas parent Ben Schlesenger announced his candidacy for Newton School Committee in the upcoming November election. The current Ward 5 representative, Emily Prenner, has announced that she will not run for a fourth term. On his campaign website,…
Posts published by “Adam Bernstein”
On May 19, the School Committee – after months of debate, meetings, public outcry, and negotiation with City Hall following the initial February 26th disclosure of a large forecasted NPS budget deficit – voted to implement a budget for Fiscal Year 2026 (Fall 2025 – Spring 2026 school year) that…
The May 8 joint meeting of the Newton City Council’s Programs & Services Committee and Finance Committee featured a debate and non-binding straw vote on approving the Mayor’s allocation to Newton Public Schools (NPS) for Fiscal Year 2026 (Fall 2025 – Spring 2026 school year). NPS Superintendent Anna Nolin and…
The May 5th School Committee meeting began with public comment, and then Dr. Nolin presented her regular Superintendent’s Update, which included mention of the restart of an educator exchange program with schools in China (following its pause during and after the Covid pandemic), as well an exhibit at the NPS…
On Tuesday April 29, the Newton-based non-profit Families Organizing for Racial Justice (FORJ) held a virtual event open to the public (via registration), which Mayor Fuller had included in her weekly e-newsletter on April 18. The event was titled Community Dialogue: Parenting in Polarizing Times and was described as a…
Bringing to a head prior budget discussions, on April 2 the School Committee approved by a 6-3 vote the “Level Services Plus” version of the FY26 budget for Newton Public Schools (NPS), even though this budget exceeds the allocation from the City by $2-3 million. NPS leaders will present this…
The Newton Public Schools School Committee will experience significant turnover on January 1, 2026, with at least five of its nine members being new. Committee Members Emily Prenner (Ward 5) and Barry Greenstein (Ward 8) have confirmed to Fig City News, after recently sharing the news with colleagues and friends, that…
Paul Levy will not run for re-election. The March 24 School Committee meeting, similar to meetings over the prior two weeks, was devoted to the Fiscal Year 2026 (academic year Fall 2025 – Spring 2026) Newton Public Schools (NPS) budget. The meeting began with over 45 minutes of public comment…
The March 17 School Committee budget meeting centered on the Fiscal Year 2026 budget (for academic year Fall 2025 – Spring 2026 ) for IT and non-instructional items, with no public comment period. This follows the Committee’s recent FY 2026 budget meetings on March 10, which focused on elementary education,…
Key issues included confusion over Stabilization Fund Cash and support for restoring Kindergarten aides. Following a non-recorded budget workshop on February 26, during which the School Committee heard publicly for the first time about a large NPS budget deficit forecast for next year, the agenda for the March 10 School…