As NPS approaches its December break, the district’s fulsome response to Year 2024’s Ballot Question 2, the statewide repeal of passing the MCAS tests as a requirement to graduate from a Massachusetts public high school, is coming into clearer focus. Changes to NPS’ graduation requirements must conform to statewide requirements…
Posts published in “Education”
Following World War II, Newton was known as “one of the best school systems in the country.” James Conant, president of Harvard, called Newton a lighthouse that pointed the way to excellence in public education. Community organizations worked closely with NPS. Leaders of the PTA and the Newton Teachers Federation…
NPS’s Math Night presentation emphasized three elements: the data the district is using to both support changes to the math curriculum and determine how students will access them, the anticipated pathway possibilities within middle school and high school math curriculum options, and the budget needs to effect these changes. Setting…
Newton Public Schools (NPS) Office of Teaching and Learning will host Community Math Night on November 12, 6:30PM-7:30PM at Brown Middle School (125 Meadowbrook Road). NPS will discuss important new updates to its math programs, including math pathways and instructional practices. Topics for the Evening NPS Superintendent Anna Nolin discussed…
The Newton Highlands Neighborhood Area Council has had to CANCEL its Astronomy Night on Friday, November 14 from 7-8:30PM (moved from Thursday, November 13 due to weather). View celestial bodies up close and personal with astronomer John Harrington. Refreshments will be served. Meet at Hyde Community Center Playground 90 Lincoln…
The final Healey-Driscoll Administration’s public listening sessions regarding the funding of education will be held from 4:30-6:30PM on Wednesday, December 3 at Newton North High School. The Healey-Driscoll Administration is completing a series of public listening sessions to solicit feedback on the Chapter 70 school finance formula, the primary funding…
This is the 14th year Newton’s Read Your World is giving away free diverse KidLit. Simply write a short review and post it to Amazon, Goodreads, or social media in exchange for books. Sign up ends Wednesday, December 31.
Parks, Recreation & Culture is offering swimming lessons for youth held at the Newton North High School Pool. Classes are on weekend mornings with a variety of levels from preschool up to level 6. Each session is a six week program and follows an American Red Cross curriculum. The Learn-to-Swim program…
During the October 6 School Committee meeting, a blink-and-you-missed-it 30-second portion of Dr. Anna Nolin’s regular Superintendent’s update gave a window into ongoing frictions and growing pains between two conjoined Newton institutions that are managed far differently today than only a few years ago: This wider context colors the public’s…
I read Mayor Fuller’s financial outlook for Newton. The mayor believes that Newton’s debt is stable and manageable. NPS believes that annual budget increases are insufficient. School families want much more spent on our schools. This, according to many, means regular overrides. Unfortunately, Newton taxes are among the states highest. How…
Newton for Everyone held a forum on “the growing challenge of teacher retention and housing costs” on Tuesday, September 30. Heather Peske, President of the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), presented Newton-specific data on the challenge public school teachers face trying to purchase or rent in the city. NCTQ…
Mayor Fuller’s address introducing the City’s Long-Range Financial Plan to the City Council on October 6 (also transmitted in her newsletter) contained the same contradiction that we hear from this Mayor in every fiscal address: The City’s financial health is very strong and yet doomed at the same time. Setting…