The Newton School Committee, including Mayor Marc Laredo, met for almost three hours at the Education Center on July 20th in its annual “summer retreat” with Superintendent Anna Nolin, and Director of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) Maria Kolbe who attended virtually. Retreat meetings are nominally open to the public but are typically sparsely attended and not recorded. Unlike a regular School Committee meeting, the retreats do not follow Robert’s Rules of Order (i.e., Chair must recognize each speaker) and typically have more informal, conversational exchanges of views. The meeting was observed by five members of the public, including Jenna Miara, a candidate for School Committee last November.
The retreat was the first School Committee meeting following the release of the 60-page NPS Annual Report for the past academic year, sent to the Newton Public Schools (NPS) community on July 1 via the ParentSquare app. The Annual Report was upbeat, highlighting progress across systemwide goals — expressed via the “Thrive 2030” framework — and contained comparative academic and demographic statistics between NPS and nearby school districts including Brookline, Wellesley, and Needham. The section titled “So, How are Newton Kids Doing?” (beginning on page 17) showed about three-quarters of NPS students meeting or exceeding benchmarks in Star math and reading assessments — an increase of 400-500 basis points spanning the past two years. That section also broke out performance by various racial, special education, and non-English speaking subgroups.
The July 20 retreat began with the School Committee members discussing a document containing norms and etiquette for how the Committee will operate and interact with the public. The members talked about issues such as responding to constituent emails, handling press inquiries, meeting length, and confidentiality, but without any noteworthy changes to existing protocols.
Academic progress
The largest portion of the evening consisted of Dr. Nolin reviewing a presentation regarding the district’s academic progress over the past year, given in conjunction with Ms. Kolbe. The presentation’s contents corresponded to Section 1 of this “Story of Our Schools” document which guided the presentation. The presentation’s contents contained thematically similar — but not repetitive — information as the aforementioned NPS Annual Report. It highlighted sharp reductions from last fall to this spring in the number of students classified as “at risk” of academic failure according to assessments in math, reading, and early literacy. One slide noted that 681 elementary students received “targeted intervention from a certified specialist” this past year, with about two-thirds of those receiving math or reading intervention moving out of those “at risk” categories.
Dr. Nolin and Ms. Kolbe credited this improvement to educators and MTSS interventions, with Dr. Nolin stating that a district “doesn’t get these results unless you have talented teachers.” She added to “particularly celebrate elementary educators” and that secondary educators should receive the “same kind of resources to help students thrive.” The presentation noted that MTSS work for literacy at the middle and high school levels has not yet caught up to progress made at the elementary level.
Mayor Laredo asked whether the district has seen a reduction in the number of classroom aides, since that was a desired outcome of increased MTSS, and how that might be affecting student outcomes. The administrators replied they would gather that information, though there was data presented that conveyed more efficient selection for student screening for IEPs by NPS staff.
In addition to academic data, student surveys showed that 90 percent of students were screened as low-risk on the mySAEBRS (Social, Academic, and Behavioral Risk Screener) social-emotional wellness measure. The administrators framed these results as overwhelmingly positive.
Air conditioning
In the only formal action of the meeting, the Committee voted unanimously to advance previously approved charter maintenance spending toward installation of air conditioning in the school buildings that have not recently been rebuilt and are not scheduled for imminent completions, such as Countryside and Franklin. This expense is expected to be reimbursed into the NPS budget with a $1.2 million spending allocation docketed with the City Council for vote in September.
Josh Morse, the City’s Chief Operating Officer, is ready to begin ordering equipment immediately, according to Mayor Laredo, who recommended the Committee approve initiating the project. Mayor Laredo added details such as some air conditioners will be in classrooms and others in school office areas, with those spaces receiving priority over hallways. The work will proceed in multiple phases. Mayor Laredo conveyed that the increased electricity cost is estimated to be $25,000 annually, and that costs could be controlled with centrally controlled thermostats.
Other topics
- The Committee acknowledged earmarks in the state budget secured with assistance of Newton’s state delegation.
- Kindergarten enrollment this year was reported as notably low.
- Staff absenteeism was also discussed, with Section 5 of the meeting memorandum noting absences increase in December and mid-March through April. Dr. Nolin noted these trends were “the same as every district I’ve ever worked in.” Bigelow Middle School was highlighted for cutting its absentee rate in half.
- Chapter 70 state education funding may finalize at a level $975,000 higher than expected for Newton, and the supplemental state budget could yield as much as $1.2 million more.
- NPS saved $172,000 through non-residency enrollment checks of students, and eliminating those who should not be attending NPS.
- The MassCore curriculum graduation requirements, composed by the state following repeal of the MCAS graduation requirement, have not been formally adopted as mandatory by DESE, and therefore NPS will postpone conforming its local requirements