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…
Posts published by “Adam Bernstein”
This article, about the Newton Public Schools (NPS) 7th grade math assessment results and their aftermath, follows Part I published on June 23, which analyzed the lead-up and broader curricular context for the April 29 exam. The results On May 8th, families of 7th graders received their child’s test results. The…
“Giving every student what they need” is a common saying among Newton Public Schools (NPS) leadership and School Committee members. This spring’s revision of the NPS middle school math program illustrates how complex that can be in practice. As the school year ends, the district has generally executed what it…
On June 9, Newton Public Schools announced via press release the appointment of Jesse Krotick, M.Ed. in the newly created NPS position of Director of Mental Health and Well-Being, effective July 1. Mr. Krotick is presently the NPS Coordinator of Social Work and Social Emotional Learning for elementary schools, a…
Newton Public Schools (NPS) has named current employees as interim principals for Newton North and Newton South High Schools for the 2026-2027 academic year. Newton North HS Lisa Gilbert-Smith, M.Ed. will be the Interim Principal of Newton North High School. She is currently the Director of NPS’s METCO Program and…
The May 18 regular School Committee meeting focused on the Committee receiving updates from district and school-level department heads regarding curriculum and programming reviews for engineering and computer programs, athletic departments, as well as voting on allocating budget funds for Math and English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum materials. Fig City…
The April 29th School Committee meeting focused on the required annual decision by the district to opt-in or opt-out of the state’s School Choice program. This program allows Newton Public Schools (NPS) to open a specified number of student slots to students from other Massachusetts school districts. As she did…
The NPS Reflections Program at Williams Elementary School in Auburndale is moving to what will be the newly reconstructed Franklin Elementary school beginning in the 2027-2028 academic year. The program is described as being for students requiring “extensive content modifications and instructional methodology that integrates functional skills and substantial related…
After multiple meetings of discussion and debate, on April 6 the School Committee — including Mayor Marc Laredo — approved by unanimous vote one of the two budget proposals put forth by Superintendent Anna Nolin for the next school year (FY 2027). The approved budget of $314.5 million will increase…
On March 30, in the midst of several recent Newton Public Schools (NPS) budgeting meetings, Superintendent Anna Nolin and the School Committee held a special meeting with the State Legislators representing Newton: All are Newton residents except Rep. Lawn, who resides in Watertown. The one-hour meeting began with Dr. Nolin presenting…
The “carryforward” item within the Newton Public Schools (NPS) budget — the amount of cash unspent by NPS in the current year, which is then assumed to be expended in the next year’s budget — is a consistent source of confusion, taking much airtime during public budget meetings. NPS continues…
During March 9-16, the School Committee and NPS convened three public budget meetings to review detailed information from NPS departments regarding their budgetary methodologies and priorities. These meetings continued the dichotomy of the Superintendent, Mayor, and School Committee all acknowledging what they say is an improved budgeting process and working…