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…
Posts published by “Adam Bernstein”
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…
New Memorial-Spaulding Principal hired. Ultimate Frisbee becomes an official sport. The February 10 School Committee meeting began with a full slate of public commenters, filling the 30 minutes allowed for comment and addressing varied topics such as: Notably, multiple students, staff members, and parents addressed the playground accessibility issue, particularly…
NPS also provided an update on rules for PTOs and Booster organizations. The agenda for the regular January 27 School Committee meeting included Superintendent Nolin describing recent outreach and meetings with Newton Public Schools (NPS) alumni as part of a coordinated district effort to encourage past graduates to retain their…
Winter and spring are always busy seasons for Newton Public Schools (NPS), and the coming six months may be busier than most. The School Committee has posted its anticipated agenda items for remaining public meetings this year, and they include: The NPS annual budgeting process has recently been both contentious…
Committee raised NPS activity fees, facility fees, and non-union pay rates. In the regular January 13 School Committee meeting, the agenda focused on primarily non-academic topics such as the district’s facilities BERDO compliance, facility fees, hourly rates for certain non-union employees, an update on long term facilities planning, and newly…