1. How would you describe the quality of education that NPS provides? Has the quality changed?
Newton provides a very good education overall and I am confident as a parent in sending my three children to school in Newton. Unfortunately, the quality of learning and experience varies widely from excellent to mediocre. Some students, especially those on either end of the achievement spectrum, are not having their needs adequately met by Newton schools today. There is a clear trend evident in national and state data indicating that Newton is slipping or at best staying flat while other communities progress. Newton schools today are a shadow of those thirty years ago which were nationally recognized as a hotbed of educational innovation. My vision for Newton schools is a return, not to the top 600 or 800 nationally, but back to the top ten through a renewed commitment to quality education across the entire population of our students and across the range of subjects which we all value.
2. If elected, what would you do to improve the quality of education?
Educational quality must be measured to be improved. We must accept the fact that no measure is perfect and leverage those we have. The MCAS provides data as do other city, state and national assessments. We should objectively understand what they are measuring and focus our improvement efforts in those areas. While I am a vocal supporter of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), I also value the arts, physical education and the other important areas in which our children need to learn. While we strive to improve our core academic achievement we must not lose sight of the quality of our other offerings. Whether by participation or other metrics these should also be measured so they in turn can improve. The key to improving the quality of our education is to embrace measurement and transparency and build a culture of continuous learning and improvement within the school system.
3. How will you address equity across the school system?
The question of equity is manifested in many ways in our schools today – equity between neighborhoods, schools, student cohorts and subject areas to name a few. Each opportunity for inequity divides us when our challenges require us to work together to overcome them. Each potential inequity calls for different solutions. In some cases homogenization is not the answer and specialization and innovation should be encouraged; combined with additional choice provided to parents, students and staff. In other cases some have long suffered and require relief. In all cases a key element of the solution will be open and honest communication. When inequities, whether perceived or real, are left to fester without being acknowledged they grow and become more difficult to overcome. As a member of the School Committee I will work with all constituencies to ensure that concerns are openly and honestly discussed and resolutions debated, selected and implemented.
4. How would you communicate with all of Newton's citizens about the state of the Newton Schools and the actions of the School Committee? How will you bring the community together to see that the school system is a community-wide resource and should be a primary shared investment?
The School Committee requires a more visible engagement with the community. Not more commissions and committees, but true engagement. School Committee members should tour our schools regularly. They should actively engage the community that does not have students currently in the schools. A different approach to meetings and technology is also required. More routine School Committee work and community discourse can be done online leaving time in meetings for topics requiring that venue. School Committee meetings should be events where the community learns not what, but why. It is the understanding of why that brings us together. To allow more direct contribution, our highly skilled and motivated citizenry can be tapped more consistently. Design competitions for school buildings; consultation on technology, building maintenance, and management. These are but a few of the areas where our citizens (parents and non-parents alike) can contribute to Newton’s most important resource – its schools.
5. What recommendations from the CAG's school cost structure report would you implement?
The fact that a Citizens Advisory Group was necessary in the first place paints a sad picture of how the School Committee has been executing its responsibilities. The School Committee should have been able to hand the CAG a summary of the cost structure with indications of where the most significant challenges were and what the plans and progress against those plans were to overcome them. However, the CAG did make some concrete recommendations that we should take to heart. The most important is the use of long-range multi-year budgeting. Without a long-term view, financial sustainability is a hit or miss proposition. I also support the creation of a Chief Financial Officer position within the school system. This would both allow the Superintendent to focus on the educational mandate as well as act as a check and balance within the administration. Financial health will allow us to maintain educational health.
6. How should the city plan to pay for ongoing maintenance and improvement of our school buildings?
Charter maintenance has consistently been traded off to fund short-term needs. This has created a significant invisible deficit for current and future school budgets. Resolving this will not be easy and it will not be quick. Routine maintenance must be funded from operational budgets. We must set targets for levels of maintenance we consider adequate. How many faucets should work? How clean should the floors be? We must then honestly and efficiently fund that maintenance. Capital improvements to existing buildings and the construction of new buildings can be debt financed. I strongly support the use of transparent and temporary debt-exclusion overrides for significant capital expenditures. However, my support is contingent on a common sense long-term facilities plan – a plan we do not have today. On the School Committee I will advocate for the heart and soul of our communities – neighborhood schools , transparently funded and properly maintained.
7. What do you think about raising fees that directly shift education costs to families?
I am against funding public education through incremental user fees. However, if a specific activity used by a subset of students is shown to have significant cost associated with it, it may be appropriate to offset a portion of that cost through a fee. The purpose of this would be to maintain equity more than to balance the budget as all fees today taken together account for less than one percent of the school budget. Another appropriate use of fees would be to actively encourage specific behaviors. For example, instituting a steep student parking fee at the high schools would discourage students from driving to school on a regular basis which is difficult to justify and environmentally unsound. Public education should be public. The greatest gift we can give to our children and our society is education and we should give it willingly, not with strings attached.
8. What top three qualities will you look for in a new Superintendent?
As you can read on my blog the most important quality we need is alignment with our vision for Newton Schools. Unfortunately, as a prerequisite to evaluating this quality in a candidate we must establish this vision for ourselves. The output of our recently completed strategic planning process does not satisfy this need. We need a more concrete set of goals aligned to real-life vision statements. Beyond alignment to vision, our next Superintendent must be an experienced change agent. Successfully managing organizational change is difficult and finding someone with demonstrated success in this area will be critical to us as our schools are facing challenges that require change and reinvention to overcome. Finally, we need a Superintendent with broad leadership skills; someone who can inspire teachers, students and the broader community. A leader, experienced with successful organizational change who is aligned with our vision describes our next Superintendent.
9. If you were to attain office, how would you involve and communicate with Newton grassroots organizations like Stand for Children of Newton?
On the School Committee I will engage all constituents in the community. There should not be favorites. Parents are motivated, active and engaged. However, those without children currently in the schools also contribute to our educational system both monetarily and through other means. Everyone deserves to be sought out and listened to. Grassroots advocacy groups such as Stand for Children, Newton PAC, NONAP and others bring deep knowledge of specific areas in our educational system and are a terrific resource for the School Committee. Likewise our school PTOs, the PTO council and most importantly each School Council brings deep knowledge of the conditions and needs of each of our unique schools. The energy and commitment of these groups is to be commended. Their capabilities and skills should be leveraged while maintaining an equal relationship with other constituencies such that the community as a whole is equally energized and committed.
Newton provides a very good education overall and I am confident as a parent in sending my three children to school in Newton. Unfortunately, the quality of learning and experience varies widely from excellent to mediocre. Some students, especially those on either end of the achievement spectrum, are not having their needs adequately met by Newton schools today. There is a clear trend evident in national and state data indicating that Newton is slipping or at best staying flat while other communities progress. Newton schools today are a shadow of those thirty years ago which were nationally recognized as a hotbed of educational innovation. My vision for Newton schools is a return, not to the top 600 or 800 nationally, but back to the top ten through a renewed commitment to quality education across the entire population of our students and across the range of subjects which we all value.
2. If elected, what would you do to improve the quality of education?
Educational quality must be measured to be improved. We must accept the fact that no measure is perfect and leverage those we have. The MCAS provides data as do other city, state and national assessments. We should objectively understand what they are measuring and focus our improvement efforts in those areas. While I am a vocal supporter of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), I also value the arts, physical education and the other important areas in which our children need to learn. While we strive to improve our core academic achievement we must not lose sight of the quality of our other offerings. Whether by participation or other metrics these should also be measured so they in turn can improve. The key to improving the quality of our education is to embrace measurement and transparency and build a culture of continuous learning and improvement within the school system.
3. How will you address equity across the school system?
The question of equity is manifested in many ways in our schools today – equity between neighborhoods, schools, student cohorts and subject areas to name a few. Each opportunity for inequity divides us when our challenges require us to work together to overcome them. Each potential inequity calls for different solutions. In some cases homogenization is not the answer and specialization and innovation should be encouraged; combined with additional choice provided to parents, students and staff. In other cases some have long suffered and require relief. In all cases a key element of the solution will be open and honest communication. When inequities, whether perceived or real, are left to fester without being acknowledged they grow and become more difficult to overcome. As a member of the School Committee I will work with all constituencies to ensure that concerns are openly and honestly discussed and resolutions debated, selected and implemented.
4. How would you communicate with all of Newton's citizens about the state of the Newton Schools and the actions of the School Committee? How will you bring the community together to see that the school system is a community-wide resource and should be a primary shared investment?
The School Committee requires a more visible engagement with the community. Not more commissions and committees, but true engagement. School Committee members should tour our schools regularly. They should actively engage the community that does not have students currently in the schools. A different approach to meetings and technology is also required. More routine School Committee work and community discourse can be done online leaving time in meetings for topics requiring that venue. School Committee meetings should be events where the community learns not what, but why. It is the understanding of why that brings us together. To allow more direct contribution, our highly skilled and motivated citizenry can be tapped more consistently. Design competitions for school buildings; consultation on technology, building maintenance, and management. These are but a few of the areas where our citizens (parents and non-parents alike) can contribute to Newton’s most important resource – its schools.
5. What recommendations from the CAG's school cost structure report would you implement?
The fact that a Citizens Advisory Group was necessary in the first place paints a sad picture of how the School Committee has been executing its responsibilities. The School Committee should have been able to hand the CAG a summary of the cost structure with indications of where the most significant challenges were and what the plans and progress against those plans were to overcome them. However, the CAG did make some concrete recommendations that we should take to heart. The most important is the use of long-range multi-year budgeting. Without a long-term view, financial sustainability is a hit or miss proposition. I also support the creation of a Chief Financial Officer position within the school system. This would both allow the Superintendent to focus on the educational mandate as well as act as a check and balance within the administration. Financial health will allow us to maintain educational health.
6. How should the city plan to pay for ongoing maintenance and improvement of our school buildings?
Charter maintenance has consistently been traded off to fund short-term needs. This has created a significant invisible deficit for current and future school budgets. Resolving this will not be easy and it will not be quick. Routine maintenance must be funded from operational budgets. We must set targets for levels of maintenance we consider adequate. How many faucets should work? How clean should the floors be? We must then honestly and efficiently fund that maintenance. Capital improvements to existing buildings and the construction of new buildings can be debt financed. I strongly support the use of transparent and temporary debt-exclusion overrides for significant capital expenditures. However, my support is contingent on a common sense long-term facilities plan – a plan we do not have today. On the School Committee I will advocate for the heart and soul of our communities – neighborhood schools , transparently funded and properly maintained.
7. What do you think about raising fees that directly shift education costs to families?
I am against funding public education through incremental user fees. However, if a specific activity used by a subset of students is shown to have significant cost associated with it, it may be appropriate to offset a portion of that cost through a fee. The purpose of this would be to maintain equity more than to balance the budget as all fees today taken together account for less than one percent of the school budget. Another appropriate use of fees would be to actively encourage specific behaviors. For example, instituting a steep student parking fee at the high schools would discourage students from driving to school on a regular basis which is difficult to justify and environmentally unsound. Public education should be public. The greatest gift we can give to our children and our society is education and we should give it willingly, not with strings attached.
8. What top three qualities will you look for in a new Superintendent?
As you can read on my blog the most important quality we need is alignment with our vision for Newton Schools. Unfortunately, as a prerequisite to evaluating this quality in a candidate we must establish this vision for ourselves. The output of our recently completed strategic planning process does not satisfy this need. We need a more concrete set of goals aligned to real-life vision statements. Beyond alignment to vision, our next Superintendent must be an experienced change agent. Successfully managing organizational change is difficult and finding someone with demonstrated success in this area will be critical to us as our schools are facing challenges that require change and reinvention to overcome. Finally, we need a Superintendent with broad leadership skills; someone who can inspire teachers, students and the broader community. A leader, experienced with successful organizational change who is aligned with our vision describes our next Superintendent.
9. If you were to attain office, how would you involve and communicate with Newton grassroots organizations like Stand for Children of Newton?
On the School Committee I will engage all constituents in the community. There should not be favorites. Parents are motivated, active and engaged. However, those without children currently in the schools also contribute to our educational system both monetarily and through other means. Everyone deserves to be sought out and listened to. Grassroots advocacy groups such as Stand for Children, Newton PAC, NONAP and others bring deep knowledge of specific areas in our educational system and are a terrific resource for the School Committee. Likewise our school PTOs, the PTO council and most importantly each School Council brings deep knowledge of the conditions and needs of each of our unique schools. The energy and commitment of these groups is to be commended. Their capabilities and skills should be leveraged while maintaining an equal relationship with other constituencies such that the community as a whole is equally energized and committed.