We’ve learned in Newton that obtaining the funding necessary to provide a high-quality public education is not easy. We MUST establish a plan, in partnership with the Mayor's office and City Council, to address the long-range financial deficit currently facing NPS.  I will prioritize that work so that we stop the cycle of budget uncertainty that our families and educators face each spring.

The work of shoring up our educational foundation in terms of standard curriculum, common assessments, data dashboards and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) has already begun. We need to prioritize expansion of MTSS because it is the cornerstone of individualized instruction. A fully-functioning MTSS across our district will mean every student gets what they need (both support and enrichment) when they need it.  MTSS also has great potential to reduce special education services for students who don't need them. As new curriculum is introduced in various content areas, we must commit to meaningful professional development and support for educators. New assessments and new ways of using data to track interventions and enrichments are big changes. Our educators and staff deserve appropriate training - and some good old-fashioned grace - as we all learn how to work together using these new tools. All of these foundational pieces enable the "next level" work so it's very important to not lose momentum.

We will need to look closely at enrollment trends, as well as potential new programs like Universal Pre-K, to devise a comprehensive facilities plan. This is another area where close partnerships with the Mayor and City Council are imperative.Because so many school building projects are currently underway, we aren’t able to begin more in the near-term. This means we have the benefit of time to plan for Ward and Underwood now - we should not wait to begin that process. Facilities work includes a significant amount of overdue maintenance at many of our schools as well. We need to build this work into the long-range funding discussions so that leaking roofs and broken systems aren't patched when funds become available, but are predicted and budgeted for each year.

As we do the foundational work noted above, we also have to begin the "next-level" work that our community is asking us to do. This includes classroom innovations like the many new AI programs available for educators (to be clear - it's not ChatGPT writing your papers). Other districts are piloting teacher tools like Magic School and Day of AI. The upside of AI for individualized instruction and advanced work is vast. Individualized instruction is the key to acceleration for all students so we should be taking advantage of any tools that will help us do this work. 

We are also overdue for a review of our special education programming in many areas. The current elementary and middle school model relies on many aides and fewer special educators, and that isn't best practice for great inclusion programming. The Career and Technical Education (CTE) offerings at our high schools are strong - but we also have identified more CTE programming, such as a program for dental assistants, that students and families want and that would further enhance our ability to empower our kids who want to work after high school to graduate ready to dive right in.

Trust and transparency underpins everything we need to accomplish in Newton Public Schools. It's more than a priority; it's a necessity whose complexity should not be underestimated. I am committed to open communication, a highly transparent budgeting process, and development of shared goals among our educators, students and families. We are on the same team and we need to move forward together.