From the Newton School Committee:

This update covers the March 22, 2021 Newton School Committee meeting. If you are interested in watching NewTV’s recording of this meeting, you can link directly to the meeting via www.newtv.org.

Superintendent Update:

• Acknowledged the difficult time for the Asian American Pacific Islander community and affirmed our special responsibility as a school district to address issues directly and support our staff and students.
• Announced Haverhill High School Assistant Principal Tamara (Tamii) Stras will be the next principal at Newton South. She is a dynamic, thoughtful, smart leader and will start on July 1, 2021.
• Receiving many questions about MCAS testing which is required by federal law for students in grades 3-8. Only way for the district to get a waiver is for the state delegation to petition the federal government, followed by approval by the Mass Board of ED. While there is a need to assess students, we have our own internal formative assessments, and acknowledge the concerns about the stress on students and time away from learning.

Discussions/Updates:
Newton Schools Foundation Update (memo and 2020-2021 Grant List)

• NSF donates money to NPS to fund new approaches in the classroom, professional development, as well as race and income inequities programming.
• NSF helped NPS with needs resulting from distance learning, including a grant of $85,500 to purchase Chromebooks, as well as $20,000 to fund the increased cost of William James College Interface Referral Service, a matching and referral service that provides both students and adults in Newton with connection to mental health providers in the community.
• NSF was the lead sponsor of the National Educator Conference, an extraordinary week-long antiracist training event created by teachers at Newton South and attended by 10,000 educators from all 50 states with a keynote address by Dr Bettina Love.

Spring/Fall Planning Update (presentation)

• High School–Full in-person begins on Monday, April 26th with four days full in-person (same class schedule) and Wednesday will initially remain remote. Distance students will continue to participate in hyflex. Detailed planning and plans for family communication are underway.
• Middle School–Full in-person (similar to pre-pandemic) begins on Wednesday, April 28th, specific times will be shared by each school. Distance students either hyflex or in full distance classes
  • Principals will hold information sessions in the next week or two.
  • Adapted spring middle school athletic program is being developed, update by the end of the month
• Elementary Schools–Increased in-person begins on April 5th, with 8:20 (8:25 learning starts) arrival and 2:15 dismissal on Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri. Wednesdays will be early release at 1:00. Principals have planned information sessions for families in the next week or two.
• Shifts within Elementary
  • DLA class schedules may have some adjustments
  • DLA adjusts hours to match in-person arrival and dismissal times
  • 215 DLA students transferred from distance to in-person with 23 opting to stay in DLA
  • Due to lack of space, some placed in a lottery in order to have an in-person class at their home school (impacting only 2 schools) or a placement at other schools (10 students in total).
• Fall Planning Working Group –Initial focus of the team has been on school schedules, start and end times for next school year. Continuing to work on those issues and build off of some of the learning from this year on those adjustments to start and end times, school schedules and early release days.
  • Agendas and minutes from Fall Planning meetings are shared online at https://www.newton.k12.ma.us/Page/3825.
  • Specific recommendation will be shared during next School Committee meeting on April 12

Social Emotional Learning Update (Presentation)

• Social-emotional health is foundational to accessing academic content
• Observed 3 big themes for students this year: increase in depression, feelings of isolation and anxiety.
• Academic engagement serves as a regulatory function of students’ mental health
• Universal approach to meet students where they are by incorporating professional development and ongoing coaching for embedding SEL into content instruction, by creating connections for in-person and distance learning students, and by using Tier I supports (i.e., guidance) and Tier II & III supports (i.e., clinical supports such as consultation with outside providers and access to community mental health – Interface, Riverside Health, etc.)
• For next school Year:
  • Continue to Integrate SEL into content instruction via Universal Design for Learning
  • Continue to develop Identified and Measurable Tier II & Tier III supports
  • Examine staffing needs to respond to increased needs, explore the possibility of a need for increased clinical staff.
  • Use programs/surveys to gather more data (i.e., Youth Risk Behavior Survey and other programs)

Consent Agenda:

• Approved meeting minutes from 1/2/20 and 3/1/21, 9-0-0
• Voted to Approve  MOA (Memo), 8-1-0 (Fuller)
• Vote to Approve Grants and Piano Donation to NNHS, 9-0-0

Upcoming Meetings:
The Superintendent will present the FY22 budget on Thursday, April 1 at 8:00 AM.

School Committee will have two special budget meetings (no public comment) on April 5 and April 8, both at 7:00 PM.

There will be a public hearing on the FY22 budget on Monday, April 12 at 6:00 PM.

The next regular School Committee meeting will be Monday, April 12 at 7:00 PM.  We will receive an update on start time and school schedules for next year, DLA and continue discussions on the FY22 budget.

How to Participate in Public Comment:
To participate in the Public Comment portion of a meeting, please submit your NAME and ADDRESS by email with the subject line “Public Comment for [DATE]” to schoolcommittee@newton.k12.ma.us PRIOR to 7:00 PM, the official start time of the meeting. You will need to join the Virtual Meeting by computer or phone to participate. During the Public Comment portion of the meeting, the School Committee Chairperson will call your name. At that time, unmute your microphone and turn on video to provide public comment. You are limited to 3 minutes.

We hope you found this summary useful. You can access all School Committee meeting documents via the NPS website (www.newton.k12.ma.us/schoolcommittee). Additionally, if you are interested in watching an SC meeting from home or a recorded meeting, you can obtain access via www.newtv.org.

As always, we are very happy to answer any questions or discuss any concerns you may have. Feel free to contact us via email at schoolcommittee@newton.k12.ma.us.

Sincerely,
The Newton School Committee