Hi Friends:

Welcome to my first newsletter!  I’ll start with some notes from the campaign trail and then wrap up with some thoughts on a topic that I’m eager to support our superintendent in strengthening.  Here we go…

Endorsements

Chris’s endorsement is my fifth from current School Committee members, joining Rajeev Parlikar, Paul Levy, Alicia Piedalue and Barry Greenstein.  I’ve also been endorsed by ten City Councilors (Susan Albright, Martha Bixby, Stephen Farrell, Lenny Gentile, Becky Grossman, Andrea Kelley, Alison Leary, Rick Lipof, Alan Lobovits, John Oliver) and I’m expecting more over the course of July.  Those of you who are familiar with the City Council know that these names represent a very broad ideological coalition.  My ideas and approach are resonating with the people who are most plugged into the governance of our schools and our city and I’m grateful for their support.

I’m also grateful for over 100 other community leaders who have endorsed me (see full list at https://ben4newton.com/supporters).  If you’d like your name here, just shoot me a note (ben@ben4newton.com) or fill out the contact form (https://ben4newton.com/contact).

Fundraising

I’ve been blown away by the generosity of so many supporters.  Thank you again if you’ve contributed.  I still have a ways to go to reach my target - contested elections are expensive.  If you haven’t contributed yet, or if you want to contribute more (must be US resident, max $1000 per person), you can do so here:  https://ben4newton.com/support.

Events

June was busy on the campaign trail.  I spent time at Nonantum Village Day, Highlands Village Day (below left, with Iris) and the Juneteenth Celebration (below center, with Julia), among other stops.

It was also a busy time for family life, with Noah graduating Zervas, Julia completing 2nd grade, and the onslaught of end-of-year activities (including managing the Newton Southeast Little League 11U Tournament team, pictured below right with Noah).

Issue of the Day: Measuring Progress

On the second to last day of the school year, NPS released iReady and Star Math reports to parents.  These quantitative measures showed parents with data how our children had progressed over the course of the year.  Sharing this data with parents in an organized way (3x/year for iReady, 2x/year for Star) was new this year.  Our Superintendent, Dr. Anna Nolin, had instituted this practice after years of NPS not measuring and/or not sharing the data.  I am fully supportive of Dr. Nolin’s push for more data and more transparency.

This is an important issue that not everyone agrees on in this election. We don’t want learning to be subverted by ‘teaching to the test.’ And I’ve heard from experienced teachers who think that the assessments we’re using are flawed – I’m open to that and willing to explore other assessments. No test is perfect, but perfect is the enemy of good. I’m confident that students will be better off if we’re transparently measuring and tracking their learning than if we’re not. Dr. Nolin and her team will need to find and implement the best ways to do this, and the School Committee should support, encourage, and pressure test those methods.