Read My Responses to the NTA Candidate Questionnaire
Ben Schlesinger, Candidate for School Committee, Ward 5
September 10, 2025
Thank you to the NTA for inviting me to share my ideas. Creating opportunities for candidates to share their views with the public is vital to our local democracy.
At a time when public trust in government is low nationally, it’s more important than ever that our elected officials maintain independence and avoid any appearance of conflicts of interest. I’m aware that the NTA has a history of endorsing School Committee candidates and I have great respect for many of the leaders they’ve endorsed.
But at this moment in time, I’m not comfortable accepting an endorsement from an organization that I would be consistently negotiating with as a member of the School Committee. Voters deserve to know that when their elected representatives are deliberating over decisions impacting the NTA, they are doing so without any conflict or allegiance.
For these reasons, I must respectfully decline to be endorsed by the NTA.
I appreciate the work of our educators on behalf of our children, our schools, and our city. Below, I’ve shared my answers to the questionnaire out of respect for our educators, and in the interest of transparency:
Question 1. The Unit A Collective Bargaining Agreement requires that every kindergarten classroom with fourteen or more students have a full-time kindergarten aide. The current School Committee has not honored this provision. When an arbitrator ruled last year that the School Committee must restore full-time kindergarten aides in accordance with the contract, they appealed this. Would you support the immediate restoration of full-day kindergarten aides in accordance with the district's contractual obligations by advocating for the withdrawal of the district's appeals, and voting in favor of any such withdrawal?
My Response:
It would not be appropriate for me to commit to a future action on a legal matter. I’m not read-in on the nuances of the case or the law surrounding it so I don’t know how my opinion might change with the benefit of complete perspective and legal advice.
But I can say that based on what I do know, I am very strongly inclined to vote to withdraw the appeal.
My understanding is that the parties agree that the School Committee did not honor a contractual provision, the debate is over whether that provision was reasonable. If the School Committee wanted to break a commitment it had made, it should have bargained a change into the contract with the NTA.
I believe some values are supreme. Over the course of my career I’ve built a reputation for honesty and integrity. I honor my contracts and I treat my partners with respect. I will bring this approach to all conversations with the NTA. There is no other way to build trust, and trust is the basis for any productive relationship.
I have seen how difficult it is to teach kindergarten. I’ve seen classrooms that would be impossible to manage without aides, and I’ve seen students’ and parents’ introduction to NPS be tarnished by a challenging kindergarten room. So I’m committed to ensuring that all our kindergarten rooms have the resources they need to provide a safe, happy and constructive learning environment for our children.
Aides are imperative to this goal. I am open to arguments saying that a full-time aide is needed in every class, or arguments that aides can be shared by classrooms based on some theory of coverage. But once the term was bargained in, it should have been honored or bargained out.
2. The Superintendent, along with some members of the current School Committee, have suggested that, while MCAS is no longer a statewide graduation requirement, Newton might incorporate MCAS into its local graduation requirement. Do you believe Newton ought to do this?
My Response:
I believe it’s important to have some objective input into the graduation requirement. And that’s what a majority of Newtonians believed when they voted to keep the MCAS requirement. Incorporating an objective measure will help correct for the fact that different educators inevitably have different grading standards.
I know that many educators are opposed to the MCAS requirement and I respect the concerns - worry about teaching to the test, time taken away from learning, and challenges for English Language Learners and students with disabilities, among others.
Some educators have also told me they are concerned that if grades are the only input, then the burden of the decision falls wholly on educators, and parents will put pressure on educators to inflate grades so students can graduate. This would do a disservice to both the students and the educators.
So I would like to see us find a requirement that, alongside educator assessments, includes an objective assessment to measure a student’s competencies and ensure that an NPS high school diploma represents a certain level of learning. I am open to that being MCAS or some other assessment.
3. What is your understanding of what precipitated the January 2024 NTA strike, why it lasted as long as it did, and what the results were?
My Response:
The core theme I’ve heard from educators is that they felt disrespected and they had lost trust in the direction of NPS. These feelings dated back to incidents that had occurred well before January 2024 and culminated with the inability to reach a contract in time for the start of the 2023-4 school year.
The NTA was bargaining for a number of items. Social worker staffing helps educators know there is always a trained expert in the building to ensure safety when children experience dysregulation. Longer parental leave allows parents to spend more time bonding with their babies before returning so much of their energy to their classrooms. Higher Unit C salaries and Unit A COLAs mean more take-home pay and reflect the district’s commitment to valuing its educators.
I could have supported a one-day strike to draw attention to the issues and rally public support. I could not support the prolonged strike in light of the harm it brought to the students, especially to the most disadvantaged members of our community. I know many educators will disagree with this position. I would not tell you that honesty is important to me and omit my position on this important topic. I am focused on the future and on building strong relationships that will allow us all to move forward.
4. What actions do you plan to take to avoid another strike?
My Response:
The decision to strike doesn’t lie with the School Committee, the NTA alone makes that choice. Let’s move forward from the strike and speak with a more positive frame. I am committed to a set of behaviors and activities that I hope will foster good collaboration.
I’m committed to listening to as many educators as are willing to speak with me. The first step to building trust is listening and seeking to understand what someone else is experiencing. I’m not in the classroom every day so the only way I can understand is by speaking with the people who are.
I’m committed to continuing the work of the joint working committees that have been established over the last year. From what I’ve heard, this has been an effective format to bring educators, administrators and School Committee members together to tackle important challenges.
I’m committed to advocating for more funding for NPS. I have publicly advocated for the need to explore new ways to generate funding - from extending the pension obligation to examining free cash to lobbying for more state funding to pursuing grants and sponsorships. An override should be the last option, but it may well be necessary and I would strongly support it.
I’m committed to bargaining in good faith, to being honest in my dealings with the NTA and its members, and to holding myself to the highest standards of integrity.
5. What do you think are Superintendent Nolin’s strengths? Where do you think the Superintendent has room for improvement?
My Response:
I have been tremendously impressed by Dr. Nolin and I’m supportive of her plans in many areas.
I would point to three specific strengths. First, Dr. Nolin has done a tremendous job building a vision of the future of NPS that is exciting to many in our community, and laying out a pathway for getting there in a way that feels tangible and achievable.
Second, Dr. Nolin has impressed me with her ability to bring people with different views together, to find common ground and to bring down the temperature on hot-button discussions.
Third, I’ve observed Dr. Nolin to be an outstanding communicator. She understands her audience and presents in a clear and organized manner. It is crucial that someone in her role can work effectively with a broad array of stakeholders and meet people where they are, and I’ve seen her do this repeatedly in the community.
I don’t think it would be appropriate or respectful for me to present public criticisms of Dr. Nolin’s skills and competencies. I will say that I have not agreed with every action she’s taken or advocated for. As two examples, I did not agree with her push for School Choice and I would have liked to see her move away from multi-level classes faster after Mr. Normandin made a case I found to be very compelling. Educators have told me about other concerns they have with her. There is always room for improvement. On the whole, I am very confident that Dr. Nolin is the right person to guide NPS to a better future and she has my full support.
6. Historically, School Committee members have worked most closely with the Superintendent, and it is from the Superintendent that they receive most of their information regarding the operations of the school system, including its ongoing relations with the NTA. How do you think the School Committee could communicate and collaborate more directly with the NTA?
My Response:
I enjoy asking questions and learning from others. On the campaign trail, I have learned a great deal from my conversations with educators. I would seek as many opportunities as I could to meet directly with educators, either in group or one-on-one settings. I’d like to find a way to meet educators where they are, offering office hours at each school so the educators don’t have to travel after a long day of work.
I would be happy to speak with Mr. Zilles and/or Mr. Normandin at their request and I hope we could have a collaborative and collegial relationship. With extensive turnover on the School Committee, a new mayor, and Mr. Normandin new in his position, I think we can aspire to a fresh dynamic.
I am not pollyannaish about this - I know it has been some time since this type of relationship existed and I know we will sometimes disagree strongly on issues. But we owe it to our community to be the models of responsible, respectful leadership that they expect. This has to be a mutual effort and everyone has to agree that publicly attacking each other is counterproductive.
7. Health insurance costs have increased dramatically over the last year, burdening the NPS and the City of Newton budgets. Do you believe that some of these costs should be shifted onto Newton educators?
My Response:
I view this as a compensation topic that should be bargained in the contract. Health care premiums have direct and significant economic impacts on both educators’ take-home pay and the NPS budget and should be negotiated alongside compensation and benefits.
My lens for this and all compensation topics is, “Are we able to attract and retain the best educators in the area?” Compensation is always a key part of the answer to that question, along with professional growth opportunities, community culture, leadership, work-life balance and a host of other issues.
8. If there is anything else you consider pertinent to your candidacy that you would like to share, please feel free to do so.
My Response:
I have great respect for our educators. My sister is an educator, my sister-in-law is an educator, my niece is an NPS educator, and I have many educator friends, in Newton and elsewhere. When I completed my graduate degree, I went to Jerusalem to teach business and entrepreneurship to Palestinian and Israeli high school students as part of a non-profit. So I know what it’s like to build curriculum and stand in front of a wildly diverse audience trying to teach. And I’ve coached youth sports in Newton every year since 1997, so I know what it’s like to work with younger kids and get them bought in to a program of learning.
I’ve also invested in our schools. I led the Zervas community to fight for our educators when their jobs were threatened in the 2023 budget crisis; we successfully saved three educator positions in our school. I also worked closely with educators on the Superintendent’s Advisory Committee for the Zervas principal search this year. We entrust our educators with our children, and I’m grateful for the work they do every day.
The last five years have been a trying time for our students, our educators, and our families. The challenges will continue - from the impending budget cliff and facilities in need of repair to the influence of AI and social media on our children. I’m committed to working with our educators to understand what their pressing challenges are and to collaboratively find solutions.