Vision
High quality education has been a point of pride here in Newton for many years. Yet as our costs rise faster than our revenues, we have seen a decline in our school system to the point where many feel that our reputation is based on past—not present—success. We must reverse this trend for the sake of our children and our community.
Our society has also seen a shift in recent years—due in part to improved technology and increased internationalization—that requires a different way of thinking about and providing education. The traditional model of a teacher in front of a classroom with students listening and absorbing information does not meet the needs of today’s students. Education today requires interaction between teacher and student, collaboration between students, interdisciplinary curricula, and education beyond the classroom walls—the “21st Century skills” we’ve read about in the newspapers.
The recent Strategic Planning Initiative (SPI), of which I was a team member, has articulated a strong set of core values for Newton Public Schools. Based on these core values and on current research in the education field, SPI also created a series of recommendations that would provide new methods of delivering education (i.e. online courses), new areas of curriculum (i.e. international study), and better support for our teachers (i.e. structure for increased collaboration among teachers).
Can we make these changes when our economy is suffering and revenues are decreasing? We can and we must—but, as the recent Citizen Advisory Group (CAG) report on School Cost Structure has concluded, it will require making difficult decisions as a community. We not only need to find cost efficiencies, but also must discuss where we are willing to make reductions. The CAG identified several areas for our community to reevaluate: class size, teaching loads, compensation, and teacher development.
My goals as a School Committee member will be twofold: first, to listen and to lead the community in a discussion of what we feel is absolutely necessary for our childrens’ education today; and second, to bring in elements of the Strategic Plan that bring our education system into the future.