A Parting Message

from Verne Vance, Chair, Newton School Committee

December 22, 2001

 

To all those who care about the Newton Public Schools:

On January 1 of the coming new year, I and four of my Newton School Committee colleagues will retire from the committee after periods of service ranging from six to eight years. For all of us, our time on the committee has truly been a labor of love — love for the remarkably dedicated people on the committee, love for the excellent schools of Newton and the diverse student body they serve, love for the parents of those students who provide the necessary support that sustains the students and the schools, and love for the outstanding staff of teachers and administrators who make the Newton School System the first-rate educational institution that it is.

The past eight years have been years of significant change in the Newton School System. During that time we have:

• Established a middle-school model in Newton

• Adapted to the mandates of the Educational Reform Act of 1993, including time and learning requirements, alignment of curriculum with the state curriculum frameworks, and putting in place programs to ensure that all students are given the tools that they need to pass the state-mandated MCAS examinations

• Revamped our program of services for students with special educational needs to include as many such students as possible in regular classrooms

• Selected a Superintendent of Schools who reflects the educational goals of the community and sets high standards for educational and fiscal accountability

• Undertaken substantial renovations of many of our school buildings, including three elementary schools, our four middle schools, and our two high schools; the high school renovations constitute the largest capital project ever undertaken in Newton and will enable us to roughly equalize the size of the student bodies, and thus the range of curricular and extra-curricular opportunities, in the two high schools

• Established a Newton School Committee page on the World Wide Web to enable us to communicate more fully and effectively with all those with an interest in the Newton Public Schools

Although the past eight years have mostly been a time of unprecedented prosperity in our state and country, the constraints on property taxation by Proposition 2 and 1/2, and the relatively modest financial aid to the City of Newton by the Commonwealth, have meant that the foregoing efforts, and everything else that has gone into maintaining the quality of the educational program in Newton, had to be carried out with financial resources that were significantly less than the magnitude and importance of the task warranted. But thanks to the Herculean efforts and sacrifices of our Newton faculty and administrative staff, we believe that we have been able to keep Newton in the forefront of education in Massachusetts and in the nation.

As five of us leave the committee, we anticipate even more difficult times ahead. The current economic climate, and the devastating impacts of the September 11 attacks, mean that the revenues that are projected for Fiscal Year 2003 may well be inadequate to meet the anticipated cost increases to maintain even our educational program for the current year.  And that program itself has suffered cuts in such important areas as elementary world languages; has suffered cuts in the number of faculty, resulting in some increases in class size; and has been unable to adequately address long-time shortcomings in such areas as textbooks and other instructional materials.

For many decades Newton has stood for educational excellence because that is what the public of Newton has demanded and has been willing and able to support. The 2003 fiscal year will present to the citizens of Newton the critical challenge of continuing to provide, in difficult times, the financial resources that will be needed to sustain the jewel that is the Newton School System. We who are leaving the Newton School Committee well know what it will cost to do that. That cost is worth every penny as an investment in the futures of all our children as we educate them to be fulfilled individuals, productive workers, and contributing citizens. We hope and trust that our fellow Newton citizens will continue to make that investment in the future as they have in the past.

It has truly been a privilege for us to serve the children of Newton, and Newton's citizenry as a whole, as members of the Newton School Committee. We hope that our successors will find the experience as rewarding as all of us have done.

With all best wishes,

Verne Vance

Chair, Newton School Committee