Remember, there is no school tomorrow, Thursday, November 11, due to Veteran’s Day!

See you at the Book Fair, Bake Sale and Pizza and Movie Night on Friday

As you may know, Newton Public Schools is in the process of conducting a comprehensive Special Education Program Review.  Begun in April, 2010, the study is being conducted by an independent consulting firm, District and Community Partners.  Currently, the consultants are soliciting broad parent input on special education services through a series of focus groups and a written survey. We urge parents to participate in one of these focus groups and to complete the parent survey described below.

There are two parts to this phase, Parent Focus Groups and a Parent Survey

** Parent focus groups **

We encourage you to attend one of the parent focus groups that are scheduled between Oct. 13 and 28.  Groups, dates, times and location for Special Education Parent Focus Groups and Regular Education Parent Focus Groups are as follows:

Please attend one of the groups, even if you go to one that is not the one for your child’s program/level.

There are focus groups for parents of children receiving special education services in:

• Preschool
• Elementary School
• Middle School
• Newton North HS
• Newton South HS
• Out-of-District
• 18-22 year old Transition

For a complete list of focus groups, please click on the following link:

sped study focus groups0001.pdf; ATT204241.htm

** Parent Surveys **

The surveys will be launched at the end of October.  There will be a letter sent through your school email list, the NewtonPAC list, and the out-of-district coordinator, and the link will be posted on the NPS website.  There will also be surveys for regular and special education teachers, and principals and sped administrators.

Please, please make time to attend a focus group and take the survey.  The results will be stronger with your contribution!

Progress of the Special Education Review:

- The Newton Steering Committee members include, Carole Slipowitz (PAC), Sandy Baird (PAC), Judy Levin-Charns, Paul Stein, Jonathan Yeo (SC), Reenie Murphy (SC), Eva Thompson, Sandy Guryan, and Joel Stembridge.

- They conducted interviews of all central administrators, including Jim Marini, Judy Levin-Charns, principals at all levels, sped staff at all levels and disciplines, school committee, and NewtonPAC board

- They have collected data on costs, programs, student IEPs, MCAS

- They will spend 8 days in schools and programs across the district in October

- The focus groups and surveys will be completed in October

- The promised delivery of the report is the end of December.

- The current tentative plan is for the results to be presented at the January 10 School Committee meeting and presented at the NewtonPAC meeting on Feb. 10.  This may change.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Best,
Beth Doran (bdoran@speedousa.com),
Vivian Glassman-Grosser (viviang97@hotmail.com),
Gail Sokoloff (gasok@aol.com)
SPED Pac Liaisons, Williams School

As the school year is ready to begin, we are writing to update you about our school lunch program, which is up and running in all of Newton’s schools. We do need to ask for your understanding and to inform you that we still are completing the process of transitioning to a long-term solution for nutritious and affordable food service in the Newton Schools. You may recall that in light of increasing financial constraints, the School Committee approved a budget initiative that called for either contracting out the school lunch program or achieving significant savings to the existing in-house program through labor negotiations, beginning this year.

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In addition to this letter, you will receive and find on the Newton Public Schools website Mr. Clickstein’s letter explaining all the information about the lunch program, menus, how to prepay and his commitment to providing an excellent lunch program for all students. Please note that there are no increases in the lunch prices; the prices remain the same as they have been for over six years.

The School Committee voted unanimously on Sunday, February 28th to appoint Dr. David Fleishman as the Superintendent designee pending approval of a site visit to his home district and an agreed upon contract.

Dr. Fleishman is currently the Superintendent of Schools in Chappaqua, NY. Prior to becoming Superintendent in Chappaqua, Dr. Fleishman was Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Wellesley, MA.  Before that he was an Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources in Ossining, NY. Dr. Fleishman began his career in education as a teacher in the New York City Public Schools. He holds an Ed.D from Teachers College, Columbia University.  Dr. Fleishman will begin his term on July 1, 2010.

Dr. David Fleishman is currently the Superintendent of Schools in Chappaqua, NY. Prior to becoming Superintendent in Chappaqua, Dr. Fleishman was Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Wellesley, MA. Before that he was an Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources in Ossining, NY. Dr. Fleishman began his career in education as a teacher in the New York City Public Schools. He holds an Ed.D from Teachers College, Columbia University. Resume of Dr. David Fleischman (.pdf)
Dr. Susan Marks is currently the Associate Superintendent for Human Resources in the Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD. Before that, she was a Community Superintendent for five years in Montgomery County where she led the instructional programs in 30 schools. She has also served the Montgomery County Public Schools as Chief Information Officer, and as Principal of two elementary schools. Dr. Marks received her Ed.D from the University of Maryland. Resume of Dr. Susan Marks (.pdf)
Dr. Stacy Scott is currently the Associate Superintendent for the Office of Shared Accountability in the Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD. Prior to that, he was the founder and President of the Center for Understanding Equity, an organization that coaches school districts on data management, accountability and equity. Earlier in his career, Dr. Scott was a middle school Math and Spanish teacher. Dr. Scott holds an Ed.D from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. Resume of Dr. Stacy Scott (.pdf)

Each finalist will spend a day in Newton during the upcoming week:

• Tuesday, February 23–Dr. Scott
• Wednesday, February 24–Dr. Marks
• Thursday, February 25–Dr. Fleischman

The schedule for each of the three days will be:

• 8:30 – 10:00 am School Committee Interview (Frazier Room 210, Ed Center)
• 10:00 – 12:00 pm School Tours
• 12:00 – 2:30 pm Staff sessions
• 4:00 – 5:00 pm Search Committee Interview (Frazier Room 210, Ed Center)
• 7:30 – 9:00 pm Public Forum, Day Middle School

All are invited to attend the interview sessions and the public forum or to tune in on NewTV.  Written feedback forms will be available at all sessions and/or comments can be sent to: schoolcommittee@newton.k12.ma.us

On Sunday, February 28th, the School Committee will convene in open session at 12:00 noon to deliberate and decide on a preferred candidate.  This will be followed by a site visit and salary/contract negotiations with the offer finalized at the end of March.  If the School Committee is unable to decide on February 28th, a revised process will be developed for moving forward.

For more information, and to find detailed resumes for the candidates: http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/schoolcommittee/

Each candidate will spend an entire day in the district on February 23, 24 and 25. His/her day will begin with a televised School Committee interview from 8:30-10:00 am, followed by school visits, meetings with administrators, a 4:00-5:30 pm session with the Search Committee, and a televised Community Forum in the Day Middle School auditorium from 7:30-9:00 pm.  All are invited to attend the open sessions or tune in on NewTV.  Written feedback forms will be available at all sessions and/or comments can be sent to: schoolcommittee@newton.k12.ma.us.

On February 26, the School Committee will convene in open session at 8:30 am to deliberate and decide on a preferred candidate.  This will be followed by a site visit and salary/contract negotiations with the offer finalized at the end of March.  If the School Committee is unable to decide on February 26, a revised process will be developed for moving forward.

All members of the community are invited to an evening session to meet and hear from Interim Superintendent, Dr. James Marini. Dr. Marini will speak about the state of the schools and his experience in Newton thus far, followed by a question and answer session.  Parking at Day is limited; park along Albemarle Road near the Gath Pool and take the path across the field to the school or park in the lot behind the Education Center (100 Walnut Street) which is also a short walk from Day.

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News from Newton Parent Advisory Council for Special Education (SPED PAC): Details about these upcoming events

• Wednesday, October 14th – Shop at Whole Foods;  5% of purchases donated to Mass Advocates for Children
• Wednesday, October 21st – Kickoff meeting for Inclusive Schools Week, from 7:30pm to 9:00pm at 100 Walnut Street, Newtonville.
• Thursday, November 5th – Basic Rights Workshop with Dan Ahearn, Esquire, from 7:30pm to 9:00pm at 100 Walnut Street, Newtonville.