To the Editor,

Regarding your profile of my candidacy in Ward 8 for School Committee, I appreciate your effort to introduce all candidates to the voters, and Raeya Jain distilled a long conversation nicely. I do, however, wish to offer one clarification.

On the subject of the Newton Public Schools’, “Portrait of a Learner,” I appear to say that enabling adaptable critical thinkers, with empathy, a learner’s mindset and the ability to communicate, is impossible today. That’s somewhat stronger than my claim.

Not impossible, but difficult in an education universe that sees those qualities as “soft skills”. The NPS portrait should determine its educational priorities, but there isn’t a permission structure in place to do so. The system’s Strategic Plan, for example, only mentions the Portrait once, though its logo graces the front page.

The quiet message is, “While we envision a certain kind of education, what we really want is in the plan.” That nudge pushes the Portrait away from center-stage, and in doing so, weakens Newton’s ability to shape policy and practice around it.

Don’t get me wrong: there’s plenty to like in the Strategic Plan, and the Commonwealth hasn’t exactly given school systems permission to move away from educational practices rooted in the Industrial Revolution. What we need is to replace the defunct MCAS graduation requirement with something like a “Massachusetts Portrait of a Learner”. Do that, and Newton’s schools, from Angier to Zervas, will have the permission they need to be places “where every student can thrive”.

Sincerely,

Jim Murphy

Newton Highlands, Candidate for Newton School Committee