The Newton school committee held an extensive discussion of the district’s hiring practices, current staff and enrollment data at a meeting on Monday night. 

The meeting’s agenda included a human resources presentation about the district’s hiring processes. During public comment, Newton resident and parent Noam Shoresh shared his concerns that the presentation was the result of several community members vocally opposing the recent hiring of Maryam Abu-Hasaballah, an eighth grade Brown Middle School history teacher whose college thesis discussed the 2024 pro-Palestinian campus protests. 

“The people that started a campaign like this, they don’t care so much about an individual teacher,” he said. “They want to change policies, they want to change procedures, they want to change curricula. Because they really dislike certain opinions, instead of encouraging discussion.”

Superintendent Anna Nolin introduced Joany Santa, assistant superintendent of human resources, to give the presentation on hiring practices and staffing data. Nolin said that the HR presentation is done every fall for the benefit of the school committee and the public. 

The district manages nearly 3,000 employees and underwent significant restructuring as a result of budget cuts made last spring that eliminated several positions. Santa said the median time it took to fill a teacher position decreased from 26 days to 18 days from the previous school year to the current one, although more historical data is needed to measure ongoing trends. 

Angier Elementary School currently has eight interns through partnerships with local colleges. Santa said she is hopeful that the district can place unpaid interns at other schools in the district by partnering with more universities. 

Preliminary data for the current school year shows that the district has an 8.2% “employee churn” rate, meaning the voluntary or involuntary departure of an employee. The statewide rate is 9.9%. Fifty-four administrative positions have been eliminated since the 2023-24 school year, marking a cut from 227 to 173 staff members, but some of these employees have remained in the district by filling other roles. 

Nolin noted that the split between staff who have more or less than 15 years of experience is nearly equal in the district. 

“We need experienced individuals and we need people who are in their first few years of teaching. That balance in the district is really important,” Santa said. “It makes it difficult because the more experience you have coming into a district, the more expensive you are … [but] students need educators with experience, and other educators need educators with experience.” 

The committee also discussed the addition of a school committee member to the principal search committees for Newton North High School, Newton South High School and Bowen Elementary School. 

Tamika Olszewski of Ward 4 brought up concerns she heard from fellow parents who said they were informed that the North principal search committee was closed to new members, which was then reopened to allow Chair Alicia Piedalue to join. Olszewski encouraged the school committee to be more transparent with the public about the reasons for taking part in the principal search and that the decision was made by committee leadership, not voted on by the entire committee. 

Chief of Data and Research Katy Hogue gave a presentation on the district’s enrollment data, compared to projections made last year for the current school year. Newton Public Schools’ preliminary enrollment for the year is 11,052 students, a decrease of 283 students compared to the prediction of a decrease of 117 students. 

The committee concluded the meeting with a 9-0 vote to approve updated school improvement plans for the district. The plans and all other meeting materials are available on the city’s website.