When Christie Gibson moved to Newton four years ago with her three children, the city’s schools were still navigating post-COVID challenges. Now, Gibson is ready to guide the district through another transition—this time as a candidate for the Ward 1 seat on the Newton School Committee.

As a school volunteer, tutor, and substitute teacher, Gibson is pursuing a master’s degree in teaching English to speakers of other languages (ESOL). Although she studied theater arts at Brown University, her hands-on work in classrooms showed her how interactive, individualized learning can transform a student’s learning experience.

Her interest in committee issues grew after Newton voters rejected a nearly $9.2 million Proposition 2 ½ operating tax override, a measure that would have helped close a $6 million budget gap for schools. She soon realized many parents felt out of the loop about how Newton Public Schools were making decisions.

Gibson began digging into district challenges and sharing what she was learning with other families, becoming the intermediary for parents who felt unheard and the committee making key choices. “People started telling me, ‘You should run’,” Gibson said. “My friends were like, ‘You’re really into this stuff, and we’d love you to represent us’.”

That focus on personalized education, combined with her experience navigating Newton Public Schools as a parent, inspired her decision to run for the School Committee. “It really came about organically,” Gibson said. “For me, it comes mostly from the parent perspective and wanting to know what’s going on with my kids’ education…in the system we’re paying for,” she said.

Gibson’s campaign mission is to ensure that every child reaches their full potential, with the academic challenge and individual support they may need to thrive.

She points to the district’s math curriculum overhaul as a key issue.

“They’ve compressed what used to be taught in four years of math into three,” Gibson said. “So, in addition to trying to teach students across different levels of readiness, teachers are also moving faster.”

Gibson’s solution: implementing Multi-Tier Systems of Support (MTSS), which involves whole-class instruction (tier one), small-group interventions (tier two), and long-term, individualized support (tier three). She is also a major advocate for Superintendent Anna Nolin’s data-driven approach to education, pushing for frequent elementary-level assessments to track reading and math progress.

“They give teachers and interventionists much more immediate data on what the students are succeeding in and what they need more help with,” Gibson said.

The 2024 teacher strike also pushed her to run. While Gibson understood teachers’ demands, she was struck by how divisive the issue became. “The political outcome of the strike split the parent community,” she said. “I felt that [divide] derailed the bigger conversation about how we’re going to pay for the services we want from the schools.”

Gibson says she wants Newton’s schools to become more responsive to both academic and emotional needs. She has called for stronger social-emotional learning supports across the district.

“If a student is starting to exhibit symptoms of depression, imagine if they had a six-week intervention to help them understand how to manage these symptoms without spiraling,” Gibson said. This vision for Newton’s schools took shape when Gibson heard from colleagues that many students were struggling socially and emotionally after the pandemic.

“I feel like we should be identifying what is going to challenge a student constructively, meeting them where they are,” Gibson said. “If we can support these challenges, they can grow in the directions they need to.”

Gibson’s campaign focuses on putting students first, from strengthening academic interventions and emotional support to ensuring resources are allocated where they have the greatest impact on learning. If elected, she promises to keep students, not politics, at the heart of district decisions.