The Newton school committee met on Monday night to discuss an upcoming district audit by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, a proposal to build a solar canopy at Countryside Elementary School and the results of a student and family survey. 

The committee also voted unanimously to accept a $215,000 donation from the Newton Schools Foundation, with $55,000 dedicated to the Calculus Project and the rest allocated toward classrooms, professional development and equity programs. 

Chair Alicia Piedalue began the nearly three and a half hour meeting with a reminder of state laws governing the public comment period that begin each meeting. Attendees must now inform the chair if they plan to record video or audio during the meeting and may record video from their seat. 

At some recent school committee meetings, speakers were heckled and photographed from the front of the room. This will no longer be permitted, and the Chair reserves the right to have people who interrupt proceedings removed from the meeting. Piedalue also asked that attendees remain silent during the entirety of public comment and avoid holding loud conversations outside of the meeting room. 

DESE audit

Superintendent Anna Nolin shared that Newton Public Schools will be undergoing a full-scale audit by DESE between December to February, despite her request not to, as the district participated in other smaller audits last year. 

The audit will focus on curriculum and instruction, assessment, human resources and professional development, student support, and financial and asset management. 

The district is currently in the document collection and questionnaire phase of the process. Nolin said this is the first time she is participating in this type of audit and asked that the school committee postpone further review of the district’s homework policy in January to June to make time for the audit process. 

Twenty districts are chosen by the state each year. Nolin said DESE officials plan to visit almost every NPS classroom and that she is concerned about being cited for the total number of minutes spent learning in a school day or year, which happened in Brookline during its district audit. DESE citations can result in financial repercussions for districts in violation of state education requirements.

Ben Schlesinger of Ward 5 encouraged his fellow school committee members to support Nolin and her administrative team by postponing the homework policy discussion. 

“When [Anna] is asking for help, it’s time for us to help,” he said. “We push to June. That’s the reality of where we’re at, and that’s okay.” 

Victor Lee of Ward 8 questioned why the schedule clash between the homework policy and the DESE audit had not surfaced months earlier, and ultimately voted against the postponement. The motion passed 8-1. 

Solar canopy proposal

Sam Nighman, the city’s co-director of climate and sustainability, and Caroline Weiss, director of climate and energy, shared a 25-year proposal to lease the Countryside Elementary School parking lot to a third party company that would construct a solar power canopy from which the city could purchase electricity. 

Nighman said the business model is similar to other solar canopies in Newton, such as rooftop projects done at the Mason Rice, Lincoln Elliot and Peirce elementary schools. The city will save an estimated $31,000 in the first year by switching to solar-powered electricity, and the construction would primarily be done next summer so that school operations are not affected.

A rendering of a solar canopy outside a school building. (Courtesy of Climate & Energy, City of Newton)

Weiss additionally shared a proposal for the district to favor electric vehicles when replacing school buses going forward and a plan to reduce school building emissions in the long run. The city of Newton is trying to receive the state designation of being a Climate Leader Community, and two of the six requirements involve school committee approval.  

Approval of the first proposal would not require the district to purchase EVs in every case.  

Parent and student survey results

Katy Hogue, chief of data and research, gave a presentation on student connectedness and sentiment, based on a recent survey. She shared that students reported overall high levels of connection to their school, most of all in high school, followed by elementary and middle school. 

The level of reported connectedness was lower for Black students, students with disabilities and English language learners. The gap was higher for Black middle school students than in elementary or high school, which Nolin’s team hypothesized is due to the transition from having one teacher to several teachers while still being at a developmentally young age that requires adult support. 

Hogue said the survey will be repeated between Thanksgiving and winter break. The family sentiment survey response rate was only 8%, which she said makes conclusions difficult to draw accurately, but the results were overall positive regarding views of the district’s ability to meet student needs. Families generally asked for improvement in communication from the district, more rigorous academic offerings, diversity and equity training for staff and more sports and club offerings. 

Nolin said she had heard questions about why the student sentiment and connectedness data had not improved more following the addition of new mental health staff in recent years. 

“Positions do not equal movement,” she said. “We actually need a strategy and a plan for intervention around student health and wellbeing and connectedness just as we do academics.” 

Hogue also gave an extended presentation on the district’s 2026 test results on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), a series of standardized English, math and science tests. A detailed analysis of the results by the Newton Beacon will follow later this week.