On Wednesday, October 19^th, the district will host a community forum on potential changes to the high school start time. The forum is an opportunity for you to provide your feedback on the positive and negative impacts of a start time change. Several potential scenarios will be presented. Some change only the high school hours. Others change school hours at all schools. The working group’s year-end report can be found on the district website. Potential scenarios can be found here. Attached is a flyer on the forum. Please consider attending to share your feedback. Or, email your thoughts to laterstart@newton.k12.ma.us.

Register for Newton Inspires TODAY!

On November 14th, people from across Newton’s 13 villages once again will gather at Newton South High School for NSF’s 6th annual Newton Inspires: An Evening of Ideas and Community.

Newtonians representing a variety of fields and interest areas will share their insights, ideas and impressions. Be Inspired at Newton Inspires. Sessions fill fast so don’t delay signing up.

November 14th, 7:00 – 9:30 pm
Newton South HS

As the year begins to wind down, many of you are looking for a way to honor and thank the exceptional teachers and staff who have motivated, educated and inspired your students to grow and achieve all year.

As a way to show your appreciation to them, consider participating in Newton Schools Foundations’ Honor Thy Teacher campaign. This special program enables you to honor teachers by giving a gift to the Foundation in the name of the teacher. You may also choose to honor a special education aide, a fine arts or music teacher, or a coach or counselor who has made a difference in your child’s life. A suggested donation is $25 per teacher/staff member.

When you make your donation and identify the teacher(s) or staff you wish to honor, NSF will then:

· Notify the honored teachers and staff of your gift;
· Share the honoree names with the Superintendent and Principals; and
· List each of those honored in the Newton TAB.

You can make your donation on-line at www.newtonschoolsfoundation.org. You can also mail it to Newton Schools Foundation, P.O. Box 590020, Newton Centre, MA 02459.

Please be sure to include the names of the teachers and/or staff that you are honoring. A flyer that includes a donation form was sent to the homes of elementary school students in their backpacks last month, and will be sent again before the end of the year. A flyer will also be mailed to the homes of middle school and high school students (letters to senior student households have already been mailed).

Newton Schools Foundation is a non-profit organization that raises funds to enhance the quality of education in Newton’s public schools. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

On Monday, May 23rd at 6:00 pm at the Ed. Center, the district’s High School Start Time Working Group will hold a general information session to update the community on the status of its work. The presentation will include a brief review of relevant sleep science data, data from the surveys and case studies completed this year, and the opportunity for members of the community to ask questions, raise concerns and provide feedback directly to district leaders engaged in this discussion.

We look forward to your attendance and ask you to encourage others to attend as well. For additional information, please visit the high school start time section of the NPS website at: http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/laterstarttime The working group will also be making its year end report to the school committee at the June 20th School Committee meeting at 6:00 pm.

At our most recent PTOC meeting on May 10th, we were honored to be joined by Senator Creem, Representative Balser and Representative Khan.

On March 23rd, the Superintendent presented his proposed budget for the next fiscal year to the School Committee. The School Committee will hold a number of meetings to discuss the budget, as well as host a public forum to get input from the community. All budget meetings will take place at the Ed. Center, 100 Walnut Street in Room 210.

March 28, 5:30 pm – Regular School Committee Meeting, presentation/discussion on all aspects of the budget
March 31, 8:00 am – Special School Committee Meeting, further budget discussion, straw vote
APRIL 11, 6:30 pm • Public Hearing FY17 Budget (only comments related to FY17 Budget will be heard)
7:00 PM – 11:00 pm • Regular School Committee Meeting (Budget and Non-Budget comments will be heard

TBA – Final budget vote

To see the proposed FY2017 budget, please click here Proposed Budget. You can also click here: https://vimeo.com/160098585 to see the superintendent’s presentation from the March 23rd School Committee meeting.

David Fleishman will present the FY17 NPS budget to the School Committee on March 23rd at 8:00 am in the Ed Center, 100 Walnut Street.

The public is welcome.

Please join the Newton Charter Commission for a Public Hearing.

Newton residents are encouraged to attend this hearing to provide input to members of the commission regarding the executive branch and the School Committee provisions of the Newton Charter. The hearing is expected to broadcast on NewTV.

Information about the work of the Charter Commission is available at newtonma.gov/charter, on Facebook: facebook.com/newtonchartercommission, or Twitter: https://twitter.com/Newtonmacharter

March 9th,  7:00 pm
City Council Chamber
Newton City Hall