Decision 2017: School Committee Ward One from NewTV on Vimeo.
Here’s video from the NewTV and the Newton League of Women Voters debate featuring candidates Kathy Marchi and Bridget Ray-Canada. Voters city wide can vote in this contest on Nov. 7.
VIDEO: Marchi and Ray-Canada for Ward 1 School Committee
by Greg Reibman | Oct 5, 2017 | Newton, School Committee | 9 comments
Thank you V14 for posting these videos. I knew very little about these candidates and this debate helped me decide. They both are great candidates. Ms. Marchi impressed me most with her depth of knowledge about the school system and won my vote.
I just watched the debate. Hopefully there will be another debate that will help us ascertain how Marchi and Ray-Canada differ on positions.
I can’t imagine a bigger issue than high school start times. The evidence is that every year we delay our children have worse mental health, worse physical health, worse academic performance, and high frequencies of car accidents and risky behavior such as drug use and unprotected sex. For this race I want to figure out which candidate is better able to stop the disaster that we have inflicted on our children.
The question about high school start times occurs at 12:51 (if you want to save time). The question is “What is your opinion about high school start times and would you support additional funding for implementation of this change?”
I transcribed each candidate’s answer below in two separate posts.
Marchi, “My opinion of high school start time is that we need to continue to look closely at this. As a parent, I certainly get that our high school kids will be doing better by starting later in the morning and the research shows that’s true. That said, we have to look closely at what the impact is, and how we can make it happen. Funding would very likely be necessary, but I don’t know what those numbers would be, so it would be very difficult right know to say whether or not I can support that, because I don’t have that information. We have working groups started and they have been looking at this carefully and I think there are a number of different issues that will come into play that we need to understand before we could take a firm position on what to do and therefore whether or not we would need or support additional funding.
Ray-Canada. I think the high school start time is very important. I have a high school student and I do know that teachers have said, “he is dozing in class.” So I think it is very important and as the studies show high school student need more sleep. I think that we need to, in Newton, look to how we support this and what are going to be the implications for the funding. So, I think the complex issue is that, one, we need to start late enough for them to get sleep, but, two, you need to end early enough so that students that have after school programs as well as maybe they work, or they have siblings they have to take care of, that they can be able to have a program that starts and ends at an appropriate time. Then you have the challenge, which I think Kathy is talking about, we need to do more studies is the transportation. How do utilize transportation in a way to optimize cost? Because what can happen is you end up increasing your cost because of transportation, which is already a big expense of the school system. So, I support the late start, and I look forward to seeing the report from the school district on what we need to do to implement the program, as well as what the cost will be. And funding, yes, we will have to figure out how we fund the additional transportation.
@Jeffrey – Thank you so much for these posts. I couldn’t agree more with you. As I’ve said before, this is probably THE biggest issue for me as I believe everything else flows from it. My 3 children spent THIRTY years in this school system and I think that is PLENTY of time for dithering and studying and work groups and committees and study groups and impact groups and task forces and everything else that adds up to so much mush. Their neglect and inaction borders on criminal and I do not say that lightly. Thanks again for posting this. It made my decision for me.
School Committee candidates have been talking about the high school start time issue for years. School Committee members have proven they are not independently capable of making the change to later start times, preferring instead to “study” the problem endlessly. My three children went through their entire high school experience sleep deprived, while four successive school committees talked this issue to death. Now, years later my youngest is about to graduate college, and the Newton School Committee is still all talk, no action on high school start times…
Unless the School Committee is forced to change high school start times, it will never happen. There are two ways to force the School Committee to make a change in start times, legislatively or by directive. The former requires a new law be passed by the State. The latter is much easier, as the Mayor of Newton has the ability to facilitate a change in start times by directive…
The Newton City Charter gives the Mayor authority over all municipal buildings. He or she can set the time of day any building is allowed to open its’ doors in the morning. I believe the next Mayor of Newton should make it clear to the School Committee in January that he/she is prepared to change start times through a directive if the School Committee does not take action before the beginning of the next school year…
Think about what we just witnessed with the City Council. For 25 years they didn’t budge on the size of the Council. Suddenly, faced with the possibility of being forced to change, 14 Councilors finally offered to change the size of the Council themselves. While it’s not a great comparison, it is similar enough to show how valuable the threat of forced change can be. The next Mayor of Newton should use that tool to finally bring the start time issue to a close.
Jeff, thank you for your post. To be clear, I fully support the implementation of a later HS start time. As someone who has worked with kids in our schools and having parented 2 kids through high school, the benefit of a later high school start time couldn’t be more obvious to me. In addition, the science is indisputable.
I have worked in Newton for years to ensure that students have the skills to manage stress and to raise the focus of mental health in our school district and our community. My prior experience collaborating in the Newton public schools would help the school committee successfully navigate this change and realize our ultimate goal to provide a learning environment that allows all students to reach their full potential.
@Kathy Marchi– [I’m hoping Bridget Ray-Canada will respond to this post as well].
Almost every SC candidate says they support changing high school start times. It’s one thing to “fully support” a change in start times. It’s something entirely different to actually have a plan how to change those start times. That’s why I believe the next Mayor has to force this change in order to make it happen. Specifically though, how would you “help the school committee successfully navigate this change…”? Are you [and your opponent] prepared to guarantee that you won’t run for reelection without a date-certain having been established to change high school start times?
Great question Mike. Hopefully, ALL SC candidates will respond. Not just Ward 1.