Newton School Superintendent David Fleishman sent this letter on Oct. 3
Dear Newton Families,
On Monday night at the School Committee meeting, our team provided an update on the exploration of later start times for our high schools. Information was provided on the status of the high school schedule redesign, as well as the current financial outlook for the district.
As you may recall, in the spring of 2017, the School Committee, upon the recommendation of the district and following several months of feedback from students, staff, and community, supported moving forward with a redesign of the high school schedule. This redesign would facilitate a shift to later start times, and target end times no later than 3:00 p.m. so as to minimize impact on student, family, and community life.
SCHEDULE REDESIGN
During the 2017-18 school year, a joint high school committee began to review and evaluate the current high school class schedules. This has been a valuable and timely process given that the current schedules at NNHS and NSHS were designed more than 20 years ago. Since that time, many new models for scheduling have emerged that reflect the needs of today’s students and support best practice in teaching and learning. The presentation to School Committee is attached below. The work continues on the schedule and is expected to be completed this winter, following input and feedback from high school families and students. We are committed to developing schedules that maintain the academic excellence and breadth at both high schools while acknowledging the social and emotional needs of our students.
It is important to note that up until now, the district has focused its efforts on moving the high school start times later, while maintaining the current start times at the elementary and middle school levels. This focus was a result of feedback from the majority of elementary and middle school families demonstrating that they preferred to keep their current start times.
FINANCIAL OUTLOOK
However, the financial outlook for the district will make this strategy impossible to implement. Since 2016, our busing costs have risen nearly 20 percent and are expected to rise 5 percent annually for the foreseeable future. If we move high school start times to 8:30 a.m. but maintain current start times at elementary and middle schools, we must add more buses. The additional transportation cost is estimated at $1.1 million (over and above the projected 5 percent annual increase). Our projected budget for the coming year means a $1.1 million increase in bus transportation costs would result in corresponding decreases in core academic services.
NEXT STEPS
Given the financial realities, we will now turn our focus to developing options for later high school start times that may include changes to both elementary and middle school start times. These options will need to maintain our existing tiered system in which buses serve multiple school levels.
We expect to have revised proposals for a system wide start time change for review in spring 2019. The proposals will consider the new high school schedule, the cost, and the impact of traffic. At that time, we will solicit community feedback on these new options.
Given this new time frame, no changes to high school start time will be implemented in the 2019-20 school year. While we are disappointed in this delay, we do believe that in order to ultimately be successful, we must move forward in a way that fully addresses the challenges unique to our City and to our district and is respectful of community input.
The exploration of later high school start times has already prompted the good and necessary work of revising our high school schedules. With that piece in place, we can continue our exploration and, together with the community, determine how to make later start times a reality in Newton. Thank you for your patience.
Sincerely,
David Fleishman and the Newton School Committee
I am writing an editorial that details why this happened. Please email me at [email protected] if you are interested in this topic. I will make the editorial available to the email list, Greg, and the Tab. It may take me a week or two to fine tune it. I need a few days to cool down.
Everyone should watch the NewTV video. It is already online. This part of the meeting starts at 97:30. It is worth hearing what Steve Siegel says around 132:15 and what Ruth Goldman says around the same time. I will try to get permission from Steve to post his quote on V14.
My summary is that healthy start times will not happen next year. Anyone who watches the video will agree with me that healthy start times will not occur before 2021. I can’t believe that we are doing this to our children.
Whoops. Sorry. I don’t know my own email. [email protected]
@Jeffrey – I can’t imagine there’s any need for permission to post what an elected official says at a public meeting that’s already avail on NewTV. It’s already public record.
What Meredith said. Public comments are public.
Steve got back to me.
132:15, Steve Siegel, “Costs are certainly a factor but a bigger factor is the chaos that having a bunch of schools in the south side start within about 20 minutes of each other—having Newton South, and Brown and Oak Hill, all coming in at the same time. We have realized that that is a significant problem. Even if we did not have financial problems, just moving high school without making any other adjustments has emerged as a real problem.”
I can’t even begin to tell you how monumentally disappointed I am in this school committee. Many ran on this subject. This topic has been discussed with parents since 2013, when I attended my first meeting. I am mad that my current junior in high school has heard this talk since he was in elementary school and he will NEVER experience a later start time. He wakes up at 5:45 AM every day to have a healthy breakfast and shower, and then leaves the house at 6:50 AM to make the bus. And because his bus home is always late from South, he gets home at 4:15 PM/4:20 PM, on days that the school days end at 3:20 PM, because his bus shows up at 4 PM.
People have suggested that I drive my child to school, but that will only increase traffic if all parents drive their kids to school. When public transportation (or group transportation) we have our family use it to help the environment. If we drove him to school, he could leave the house at 7:20, and wake up at 6:15 AM.
This group of kids will never experience full day kindy.
This group of kids experienced budget cuts in 2009-2010, which resulted in more kids in classes, cuts in music and more and more fees every year. These families have paid music fees, bus fees and a host of other fees that parents before never paid.
These kids were in middle school when three kids committed suicide in Newton in one year.
Yet, the school committee and the superintendent said that these kids can wait, and we can hopefully benefit the future kids.
The kids in the high schools need change now. Write to the school committee. Talk to members of the school committee. Change can not wait.
Sleep deprivation in our high schools is systemic child abuse. The resulting harm has been articulated in numerous studies. The School Committee has known about the health consequences of sleep deprivation among teens for at least 15 years, yet they’ve proven themselves completely incapable of fixing the problem. Short of a legislative mandate, this issue will never be resolved without mayoral intervention. I’ll repeat the solution I’ve proposed here on Village 14 in the past…
The City Charter affords the Mayor authority to control what time doors open for any municipal building including schools. The Mayor should make clear to the School Committee that she will exercise that authority for the two high school buildings, by not opening doors until 8:30am at the beginning of the next school year, unless the members find a solution to the start time problem….
I don’t believe Mayor Fuller has the political courage to use the solution I’ve proposed. But I want people to be aware that there is a mechanism by which she could fix this problem, and she’s declining to use it.
I agree with much of what Mike said. Mayor Fuller is the crucial link in making a healthy start happen. As an advocate for a late start, who is realistic about the School Committee’s ineffectiveness, I encourage everyone to focus their energy on the mayor. She is capable. If she wants a late start it will happen. If she does not want a late start it won’t happen. The buck stops with her. Parents need to remind her of this.
Jake Auchincloss just sent an email out that says “Later high-school start-times expected by 2020.” To be clear, I don’t think any rational person would say agree with that statement–not even school committee members! Watch the video of the meeting.
Along these lines, Greg should change the title of this blog to “School Committee forces Newton Schools to indefinitely delay later high school start times,” or even better, since the school committee rubber stamps whatever Superintendent Fleishman wants, “Fleishman forces Newton Schools to indefinitely delay later high school start times.” Finances and traffic are merely excuses.
Regarding HSST, I join the community in expression my frustration that the initiative has been repeatedly delayed. I am a strong supporter of the change and fully believe it is in the best interest of our students.
That being said, after hearing from the administration and reviewing all facts, I do understand the cause of the delay and feel it is the right decision.
The set back with HSST was the realization last year that we need to take a giant step back and review, analyze and change the current high school schedule. I am referring to the actual schedule itself, not just the start time. If you are familiar with the current schedule, you will understand just how complicated this endeavor is. The goal is to create a schedule that is equitable across both high schools, allows students to start later while still ending as they are now, and has an emphasis on SEL.
This is a key piece and one I believe you are invested in. The suicides were a travesty and they hit close to home for me personally. I firmly believe that the new high school schedule will be a huge step towards making sure this never happens again. The day will be shorter, SEL will be integrated throughout the day…this is going to be an innovative change that leads the way for other districts to follow.
What that means is that the surveys and plans from before need to be recrafted and revisited. So although the delay is frustrating and it means that students are feeling the hit…in the long run, it is going to be the best way to proceed. I agree with the timeline and do not support speeding up the survey process because I know just how delicate this decision is. Many parents have asked why we can’t just change EL and HS start times. However, the details are much more complicated. For instance, doing so would make it so that children enrolled in the METCO program would be waiting for a bus in the dark…in the winter.
Unfortunately, there are swaths of students who will never get to experience this positive change. I am not taking this lightly and the fact that kids are being negatively affected as we speak weighs on me every single day.
@Mathew Miller– Sad to see you’ve become another apologist for a broken system. You remind me of the other SC members like Steve Siegel and Margaret Albright who promised later start times before they were first elected, then completely dropped the ball. Here’s a bit of advice for you and those others… Live up to your campaign commitments or resign.
Good one Mike. I never promised anyone anything other than the fact that I will remain transparent, focused on children and brave enough to face difficult decisions. I’ve lived up to that promise. For the record, I have a freshman at South that is affected.
@Mathew– I understand you’ve only been on the SC 10 months. But you acknowledged the serious problem of high school start times before you were elected. You say that the issue of systemic sleep deprivation “weighs on” you “every single day,” but suggest that you have no means to actually fix the problem. I strongly disagree with your assessment…
I believe it has been a dereliction of responsibility for successive SC’s to have allowed this situation to continue unabated for 15 years, after evidence was brought forward linking early start times to a host of medical issues among teens. The people of Newton should be able to have confidence their elected representatives on the SC will actually fix a problem that so negatively impacts thousands of Newton school children every day.
@Matthew Miller, we’ve all heard this before. A later HS start time means either shuffling start times for younger kids or shelling out big $$ on more buses. That was the takeaway from the working group report two years ago. Since then, our kids have continued to be sleep deprived and we have all eagerly awaited the solution we were promised and — big surprise — we still have the same transportation issue! The fact that buses cost more doesn’t really seem to change the calculus, only the bottom line.
So, while the high schools have been improving the schedule to accommodate after school activities, did anyone do any thinking on transportation? Did anyone look at more efficient ways to schedule the METCO buses? Did anyone work to reduce traffic at our schools? Should we expect a different result a year from now?
As a teacher at one of the high schools, I’m very angry about this decision (as are the majority of my co-workers) and applaud you all on this forum for your energy on this issue. Your anger, however, should be directed at Mayor Fuller, as she alone has the authority to give the School Committee more funding. The School Committee has to operate with the budget it is given, and if it were to put over $1 million toward new buses, that would take money away from other aspects of the budget. The upcoming budget year is going to be very challenging, as she doesn’t seem interested in new forms of funding for many aspects of the school system. Mobilize your efforts, as you on this forum are her constituents and she must answer to you!
Has there been any discussion of increasing the frequency of the #52 and #59 MBTA buses which run past the high schools? Having them run every 10-15 minutes versus every 30? Boston puts high school students on public transit, maybe we could lower our busing costs and get better public bus service for the rest of us.
Lucia, the MBTA has told me they have some prohibition on providing service for school students. I don’t know exactly the origin, but it seems we are lucky to have the minimal coordination and 52 ‘d’ route (though I suppose staff could be using the bus also). That said, these struggling bus routes serve new housing and commercial developments as well as the new UMass campus. Instead of each one funding a private shuttle, how about some sort of public/private partnership that funds a bus everyone could share, a bus that follows the existing public bus routes and shares the same stops and forms of payment. That could encourage more people to use the route and would happen to benefit the school kids…
Can someone explain to me how a later starting time will mean more sleep for students. Won’t they just go to bed later since they will be able to sleep later?
Isn’t the real question “Why don’t they get enough sleep now”? Too much time spent on activities other than homework? Too much homework?
Isn’t part of being in HS to learn how to manage time?
Isabelle,
It’s biology. On average, circadian rhythm’s change in adolescents. This shifts their bodies’ sleep towards a later schedule. Scientists have documented this not only in humans but in mammals. For example, adolescent rats wake up later than pre-adolescent rats and mature rats. The sleep schedule for rats has nothing to do with homework, cell phones, or video games.
Peer-review studies have shown that starting high school later leads to students getting more sleep. I am not looking at the study now, but I think for an hour later start, students sleep an extra 45 minutes.
Adults are biologically better suited to start work earlier than adolescents. The standard adult work starting time is 9 AM. Teenagers are hardwired to wake up later, yet Newton South starts at 7:40 AM.
Peer-reviewed evidence has shown incredible physical/mental health and academic benefits from starting high school later. Applying data from automobile studies to Newton, I estimated that moving to a healthy start time would eliminate 2 teenager traffic accidents per month.
It is alarming that the school committee has done anything about the problem. Instead they have been making plans to reduce the school time by 3 weeks per year. There is no scientific evidence that doing so will have any benefit, but there is scientific evidence that doing so reduces education outcomes.
Hi all, I wrote a long response a few days ago and then a bad connection erased it. Sorry for the delay.
@Mike, my intent was not to suggest I have ‘no means’ to fix the issue. Rather, what I tried to communicate was that we had to take a bit of a back step. The successful implementation of a change to HSST is still something I see as viable…just not on the timeline you might want. Regarding my time on the SC, I was elected based on my years of experience and ability to do the job on day 1. In my 10 months I have been a part of several initiatives that I feel have moved NPS forward. I expect no less from myself and my colleagues. Please hold me to that standard.
@Adam, I have asked those same exact questions internally as well. I have seen room for efficiencies and expediency. That being said, I also have seen just how hard the NPS staff works and understand that this is not the only responsibility they have. I have heard from constituents that they feel our administration is top-heavy. After getting an inside view, I can say that I don’t think this is the case at all. So while I too have been frustrated at times, I acknowledge a bigger picture. Regarding transportation, it is a conversation you have been a part of for years. I am part of a Transportation Steering Group which is actively meeting. So far I have been encouraged by the creative thinking and visionary direction this group is taking. Big things to come Adam.
@Newton Teacher, I know the issue can be upsetting, but I don’t feel anger is a useful tool, regardless of who/what it is pointed at. Just like you do in the class room, let’s think of other ways to communicate and partner that are more productive. In this case, maybe some creative thinking? I like the idea of discussing revenue generations…increased enrollment in NECP and Central High? Stronger collaboration with Newton Parks and Rec on our inclusive summer programming? And on that note, a word in defense of Mayor Fuller. The City has to balance many competing needs. That means that Mayor Fuller has the impossible job of saying ‘no.’ Rather than demands and accusations, let’s try conversation and understanding. Our teachers and staff are our most valuable resource. Let’s partner with the city to ensure that this resource is maintained.
Thanks Matthew.
This is the first I have heard of the “Transportation Steering Group.” When was the group convened? Was this group determined at a school committee meeting? Are there minutes available?
@Jeff, this is a group that, as I understand it, has been in the works for many years. The group consists of Julie Kirrane, Liam Hurley, Regina Moody, Steve Siegel, Margaret Albright and myself. We are also partnering with Brenda Noel and Barbara Brousal-Glaser as well as several city officials and key stakeholders. We have had one meeting so we truly are at a very early stage. As a working group there are no OMLs. However, communication is going to be a critical component to our success. We will be presenting updates to the SC as we move forward. I don’t have anything formal to share yet..but we are getting there.
Matthew. Sorry for the cross-examination. Did the working group have its first meeting before or after October 2? Thanks.
@Jeff, no apologies necessary. Effective communication is not an easy goal to achieve with perfection and I do not mind inquiries! Yes, the meeting took place last month. In it, we worked out a very rough Mission Statement. Communication was listed as a top priority for this group. However, we are still really defining who we are and presenting info at this point would be premature. Feel free to ask any other questions and I will answer them if at all possible!
I don’t believe there has been a traffic study of South since its renovations or the installment of lights at Parker St. and Rte 9. Why is this not a higher priority for the City? What are we waiting for?
Lucia hit the nail on the head. This is one part of my planned op-ed.
If the School Committee took the healthy start seriously, why was first (and only) meeting of the traffic group last month? When Steve Siegel says about traffic, “We have realized that that is a significant problem,”he is saying that the SC realized this 3 years ago and they sat on their hands until last month. This SC decision to stall inflected yet another year of worse mental/physical health and worse academic performance for our children.
@Jeff, the TSG (Transportation Steering Group), while undoubtedly related to HSST, was not formed as a result of or with direct attention to HSST. Rather, it was formed as a united path, working with the city and other local groups, towards improved transportation. In the past 3 years, there have been ongoing conversations about busing and traffic as they pertain more specifically to HSST. I was not a part of them but I know that a lot of work went into this discussion. As a passionate advocate for HSST change, you have historically maintained a balanced outlook and have asked curious questions along the way. I would encourage others following to do the same.
As a point of clarification- the city council members, Barbara and myself were not invited to the initial TSG meeting. There is a meeting scheduled for next week that I plan on attending.
@Matthew,
Would you please elaborate on why you believe that a working group is not subject to the Open Meeting Laws? By your description, the TSG seems to fit the definition of a “public body”.
This is never going to happen, is it? I have a feeling that my elementary-aged child is going to finish up at Newton North in about a decade with the same schedule that they have now.
@Bret, as it was explained to me by the Chair and C0-chair of the SC, working groups are not subject to OML. If you email the SC I can make sure that one of them gets back to you with explanation/reasoning and more specific info. Thank you!
Bret – I went down this road years ago. Matthew is right. Working groups can be closed to the public (exempt from the open meeting laws). I think they have to have less than a quorum of the SC and/or be discussing and a few select things.
Our state legislature and its committees are even worse for transparency. They are completely exempt from open meeting laws.
@matthewmiller Why has the group only met once since January? Can you explain why you have not met monthly? And from the comments it doesn’t seem that the entire group was present or invited. Matthew are the meeting notes from the 1st meeting posted anywhere? Curious to see how many school committee members and city councilors were present. We deserve answers and transparency especially given your posts which are a bit misleading as to the attendees and committee members.
@Jackie, the group has only met once because the group was just formed. The group did not exist in January. The meeting to which Councilor Noel refers to was an initial meeting where it was still unclear who was going to be a part of the group. Upon notification from Councilor Noel that she had expected to be invited, I advocated on her behalf, keeping her informed the entire way. This lead to a more developed scope for the group and, as she mentioned, she is coming to the next meeting.
I understand we live in a time where trust in elected leaders is scarce. However, since I have been elected, I have prioritized communication and transparency. If you found my post/information misleading, please know that it was not done intentionally. I actually thought long and hard about posting on Village 14 as I had been warned by many. Ultimately I decided that posting here was part of my duty to my constituents and in line with my goals of transparency.
You do deserve answers and you do deserve transparency. When information is ready for distribution, it will be made available.
I was asked along with Councilor Brousel Glazier to be a member of the group by President Laredo in late spring 2018.
@matthewmiller It is your duty as an elected official to be transparent. And thank you for not going down the path of blaming village14. We are frustrated that the school committee is perhaps not taking the high school start times seriously. @Jeff and @Lucia asked the same question and you have yet to answer it. Why has there only a single meeting on transportation since January. You mentioned that the group came away with a mission statement. Who was at the meeting and are there any minutes? Pretty simple questions.
@Jackie, agree 100%. Feel free to call me at 617-394-8833. I look forward to speaking with you.
Trying to catch up on news back home and thought I was going to read about OptOutNewton but this posting caught my attention. Remarkable how this post degraded with an elected school committee member refusing to answer basic questions. This is certainly an interesting and entertaining read but also quite concerning . I very seldom post as we are relatively new to Newton and tend to stay in the background taking in the opinions. As a mum of a middle schooler this hits home. @MaryMaryQuiteContrary I agree with you that we may never see later start times. @Jeff can’t wait for your OpEd and I hope it shines a light on the lack of urgency and transparency in our School Committee. @matthewmiller disappointed with your pursuit of martyrdom by throwing out your phone number when asked to respond to direct questions. Part of a public forum is to inform and educate constituents. You have done neither.
Matthew has done a great job communicating. He deserves credit for emailing constituents and it looks like the school committee has wisely co-opted his email service. For a person who misses Emily Norton’s “Greater Newton Public Schools,” (I think that was the website), the email is a godsend.
@AvaG and @Jackie
Thank you again for your comments. I have not refused to answer questions but admittedly don’t have all the answers!
Regarding your questions…I will answer them to the best of my ability:
Why has there only a single meeting on transportation since January. (Because the group did not exist. As to why it didn’t exists before, I do not know the answer to that)
You mentioned that the group came away with a mission statement. (Yes, a rough draft)
Who was at the meeting? (Myself, Mr. Siegel, Ms Albright, Ms Moody, Ms Kirrane and Mr. Hurley)
Are there any minutes? (No)
The reason I offered my phone number is because the written responses do not seem to be answering your questions. As someone who has advocated for transparency relentlessly (reinvigorated SC newsletter and created first of its kind Virtual Office Hours) I want to make myself available. Since the written form is leading to confusion, I felt that a conversation would clear it up.
Thanks again for being passionate advocates for HSST.
@Jeff, thank you.
A wise man (on this blog) once told me you have to “have a thick skin” to run for office. While that may be true, I believe communication would be enhanced if we all asked more curious questions rather than jumping to conclusions. No one runs for office for the money…I believe all of my colleagues are here because we care. We are human and make mistakes. As we teach our kids in NPS, let’s be kind to each other.
Wow. I thought I was going to bed, but apparently I am now sucked into Village 14. The School Transportation Working Group is in response to YEARS of advocacy from Safe Routes to School Task Force and the Transportation Advisory Group. Our request was to have NPS develop school transportation policy K-12 that goes beyond who qualifies for the bus. The policy should prioritize walking, biking and taking the bus. The committee should then work with the city to create safe and efficient ways to make this happen.
@Matthew,
Thanks for offering to help find an explanation for why a working group might not be subject to the OML. I will take you up on this by email.
In the case of the TSG, since there seem to be multiple people asking about meeting minutes, perhaps a constructive way to move towards more transparency would be to convince the other TSG group members that *this* working group should provide agendas and minutes to constituents.
@MatthewMiller With all due respect I think all of us have been kind, a bit forthright maybe but none the less respectful and kind. I would like to note that there is something eskew with the timeline you reference. According to a post, Mr. Siegel stated that our school committee has known about the issue for 3 years, @Alicia points out that constituents have been engaging for 3 years for safe school routes. I may be confusing a few groups and perhaps acronyms but the sprit holds true as @Brenda stated that she was asked to be part of the working group in the Spring time. Which means as @Jeff highlighted his displeasure that you and your colleagues have known about the issue for quite some time and have had only one working group meeting since the spring. And as you stated it happened to be within the last 60 days. In the kindness manner possible and we appreciate you engaging with the community and, I surely do not speak for everyone but a single meeting in 6 months on such an important topic is quite unacceptable and rather dismissive to the matter at hand. There is no wonder why start times will not be implemented this fall.
In the future please take this seriously, adhere to a sense of urgency, engage the city, the constituents and be transparent with meeting notes and updates to the community in a public forum. kind regards…. Ava
Matthew, thank you for participating in V14 and for your optimism. For years I have been looking forward to the formation of the Transportation Steering Group. The system we have in Newton clearly is not sustainable. We need new policies and new attitudes about how our kids get to school. It impacts everyone. School transportation is very challenging stuff, and I don’t think it is fair to assume that this group will come up with some quick fix to the high school start times. As you point out, the two discussions are very much related but evolved separately.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that SC working groups are not subject to OML (HSSC was one recent example) Just because those requirements aren’t there does not mean we can’t have some transparency. Thank you for sharing this information with everyone.
Just to be clear, I’m not questioning the workload or intentions of school administrative staff. Based on HSSC working group reports, I did not expect a solution any time in the near future. I do think it was odd that Superintendent Fleishman would raise the hopes for a solution without addressing this key issue. Yet, I do hope every effort is made to continue to work on this problem.
My children attended high school when the new School hours were developed.
At the time I was shocked by the changes. Home room time was eliminated, school began earlier, classroom rotation time was shortened, lunch time was cut in half.
All these changes began with education reform in the 1990’s.
The State mandated a longer school day. Teachers were upset about longer days and demanded financial compensation.
Grid lock ensued. The solution was too make school days fit into
a shorter schedule. I was appalled by this solution. Even today I am surprised students are treated so poorly.
I will be very surprised if NPS’s ever return to the past sensible
school schedule. If anyone were to suggest the old system, just watch the teachers’ union go haywire if they aren’t compensated.
Colleen, are you suggesting that teachers should not be paid for the extra time?
Teachers already not only spend their own money on supplies their classses need but also spend their own time working long after school ends.
Other employers pay for time worked, why shouldn’t NPS?
Matthew, thank you for joining in the fray that is V14. You are doing a good job commenting on SC business. It’s much appreciated.
Just want to add, I have been on many working groups over the years for public, non-profit and private entities and none of them were required to keep minutes. It would defeat the purpose of their meetings.
In a working group the members need to brainstorm ideas and discuss any solution that comes to mind whether it will work or not. Sometimes ridiculous ideas are blurted out. For this process to work as intended, the members need to be able to express themselves without being recorded. Even a seemingly off kilter idea can lead ones brain to come up with a really good one, but those ideas won’t be expressed in a public format.
I agree that the SC has stalled the transportation issues and later high school start times for years and don’t have much faith that it will be done by 2020. Mathew Miller has only been on the SC since January. He joined a group that has wasted time on many surveys of parents and students and public hearings without themselves competently addressing the challenges these changes face. The financial problems have always been there. The chaos of having NSHS students and elementary students in the area should have been obvious in a proper study.
Are any school administrators or teachers on the working group? Their input is critical – more so than that of repeated surveys of parents and students. The SC must realize that not everyone will be happy with their decisions and must do what is best for the students and NPS.