My name is Emily Prenner and I am excited to announce my run for the open Ward 5 School Committee seat in November 2019. Voters city-wide can vote for School Committee members.
For 15 years I have worked in many positions to support the Newton Public Schools (NPS) both locally and as an advocate at the state level.
- PTO President at the Newton Early Children Program (NPS preschool), Angier Elementary School and Newton South High School
- President of the city-wide PTO Council
- Community Representative on the Angier School Building Committee
- Co-Chair of the 2013 override campaign which funded Angier, Zervas and Cabot school building projects, as well as additional teachers to reduce large class sizes
- 2017 recipient of the Massachusetts Association for School Committee (MASC) Community Leader for Public Education award
As a member of the School Committee, I will use my experience and in-depth knowledge of Newton Public School to ensure our students have the best education possible. Newton needs to continue hiring highly qualified teachers, provide depth and breadth of programs, and have reasonable class sizes, modern facilities, and an overarching commitment to supporting ALL learners. I will work hard to achieve these goals, while also recognizing that financial constraints may require some creative thinking, and at times, difficult choices.
Personally, I have a ninth grader and sophomore in college. I attended MIT and studied chemistry and theater. My professional experience as an IT program manager and consultant have taught me how to balance competing priorities while bringing together disparate groups of people to achieve a common goal.
I’ve started meeting with voters across Newton, to hear their ideas and thoughts about Newton Public Schools. I’d welcome hearing from you – please feel free to contact me anytime. For more information, go to my campaign website www.emilyprenner.com
What do you know about budgets? The S Comm. has run up Newton’s debt to an unsustainable level.
How will you plan for the future? There are too many class room aids for a start. What would you do to slow down the cost of wage increases for teachers?
Busing costs are hurting the budget. How will you handle the
problems with busing?
Emily,
I am so excited to hear that you are running. You have always listened, and made wise decisions especially with Angier’s new building. I am confident that you would make an amazing School Committee member. Making sure NPS can live within its budget and offer a full curriculum to all students, including high school students in AP, special education needs from pre-K to graduation and everything in between. You have listened to the various issues over the years, including budget, bussing, aging buildings, etc. You have my vote and I am happy to speak to others about why Emily would make an excellent member of the school committee.
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I have worked with Emily on several initiatives and am so happy she is running!! She knows what it is to work hard, to consider things from all perspectives and to get things done! Go Emily!
Newton is so fortunate that Emily is running. She has exceptional judgment, integrity, experience, work ethic…all of it! Exciting moment.
Outstanding news! Emily is the real deal, and would make a fantastic addition to the School Committee.
I’m very familiar with Emily Prenner who has advocated on behalf of our schools, children and teachers in front of and behind the scenes, on the state and local level for many years. We should all be grateful for her efforts. She is one of the reasons everyone wants to send their kids to the Newton schools. She is well qualified and would do a good job from day one.
Only a fool or sacrificial lamb would run against Emily, who will win this race by an
overwhelming margin. It won’t even be close. You can take that to the bank. Emily will enjoy the support of most, if not
all the school committee, the City Council and former school committee members going back to the Susie Heyman days. I was going to say former Newton City Hall employees and mayors also, but Aaron Goldman said that for me. Emily’s Stand For Children colleagues(the 501c3 education PAC active in Newton in the last decade that she doesn’t mention on her CV) will rally the troops, and she will be able to leverage the political support her spouse Chris Steele has enjoyed as a former political candidate and member of various committees in Newton. Despite the formidable challenge, that doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be a sacrificial lamb to offer an alternative choice unless substantive answers to critical questions are answered. Emily’s home Village, Waban,(-one of the wealthiest in Massachusetts) has 2 brand new elementary schools,
Angier and Zervas. The third elementary school that Emily would represent is Countryside, which has historically been neglected by nearly all our city politicians, Susie Heyman, Steve Siegel, Margaret Albright and Geoff Epstein notwithstanding. For school parents new to the city, especially in the Countryside district near Needham St) the city schools are at a critical juncture.
Countryside mostly exists as an overcrowded brick building with a collection of “temporary” trailers which have been on-site for at least 12-15 years. Development on Needham St is slated to add hundreds of new apartments in the next couple of years, and with those apartments will be school children- lots of them.
The school committee, mayor and aldermen badly dropped the ball when Avalon Bay was built in the early 2000’s. When school children from Avalon Bay overwhelmed Countryside, the school committee and city aldermen ran in the other direction and blamed it on 40B laws. The problem was, Avalon Bay didn’t run our schools, they did. This richly diverse school which has historically served a portion of economically disadvantaged children and families has neither the economic power or political muscle to advocate for therein school in the same manner that another district/Village- lets say Waban, would. The first of many questions i have is if Emily will leverage her political seat to help the district or she will walk in the other direction like so many before her have.
@NewtonMom, @Andrea, @Karen and @Aaron – thank you so much for your kind words.
@Paul – thank you for your kind words as well. I left you a voicemail so we can have a face-to-face conversation, but I do want to let you know two things. First, if elected, I will be very engaged with the Countryside community. In my role as PTO Council President, I have gotten to know current Countryside PTO leaders quite well. I will continue to foster and grow those relationships. Second, you should be happy to know that Countryside is planned to be the next school building to be renovated, after Lincoln Eliot. The physical condition of Countryside is in bad shape, with 50% of the square footage being infrastructure that was never meant to be permanent. I’m sure the potential enrollment increases from major development along Needham street was another reason Countryside ‘jumped’ the line ahead of Franklin and Ward. I look forward to meeting you in person.
@Colleen- I have been following both the NPS and the City budgets for years. If elected, I clearly want our students to have the best education possible, but I also understand we need to spend taxpayer money wisely.
I’m glad that Emily is willing to run and to serve – it’s hard to imagine a more qualified candidate!
@Emily-
You are welcome. Thank you for your reply. I received your message and i will reach out before too long. Good luck with your campaign.
Emily knows her sh*t. She will be good.
I can’t even imagine someone who could do a better job than Emily. Smart, level-headed, tireless—she’s exactly what we need. Go Emily!