The Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC/MASS) has awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award to Ward 2 School Committee Member Margaret Albright. She is the first-ever Newton School Committee member to receive this honor since it was first awarded in 1998.
“Lifetime Achievement is a designation established to honor individuals who, through their service to their community and their local school committee, have exhibited the best characteristics of public service.” More information about this award can be found here.
Just one of the many items from this week’s edition of Amy Sangiolo Community and Local Government Update.
Well deserved! Margaret has been a very active and involved School Committee member since she joined. She asks thoughtful questions that go deep into issues and does not avoid difficult topics, like the achievement gap.
I greatly appreciate her work with the Safe Routes to Schools group to help increase safety and reduce traffic around our schools.
Congrats Margaret and thanks for the years of fantastic work on the School Committee (with two more years to come!) and for your tireless efforts even before you were on the School Committee. You are a terrific colleague and you deserve this award!
Congratulations Margaret!
I’m very happy for you.
The NTA, the school committee and all the usual school PTO suspects tried like hell to keep Margaret off the school committee when she first she first ran ( go back and read the TAB letters to the editor), yet “ she persisted”, and I’m glad she did. I can remember sporting a Margaret Albright button at the Harvest fair some years back, and the look I got from school committee member Ruth Goldman when I said hi to her and she saw me wearing that button just about said it all…
She looked like she smelled something someone had stepped in..
@Paul Green – For many years School Committee Members have tried to anoint their successors. It is refreshing to have Members that think independently.
I don’t comment on most school related issues in Newton , but I always sense that I’m in the presence of a great public servant and a true free spirit whenever I hear Margaret Albright discuss a full range of educational challenges here in Newton and beyond. You don’t have to agree with every position Margaret takes to appreciate the real effort she puts into buttressing her positions with detailed documentation, rigorous analysis and the passion to fully examine every detail of every major issue to the point she’s satisfied she’s found the correct answer. Margaret is special, very special. A well deserved award and very proper that she should be the first in Newton to receive it.
So proud of my friend Margaret Albright. Here is a short list of things that Margaret has led on:
– Full Day Kindergarten
– Co-taught classrooms
– Updating School Committee policy manual. Not sexy but these policies had not been updated to comply with current laws since the 80’s. She then led on getting the manual posted where it is searchable (https://z2policy.ctspublish.com/masc/browse/newtonset/welcome/root). #Transparency
– Developing a transportation steering group to develop transportation policy, address student safety and encourage active transportation, which she is working to align with the city’s climate action plan
– Having the school committee start using the DESE superintendent evaluation framework, and training on the revised framework for superintendent evaluation developed by DESE
– Writing and editing a manual for new school committee members (underway)
– She also served on the Cabot School Building Committee and other building committees as well as the northside student assignment working group.
Margaret is an exemplary School Committee member & public servant who has had a huge impact on NPS and it is terrific to see her receive this well deserved award.
I had the great honor and pleasure of sitting next to Margaret for 4 years during my tenure as a School Committee member from Ward 1. I quickly recognized that not only does she have a vast and deep knowledge of all things education, she has a wonderfully generous spirit and will share her knowledge willingly. She quickly earned the nickname, The Professor. To this day–now almost 3 years off the School Committee–I will receive emails from Margaret with articles and resources about areas of education she knows interest me and support the work I do (social and emotional learning). Margaret is a gem and I am honored to be her friend. Congratulations, Margaret, on this well-deserved honor and recognition!
Congratulations, Margaret, on this tremendous award and thank you for all of your hard work and dedicated service to the Newton Public Schools. This is so truly well deserved, my friend.
Brava! It’s delightful to see this kind of recognition for a devoted member of the community.
Congratulations, Margaret!
Congratulations Margaret! Well deserved. Thank you to Emily for the summary of your acomplishments.
Congratulations Margaret!