All candidates running for contested seats in the upcoming Newton elections were invited to submit a post in support of their candidacy. This is Shawn Fitzgibbon’s
I am running for School Committee to ensure that all Newton students are able to access an excellent education.
For me, our community’s highest priority should be to ensure that our children are educated and prepared to be active citizens of the world. This is the true mission of public education in our country – high quality, free education for all students. Here in Newton, we do many things well, and yet there are still opportunities for us to steer closer to that true ideal of public education.
If I am elected to the Newton School Committee, here are my priorities:
Respond to the pandemic
Keep schools open and safe
Close pandemic-related learning gaps
Provide social and emotional support
Maintain academic excellence for all students
Promote anti-racist policies and an anti-racist culture
Attract, support and retain high-quality teachers
Ensure open and transparent communications
Anticipate and plan for fiscal challenges
Expedite school building renovations
Advance environmental initiatives
I have significant experience with youth- and educational-focused organizations as a board member and leader. Professionally, my experience includes academic hospitals and universities. As a volunteer leader, I have been involved with youth-focused non-profit organizations including FamilyACCESS of Newton and the All Newton Music School. I also serve as a Mason Rice School Council member, and previously served on the Newton Child Care Commission. At Family ACCESS and the All Newton Music School I have been closely involved with efforts to return to in-person learning, health and safety, and budget planning related to the pandemic. In my capacity as a Board leader, I have had oversight of CEOs and contract negotiations. My work style is collaborative, open, and honest.
I would like to acknowledge all parents and students who have struggled during the past year. The last year has been tough – for many families and kids, truly terrible. I know. I have been working at home since March 13, 2020. My wife is a veterinarian and has worked in her clinic throughout the pandemic. As a result, I have been with my children every step of the way, helping with school, being a Dad and doing my job all at the same time, at home. Learning loss and mental health are top concerns that I have personally felt, seen and experienced. It is imperative that we respond and do our best to help students in the years to come.
I am honored that my campaign has broad support across Newton – citizens, parents, teachers, hospital CEOs, school custodians, state and local elected officials, environmental leaders and many more have signed on. I hope to have your vote leading up to and on November 2. All Newton residents can vote for me as School Committee member, Ward 6.
Thank you,
Shawn Fitzgibbons
Candidate for Newton School Committee, Ward 6
Shawn- do you believe Newton Public Schools did worse than other communities in responding to the pandemic?
Your post reads otherwise, when there is ample evidence in towns and cities all around that they pushed harder for their kids.
Perhaps running as the status quo candidate using flowery positive language is a good political strategy (or not).
But it’s not aligned with the facts. NPS is in decline by a number of measures and didn’t respond well to the moment.
Shawn’s priorities appear to be messed up.
What a vague set of priorities.
“Respond to the pandemic” Cool, but how?
“Keep schools open and safe” Great, but what are your ideas?
“Close pandemic-related learning gaps” Yes, but how would you like to see this done?
Etc etc etc. What are your actual ideas? What are you actually advocating for? Why should I vote for you?
I’m undecided on this race, so I need to know what you’re actually about but I can’t seem to find that information.
Please ask your supporters to stop posting those nasty cartoons on Facebook groups. You’ve probably lost my vote because of them.
I like a candidate with integrity, who has big goals and, rather than independently decides the details of implementation, is a collaborator who will listen to and work with parents, teachers, staff, other School Committee members, administrators, and student groups to confirm shared goals and develop implementation plans. That would be Shawn.
Doris your posting sounds like a TV commercial
Shawn has a long history of involvement in the city, understands the schools and school system pre-pandemic as well as the pandemic year.
He’s fearless – he’d post on V14, despite knowing the blowback he’d get from the V14 posters. He will treat everyone with respect, even those who aren’t respectful to him, which is an important quality in an elected official in this city, especially during these contentious times. He is honest, collaborative, will not attempt to take credit for the work of others.
He’s knowledgeable about the educational initiatives that NPS educators are working on and supportive of them – antiracism, student stress as well as the mental health issues that predate the pandemic and were exacerbated by it, and educational excellence for ALL students.
FYI – As I have for 12 years, I post on V14 (and its previous iteration, the Tab Blog) as an individual and would appreciate it if posters would respect that. Until the last two weeks, no one has ever questioned that.
Newtoner, agreed about the cartoons. It seems like a bizarre campaign strategy to have a candidate’s wife snark and share cartoons all over social media. It certainly isn’t swaying me.
I am still undecided. As Jerry has mentioned on a couple of threads, it would be great if the comments could focus only on why I should vote for the candidate and not for why I should vote for the other person. In other words if you don’t have anything positive to say on these individual candidate threads, don’t post there.
I’ve read Shawn’s campaign materials. I’ve attended Zoom “Meet the Candidate” meetings with him. I’ve done my research, and I still don’t understand his platform or how he specifically hopes to guide NPS in the future. The priorities he lists here lack innovation and vision; they echo the status quo, and like @Alec Wilson stated, there is ample evidence that the status quo is not meeting our children’s/community’s needs.
The most specific responses I have heard Shawn provide about his candidacy were actually about how he believes he differs from his opponent. The smear tactics of his campaign (nasty cartoons, questionable endorsements) contradict his claims about collaboration, openness, and honesty, and only serve to further divide our community.
I’d describes Shawn as honest, respectful, hardworking, inclusive, patient, effective, reliable, collaborative, intelligent, and reasonable.
Many of his supporters have hoped for years that he would run for School Committee, and I will vote for him enthusiastically.
Amy – As long as Paul’s supporters understand that Shawn’s supporters feel the same way about a smear campaign on him. It’s been an unfortunate campaign, especially given that we have a mayoral race, which is the one people should be focused on right now.
@ Jane Frantz, I’m confused about your stance that the mayoral race is the one people should be focused on right now. Your own strong focus and advocacy about the School Committee race, particularly about this one, has been consistent and suggests its import. All races are important for the future of our children.
I’m also confused by your allegations of a smear campaign against Shawn. Please share what you have seen that has struck you as “unfortunate.” I have not seen Paul’s campaign post crude cartoons about Shawn. I have not even heard Paul, or his campaign, speak negatively about Shawn, though during one debate, he asked Shawn directly why Shawn did not work actively to promote NPS’s reopening, given that Shawn cites “keep[ing] schools open and safe” as one of his top priorities now. In contrast, Shawn’s campaign has consistently attacked Paul’s past, rather than discussing or even challenging any of the priorities Paul has articulated for the district.
@Shawn– Thank you for running. As a lifelong Democrat, I already know we share many of the same values. I have one specific question for you…
Do you believe tackle football is an appropriate sport for public high schools?
“It’s been an unfortunate campaign, especially given that we have a mayoral race, which is the one people should be focused on right now.”
Jane, I’m seeing you expend a lot of energy on this campaign, but am not seeing you contribute to discussions on the mayoral election. I’d love to hear what you think, actually. I know we were both staunch Lennon supporters 4 years ago.
“citizens, parents, teachers, hospital CEOs, school custodians, state and local elected officials, environmental leaders”
…one of these is not like the others…
Shawn publicly said he was too busy homeschooling his children to help advocate for full time in person school last year. I work full time in a job that doesn’t permit me to work from home. I have too younger elementary children, yet I was on EVERY School Committee call and even spoke at many of them. Why would I vote for someone who sat back and let other people advocate for his children. It doesn’t make much sense to me.
I enjoy campaign work and election season, but I typically choose one or two candidates to focus my attention on. In this election, I’ve chosen the two contested school committee campaigns, in large part because of my involvement in public education for so many years. The candidates whom I believe are most knowledgeable about the schools and who have volunteered in many capacities for the betterment of children in NPS are Kathy and Shawn. So those are the candidates I’m supporting and speaking about.
I do understand that’s made Paul’s supporters angry. Read this thread if you think his supporters haven’t spoken negatively about Shawn. It’s right here – over and over again. And it’s on one of the Facebook pages as well. Repeatedly. So say you don’t like that I support Shawn and Kathy and state my reasons for doing so, but please don’t say that Paul’s supporters haven’t spoken negatively about Shawn, because it’s simply not true. I also believe that Paul has overstated his influence in the reopening of the schools.
Paul’s history is what it is. Voters have a right to know about every candidate’s background. Shawn said something you didn’t like in a debate and you’ve repeated it over and over. I guess I don’t understand the difference. If a comment that Shawn made can command so much attention, why is it not acceptable to speak about another candidate’s behavior?
As for the mayoral race, I’ve personally stayed out of it. I’ve spoken with both candidates, have a friendly relationship with both, and communicated with Amy just today. However, I find it odd that the rest of the community has so little interest in who’s going to be the Mayor in January. That’s the sum total of the meaning of that comment. Nothing more to it.
I’m off to watch the Land Use meeting this evening, so that’s it for me for today.
Jane,
I hope to have posts today and tomorrow on the mayoral race. Maybe they will generate some conversation.
A partial explanation for the lack of interest in the mayoral race is the (correct, I think) understanding that there’s no question who is going to win.
Whatever Shawn thought about the schools reopening (no idea) or engaged in as far as activism seems totally irrelevant to me. Newton parents were not of one mind as to whether NPS should reopen pre-vaccine.Though remote learning was devastating to the whole community, many believed a very(!) large district’s return to school buildings was unsafe — and obviously other K-12 schools, colleges and universities nationwide remained online as well. Was the endless parent activism constructive? School Committee members were completely worn thin trying to navigate thousands of calls, emails and comments. The sun broke through the clouds in 2021 when the vaccines became available. Many view the vaccines alone as the game changer.
I would have loved to run for office with all of you out there. You’re all awesome. Jane you’re awesome!!! AND anyone who runs for office in this day and age is also awesome!!
Now that I got all that out of the way…we all just went through a pandemic that none of us have ever witnessed. Everyone was making decisions for the first time in this area. What should be talked about is not what candidates did in the past, but how the NPS is going to repond to future pandemics. Whether it happens in our lifetime or not, the NPS and the city of Newton will face another pandemic……what then???