Yeo, Siegel and Epstein talk about fixing Newton’s school buildings

by | Apr 20, 2012 | NewTV | 6 comments

Here’s the most recent edition of NewTV’s Newton Newsmakers, hosted by Charlie Shapiro.

The topic:  Meeting Newton’s School Facilities Challenges.
The guests:  Newton School Committee members Jonathon Yeo, Steve Siegel and Geoff Epstein

6 Comments

  1. Greg Reibman
    Greg Reibman on April 20, 2012 at 9:33 pm

    This is moderately off topic and folks will say it’s nit-picking. But I find it disrespectful when people –but especially elected officials — publicly call our mayor by his first name. I felt this same way when David Cohen was mayor.

    Gail and any of the reporters I used to work with can tell you that I never allowed it in the newsroom either.

    OK, back to talking about schools.

  2. Jerry Reilly
    Jerry Reilly on April 20, 2012 at 9:37 pm

    I agree Mr. Reibman.

  3. Julia Malakie
    Julia Malakie on April 21, 2012 at 3:27 pm

    I was going to say, “has anyone asked Setti what he thinks?”, but, oh, never mind …

    I wouldn’t be so hard on them. I think it depends on the context. In this context, where they’re talking about good things the mayor has done, I think they’re more guilty of name-dropping than disrespect.

    I also think people may refer to “Setti” by his first name because it is unusual, uniquely identifies him (as opposed to that other Warren) and is kind of fun to say. And to me it’s almost a mark of status when people can refer to you by one name and everyone knows who they’re talking about. Oprah, Hillary, Nomar!

    On the actual topic, has anyone found the link to the Sandy Guryan presentation they’re talking about?

  5. tom sheff
    tom sheff on April 21, 2012 at 5:47 pm

    Nice show.

  6. Mike Striar
    Mike Striar on April 22, 2012 at 3:33 pm

    This issue speaks to a structural [no pun intended] problem within our local government. Time and circumstance have shown that the School Committee should be responsible for what goes on within the schools, but not so involved in the school buildings themselves.

    The schools and all other municipal buildings should be the responsibility of the executive branch, i.e. the mayor. His or her performance in office should be judged in part by their handling of that responsibility. Too many mistakes have been made over the years, and too many excuses are available to those who have made them. Deferred maintenance and an over-reliance on modulars being two examples.

    The City of Newton was established with a “Strong Mayor” form of governance. We have allowed the strength of that concept to be marginalized, and that has contributed to the deterioration of our school buildings.