Overwhelming support for schools & teachers on view at public hearing

UPDATES: Boston Globe story here.

WCVB Channel 5 story here.

NBC 10 story here

NECN  story here.

Students, alumni, teachers, parents, clergy, city councilors and many others testified in opposition to citizen’s petition  promoted by Americans for Peace and Tolerance, a group that has long-complained of an anti-Israeli bias in the Newton Public Schools, at a packed public hearing at Newton South High School

Over 400 Newton North grads sign letter supporting ‘our teachers and our school system’

In advance of a public hearing Tuesday night (Nov. 27, 6:30 p.m. at Newton South) more than 300 recent Newton North High School graduates have signed a letter in support of “our teachers and our school system in their mission to craft a curriculum that promotes critical thinking.”

The alumni wrote the letter in response to an on-going campaign by “Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT), a group whose members have been targeting our school system for years and have recently begun targeting individual teachers” over discredited claims of an anti-Israel bias in Newton Public Schools.

Tuesday’s hearing is the result of a citizens petition and is expected to draw

Finances force Newton Schools to delay later high school start times by another year

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

Fleishman: ‘Our history teachers have been singled out, harassed and subjected to harsh and unfair criticism’

Newton School Superintendent David Fleishman released this letter to the school community today….

Dear Newton Community:

For the past seven years, the Newton Public Schools have been the target of outside groups claiming anti-Israel bias in our history curriculum. These baseless claims, often reliant upon materials and documents taken out of context, are misleading and only serve to denigrate the hard work and professionalism of our skilled and dedicated faculty.

In recent months, the attacks have grown increasingly and unjustly personal. Our history teachers have been singled out, harassed and