During the October 6 School Committee meeting, a blink-and-you-missed-it 30-second portion of Dr. Anna Nolin’s regular Superintendent’s update gave a window into ongoing frictions and growing pains between two conjoined Newton institutions that are managed far differently today than only a few years ago:
- Newton Public Schools (NPS) is attempting a revitalization of its academic rigor and district-wide consistency under Dr. Nolin, who is beginning her third year, having made wholesale staff changes in the district’s central office.
- The Newton Teachers Association (NTA) emerged from the 2024 strike “victorious” (per its statements), educator Ryan Normandin – who during the broader 2023-2024 labor dispute became known for his blistering critiques of the Mayor and School Committee — has left Newton South to become a full-time NTA officer, and the NTA exists today alongside its increasingly activist statewide affiliate, the Massachusetts Teachers Association.
This wider context colors the public’s evaluation of whether the events Dr. Nolin shared, as well as subsequent statements by the parties involved, are a regrettable but isolated case of bureaucratic snafu, or part of a broader misalignment.
The events described by Dr. Nolin on October 6 centered on the prior week’s regular half-day (October 1) at NPS, which was when one of four Wednesday professional development (PD) sessions that had been designated prior to the school year as a “Citywide Department and Specialist Meeting.” The planned event was for teachers (who are classified as “Unit A” in the NTA contract) across schools to convene together to meet with district curriculum directors (classified as “Unit B”) for PD related to new math and English language arts curriculums being implemented.
Dr. Nolin stated during her October 6 update that a “job action” had occurred for the middle school Unit A teachers attending this October 1 PD, and due to…