High Marks Awarded to Newton Superintendent

For the second year in a row, members of the Newton School Committee gave Newton Superintendent David Fleishman high marks and praise for his work in the district. 

During a special meeting held Monday morning, the School Committee offered its feedback on Fleishman's second year in the Newton Public Schools.

"What I heard from all the evaluations was an overarching, overall statement of support for David," said Committee Chair Claire Sokoloff. "Everyone, in one way or another, was extremely positive about David's leadership and extremely enthusiastic about the changes he has made to the system." 

Fleishman, who was not present during Monday's meeting, is entering his third year with Newton. He signed a three-year contract with the district in 2010. 

Overall, the group praised Fleishman's leadership skills in fiscal 2012. He was evaluated in three categories including educational responsibilities, managerial/operational responsibilities and community responsibilities.

In particular, committee members recognized the superintendent for his management of another tough budget cycle. Fleishman focused on multiple areas of student education, the committee said, and invested in programs.

, the plan included a number of program restorations in art and music as well as several mental health positions. The budget also funds more special education programs to help keep students in the district, rather than paying tuition to send them to another school. 

The committee also agreed that Fleishman showed leadership skill during the incident earlier this year involving David Ettlinger, . 

"Clearly there was no greater test of David's communication skills within the schools and toward the community at large than with the Underwood incident," Ward 3 member Angela Pitter-Wright said in her individual evaluation of Fleishman. "...David handled the constant press interviews with grace and integrity." 

To view the committee members' individual evaluations of Fleishman, click the .pdf to the right.

Other areas of praise for Fleishman included:

• Collaboration with the mayor, including successful resolutions for teacher contracts
• Presence at all of Newton's schools including field visits and classroom observations
• Work on developing
• Work on developing a facilities plan
• Expansion of instructional rounds for teachers to share best practices
• Improving central office organization and hiring "strategic" positions including an IT director, special education finance assistant and a community relations staffer
• "Effectively represented" the school system at community forums, press events and parent meetings

Although the majority of comments from the committee members were positive, there were a few suggestions and areas of improvement Fleishman should address over the next year. 

In particular, several committee members brought up the question of data collection and assessment, and how it can best be used to monitor improvements for administrators, teachers and students. Analyzing more student achievement data can help support decisions to start new programs, such as full-day kindergarten, or continue existing ones, committee members said.

Both Ward 1 member Geoff Epstein and Ward 8 member Margie Ross Decter underlined the importance of balancing that short-term student achievement and assessment with long-term responsibilities involving facilities, technology and a new teacher evaluation process.

"We can't lose sight of the short term," Decter said during Monday's meeting. 

In addition, the committee agreed the district should be more proactive with collecting feedback from parents and getting information out to the community.

"We need to develop a much more open and transparent culture of two-way communications with parents," Epstein said in his evaluation. "Broad input should be sought using modern tools such as online surveys and the results of those surveys should be provided to the public without filtering."

According to Sokoloff, the district plans to hire a community relations position to help with public communication.

Other areas of improvement and suggested next steps for Fleishman include:

• Work on funding and implementation of the technology plan as well as the facilities plan
• Work on more diversity within the NPS staff
• Continue to strengthen special education programs and administration
• Maximize the longevity of "high-performing" administrators and making sure they do not burn out
• Work on reaching out to more non-parent and alumni as well as local businesses/organizations to build support for the Newton Public Schools

During Monday's meeting, the committee discussed a draft of the composite evaluation, or a summary of all the individual evaluations. Some changes will be made to the composite following Monday's discussion before a final evaluation is presented to Fleishman. 

A copy of the composite evaluation is available in the .pdf section above.