Thank you very much to Brooke Lipsitt, former Board of Aldermen president, and Megan Costello, Newton’s Director of Community Affairs, for their informative presentations about geting involved in Newton. Thank you also to Megan for sharing with us the list of Newton Boards, Commissions and Committees on which Newton citizens can participate. Please go to the City of Newton website for more information on the process.
February Topic Meeting: A Conversation About Newton’s Election Commission
Discussion with Craig Manseau, Executive Secretary, Newton Election Commission
Join the League for a conversation about a variety of election issues, including proposed voter ID laws and how the recent redistricting affects Newton’s Wards/Precincts and polling locations. Thursday, February 9, 2012, 11:30am-1:30pm, Room 202, Newton City Hall. Brown bag lunches welcome, light refreshments will be served. Open to the public.
For more information, please email LWVN at info@lwvnewton.org.
LWVN January Topic Meeting: Getting Involved in Newton
Make Getting Involved Your New Year’s Resolution
As Tip O’Neill was famous for saying: “All politics is local.” Join us on Thursday, January 12, 2012, to learn how you can become more involved in Newton through advocacy for issues you are concerned about and/or by joining Newton’s advisory boards and commissions. Brooke Lipsitt, League of Women Voters Newton member and former President of the Board of Aldermen, and Megan Costello, Director of Community Affairs for the City of Newton, will present at the January League Topic Meeting. The meeting will be held at City Hall in Room 202 from 11:30-1:30. Bring your lunch. Drinks and dessert will be provided. FYI: Veronica’s Cafe on the basement level at City Hall will be open.
LWVN November Topic Meeting – National Consensus Study on Privatization
The November Topic Meeting will be a discussion of the upcoming Privatization Study. Please join us on Thursday, November 17, from 11:30am-1:00pm, at Anne Borg’s house, to learn more about the study.
Background information: at the 2010 LWVUS Convention, the delegates voted to have two consensus studies for 2010-2012. The first study was the recently completed study on the role of the federal government in public education; the second study is about privatization. The scope of the study is: “the purpose of this study is to identify those parameters and policy issues to be considered in connection with proposals to transfer federal, state or local government services, assets and/or functions to the private sector. It will review the stated goals and the community impact of such transfers, and identify strategies to ensure transparency, accountability, and preservation of the common good.”
In the past several years, many public services, assets, and functions have been outsourced to the private sector; there are many proposals to outsource others. Some of the services considered for privatization include: water, roads and other modes of transportation, infrastructure, fire fighting services, prisons, library services, education, voters services, military, utilities, and others.
We will have lunch available, and hope that you can join us!
For more information, or if you are interested in working on the study, please call 617-383-4598 or email info@lwvnewton.org.
LWVUS National Consensus Study: Role of the Federal Government in Public Education
We encourage you to participate in the upcoming National Consensus Study on the Role of the Federal Government in Public Education.
Here’s how…
BECOME INFORMED – The National Study webpage has a lot of background information on this important issue for you to read. If you want to go further, the Newton League has purchased a few copies of two books that provide more in-depth information on this important question. The books are The Death and Life of the Great American School System by Diane Ravitch and The Flat World and Education by Linda Darling-Hammond. If you wish to borrow either of these books please e-mail info@lwvnewton.org.
ATTEND THE CONSENSUS MEETINGS – We will be holding two Consensus Meetings; both will be on Thursday, October 13. One meeting will be during our regular topic meeting time and location, at 11:30 a.m., at the NewTV Conference Room, 23 Needham Street, Newton Highlands and will focus on the Common Core questions. The second meeting will be that evening at 7:00 p.m. in the Newton City Hall Cafeteria (basement level) and will focus on the Equity and Funding questions.
At our information meeting on October 3, we had handouts on both the Common Core Standards and Equity and Funding. If you were not able to attend that meeting, we are making them available for you here:
Common Core Standards Information
Equity and Funding Information
For your reference, we have also included the consensus questions in both Word and PDF formats:
The Role of the Federal Government in Public Education Consensus questions (Word)
The Role of the Federal Government in Public Education Consensus questions (PDF)
We hope you will get involved. If you plan to attend one of these meetings or would help us to encourage League attendance, please email Committee Co-Chairs Jo Corro and Lynn Scheller at: info@lwvnewton.org.
