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School Committee Chair Tamika Olszewski: Inaugural Address January 2022

January 31, 2022

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Dear Friends and Neighbors,

First, I would like to acknowledge the service of retiring members Margaret Albright, Bridget Ray Canada, Matthew Miller and former Chair, Ruth Goldman particularly through the course of this pandemic where they spent an incredibly exhausting amount of time and emotional energy ensuring that our students and staff were well poised to weather our current storm.

Said storm has already been well covered, so I would like to focus my remarks instead, on trust. Specifically, the awesome weight of the trust that the residents of this amazing city have bestowed on all of the elected officials on this stage. You have placed in our hands the responsibility, the duty, the authority to exercise our best judgement and faithfully uphold your thrust in every decision we make, every vote we cast and every policy that we implement. For that trust we owe you a great deal in return. We owe you the promise to cast aside politics, or strife or division and to come together in stewardship of your trust and your funds and to do so with dignity, and candor and grace fully embracing the fact that our different perspectives enrich rather than detract from our role.

As the Chair of the Newton School Committee, I make this promise to my fellow School Committee members, Rajeev, Chris, Anping, Emily, Paul, Kathy and Cove, that I will do my best to guide our committee with openness and respect for your perspectives and lived experiences as we work together to maintain and continuously improve the reputation for academic excellence and the commitment to equity that is the Newton Public Schools. To all of you, I feel confident in saying that we, as a committee, promise to uphold your trust, to defend as necessary our educators from baseless or racist attack, to give our students the resources needed to thrive and to collectively act in the best interest of the students, parents, guardians, faculty and staff of our excellent, excellent schools.

It’s said that in times of hardship, the public trust becomes an even more precious commodity. If you accept that as true, as I do, then it’s understood that we must all work diligently, tirelessly, to preserve that trust and in that way, we will weather this or any storm.

Categories: City of Newton Info, no-front-page

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Ellen Auerbach Grody
Ellen Auerbach Grody

June 28th, 11:33 am

Thank you for the recent letter to the mayor:LWVN Board Concurs with Newton Citizens Commission on Energy’s Memo Rejecting Newton Cemetery’s Tree Removal RequestJune 24, 2022On June 24, 2022, LWVN sent an email to Mayor Fuller expressing our our agreement with the Newton Citizens Commission on Energy (NCCE)’s memo of June 20th stating “We are writing to you regarding the Newton Cemetery’ request for exemption from the Tree Preservation Ordinance. We urge you to stand with the Director of Urban Forestry in denying that request and any waiver of its consequences. We also urge you to ask the City Council to revise the ordinance language to clarify their intent that the Tree Preservation Ordinance not exclude any property owners from its provisions.” ... See MoreSee Less
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League of Women Voters of Newton, MA
League of Women Voters of Newton, MA

June 22nd, 6:26 pm

Breaking News: Governor Baker Signs VOTES Act Into Law - https://mailchi.mp/56363aee24bf/votes_act_update-8901645 ... See MoreSee Less

Breaking News: Governor Baker Signs VOTES Act Into Law

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League of Women Voters of Newton, MA
League of Women Voters of Newton, MA

June 21st, 11:26 am

Newton Public Facilities Meeting: New Pipelines and Gas Valve Safety - https://mailchi.mp/ceafe522986a/newton-public-facilities-meeting-new-pipelines-and-gas-valve-safety ... See MoreSee Less

Newton Public Facilities Meeting: New Pipelines and Gas Valve Safety

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League of Women Voters of Newton, MA
League of Women Voters of Newton, MA

June 13th, 10:33 am

LWVN has launched an important new "Municipal Transparency and Accountability Initiative". Learn more here!: https://lwvnewton.org/2022/06/… ... See MoreSee Less

Municipal Transparency and Accountability Initiative: Mission Statement and Goals - League of Women Voters Newton

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Throughout its 102-year history, the League of Women Voters has been a vigorous advocate for transparent and accountable government. The League strongly believes that transparency and accountability i...
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League of Women Voters of Newton, MA
League of Women Voters of Newton, MA

June 9th, 10:12 am

Important Update: VOTES ACT Released from Conference Committee - https://mailchi.mp/6365b29fa297/votes_act_update ... See MoreSee Less

Important Update: VOTES ACT Released from Conference Committee

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Boston, MA — The Massachusetts VOTES Act Conference Committee today released its version of the comprehensive election reform bill, which will now head to the House and Senate for final procedural...
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