Ward 8 school debate pits future vs. past
The televised debate Thursday night between the Ward 8 candidates for Newton School Committee became a tug-of-war between the district’s future challenges and its storied past.
Other than the mayoral election, the Ward 8 contest is the only race with enough candidates to appear on the Sept. 15 preliminary ballot.
Three of the candidates – Margie Ross Decter, Tom White, and Linda Green – promised to push the district into the future with innovative ideas, but mentioned few specifics.
Ross Decter, a business owner, and Green, a state health data director, both highlighted their resumes. White, a developer, stressed general principals such as financial sustainability and maintenance of infrastructure.
The other candidate in the race, former Newton Tab columnist Tom Mountain, derided innovation as a “cliché” buzzword and said the schools needed to return to a more traditional education model.
“I keep thinking back to 1967,” Mountain said. “We were at the top of our game. The students actually learned.”
“I don’t want to bring computers into the classroom,” Mountain added. “Kids spend too much time on computers in their daily lives.”
White sharply disagreed.
“I listen to Tom, and I’m curious to think he thinks nothing’s changed in the last 40 years,” White said. “The Internet has fundamentally transformed our society.”
Ross Decter and Green also appeared to side with White, saying that the schools should emphasize the future rather than the past.
“Innovation is going to be at the cornerstone of moving our education system to the next level,” Ross Decter said.
“Newton wants a serious conversation about schools,” Green said. “We’re not here to talk about past history. We really want to move forward.”
The candidate differed in their response to a question about what to do with the old Newton North High School. Mountain said the city should sell the building, Ross Decter said the schools should study whether it can be used temporarily to relieve school overcrowding, and White and Green said it should be demolished.
In a debate without much head-to-head sparring among the candidates, Mountain provided much of the theatre, at one point brandishing a stuffed sheep, which he said represented the current school committee.
“They have been subservient to the superintendent and the mayor,” Mountain said.
The debate was cosponsored by the local League of Women Voters and NewTV.
The Sept. 15 preliminary election will winnow the field of four candidates to two, who will then face off in the Nov. 3 general election.
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