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Newton Public Schools elections (2015)
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Eight seats on the Newton Public Schools School Committee were up for general election on November 3, 2015.
The seats of all incumbents, with the exception of Mayor Setti Warren, were up for election.[1] All eight incumbents sought re-election; only two saw challengers on the ballot. Ward 2 incumbent Margaret L. Albright defeated Cyrus Karl, while Ward 5 incumbent Steven Siegel won re-election against Susan Huffman.[2]
The following incumbents won re-election unopposed: Ellen P. Gibson in Ward 1, Angela Pitter-Wright in Ward 3, Diana Fisher Gomberg in Ward 4, Ruth E. Goldman in Ward 6, Matt Hills in Ward 7 and Margie Ross Decter in Ward 8.[2]
One of the 10 candidates in this election participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 school board candidate survey. Check out the "What was at stake?" section to see survey answers.
About the district
- See also: Newton Public Schools, Massachusetts
Newton Public Schools is located in northeast Massachusetts in Middlesex County. The county seats are Newton and Cambridge. This county was home to 1,552,802 residents in 2014, according to the United States Census Bureau.[3] In the 2011-2012 school year, Newton Public Schools was the ninth-largest school district in Massachusetts and served 12,079 students.[4]
Demographics
Middlesex County outperformed the rest of Massachusetts in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 50.7 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 39.4 percent for Massachusetts as a whole. The median household income in Middlesex County was $82,090, compared to $66,866 for the state of Massachusetts. The poverty rate was 8.1 percent, compared to 11.4 percent for the entire state.[3]
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Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
Voter and candidate information
The Newton School Committee consists of nine members, eight of whom are elected at large to two-year terms. The ninth member and chair of the board is the Mayor of Newton. The other eight committee members represent specific wards in the city despite their at-large election. The general election was held on November 3, 2015.[6]
The first day for candidates to request nominating petitions from city elections officials was May 1, 2015. The filing deadline for the school committee election was July 30, 2015.[2]
Elections
2015
Candidates
At-large
Ward 1
Ellen P. Gibson 
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Ward 2
| Margaret L. Albright
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Cyrus Karl | ||
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Ward 3
| Angela Pitter-Wright
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Ward 4
| Diana Fisher Gomberg
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Ward 5
| Steven Siegel
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Susan Huffman | ||
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Ward 6
| Ruth E. Goldman
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Ward 7
| Matt Hills
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Ward 8
| Margie Ross Decter
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Election results
| Newton School Committee, Ward 1, General Election, 2015 | ||
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Ellen P. Gibson Incumbent |
99.4% | 4,583 |
| Write-in votes | 0.63% | 29 |
| Total Votes | 4,612 | |
| Source: Newton Election Commission, "November 3, 2015 Official Results," accessed December 17, 2015 | ||
| Newton School Committee, Ward 2, General Election, 2015 | ||
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Margaret L. Albright Incumbent |
78.7% | 5,836 |
| Cyrus Vaghar | 21.2% | 1,573 |
| Write-in votes | 0.12% | 9 |
| Total Votes | 7,418 | |
| Source: Newton Election Commission, "November 3, 2015 Official Results," accessed December 17, 2015 | ||
| Newton School Committee, Ward 3, General Election, 2015 | ||
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Angela Pitter-Wright Incumbent |
99.3% | 4,450 |
| Write-in votes | 0.69% | 31 |
| Total Votes | 4,481 | |
| Source: Newton Election Commission, "November 3, 2015 Official Results," accessed December 17, 2015 | ||
| Newton School Committee, Ward 4, General Election, 2015 | ||
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Diana Fisher Gomberg Incumbent |
99.5% | 4,814 |
| Write-in votes | 0.52% | 25 |
| Total Votes | 4,839 | |
| Source: Newton Election Commission, "November 3, 2015 Official Results," accessed December 17, 2015 | ||
| Newton School Committee, Ward 5, General Election, 2015 | ||
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Steven Siegel Incumbent |
67.5% | 4,903 |
| Susan Huffman | 32.3% | 2,352 |
| Write-in votes | 0.27% | 20 |
| Total Votes | 7,275 | |
| Source: Newton Election Commission, "November 3, 2015 Official Results," accessed December 17, 2015 | ||
| Newton School Committee, Ward 6, General Election, 2015 | ||
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Ruth E. Goldman Incumbent |
99.3% | 4,478 |
| Write-in votes | 0.69% | 31 |
| Total Votes | 4,509 | |
| Source: Newton Election Commission, "November 3, 2015 Official Results," accessed December 17, 2015 | ||
| Newton School Committee, Ward 7, General Election, 2015 | ||
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Matt Hills Incumbent |
98.9% | 4,534 |
| Write-in votes | 1.11% | 51 |
| Total Votes | 4,585 | |
| Source: Newton Election Commission, "November 3, 2015 Official Results," accessed December 17, 2015 | ||
| Newton School Committee, Ward 8, General Election, 2015 | ||
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Margie Ross Decter Incumbent |
99.4% | 4,683 |
| Write-in votes | 0.64% | 30 |
| Total Votes | 4,713 | |
| Source: Newton Election Commission, "November 3, 2015 Official Results," accessed December 17, 2015 | ||
Endorsements
No official endorsements were made in this election.
Campaign finance
The Newton Election Commission does not publish and freely disclose school board candidate campaign finance reports. If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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What was at stake?
2015
Ballotpedia survey responses
One candidate out of 10 total candidates in this race participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following section displays the responses to the survey questions from Ward 2 candidate Cyrus Karl.
Top priorities
When asked what his top priorities would be if elected, Vaghar stated:
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Solve the drug crises that is affecting our schools and mandate a basic financial literacy course. Right now, students can graduate high school without learning how a credit card works or how to pick a student loan.[7] |
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| —Cyrus Vaghar, (2015), [8] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidates were asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays the candidates' rankings from most to least important:
| Education policy |
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Click here to learn more about education policy in Massachusetts. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
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| Issue | Vaghar |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
Positions on the issues
The candidates were asked to answer 10 multiple and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. A link to the candidates' responses can be found below.
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the Newton Public Schools election in 2015:[6]
| Deadline | Event |
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| May 1, 2015 | First day for candidates to take out nomination documents |
| July 30, 2015 | Last day for candidates to file nomination documents |
| September 9, 2015 | Last day for candidates to file first campaign finance report |
| October 26, 2015 | Last day for candidates to file second campaign finance report |
| November 3, 2015 | Election Day |
| January 20, 2016 | Last day for candidates to file final campaign finance report |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Massachusetts elections, 2015
This election shared the ballot with races for the Newton Board of Aldermen. The ballot featured a ballot measure regarding the creation of a committee to review Newton's city charter and suggest changes for the 2017 municipal ballot.[2]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Newton Public Schools Massachusetts. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Newton Public Schools | Massachusetts | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Newton Public Schools, "School Committee Members," accessed March 13, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 City of Newton, "Elections," accessed September 10, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 United States Census Bureau, "Middlesex County, Massachusetts," accessed January 26, 2015
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed April 22, 2014
- ↑ Massachusetts Secretary of State, "Enrollment Breakdown as of 2/15/2012," accessed September 10, 2013
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Daniel Anderson, "Email correspondence with the Newton Election Commission," March 6, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Cyrus Vaghar's responses," October 6, 2015
