Letter to the Editor: Newton needs help healing

by Newton News Editor | Feb 8, 2024 | Newton Beacon

This is a tailored version of a letter sent to the Mayor and City Council. There is no question that what Newton experienced with the teacher’s strike was a challenging, tumultuous, even potentially traumatizing event. People are referencing the word “healing” for the...

Letter to the Editor: Support strike legalization bill

by Newton News Editor | Feb 8, 2024 | Newton Beacon

Please write to your representatives and senators to support Massachusetts bill H1845/S1217, legalizing strikes after 6 months of negotiation. This bill would save money and preserve community goodwill. It would give public servants an effective democratic voice.This...

Letter to the Editor: Seeking damages hurts schools

by Newton News Editor | Feb 8, 2024 | Newton Beacon

To the editor: It is hurtful to the teachers and the educational system in general to seek damages for any alleged harm to the students from the teacher strike.  I understand that the time can and will be made up by cancelling a vacation. So the end result is that the...

Newton City Council Puts $11 Million Into Infrastructure Improvements

by Newton News Editor | Feb 8, 2024 | Newton Beacon

Newton City Council unanimously voted to allocate over $11 million in available funding to improving city infrastructure and Newton Public Schools (NPS) at its meeting Monday night. “Over 5 million is for roads, traffic calming, and you can go anywhere Newton and see...

Newton mother seeks damages for teachers’ strike

by Newton News Editor | Feb 5, 2024 | Newton Beacon

As Newton’s teachers and students settle back into their classrooms around the city, one parent is asking a judge to award damages to her family and others. Lital Asher-Dotan, a Newton mother who recently spoke out publicly against the Newton Teachers Association...

Residents Discuss Proposed Affordable Housing Development in Nonantum

by Newton News Editor | Feb 5, 2024 | Newton Beacon

Tensions were high as Boylston Properties presented a proposed 40B housing development on 78 Crafts Street to residents of Newton’s Nonantum village Wednesday night.  Chapter 40B is a Massachusetts statute allowing developers to bypass local zoning regulations when...

Designer working on new city seal for Newton

by Newton News Editor | Feb 5, 2024 | Newton Beacon

The City of Newton has hired designer Sebastian Ellington Ebarb to design a new city seal. Ebarb, who is a design professor at Northeastern University, is an experienced artist and has done city seal resigns for other communities, such as Natick. He is also Native...

Strike’s over, Newton’s teachers have a new contract: What does it all mean?

by Newton News Editor | Feb 4, 2024 | Newton Beacon

Newton’s long, teacherless nightmare is over. For two weeks, as the city’s schools remained closed, Newton was in nonstop loop of daily rallies, hourly updates and nightly press conferences called by both sides to blame the other, in what felt like a dark rendition of...

Newton teachers’ strike over, students back to school Monday

by Newton News Editor | Feb 2, 2024 | Newton Beacon

Newton’s teacher strike is over. The Newton Teachers Association announced Friday night that a deal had been reached with the School Committee for a new contract, ending the 15-day strike that brought the district to its knees. “We know that this was far too long to...

School Committee: We are ‘extremely close’ to contract deal

by Newton News Editor | Feb 2, 2024 | Newton Beacon

It’s been an exhausting two weeks for many, but the School Committee is offering a ray hope. On Friday, the committee sent out a statement announcing that they were “extremely close” to reaching a deal with the Newton Teachers Association. “Although negotiations...