As a parent to two current NPS students, Fisher expressed her delight in discovering that Newton’s reputation as a center of education matches reality. (Photo Courtesy of Christine Fisher for School Committee)
With current School Committee and Ward 2 Chair Chris Brezski not seeking reelection in this year’s municipal elections, candidate Christine Fisher believes that a focus on resource optimization and commitment to student outcomes make her the ideal candidate for the seat.
Brezski’s announcement came at the end of June, following a year in Newton Public Schools (NPS) fraught with budgetary crisis and tension. His seat, alongside an unprecedented five of eight ward districts, faces a contested election of completely new candidates.
Brezski has endorsed candidate Linda Swain for his seat in the upcoming Nov. 4 elections.
Fisher and her family moved to Newton from Ohio two years ago. As a parent to two current NPS students, Fisher expressed her delight in discovering that Newton’s reputation as a center of education matches reality.
“We think that Newton’s approach of really looking at our kids as whole children and caring about both their academic and social-emotional needs is really important and has been really valued by my family,” said Fisher.
Yet Fisher sees where improvements could be made and believes that optimizing resources is necessary for making NPS even better.
“A lot of the areas that I’m interested in, when I do volunteer work and when I’m looking at the school committee, are how do we optimize our resources to achieve our mission for schools?” Fisher said.
Fisher did not begin her career oriented toward education. After obtaining a degree in computer engineering from Queen’s University, the bulk of Fisher’s career was spent at Procter and Gamble, a consumer packaged goods company in finance and strategy.
“The question is how to use our resources to improve student outcomes,” said Fisher. “My background, both on the computer side, but more, I would say, on the finance and strategy side, really helps enable that.”
Fisher explained how she was able to utilize her technology and computer backgrounds in her positions as CFO and COO. The skills she gained helped her begin her education-based technology company, Possip.
Possip is a platform that serves over 1,000 schools nationwide, providing families and educators with channels for feedback, communications, and data on student learning, according to its website.
“I understand what it takes to build systems that work for schools and how to bridge the gap between families, staff, and leadership,” Fisher said.
Fisher also serves on the board of Temple Shalom and Newton’s Cabot Elementary School Council, and she is a member and volunteer coordinator for Rock Voices Newton, a local community choir.
“I’ve spent a lot of my last 10 years or so really doing education-based initiatives, both professionally and as a volunteer,” said Fisher. “And I’m really passionate about the topic, and wanted to bring that experience doing those initiatives, as well as my perspective as a parent, to the school committee.”
One of the subjects Fisher is especially passionate about is technology, having worked so closely with it in her profession.
According to her website, her platform is built to “develop clear policies and practices that help students use technology in healthy, balanced, and secure ways—supporting learning while protecting well-being.”
Fisher believes NPS’ choices regarding cell phones have been beneficial to students.
“Newton schools have done a great job of implementing some increased policies around cell phones in the last few years, and we’re seeing great impact from those policies,” said Fisher.
But phones are not the whole problem, explained Fisher.
“I want to make sure that we’re now diving into policies related to AI,” said Fisher. “Both in what our students can use for that, as well as what the staff should, and when they should be using it, and when they shouldn’t.”
The biggest constraint NPS faces is a lack of money and resources, Fisher said.
“There’s no easy solution when it comes to the budget,” said Fisher. “So we really have to be looking hard at all aspects of the budget to understand: Are there areas where we can optimize and then make tough choices on the components that are discretionary?”
For the most part, tough choices should be informed by data and research, but they should also be informed, in moderation, by community perspectives, Fisher said.
“It can be very easy to listen to the loudest voices, and sometimes that’s not reflective of what the community actually feels,” said Fisher. “People will email or show up to a school committee meeting if they’re upset about something, if they want something to change, and that’s so hard as a leader to know what is an outlier perspective that someone may be very passionate about.”
Fisher believes that part of what allows NPS to serve the Newton community so well is the presence of independent school committee members.
“I’m running because I believe in improving outcomes for kids, and I think it’s really important that our school committee members have that independent lens and really have that mission priority when I’m here,” said Fisher. “Every decision I make needs to be about that outcome, needs to be about what we are doing every day to improve student outcomes.”
Student outcomes, Fisher believes, rely on parents and committee members being prepared for tough decisions and conversations.
“We have to be present, and we have to be comfortable having those tough conversations in ways that might be uncomfortable,” Fisher said.