On Thursday, Newton residents and city officials kicked off a new year as they swore in Newton’s 32nd mayor, Marc Laredo, 24 council members, and eight members of the school committee. Six new school committee members were sworn in, as well as seven new city council members, at the ceremony.
Rabbi Michelle Robinson from Temple Emanuel in Newton led the invocation, thanking outgoing mayor Ruthanne Fuller and city officials for their service. Robinson shared a personal anecdote about Laredo to affirm her faith in his mayorship.
“Marc, one of my most vivid memories of you is from our Temple Emanuel trip to Israel, climbing Masada with your children, and positively pied pipering our group up that mountain,” Robinson said. “May you bring that spirit to our city, lifting us all up to scale the mountains of our local challenges with the same grace and grit and good humor. You bring to our city a unique gift.”
As she took to the podium, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey recognized Newton as a valuable city for the state.
“I want you to know, as a state, or at least I can speak on my behalf, as an administration … we value Newton as a partner, as a true partner,” Healey said. “And together, we invest in this community with confidence because we know the results that we’ve seen.”
Healey also shared words of encouragement for the new year despite national challenges.
“I also want us all to enter 2026 with optimism and with hope,” Healey said. “It is a challenging time for our state, for our nation, for your households. I understand that. But I also know that Massachusetts is a pretty special place.”
After Kimberly Budd, chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, swore in Laredo, she quoted French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America to stress the importance of local government and its role in empowering the nation.
“[Tocqueville] wrote that town meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science,” Budd said. “They bring it within the people’s reach. They teach men how to use and how to enjoy it. So, as you embark on the enterprise of governing Newton, please bear in mind the historic significance of what you’re doing.”
In his inaugural address, Laredo shared a piece of his personal background to demonstrate the importance of democracy for his family, having parents who fled their home countries.
“My Jewish immigrant parents, one having left Nazi Germany as a teenager, and the other a concentration camp survivor from Czechoslovakia, raised me, my younger brother Dan, and my younger sister Debbie,” Laredo said. “Despite financial and health challenges, they instilled in us the values of hard work, education, and a profound respect for democratic values and service to our community.”
Laredo explained his main goals during his incoming tenure and urged the importance of investing in Newton, both in economics and in education, especially amid challenging times for the country. The crowd excitedly applauded Laredo through these points.
“Now, my administration will have three overarching goals: provide an excellent education for all our children, deliver outstanding city services, and build community,” Laredo said. “At a time of great turmoil in other parts of our country with loud, angry voices and a fundamental lack of respect for the rule of law, disregard for democratic values, and intolerance of others, Newton must be different. Let me say it again. Newton must be different.”
In his speech, new City Council President and Ward 1 Councilor-at-Large John Oliver marvelled at the tendency of Newton’s smallest issues to grow into larger, demanding ones.
“And while some of these issues in front of us might seem smaller than some of the others, I’ll just remind you that the number one issue that everyone’s been arguing about in this city … is the overnight parking ban,” Oliver said. “So it just goes to prove that, honestly, every issue that we deal with here in city council is important, and it all shows up in how we all experience Newton.”
Jason Bhardwaj, the new vice chair of the School Committee, identified the incoming school committee’s challenges in light of last year’s fraught budget season.
“We also want to be very candid about the budgetary challenges ahead,” Bhardwaj said. “While last year’s compromise avoided painful cuts, the nature of its solution means that we’re going to start this cycle at a deficit. In that context, as numbers come together in the coming weeks, we’ll focus on clarity and discipline.”
To wrap up his speech, Laredo quoted John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address to encourage active participation by all Newton residents.
“‘Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,’” Laredo said. “And today I am echoing his profound words and inviting everyone in the city to reflect, not only on what Newton can do for you, but what you can do for Newton.”
