SCHOOL BOARD Q&As: Matt Holmes

Name: Matthew Holmes

Age: 36

Occupation: Plant manager

1. Please introduce yourself and explain why you are running for school board.

My Name is Matt Holmes. I have lived in Newton since 2004. I am married with 3 children.My wife is a Reading Corp. tutor at Emerson Hough Elementary School and my children attend Berg and NHS. I have contemplated running for school board in the past but decided to run this year because it is time for parents to have a voice at the table and to move in a new direction.

2. What is a parent’s role and how does it fit into the school district?

In my opinion parents should have a huge role in their child’s education. Parent’s voices have been seemingly ignored in recent years. Parents feel like our current elected officials don’t care what we have to say and that has been evident given the current battle around mask mandates and lack of parental choice in the district. As an elected official it is their job to represent the citizens who voted for them and should make their decisions based on the majority not their personal agenda. And the only way to do this is to move in a new direction.

3. How do you think the district is recovering from the 2020 school year?

I think the recovery process has been slow unfortunately, and this is in no way any fault of the teachers. I witnessed first hand how hard the learning process for my children was while out of school during virtual learning. The standardized test scores show the same thing. What is important now is to keep moving forward and giving all the students in the district all the tools necessary to make up lost ground. We are in new territory coming off of a pandemic and that requires us to move in a new direction. Status quo can’t work in this situation.

4. What’s the best quality of Newton schools? What can the district improve on?

I feel the best quality of our district is the staff, and that starts with solid leadership at the top. I feel our Superintendent Tom Messinger and the rest of the staff at the admin building set a stellar example for our students to follow by showing courtesy and leading by example (how often do you see a superintendent serving lunch to students). I feel the district needs to improve on how our students are graded and progress. We need to standardize across the board a grading scale that parents can understand and follow.When you have multiple grading philosophies between all three school levels you entertain the opportunity for misunderstanding, especially with standard reference grading at the middle school level. I also think the district needs to communicate better with parents.

5. What other school issues are you most passionate about?

I am very passionate about student involvement. I believe that students should be heard. That is why we have a Parent Teacher Student Association at Berg, students should have an input in their learning. I support student governments and feel we need to support them more. When our children are brave enough and have the courage to stand up to try and make their schools a better place, who are we to turn our back on them and not support them. That is why I also believe the current school board should be promoting the fact that their policy allows for a student board member. We need to do more for our fine arts programs as well. These are programs that provide students with huge opportunities for self expression and that should be advocated for not have its funding cut. We can accomplish so much but it requires moving towards the future in a new direction. Thank you to the citizens for the opportunity to represent you on the school board and remember to get out and vote on November 2nd.