Tag: students

  • Lexington students launch civics program to connect youth, politicians

    From left to right: Kevin Chen, Grette Buttner and Rajvir Kalra gather at the Isaac Harris Cary Memorial Building, where they will host the first LexYouthCivics conference Saturday / Photo courtesy of Raluca Buttner

    Grette Buttner wanted a firsthand look at how her town government worked. She searched for school clubs and programs that would let her connect directly with elected officials and ask about local issues. When she couldn’t find one, The Winsor School junior started LexYouthCivics, a first-of-its-kind initiative that introduces Lexington high school students to the inner workings of local government. 

    “Establishing a base-level knowledge about how our town government works is our primary and fundamental goal,” Buttner said. “Some people don’t have that knowledge which, to me, is quite alarming.” 

    Lexington High School students Rajvir Kalra, Anya Sawant and Kevin Chen joined Buttner as project organizers. 

    Buttner came to their school looking for a team of students to collaborate with her on LexYouthCivics. “At the time she just had a name and a vague idea,” Kalra said. “She was looking for students who were interested in civics and town government … to create this event for students to participate in.”

    Kalra said that he was interested in public service but struggled to find a way to get involved in local government. Though his school offered clubs like Model UN and Mock Debate, he wanted a tangible way to gain experience and talk directly to officials in an open setting before going off to college.

    “That’s why I’m super passionate about joining LexYouthCivics and making it a reality,” he said. “I feel very deeply connected to this event.” 

    Together, the students developed a conference-style program. The four-hour event, which takes place at Cary Hall on Feb. 28,  event brings together local government officials, community leaders and high school students for an interactive day of learning about town government and civic engagement. Kalra said they expect Saturday’s event to draw 250 students. 

    The group spent months going door-to-door to local businesses, seeking sponsorships and hanging posters. In the end, the Lexington Youth Commission, Lexington League of Women Voters and Center Goods agreed to help finance the event. Lexington High School also agreed to allow the event to count toward students’ required community service hours. 

    “We really want to emphasize to students that it is important, especially within this political climate, to understand how you can be involved in making change within your own society,” Kalra said. 

    Buttner said she hopes the event will remind students about the ways civic participation can shape their lives and communities. “I want to remind students, ‘You should have political power,’” she said. “You should have the opportunity to sway policy and contribute to your town.”

    The event will run from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and feature a series of workshops, including a mock town meeting. Four speakers are scheduled: Select Board Member Jill Hai, Town Moderator Deborah Brown, Dominic Bronico, Pastor of Connections and Young Adults at Grace Chapel, and state Rep. Michelle Ciccolo. 

    Kalra said he is especially excited to hear from Ciccolo. “She obviously has so much experience in town and now the state government,” he said. “She’s someone that students don’t really have access to on a normal day.” 

    Ciccolo represents the 15th Middlesex District of Massachusetts, which includes parts of Woburn and Winchester, along with Lexington. In the legislature, she focuses on issues such as environmental sustainability, public health and education equity. 

    “It’s a really exciting initiative,” Ciccolo said. “I spent the first 25 years of my career in local government, and I very much appreciate the tangible and immediate impact that serving at the local level has. You can see the results of your work, and it’s much easier to understand how democracy works and how you can individually have a real, profound impact.” 

    Ciccolo said more money should be invested in civics education. Massachusetts has taken steps to strengthen it, including a 2018 law requiring student-led civics projects and promoting high school voter registration. Still, just 39% of eighth-graders met grade-level standards on the state’s first civics Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System in 2025. 

    “When we don’t teach civics, I think it raises residents and citizens to have less faith in their government and they don’t feel the moral obligation and responsibility to give back,” Ciccolo said. “That’s not good for democracy.” 

    Only 27% of registered voters participated in last year’s town election, up from 9% in 2023. That year, 80% of voters were older than 50. 

    Buttner said she hopes the event will encourage eligible students to vote in future elections and become more involved in Lexington. “We want students to be aware of what’s happening in the town,” she said. “Whether that means just going to the library or joining the Lexington Youth Commission.” 

    Looking ahead, Buttner and Kalra hope to expand LexYouthCivics. Buttner envisions a program that meets regularly to discuss local issues that affect students directly.  

    “I see LexYouthCivics … integrated into the Lexington consciousness and into the Lexington civic landscape,” she said. “I really hope it remains even when I eventually depart and go to college.” 

    Students may register for the event at: https://www.lexyouthcivics.org. 

    This story was written by a journalism student in BU’s Newsroom program, a partnership between the university, The Lexington Observer and other news organizations in the Boston area.

  • Lexington’s special education students are still catching up after the pandemic

    Three out of four Lexington students meet grade-level standards in English. But for students with disabilities, it’s one in three. That 44-point gap, detailed in a new report conducted by consulting firm New Solutions K12, highlights persistent academic achievement gaps within the district. 

    The January review praised Lexington Public Schools for investing in specialized staff and resources but found that students with disabilities, about 14% of the student body, have not rebounded academically from the pandemic. 

    Mona Roy, a candidate for School Committee and mother of two neurodivergent students, said the report’s findings were “highly predictable.” Her younger son graduated from Lexington High School in 2022. 

    “The report confirms what many of us feared: while general education students have largely recovered academically, students with disabilities have not,” she said. “As parents, we can support our children and reinforce learning at home, but that is fundamentally different from the work of trained educators.”  

    Lexington serves 6,524 students across 11 schools and consistently ranks among the highest-performing districts in the state. However, 2025 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) results show that at least 14 districts out performed Lexington among students with disabilities.

    “Since children start off in different places on their learning journeys, we want to be mindful of not only absolute achievement, but also growth,” Lexington Public Schools Superintendent Julie Hackett said. “If a student’s MCAS scores are very low, but their growth scores show gains each year compared to their cohort of peers, that is an important signal of progress.” 

    Lexington has a median annual household income more than double the state and national average. Pediatric neuropsychologist Eavan Miles-Mason, who works with Lexington families seeking special education services, said high overall achievement and private tutoring can mask deeper gaps. 

    “Students whose families can afford private, external support may ‘bump up’ the district’s reading scores, while students who do not receive adequate instruction or services may be left behind,” Miles-Mason said. When students with disabilities or socioeconomic disadvantages have lower achievement in an otherwise high-performing district, she said, it is often an indication that they’re not getting the appropriate instruction.  

    The report found that while 75% of students in grades 3-8 meet or exceed grade-level expectations in English, just one in three students with disabilities is proficient. Similarly, nearly 80% of all Lexington students meet grade-level expectations for math, compared with just over a third of students with disabilities. 

    Hackett cited limited access to the core curriculum and insufficient time with subject-matter experts as primary factors contributing to the gaps. “Not only do all students need access, but some students, depending on their abilities, may need more time with people who know the subject matter best,” she said. “Gaps will close with more time on learning and better access to the core curriculum.” 

    Roy said she was struck by the report’s staff allocation findings. Literacy specialists spend 22% of their time directly with students and math interventionists spend 18%. 

    “This raises important questions about how we structure educator work and whether we are directing resources to where they have the greatest impact,” Roy said. 

    The literary specialist and math interventionists split their time among direct student services, coaching, meetings and paperwork, planning and preparation and other activities. Other activities, including communication tasks, professional development, school duties, lunch and travel between buildings, took up the largest share of their time, according to the report. The literary specialist spent 32% of the workday on “other activities” while math interventionists spent 50%. 

    The report described staff as “hardworking” and “collaborative” and notes that educators care deeply about all students. However, it recommended that Lexington Public Schools adopt a consistent, districtwide reading program, provide extra support for struggling students and put more focus on promoting lifelong independence for students with severe disabilities. 

    “When we provide intensive one-on-one support throughout a student’s school experience, we may inadvertently create dependence rather than independence,” Hackett said. The district will focus on teaching self-advocacy, problem-solving and independence skills in the future, she said.

    The report comes as schools across Massachusetts continue to recover from pandemic-related learning loss. MCAS results remain below pre-pandemic performance statewide, with about 42% of students meeting expectations in 2025 compared with about half before COVID-19. No student group has fully regained its pre-pandemic test scores statewide, according to WBUR.  

    Lexington schools have recovered at a faster rate than the state overall and many peer districts. But students with disabilities still have not returned to pre-pandemic scores, according to the report. 

    “The learning loss was real, and our most vulnerable students were disproportionately impacted,” said Roy. “That damage lingers.”

    Roy described navigating the pandemic shutdown as a parent as “deeply frustrating.”

    “In our household, we pushed our son to keep working through the pandemic, alongside family death and separation. He did not get a semester off,” Roy said. “[Students with disabilities] face an uphill battle where they are either progressing forward or sliding backward. There is no standing still.” 

    In order to address these gaps, the report called for a redesign of the severe-needs special education program, including stronger reading instruction, extra support for students who struggle, as well as programs that help students with disabilities gain long-term independence.

    “Lexington’s special education system has been in place for decades now, and it’s a community-built system,” Hackett said. “Whether and how we make changes to special education delivery models will depend on the community’s willingness to try new things and explore different and perhaps better ways to address our students’ needs.” The district will host community workshops to identify top priorities, she said. 

    Roy said she worries that under financial pressure the school may cut necessary services that benefit students. Still, Roy sees the report’s findings as an opportunity to make changes that would have been harder to justify before. 

    “When we receive difficult news about outcomes, we can choose to reframe and reflect—and then recover,” Roy said. “Our students deserve that honest effort, and our educators deserve the support to deliver it.” 

    This story was written by a journalism student in BU’s Newsroom program, a partnership between the university, The Lexington Observer and other news organizations in the Boston area.

  • Lexington students’ MCAS scores show ongoing pandemic effects

    Standardized test scores at Lexington Public Schools remain below pre-pandemic levels, five years after COVID-19 first shuttered schools.

    Lexington is not alone in its struggle to raise scores. A Boston Globe story published in September found that statewide in 2025, scores on the standardized test known as MCAS are below 2019 and 2021 levels. 

    “Overall our results are high and the majority of students are succeeding, which we see across multiple indicators,” Superintendent Julie Hackett told LexObserver. “Our results also support continued focus on improving outcomes for certain student subgroups, and we remain deeply committed to this ongoing effort.”

    The percentage of Black 10th graders meeting state standards in reading, writing and language skills dropped from 47% in 2019 to 33% in 2025, according to data presented to the Lexington School Committee last month. The decline mirrored statewide trends. Approximately 4.5% of Lexington Public School students are Black. 

    Scores also declined among other student groups in Lexington. For example, 10th grade scores in English skills fell from 91% to 87% among white students between 2019 and 2025. During the same period, Asian students, who are typically the district’s highest MCAS performers, dipped in mathematics from 99% to 97%.

    “When we see the same decline across two different subject areas, that points to some variable that is not specific to the instruction,” said Maureen Kavanaugh, the district’s director of data strategy. “It is something bigger than just what happened in our English or math classes.” 

    “There are other shifting needs among our student population that have occurred over recent years that should be considered,” Dr. Hackett explained to LexObserver. “For example, we have had an increase in percent of students with IEPs since the pandemic, and also an increase of students with high needs receiving special education.”

    “Many hypothesized the pandemic and other national and global factors and conditions that have occurred over the last few years would have a disproportionate impact on already vulnerable and marginalized populations, and we see evidence of this in our data,” Hackett said. 

    Massachusetts voters passed a ballot measure last year that ended the requirement for students to pass the MCAS test to graduate. Lexington, along with other towns such as Winchester and Lincoln, voted against the proposition. Even so, students will still take the standardized test each year and scores will be tracked.

    Lexington is known for its academic excellence and typically places among the state’s top school systems. For example, English proficiency among Lexington’s public elementary and middle school students is the fourth highest in the state in grades 3-8, and sixth highest for 10th graders, according to the Lexington School District. Forbes ranks Lexington as the seventh-wealthiest town in Massachusetts. 

    Lexington has created a strategy to raise scores, assess student needs and adjust teaching strategies. The plan is currently being implemented, and school district officials say it should be fully incorporated in classrooms in two years.

    “If anyone can truly close opportunity gaps, it’s Lexington,” Hackett said. “We have outstanding teachers and educational leaders who are working to address and narrow equity gaps for Black students and students with disabilities.”

    Kavanaugh said classroom supervision and evaluation are the next steps in improving test scores. The goal, she said, is to understand the themes and patterns of scores and adjust to the needs of students. 

  • Free Culture Access Surges: Boston Family Days Program Triples in Size

     Mayor Michelle Wu announced an expansion of the Boston Family Days program last month that will provide more students and families free entry to multiple cultural venues this fall.

    City officials say the program has grown each year since it was introduced as BPS Sundays in February 2024. That first year, six cultural institutions were open on the first and second Sunday of each month. Today, students and families may visit 23 venues. Last year, 65,000 people were provided free access to cultural events and performances. The Boston Ballet, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Huntington Theatre plan to provide more than 2,500 tickets this fall.

    Sage Morgan-Hubbard, director of learning and management at The Museum of African American History, said the program and experiences have resonated with young people.

    “We’ve had more young people come out, and our Juneteenth was probably our best visitation day,” she said. “We had like 450 people … of all different ages.”

    As one of the smallest museums in the program, Morgan-Hubbard said the additional traffic will advance the organization’s effort to spread a message of empowerment through education. Tours begin at the Abiel Smith School, the nation’s oldest public school to educate African American students exclusively. Among other exhibits, visitors can explore the African Meeting House, where prominent figures such as Frederick Douglass spoke to crowds, and abolitionist and writer William Cooper Nell attended school.

    When the Museum of African American History joined the initiative last year, it incorporated performing arts into its programming. The museum partnered with dance group Jean Appolon Expressions, and the Front Porch Arts Collective – a Black theater group, as well as others.

    “I think there’s nothing more transformative than having live arts because you know all your senses are engaged,” said Morgan-Hubbard. “They’re just much more interesting ways for young people to learn about different topics and be exposed to different art forms than sometimes a regular tour.”

    The Boston Family Days program was originally open only to Boston public school students and their families. Private school students and families are now eligible.

    Bostonians gathered on a recent Saturday at RoboBoston, Mass Robotics’ annual block party, held this year in the Seaport District. The free event showcased robotics from more than 50 institutions and companies throughout the city. While separate from the Boston Family Days program, the event attracted technology enthusiasts, families and students, including Jovie Slagle, a mother from Quincy, who said she was vaguely familiar with the city-sponsored program. But it sounded interesting.

    “I’d like to see some arts too,” said Slagle, who mentioned that disciplines such as math and science are important to childhood education, but creative expression is another powerful way to open their minds.

    The Huntington Theatre is tucked between the neighborhoods of Fenway, Back Bay and the South End. The theater joined the city program as part of the expansion, which staff members say is a continuation of an investment in Boston’s art scene.

    “It was pretty easy … we want in,” said Meg O’Brien, the theater’s director of education.

    Huntington staff members and representatives of other performing arts venues met with city officials last summer. The goal was to integrate theaters into a program originally designed for museums.

    The working group faced challenges. Museums allow visitors entrance at any time, while theaters operate with a fixed number of seats and specific performance schedules.

    A plan to expand the program was unveiled this spring. In May, the Huntington Theatre hosted two family days for “The Light in the Piazza” directed by its Artistic Director Loretta Greco. The events fueled optimism for the fall, according to O’Brien.

    To accommodate theaters, the city will release a rolling schedule of upcoming performances instead of set times throughout the fall. That way, families can decide when they are free rather than schedule an event in advance. “The goal is to make it feel as inviting and as welcoming as possible so that they actually do come out and spend the time with us,” O’Brien said.

    The city will continue the program through June 2026, according to a press release from the mayor’s office.

    “I would want to see more programming at the institutions themselves,” said Sam Fidler, director of administration and finance in the mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. “I think that is something also that we’re in the process of working on.”

  • School Committee candidate and educator Mali Brodt hopes to help reshape NPS

    Mali Brodt moved to Newton for the school system. Now she wants to reform it.

    A mother of three and a longtime educator, Brodt, 46, says her run for the Ward 6 seat on the Newton School Committee is deeply personal.

    She and her husband moved to Newton 10 years ago, when their twins, Manon and Persephone, were in preschool and she was pregnant with their youngest daughter, Reyna.

    “We moved here for the schools, like many people do,” Brodt said. “They’re now in seventh and third grade, so it’s been a full decade.”

    Brodt will face Jonathan Greene, a Newton parent and finance executive, in the race for the Ward 6 seat, which is now held by Paul F. Levy, a businessman, author and professor who is not seeking reelection.

    A native of Brookline, Brodt has worked in education for nearly 20 years, first as a middle school teacher in Boston Public Schools and later as a school adjustment counselor in private schools. She currently works in Westwood but said her experience across different school systems gives her a valuable lens on the challenges educators face. 

    “I think becoming a mother changed everything,” Brodt said. “It changed my perspective as a teacher. It made me much more empathetic to parents and families. Before you have kids, it’s easy to think, ‘My kid would never do that.’ But parenting is complicated.” 

    Brodt’s passion for equity emerged early. Her mother worked in public health and was active in the American Civil Rights Movement. Her father, who grew up under apartheid in South Africa, was involved in the anti-apartheid movement.

    “I was brought up in a way that if you can see that you can help in some way, you should,” Brodt said.

    Though Brodt has spent years observing Newton’s schools as a parent and educator, it was the 2024 teacher strike that pushed her to run. 

    In January 2024, Newton educators launched an 11-day strike, the longest in Massachusetts in over two decades. Teachers demanded better pay, improved student mental health support and limitations on the number of students one staff member can be responsible for. Organized by the Newton Teachers Association, the strike drew attention to issues in the classroom and tension between teachers and city officials. 

    “When you move to a place with strong schools, I think there’s a strong assumption that things work well and everybody’s on the same page. The strike really showed us that it isn’t true,” Brodt said. “It was shocking to me to see the antagonism and rhetoric around it, and that’s what pushed me to pay more attention to the politics.” 

    She criticized the situation for characterizing teachers as the problem, worsening the relationship among teachers, parents and the city council. 

    “I mean, being a teacher, knowing teachers and respecting teachers—teachers don’t want to strike, they want to teach,” Brodt said. “It must have come to a point where something was truly off.” 

    During the strike, Brodt said, the messages coming from the school committee and the teachers did not align. She condemned the current school committee for its lack of transparency and cohesiveness when informing parents and community members about the strike. 

    If elected, Brodt said, she would prioritize rebuilding trust among the school committee, teachers and the public. “The school committee and the teachers’ union are on the same side,” Brodt said. “We all want what is best for our schools.”  

    Brodt is also critical of how Newton funds its schools. “We have been chronically underfunding our schools for years,” Brodt said. “You can’t just keep throwing one-time funds at the budget every year and expect it to be fixed—we need to actually fix the problem.” 

    She brought up the example of curriculum development, an ongoing need that’s often treated as a one-off line item. Every year, Newton does curriculum reviews, buys new curricula and does professional development to prepare teachers for new material. However, the budget does not account for these costs on an annual basis. 

    Brodt is candid about the mental health crisis in schools today, especially after COVID-19. “Ever since I started teaching, I’ve seen a steady increase in social-emotional deficits and mental health needs,” Brodt said. “But COVID accelerated everything.” 

    Students, she said, are dealing with more anxiety and attention challenges than ever before. “Teachers don’t necessarily have all the tools that they need to help support the kids in front of them,” Brodt said. “The world is different now.” She described how social media and the pandemic have had a direct impact on children’s ability to learn and behave.

    Brodt said she believes that if the world is changing, so should the curriculum. “We need to have schools meet the needs of kids today, and not just be nostalgic for the way things used to be.” 

    Despite her criticism, Brodt is quick to clarify that she is not running out of personal disappointment.

    “My kids have had a tremendous experience. We’ve loved their teachers, we’ve loved their school,” Brodt said. “It’s not that I’ve been disappointed in Newton schools. I’m frustrated that a city with the resources is not treating schools with the respect and importance they deserve.”

  • Jim Murphy wants to bring educators’ voices to School Committee

    After spending nearly four decades in classrooms and school offices, Jim Murphy says it’s time educators had a loud voice in the policies that shape Newton Public Schools.

    Murphy, 64, a retired teacher and administrator, is running for the Ward 8 seat on the Newton School Committee with a clear mission: repair relationships and increase transparency.

    In the past five years, Newton schools have endured the pandemic, a teacher’s strike and a budget crisis, leaving the community divided on the path forward. Tensions remain high between educators and district leadership. As an educator and school administrator for 38 years, Murphy said his perspective is exactly what the school committee has been missing. 

    “There’s this silly idea that an educator on a school board is somehow a conflict of interest,” Murphy said. “It’s important to have the voices of people who have done that work and know what it looks like.” 

    With Amy Davenport no longer on the Newton School Committee, the board has no former educators among its members. Davenport, a former teacher and high school principal, was elected in Ward 7 in 2023 but stepped down in September 2024.

    Murphy has faced criticism that his background in education could make him biased toward teachers. He firmly rejects that claim.

    “The school committee in Newton needs educators,” he said. “My experience as both a teacher and administrator gives me insight into how policy becomes something in the classroom.” 

    From attending parent-teacher meetings to managing budgets and evaluating curriculum as a department director, Murphy said he has learned how to bridge competing interests. 

    Murphy started his career teaching at an alternative school in Dorchester and finished as the grades 6-12 social studies director in Weymouth. He’s introduced debate teams, coached softball, and sat through countless parent-teacher conferences and budget meetings. Through it all, he said, he’s learned to bridge competing interests.

    He earned a bachelor’s degree in social thought and political economy from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a master’s degree in teaching and curriculum from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Murphy is continuing his education as a PhD candidate in the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development at UMass Boston, working on his dissertation in civic education in Massachusetts. 

    Originally from Weymouth, Murphy has roots in the Boston area that go back generations. He’s been a Newton resident for 18 years, living with his wife, a lifelong Newton resident. While the couple doesn’t have children, Murphy says his commitment to education stems from decades of working with students and families.

    After dedicating most of his life to teaching and learning about the education system, Murphy said running for the Newton School Committee felt like an obvious next step.

    “I continue to have a strong belief that people need to be involved in their communities,” Murphy said, “so I spent a long time teaching people that’s what they should be doing. In retirement, I wanted to continue to walk the walk.” 

    Budget breakdown

    While he knew he would eventually run, recent backlash to Newton’s fiscal 2026 budget inspired Murphy to take action. “The budget allocated by the mayor’s office would require layoffs and stalling programs that were beginning to show success,” Murphy said. “And the current school committee wasn’t pushing back.”

    ”There needs to be a true accounting of what it means to be educating kids,” he said. Murphy knows how many important costs get missed in the school budget. For example, he said, every school has a nurse, but money to pay for nurses isn’t included in the official budget.

    “The first thing about budgeting is better transparency,” Murphy said. “What money is available, and where is money needed? We need truer figures instead of pretending certain costs don’t exist and allocating future budgets based on that.” 

    Vision for reform

    In 2023, Newton Public Schools introduced the “Portrait of a Graduate” initiative, emphasizing core values the community wants to see in students. This student is adaptable, with strong critical thinking skills, a learner’s mindset and empathy. 

    And according to Murphy, this student can’t exist under Newton’s current education system. “It does not match up,” he said. 

    “This is not just a Newton issue; education has long needed some changes,” Murphy said. “We are still trying to make a 19th-century education system work in the 21st.” 

    If elected, Murphy said, he would focus on curriculum reform that includes broad input from parents, administrators, committee members and teachers. 

    “Top of the agenda is repairing these relationships,” Murphy said. “We need to get back to the place where everybody’s on the same team.”

  • Newton Theatre Company honors Goldstein family through Monologue and memory

    Keren Kohan, left, and Jesse Kin, right, talk about their memories of the Goldstein family during the Newton Theatre Company Monologue Project. Photo by Georgia Epiphaniou.

    Jesse King and Keren Kohane coped with the loss of their friend Valerie Goldstein and her family the only way they knew how–through performance.

    Hundreds of people gathered at the Hyde Bandstand on May 31 to honor Matt, Lyla, Valerie and Violet Goldstein in this year’s Monologue Project. The Goldstein family died from carbon monoxide poisoning at their vacation home in Wakefield, N.H., in December.

    Matt, 52, and Lyla Goldstein, 54, were dedicated to education and community. Matt taught middle school math at the Edith C. Baker School in Brookline. Lyla was a program manager at Microsoft, a Girl Scout troop leader, and a basketball and soccer coach.

    The couple’s daughters were just starting their adult lives. Valerie, 22, was a recent Syracuse University graduate and a Teach for America fifth-grade teacher in North Carolina. Violet, 19, was in her first year at the Rhode Island School of Design.

    Organized by the Newton Theatre Company, the Monologue Project is an annual performance that amplifies the experiences of communities in Newton. Nearly six months after the Goldstein family died, King and Kohane gathered their friends, classmates and former students to perform in the family’s honor. 

    “Matt and Val were part of our Newton Theatre Company family. I mean, I’ve known this family for 15 years,” said Melissa Bernstein, the company’s director. “For us, it’s remembering and celebrating this wonderful family that was our family—the Newton Theater Company family.” 

    Valerie’s journey with the company started in 2010 when she first auditioned for its children’s productions. During middle school and high school, Violet joined her sister in “The Hipster” and several Junie B. Jones Productions. 

    Over the years, she became a vital member of the company, performing in and directing three previous Monologue Projects. 

    When he wasn’t teaching at Brookline’s Baker Middle School, Matt participated in Newton Theater productions. While Lyla and Violet weren’t frequent performers, their constant support left a lasting impact on the community.

    Given the family’s involvement in Newton Theater Company, King and Kohane said it felt like the most meaningful way to honor their memory. “I think it was a day or two after their passing,” said King, co-ordinator of the event, “and me, Karen, and a few others gathered at Melissa’s house to be together, and we thought it would be a good idea.”

    In the past, participants typically responded to an open call by Newton Theater Company and collaborated in small groups to write their monologues. Each piece is shaped through a process of workshopping and feedback.

    But this year was different. Because of how personal the loss was to the community, King and Kohane didn’t ask contributors to submit their monologues for feedback. Instead, they focused on reaching out to anyone who knew the Goldsteins.

    Each member of the Goldstein family was commemorated in their own way. Over 20 people shared stories, poems and songs that brought them back to cherished memories. Each person stepped on stage and spoke for seven to ten minutes. 

    Contributors included Matt Wilson, one of Violet’s teachers; Elaine Goldberg, a close friend of Lyla; a teammate from Matt’s soccer group; and Miranda Mellen, who met Valerie while studying abroad in Florence. 

    One of the most powerful performances came from a group of middle school boys who had been Matt’s students.

    “Matt was such an amazing role model and support system for all of these kids, and they had these wonderful things to say about him,” Kohane said. “By the end, they were emotional and supporting each other, which was nice to see. But it took me a moment to step back and be like, ‘Oh, wait, they’re middle schoolers.’”

    Kohane was the first performer of the evening, opening the event with a monologue. But for her, the best way to honor Valerie was through music. The two bonded in 2020, when Valerie started a virtual karaoke club to bring friends together during quarantine.

    Kohane returned to the stage later in the evening to sing with two members of the karaoke club. “Power of Two” was the finale song of “The Twelfth Night,” which Kohane sang with Valerie. 

    “Valerie and I were theatrical partners, so I wanted to honor that,” Kohane said. But stepping on the stage wasn’t easy. “I was worried I wasn’t gonna be able to deliver the song properly to convey my feelings. But it felt so freeing to sing at the event, and I really felt very connected to everyone.” 

    The event offered space for vulnerability. “This is the first time I’ve ever lost somebody, and I had to rewrite my monologue a couple of times because it was a bit too raw,” said King, who also performed a monologue. While he wasn’t an actor, taking the stage was his way of showing up for Valerie.

    “It’s bittersweet,” King said, reflecting on the performance. “This has been part of both my personal and work life for so long, and now I kind of have to move on…I recall vividly the night after the Monologue Project, as I was falling asleep, I felt this profound sense of peace that I hadn’t felt in a very long time.”

    Kohane put it simply: “I didn’t move on, but I could finally move forward.”