Newton Votes in Special Election

Voters approved Questions Two and Three, while Question One was rejected.

By Irene González de las Casas, Justin Liu & Olivia Middien

On March 14, Newton residents voted in a special election on an override proposal put forth by the City of Newton. By approving an override, the community can assess taxes in excess of the automatic annual 2.5 percent increase: this money would be allocated toward city services.

Included on the ballot were three questions regarding city funding.

Question One proposed an additional $9,175,000 in real estate and personal property taxes to be accessed and used for school funding, park building, road repaving, tree planting and funding elderly service programs—the main benefactor being Newton Public Schools. Ultimately, Question One was rejected with 53 percent of voters voting against the proposal.

Questions Two and ree proposed temporary tax increases to obtain the $5.8 million needed to renovate the Countryside and Franklin Elementary Schools. Both questions were approved with 52 and 53 percent of the vote, respectively.

In previous overrides passed in 2002 and 2013, voter turnout ranged from 57 percent to 32 percent, respectively. is year, 34 percent of Newton’s registered voters cast their ballots.

Senior Jaesuh Lee said that voter turnout was not as high as he’d hoped since the questions addressed issues important to Newton.

“I was personally a little disappointed by the lack of people participating,” he said. “It's very important to speak your opinion on important issues, especially ones that are concerning really critical problems like rebuilding elementary schools and repaving roads.”

Students at South worked to increase voter turnout by handing out informational yers, setting up voter registration tables and broadcasting the election on social media. Senior William Lock said that many South students registered to vote as a result of the e orts of other students. from South would have never known there was a bill.”

Senior Marisa MacDonald, who helped publicize the election, said she was

“ ere are a lot of health issues in this room that aren't going to be xed since Question One didn’t pass.”

In a newsletter to the Newton community addressing override results, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller said that building two new elementary schools will foster a superior educational setting.

“I can proudly say we will be building two new elementary schools, Countryside and Franklin,” she said. “I am excited for the students who will have better learning environments at these two great new facilities. ese new schools are long overdue and will be terri c additions to our city and the Newton Public Schools.”

Meanwhile, Principal Tamara Stras said she is concerned about the negative impacts on Newton schools a er voters rejected Question One. If rati ed, the question would have provided NPS with an additional $4.5 million.

“I am disappointed that the override question did not pass because it directly impacts Newton South,” she said. “Every principal in this district is doing the best that they can and ghting for their school.”

South Stage manager and theater teacher Paige Perkinson said she is worried about how the results may a ect teachers’ positions.

“ e result will be teachers losing jobs, even though enrollment is going up across the district,” she said. “I don't know how they will allocate the cutbacks, but it's very alarming, being an art teacher.”

“Not many people feel like they can bene t from an override, especially with the many people in private schools,” he said, “If it weren't for the e ort made by South students to publicize the override, most voters motivated by her concern about supply shortages in classrooms.

“ e ceramics room is going to be underfunded. We ran out of clay last year in March, so I’m scared for this year,” she said.

Former city councilor and Ligerbots coach Greer Tan Swinston said high citizen participation in government decisions is crucial.

“We as citizens should all be politicians,” he said. “ at's the whole point of American democracy, we need to care about what's going on, all the time.” e investigation that led to Trump’s indictment began before he became president. e charges are related to a $130,000 payment made by Trump’s then-personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to adult lm actress Stormy Daniels. e payment was made just weeks before the 2016 presidential election with the purpose of silencing Daniels from going public about her a air with Trump. e fast-paced and depressing nature of politics and current events shuts out many young people. However, those who choose to stay informed are left dazed and confused, without a clear way to digest what they see and hear. e hullabaloo surrounding Trump is confusing and scary. Without a space to understand the situation and process our feelings, we are left to marinate in them, letting them eat away at us. ese unsavory feelings have been with us for years. As we’ve grown up during Trump’s presidency, we’ve become numb to inappropriate presidential behavior. Scandal after scandal has been swept under the rug.

We treat national politics like dark magic — as if uttering a particular president's name will break us all out in warts. Yet, we are bombarded with information, gossip and opinions regarding this particular president from seemingly every direction except school.

Last week, this particular president was indicted, and then charged, with 34 counts of business fraud. He is involved in numerous other criminal investigations.

He continues to make history: the rst president to be elected without public service experience, the rst president to be impeached twice and now the rst president to be indicted on criminal charges.

Yet, we rarely talk about him in school or beyond. We cannot ignore the massive orange balloon that has been hanging over our heads for nearly eight years.

Former President Donald Trump makes headlines and trends on social media every week for something new.

Last week, it was the indictment: a callback to a six-year-old scandal.

Despite this historic occurrence, very few classes discussed the event or its signi cance. We treat Trump with such delicacy — we’ve made him so untouchable — that we can no longer hold him accountable.

In school, we have gotten nothing but silencerown silent. Outside of school, we have been overwhelmed with information coming from all sides in an increasingly polarized climate.

Pundits engaged in screaming matches on cable television, politicians and activists duking it out on Twitter, and through it all, continuous news noti cations of new and increasingly shocking White House a airs.

During the tumultuous four years of his presidency, the news has gotten faster and angrier.

A Trump news cycle looks like this: Trump or his political allies do something horrible. e public is outraged. Trump or his political allies do something worse. e old thing is forgotten, and the public is outraged about the new thing.

Seemingly, ongoing criminal charges would make a candidate unelectable; meanwhile, Trump’s newest campaign fund has seen an increase in donations. Circumstances we believed would shut down voters are instead fueling them.

After the Jan. 6th insurrection, some worry that Trump’s lies about elections and due process will inspire more violence.

Given the commotion surrounding Trump, it’s hard to remember that it hasn’t always been like this. Trump constantly oneupping himself has raised the bar for what is newsworthy, for what we care about.

With this high bar, we let a lot slip under the radar. Wrongdoings do not have repercussions — they simply disappear.

For our generation, politics seems oversimpli ed. e Trump administration made a mockery of the government: soap-opera drama paired with action-movie destruction.