2015 Newton North Grad Announces School Committee Candidacy

NEWTON, MA – Cyrus Vaghar, a 2015 graduate of Newton North High School, recently announced his candidacy for Newton School Committee Ward 2. Vaghar announced his candidacy this week through an open letter to the Newton school community.

Read Vaghar's announcement below:

Dear Fellow Citizens,

It is truly an honor to declare my candidacy for School Committee Ward 2 in Newton. For those of you who do not know me, I ran for this position two years ago on a platform of smarter spending, mandatory financial literacy classes for all students, and a comprehensive drug awareness program. After more than a decade in the schools, I knew solutions to the many problems facing the School Committee were just a student’s grassroots perspective away.

Significant gaps in our schools compel me to tap into my very recent experience in Newton schools and enter this race. In the 2015 Youth Risk Behavioral Survey, a mandatory survey the Newton Public Schools are required to administer, over 1,300 brave high school students self-reported that they did not have at least one adult in the schools they could talk to about a problem. When one in three students in Newton’s high schools are unable to trust even one adult in the place they spend hours in each day, change is urgently needed. We need a grassroots response, working hand in hand with students to find a solution. Newton students are more creative, energetic, and resilient than many across the county, but unless we give them the support and guidance they deserve, the same problems that have affected them will remain for years to come.

Over the next few months, our team will be knocking on doors, attending events, and reaching out to parents, students, teachers, administrators and community leaders for their opinions on a magnitude of issues impacting our students. If you would like to share your thoughts, please do not hesitate to email cyruskvaghar@gmail.com or call me on my cell phone (617)-823- 2556 anytime. Donations will accepted via ActBlue at cyrusvaghar.com/donate.

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