Barry Greenstein Running For Newton School Committee, Ward 8

NEWTON, MA – Barry Greenstein, a third-generation Newtonian, is running for Newton school committee, ward 8. Here’s why.

Greenstein recently moved back to Newton from Marblehead to be closer to friends and family. He lives with his wife and young son, Charlie, on the same street he grew up on.

His son even attends the same elementary school as he did growing up, Memorial Spaulding Elementary.

“It's familiar and weird at the same time,” he said. “I’m literally reliving my childhood through the eyes of my son.”

Greenstein’s physical return to his hometown of Newton has not been the only trip he’s taken down memory lane; his son’s experiences and challenges in school have also been quite similar to his own – and they are the reason he has decided to run for Newton school committee.

The file

When Greenstein’s son entered kindergarten at Memorial Spaulding last year, his teachers noticed he was struggling with reading.

“They began to ask family questions: ‘Did you have any issues? Do you have learning disabilities in your family?’” Greenstein said.

Greenstein told his son’s teachers he remembered having reading help in school, but that was all that he was aware of.

A year later, Charlie’s struggles with reading persisted, and his teachers asked Greenstein if they could do an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) evaluation, which would help determine if he learns differently than other students and needs extra support.

Without hesitation, Greenstein said yes to the IEP evaluation. Little did he know he would soon learn something about himself in the process.

“They had sent all these different tests that they were going to do with him and and what we were going to get from it, and they started reading some of the symptoms of what they were seeing, what they were going to test for, and it was like I was having a weird flashback,” Greenstein said.

He said he couldn't put into words exactly what he was experiencing at the time, but he said it felt “weird”.

Curious about his own academic history, he requested his student file from Newton South High School where he graduated in 1997.

“I opened up my file to find out I had an IEP, which I was completely unaware of,” Greenstein said.

He said looking through his student file was “shocking,” and that many of the comments in his IEP were similar to what he had been hearing about his son.

“I was having this weird deja vu where my son was going through the same thing as me,” he said.

Greenstein said he felt like he had to do something to advocate for kids like Charlie and like himself who learn differently.

“I'm not in education, but in reading through my own file and learning from my son, not everyone learns the same way. And so it just felt like I had to do something,” he said.

Education that works for everyone

Greenstein said his platform rests on the idea that education should work for everyone and every learning style.

“I want to make sure that people who are looking for AP and honors classes have the resources and classes they need, that students in the middle are not being left behind because they're not at that level, and that all kids who have IEPs have the resources that they need in order to learn,” Greenstein said.

Transparency and greater resources for teachers

In addition to supporting all learners, Greenstein said he hopes to improve transparency in Newton public schools to make sure parents are in-the-know about their children’s education and about the curriculum.

“I think it should be easy for us to know what curriculum is being taught to our students,” he said, “and easy for us to know the level that our students are at.”

Greenstein also said he wants to make sure that Newton teachers and educators have the right resources they need to be able to teach students in the best way possible.

“Teachers are working within the confines of what is available to them,” Greenstein said. “I don't want a teacher to feel like they don't have the resources they need in order to educate our students.”

Greenstein has spent more than 22 years working in digital marketing, specializing in biotech and the life sciences industries.

He graduated from Newton South High School in 1997 and received a bachelor’s degree in Speech Communication from Ithaca College.

While he doesn’t come from an education background, he said he is still learning and is open to talking to anyone and everyone about Newton public schools.

Newton community members can reach out to him at barry@barry4newtonschools.com.