Dr. Nolan reported to the School Committee on initial alumni outreach work for Newton North and Newton South. She said Newton North has maintained an alumni database with outside support while Newton South has not; the district held its first alumni breakfast to test outreach and found modest attendance. "One of the first meetings ... was attended, but not well attended when you think of the thousands of folks that might be graduates," she said, noting about 40 people attended the breakfast and that administrators subsequently interviewed additional alumni contacts.

The administration has hired (or plans to hire) an outside research service — at no cost to the district for initial outreach materials — to build a comprehensive alumni contact list and prepare PR and digital files. Dr. Nolan said the vendor’s process will take approximately six months, so fuller contact information should be available this spring. The district put sample mailings in the committee folder and said alumni volunteers have started social pages and are planning events, including social meetups and a fall football game.

The memo and presentation were described as informational rather than action items. No vote or policy change was associated with the report.