Five Things You Need to Know Today: May 2

1. "Melting Away." The Boston Jewish Film Festival (BJFF) will host a screening of "Melting Away" tonight at the West Newton Cinema. The film tells the story of parents learning to deal with a transgendered child. Directed by Doron Eran. In Hebrew with English subtitles. Co-sponsored by The Parent and Family Connection of Keshet. The screening, which is part of the Encore series presented by the BJFF, is generously supported by the Dorot Foundation. The screening starts at 7 p.m.

2. Special School Committee meeting. The Newton School Committee will hold a special meeting this morning at 8 a.m. in room 209 at Newton City Hall. The committee will hold a discussion and possible vote on modular classrooms at Mason-Rice Elementary School. 

3. Program: Avoiding Scams. Local elected officials, representatives from the Newton Police Department and former Assistant Attorney General in consumer protection Edgar Dworsky will join a panel discussion tonight on how to avoid being scammed. The event will take place at the Newton Free Library and starts at 7 p.m. A Q&A session will follow the panel discussion.

4. Elementary early release day. Today is an early release day for Newton Elementary Schools. For early release day hours, check out this chart from NPS.

5. Post on the Newton Patch Local Voices blog. Do you have some local news to share or a discussion to start? Write about it in the Newton Patch Local Voices blog. The blog is open to any Newton residents or business owners who'd like to share with the community.