Speaking up for the public schools

Just when I thought I didn’t have anything to write about the Lowell Sun comes out with another series of anti-public school/anti-teacher articles. I’m talking about the front page article in Wednesday’s paper entitled “Region’s teachers above pay average.” The accompanying article “Do School Boards Give Up Too Much,” was equally infuriating and I think I’ll tackle that one first.

This is another thinly veiled attempt by the Sun to move Lowell toward an appointed school board by criticizing the ability of school committee members to negotiate with the Union. Well, first of all the school committees are not fixed entities as the article implies; they are accountable to the voters every two years!  It is this very accountability that will be lost if the school board is appointed by city hall.

In this article too, the reporter talks about Massachusetts’ average teacher salary “soaring far above the national average” without mentioning the fact that our state has a higher cost of living than most of the rest of the country and that our schools rank among the best in the country.

Our Mayor, Armand Mercier, who was a part of the most recent series of negotiations with the teachers’ union, says that these negotiations “should not be in the hands of people who go to elections every two years.”  In the same breath, he adds that the recent deal with the Union resulted in a “fair salary competitive enough to woo new teachers to the city.”  So, which is it, Mr. Mayor? It sounds like the negotiations went pretty well.  

But what really irritates me, is the quote from the Mayor saying that “Some of (the committee members) are there because they have kids in the system. That’s all well-intended, but is that the best way to run the School Department?” That’s like saying that many city councilors are only qualified to be on the council because they live in the city. I resent the implication that concerned and involved parents are not equal to the task of holding public office. The system works because our school committee gets advice from the superintendent and from their lawyer; they do not have to be labor experts or attorneys, they just have to want what is best for the school system.