"Handicapping" the School Committee Race

Today's Lowell Sun analyzes the upcoming campaign for school committee. Unfortunately, the story is rendered almost unreadable by the race track style of writing favored by Sun editor Jim Campanini (obviously the author of this unsigned piece) whose obsession with horse racing creeps into almost everything he writes. Peeling away the track lingo, Campanini thinks all five incumbents seeking reelection are safe. Of the five, the editor sees Regina Faticanti and Connie Martin as the strongest with Jackie Doherty, John Leahy and Kevin McHugh in the second tier. He also sees the four challengers falling into two groups with Jim Leary or Vesna Nuon having the best chance of winning the seat being vacated by Joe Mendonca who's running for city council and Tim Lavoie and Cecilia Okafor as qualified but with less of a chance of victory.

Back in Business

After a long absense due to some technical difficulties, the Citywide Parent Council website, www.lowellcpc.org is back in business which means that we will resume posting to the blog effective immediately. There's much to talk about and big plans for the coming school year. Last night's Lowell Sun carried the disturbing news that the under-construction Stoklosa Middle School might not be ready to open on August 30, the first day of school. The school committee must develop contingency plans in case this becomes a reality. We hope it doesn't because it will not only effect the students and staff scheduled to be in that building, but students and staff across the city since so many moves (relocation of the City Magnet, commencement of the LHS Freshman Academy) are completely dependent on occupying the Stoklosa in a timely manner.