Forum on Educational Excellence
The first annual Mary Bacigalupo forum on education was held Saturday morning at the Stoklosa School. The turnout was amazing, a real tribute to the memory of one of Lowell's all-time great citizens.
The forum was conceived as a "living tribute" to Mary Bacigalupo, a way to mobilize people to continue some of Mary's work, especially her community-building efforts in support of education. The community was well-represented on Saturday and while I can't begin to give a complete list of who was there, I'll follow the time-honored tradition in Lowell of naming the elected officials who attended: Marty Meehan and Steve Panagiotakos; Mayor Bill Martin and fellow city councilors Jim Milinazzo and Bud Caulfield; and School Committee members Jackie Doherty, John Leahy, Jim Leary and Connie Martin. There were also business and non-profit leaders, many people from the school department including Dr. Baehr, city manager Bernie Lynch, representatives from UML and MCC and lots of parents. As Attorney Mike Gallagher said in his opening remarks, "the Citywide Parent Council was one of the causes that Mary was involved with from its inception and the one that she was most proud of."
But this was not just a see and be-seen event; the intent was and is to truly honor Mary by coming up with a strategy and a plan for change. The speaker, Dr. Jeff Howard, of The Efficacy Institute (www.efficacy.org) energized the audience to look at the state of education in Lowell and to define a goal and a way to achieve results. I'll write more about Dr. Howard's presentation tomorrow.
We'll be writing more about the Forum all week and invite those who attended to contribute their impressions and feedback. The task now is to keep the energy and commitment alive.
The forum was conceived as a "living tribute" to Mary Bacigalupo, a way to mobilize people to continue some of Mary's work, especially her community-building efforts in support of education. The community was well-represented on Saturday and while I can't begin to give a complete list of who was there, I'll follow the time-honored tradition in Lowell of naming the elected officials who attended: Marty Meehan and Steve Panagiotakos; Mayor Bill Martin and fellow city councilors Jim Milinazzo and Bud Caulfield; and School Committee members Jackie Doherty, John Leahy, Jim Leary and Connie Martin. There were also business and non-profit leaders, many people from the school department including Dr. Baehr, city manager Bernie Lynch, representatives from UML and MCC and lots of parents. As Attorney Mike Gallagher said in his opening remarks, "the Citywide Parent Council was one of the causes that Mary was involved with from its inception and the one that she was most proud of."
But this was not just a see and be-seen event; the intent was and is to truly honor Mary by coming up with a strategy and a plan for change. The speaker, Dr. Jeff Howard, of The Efficacy Institute (www.efficacy.org) energized the audience to look at the state of education in Lowell and to define a goal and a way to achieve results. I'll write more about Dr. Howard's presentation tomorrow.
We'll be writing more about the Forum all week and invite those who attended to contribute their impressions and feedback. The task now is to keep the energy and commitment alive.
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