tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63127072011-06-08T02:34:26.908-04:00The Citywide Parent Council represents the parents of all students in the Lowell, Massachusetts public schools. CPC provides a voice for parents on education issues.Dicknoreply@blogger.comBlogger2171100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-29016598385732008002007-04-17T18:19:00.000-04:002007-04-17T18:20:13.155-04:00

The Citywide Parent Council will be meeting on Monday, April 24, 7 pm at the Pollard Memorial Library (in the ground-floor meeting room). This will be an untelevised planning meeting and all interested Lowell parents and guardians are invited to attend.I've been on the Executive Board since 2000 and in that time we've made many changes, most notably using technology to make it easier for people

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1165944492986938002006-12-12T12:27:00.000-05:002006-12-12T12:28:13.656-05:00

There were a lot of speakers last night, but some of the best were from local school committees, Chelmsford, Lowell and Tewksbury, among others. A woman from the Chelmsford SC said that there needs to be a united and resounding message that education is valuable and that it is costly. She urged that there be a lengthy dialogue on what it costs to educate children and the cost of NOT doing so.

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1165890427457280182006-12-11T21:09:00.000-05:002006-12-11T21:32:37.276-05:00

I went to the Patrick/Murray Transition Team Forum on education at the Butler School tonight. There were over 100 people there and the audience did the talking, while the Transition Team listened, took notes and asked questions. As might be expected, much of the conversation was about funding. Parents and school committee members from Chelmsford and other towns that are being short-changed by

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1165458755841058032006-12-06T21:30:00.000-05:002006-12-06T21:35:13.940-05:00

The Transition Team on Pre-K-12 Education is coming to Lowell! The Lowell school department and those of surrounding towns will help sponsor this community forum, held Monday, December 11, 7-9 p.m. at the Butler School in Lowell. They are looking for input from all interested parties on the most important issues in education today in order to craft recommendations for Governor-Elect Patrick.

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1164686887461425192006-11-27T22:57:00.000-05:002006-11-27T23:08:19.626-05:00

I kept waiting for someone to bring up the math curriculum at last Monday's meeting, and finally a brave parent from the studio audience asked the superintendent what she thought of the recent letters to the editor about the new math. While Dr. Baehr had not seen the letters, she is aware of the debate and said that it was somewhat like the old argument about whether reading should be taught with

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1164292656243748002006-11-23T09:07:00.000-05:002006-11-23T10:58:03.676-05:00

The November meeting, held Monday night in the Channel 22 studio, was informative, but too short. It was nice to have more of an informal discussion rather than a powerpoint presentation, but almost half of the time was spent discussing safety issues, much of which has been covered at the ongoing Safety Summits. Well, hopefully this information will now get out to more people. We did get quite a

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1164035274776321252006-11-20T09:44:00.000-05:002006-11-20T10:07:55.410-05:00

Another letter to the editor from someone in Needham protesting the new math. This writer claims that since the so-called Investigations program was implemented in Needham five years ago, fourth-grade MCAS scores have gone from 80% proficient/advanced to 56%. Here is a quote from a New York parent and high school math teacher who spoke at a math forum in May 2005:When these types of curricula

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1163774089073704962006-11-17T09:10:00.000-05:002006-11-17T09:34:49.610-05:00

A CPC parent alerted me to a letter to the editor in Wednesday's Lowell Sun. The letter was from a Westford parent and was a complaint about the new math program that Westford has been piloting. The parent (and it appears one-time candidate for school committee) was objecting to the "constructivist" math programs, which, according to her, "have been proven time and time again to be inadequate and

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1163084372917585642006-11-09T09:50:00.000-05:002006-11-09T09:59:33.590-05:00

Back to Dr. Howard's presentation: How do we achieve the goal of proficiency for all students? There wasn't time during the half-day forum for questions or for figuring out the nitty-gritty of what we have to do. According to my notes, we need to 'provide a framework that all can use to realign resources, policies and practices to achieve outcome, use data to drive improvement and to align

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1163082197752503272006-11-09T09:12:00.000-05:002006-11-09T09:23:18.916-05:00

The school department and school committee are putting on a series of safety summits around the city. These are designed to improve student safety by:Developing a shared understanding of existing policies and procedures related to student safety, and, identifying promising ideas and opportunities for strengthening policies and procedures.Through presentations, questions and discussion of

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1162989583236229842006-11-08T07:39:00.000-05:002006-11-08T10:51:12.786-05:00

I'm still working through my notes from the Forum on Oct. 14th. To mount a campaign for proficiency, people have to be energized about the mission and have the belief that it can be done. Dr. Howard called upon community leaders to work together and become 'powerful partners for educators committed to high standards for all children.'Proficiency can be measured (Do they know it; can they use it?)

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1162844309967721752006-11-06T15:06:00.000-05:002006-11-06T15:20:42.456-05:00

Dr. Howard made the following strong statement at the October 14 forum: "we only educate those kids we care about."He said that public education is underfunded, but lack of money is not the problem. The problem is lack of mobilization by adults and an abdication by community leaders of responsibility for the children in the community. The goal is proficiency and that children should be educated

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1162572981666931812006-11-03T11:53:00.000-05:002006-11-03T11:56:22.360-05:00

The Mary Bacigalupo Educational Forum was taped by LTC and will air on Channel 10 at the following times:Saturday & Sunday: 5:00PMMonday: 6:00AM & 11:00PMWednesday: 11:00AMFriday: 7:00AMI hope those who missed the forum will try to tune in and see Dr. Howard's dynamic presentation.Thanks, LTC!

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1161180221217154112006-10-18T10:03:00.000-04:002006-10-18T10:16:57.320-04:00

I've been checking out Dr. Howard's website at www.efficacy.org and I urge those who were not at the Forum on Saturday to do the same. You can listen to an interview with Dr. Howard from April of this year in which he gives a condensed version of Saturday's presentation.Dr. Howard starts out by differentiating between school reform and education reform. He wants to end the blame game and steer

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1161005027994345282006-10-16T08:45:00.000-04:002006-10-16T09:23:49.240-04:00

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

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1157633579495150512006-09-07T08:41:00.000-04:002006-09-07T08:53:00.773-04:00

The first CPC meeting of the school year will be held on Monday, September 18, 7 p.m., at the Stoklosa School on the corner of School and Broadway, and is entitled "Welcome Back to a HEALTHY School Year."Several issues converged around health that caused us to choose this as a timely topic: (1) the increasing news coverage of childhood obesity and American obesity in general (2) the formation of

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1153410742201274792006-07-20T11:35:00.000-04:002006-07-20T17:11:35.350-04:00

I missed the first 15 minutes of the meeting, but tuned in to catch various motions as well as subcommittee reports. They certainly had a full agenda for a mid-July meeting, but the next school year is fast-approaching, so, here goes...John Leahy asked that the district homework policy be reviewed to make sure that there is consistency across all schools with a special concern for children

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1152130472309116682006-07-05T16:11:00.000-04:002006-07-05T21:05:09.943-04:00

After being on vacation for the last two weeks, I’ve been trying to get a handle on what actually happened with the school budget this year. The final result was a good one for Lowell schools, since, after delaying deliberations for a week in hopes of finding out what the State funding package would provide, the city council went forward without this information. In the end, they asked for only

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1151926024619141532006-07-03T06:43:00.000-04:002006-07-03T07:27:04.896-04:00

Eileen McNamara had a piece in the Boston Sunday Globe (7/2/06) entitled "Using the Bully Pulpit" which seems to back up what John wrote about the Governor's race as well as shed an interesting light on recent local events.In Boston, City Councilor Sam Yoon has been accused of 'grandstanding' by his fellow Councilors because he packed city hall with teenagers during budget deliberations. The

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1151439099943248542006-06-27T16:11:00.000-04:002006-06-27T16:11:40.663-04:00

What can governors do about improving schools? Well assuming you can get through the rhetoric and the campaign slogans, quite a lot actually. For example, without Bill Weld's commitment to fund education reform in 1993, it's doubtful that a compromise would have been reached. And governors Cellucci, Swift, and Romney have used the "bully pulpit", the status of the office, to hold the line on

johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07324969995981358174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1150554505822847702006-06-17T10:08:00.000-04:002006-06-17T10:28:26.510-04:00

The city council will review the budget at two public hearings next week. The hearings will be held at City Hall and will be broadcast live on Channel 10.Monday, June 19, 5:00 pmWednesday, June 21, 4:00 pmThe school budget of $132 million is a line item in the city budget of $281 million.The city budget is finally (thanks to Councilor Donaghue) available on line at http://www.lowellma.gov/

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1150508194173745102006-06-16T21:35:00.000-04:002006-06-16T21:36:34.453-04:00

Congratulations to UMass Lowell on landing a $35 million appropriation to proceed with its nanotechnology center. The enthusiasm of our local representatives for this project was clear from the related newspaper article which also offered a sharp contrast to the acute lack of enthusiasm they expressed for the prospects of the Lowell schools receiving the more generous amount of Chapter 70 aid

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1150312818166562152006-06-14T15:19:00.000-04:002006-06-14T15:20:18.446-04:00

I am not someone who readily adapts to new technology (case in point, I still use a fountain pen). But when Dick and Margaret invited me to become a blogger and write about education I said "why not" and here I am. Of course it seems everyone has a blog these days. In the old days you caught up with people at the post office or the town dump where you exchanged information, checked up on the

johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07324969995981358174noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1150287634997890422006-06-14T07:56:00.000-04:002006-06-14T09:09:41.860-04:00

The school budget process is always tricky, particularly because Lowell relies so heavily on state aid, and the school committee has to submit a budget before the amount of state aid, known as Chapter 70 funds, is revealed. The conference committee is currently meeting to forge a compromise between the House and Senate budgets, and for Lowell, the difference between the two numbers is huge (the

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1150111456322437022006-06-12T07:23:00.000-04:002006-06-12T07:24:17.253-04:00

Today's Sun reports that the state funded extended day program that would have lengthened the day at five Lowell schools next year (at the Commonwealth's expense) is dead. It's dead because the school department and the teachers' union could not reach an agreement on how it was to be implemented. In a time of tight budgets and near flat line MCAS scores, missing this opportunity to improve

Dicknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1149940850661700142006-06-10T07:49:00.000-04:002006-06-10T08:00:50.986-04:00

A month ago, the New Bedford School Committee made news by announcing it would award diplomas to New Bedford High School students who had met all of the district's graduation requirements except for passing the MCAS test. State education officials and our absentee governor reacted with outrage and threatened to withhold the more than $100 million in state aid that New Bedford receives annually

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1149771533603146212006-06-08T08:58:00.000-04:002006-06-08T08:58:54.030-04:00

I've been mulling over some arguments I heard on the radio yesterday. A caller seemed to think that Lowell teachers should not be highly paid because the average income in the city is $30,000 (this is according to the caller; some quick internet research indicates that it is actually $42,000, according to CNNMoney's 2005 profile. Wikipedia has census data from 2000 that shows a median income for

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1149179793123454212006-06-01T12:16:00.000-04:002006-06-01T12:36:33.533-04:00

Well, I missed the public hearing last night due to a schedule conflict, but from what I've heard the School Committee is asking for an increase of $3.5 million over last year. On a budget of $128 million that is a little less than 3%. While this does not begin to restore the programs and services that were lost in 2003, it does cover the fixed cost increases for this year of $2.5 million along

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1149017737403781372006-05-30T15:29:00.000-04:002006-05-30T15:37:01.123-04:00

The public hearing on the school budget will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, May 31 at City Hall. Please note that the time has been changed to 6:00 p.m. It will be broadcast live on Channel 10.This looks like it will be a barebones budget. Every school has been asked to make difficult trade-offs just to absorb the loss in grant funding and the shortages in federal money. If the Senate funding

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1148672586349153582006-05-26T15:34:00.000-04:002006-05-30T07:54:50.756-04:00

The Senate's proposal increases Ch. 70 aid to school districts by $210.4 million. This is the largest increase in four years. In addition, they have made significant changes to the foundation formula (the way the money is allocated). These changes take into account special education, English language learners and low income backgrounds. In addition, there are long term plans to increase and

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1148591144926550802006-05-25T17:01:00.000-04:002006-05-25T17:05:45.270-04:00

The public hearing on the school budget that was originally scheduled for tonight has been cancelled. Instead, the school committee will hold subcommittee meetings to resolve some budget issues at that level before bringing them before the whole committee.There will be a public hearing next Wednesday, 5/31, 7 pm at City Hall. This meeting will be open to the public and once again I urge people to

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1148486243553614332006-05-24T11:50:00.000-04:002006-05-24T11:57:25.166-04:00

The budget process in Lowell seems to me to be extremely complex. First there is a kind of three-way dance going on between the union, the school committee and the city council. As I've said before, it is usually the schools that lose out in this battle of wits and stamina. The union wants the school committee to get as much money as possible for the schools so that it can be channeled into

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1148391466645109842006-05-23T09:35:00.000-04:002006-05-23T22:51:25.500-04:00

I went down to City Hall last night to observe the first round of budget deliberations by the School Committee. I was amazed to see about 25 other parents in the room, but soon realized that they were all there for one reason: to ask that an assistant coach be restored to the crew team.Crew is a great sport and the head coach does a great job. Despite the loss of the boat house, the delay in

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1148035694730774712006-05-19T06:48:00.000-04:002006-05-19T06:49:20.100-04:00

I promised to do part II of the budget today, but I’d like to use Fridays to talk about national trends in education, and there was a piece in last Sunday’s Boston Globe that got me thinking about the importance of good public schools to the well-being of a community. The story, “There goes the neighborhood,” by Michael Jonas, asks whether Boston is becoming what author Joel Kotkin {“The City: A

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1148004721686420662006-05-18T22:12:00.000-04:002006-05-18T22:14:13.380-04:00

I watched the SC meeting last night to keep up with the budget process. Dr. Baehr outlined the budget proposal, which includes recommended changes to absorb the $1.9 million in Federal cuts. These changes were at the discretion of school principals, who were able to decide how to handle the loss of Title I and Federal grant money. Title I funds parent liaisons and some social workers among other

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1147870479587034712006-05-17T08:48:00.000-04:002006-05-17T08:54:40.400-04:00

The School Committee will be going over the school budget at their regular meeting tonight, at City Hall, at 7 p.m. This is the time when people should be paying attention to see what kinds of cuts are in store for our schools. I'm not sure how they will decide what budget to submit to the City Council since we still don't know how much money we will get from the State and probably won't know

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1147788020839169842006-05-16T09:34:00.000-04:002006-05-16T10:00:21.710-04:00

On Wednesday, May 10th, the State Senate announced that their budget will include a $210.4 million increase in state aid for local public schools. After four years of budget cuts, this money is desperately needed by school districts across the state and is a significant increase over both the Governor's and the House budget proposals.In Lowell, the proposed increase of $3.4 million will help the

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1147724479738147852006-05-15T16:18:00.000-04:002006-05-15T16:21:55.196-04:00

Well, this is a first - cancelling a meeting in May, but with the schools closed (along with many roads and bridges), we had no choice. We won't be rescheduling the meeting for this year, but since there was a lot of interest in having the parent discussion on academic standards and whether or not the Lowell schools are adequately challenging all students, we will try to put it on the schedule

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1142520063899541242006-03-16T09:41:00.000-05:002006-03-16T09:42:49.140-05:00

Parent involvement and community support are crucial to the success of our students and our public school system. Even people without children in the public schools should feel a sense of ownership in the system, because the quality of education received by the children in the city has a direct impact on overall quality of life in the city. Students who are better educated, who graduate from

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1142284521932193322006-03-13T16:13:00.000-05:002006-03-13T16:20:04.686-05:00

Regarding the School Committee/Union gag order which was used by the Lowell Sun as an opportunity to discredit the school committee in Sunday's Column, consider for a moment what it might mean if the process were opened up to public scrutiny. Our incredibly biased local media would be ranting about every step of the process adding to the combative nature of the negotiations and twisting the facts

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1141305344134679162006-03-02T08:10:00.000-05:002006-03-02T08:15:44.570-05:00

If it's Spring, it must be time for the annual budget dance. First move goes to the city manager who declares one of his periodic hiring freezes. These are becoming like orange terror alerts, the response being 'ho-hum'; however, like clockwork comes the actions of Councillor Caulfield using the manager's freeze to criticize the school department for not doing the same. So, are the schools

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1141129713560304672006-02-28T07:18:00.000-05:002006-02-28T07:28:33.573-05:00

Michael Goodman of the UMass Donahue Institute was on Lowell Sunrise this morning to discuss a recent survey that indicates a gradual slowing and modest decline in the real estate market. When asked about Lowell's booming condo market, Goodman pointed out that a lot of people are buying condos because they can't afford to get into a single-family house. He ended with saying that if Lowell wants

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1141074639081483022006-02-27T16:07:00.000-05:002006-05-09T09:17:17.433-04:00

Tonight we'll be meeting at 7 pm, at Lowell High (in the Ch. 22 studio) for the rescheduled meeting from January. The topic is Lowell High and top high school administrators will be on hand to answer questions and explain key high school programs and initiatives.We will be taking audience questions via phone or email during the live broadcast. Please join us either at the studio or from home to

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1139581574753945752006-02-10T08:51:00.000-05:002006-02-10T09:41:19.140-05:00

On both the national and state level, we have recently heard promises to add programs and initiatives to education along with proposed budget cuts and tax refunds. What is going on here?In last week's State-of-the-Union address, President Bush proposed shrinking federal spending on education by more $3 billion, but he also wants to launch new initiatives to strengthen math and science achievement

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1138828919482440352006-02-01T16:14:00.000-05:002006-02-01T16:21:59.493-05:00

The CPC Executive Board met last week and decided to salvage the January meeting by moving it to February 27 and moving the scheduled meeting on Transportation to March 20. While this can lead to some confusion, we are confident that we can get the word out about the change.The details for the high school meeting will remain the same: it will be a live broadcast featuring a panel of high school

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1138037177136956192006-01-23T12:23:00.000-05:002006-01-23T12:26:17.153-05:00

Unfortunately we've had to cancel tonight's meeting due to weather conditions. We had an informative meeting planned, so we are hoping to reschedule a taped version sometime in February. In the meantime, keep those questions/concerns about the high school coming!

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1137641646859565332006-01-18T22:24:00.000-05:002006-01-22T09:46:36.336-05:00

The next CPC meeting will be Monday, January 23, beginning at 7 pm. The topic will be Lowell High School and we are inviting high school and middle school parents especially to ask questions of high school administrators. This will be a LIVE broadcast from the Lowell Educational Television (LET) studio, Ch. 22, and parents can participate from home by calling or emailing their questions during

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1137501609164898182006-01-17T07:32:00.000-05:002006-01-17T07:40:09.176-05:00

It seems that there's a revolution brewing in the suburbs over the state's school funding formula known as Chapter 70. While we in the cities recognize the urgent need for more funding for urban school systems, the fact remains that cities do receive an enormous amount of state education money and, when viewed from outside the city, that seems to be done at the expense of the suburbs. The

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1137074058260421102006-01-12T08:17:00.000-05:002006-01-12T08:54:18.343-05:00

I attended a public hearing in Boston yesterday about the federal legislation, "No Child Left Behind." Sponsored by PEN (Public Education Network, www.publiceducation.org ), they had community leaders, students and parents on hand to testify about what's working under NCLB, what's not working, what should be changed and what should the future of public education look like.The general consensus

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1136983032502923452006-01-11T07:26:00.000-05:002006-01-11T07:37:12.516-05:00

The headline in the print edition of yesterday's Lowell Sun screamed about $1.7 million in wasted spending at a school for special needs students. Only in the sub-headline did the fact that it was a private school appear. The web version of the story makes that information much more prominent. The story reports on a State Auditor's report that criticizes this school for spending funds from the

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1136808754988504842006-01-09T07:09:00.000-05:002006-01-09T07:12:35.530-05:00

An oped piece in today's Globe suggests ten goals for the new Boston superintendent of schools, whomever that may be (the search process has just begun). Here they are:Figure out the true school drop-out pattern of Boston students and address the reasons that affected groups are leaving school.Develop an action plan to confront and narrow the 'STEM' -- science, technology, engineering, and math

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1136771456873467972006-01-08T20:44:00.000-05:002006-01-08T20:50:56.940-05:00

A front page "Note from the editor" in today's Sun announced the creation of the newspaper's first blog. We'd like to welcome the Sun to the blogosphere. Better late than never. The first blog will be on sports and debuts in Monday's paper. Anyone interested in sports should check it out and get over your shyness and post some comments. Comments make for a better blog (which is why we'd like

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1136251817879163712006-01-02T20:16:00.000-05:002006-01-02T20:30:18.070-05:00

Last week the Lowell Sun repackaged its standard attack on public schools in the form of twin editorials on Wednesday and Thursday. The constant refrain that public schools get too much money and that greedy teachers unions and impotent administrators are the cause of all the evils in public education got old a long time ago. The Sun editorialists have so embraced privatization of public

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1135193378858795742005-12-21T13:48:00.000-05:002005-12-21T14:29:38.936-05:00

If you received our December newsletter, you know we want to hear from you about what issues are facing the public schools. Here are some replies we've gotten thus far to our survey:From a parent and teacher:1) Is NCLB (No Child Left Behind) helping the schools or is it just an unfunded mandate?2) Increasing teacher pull-out from classroom for pointless meetings which accomplish little and

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1134397097171194792005-12-12T08:52:00.000-05:002005-12-12T09:18:17.570-05:00

It seems unbelievable that 17 kindergartners were suspended last year and 6 so far this year, yet something has to be done about children who are a danger to themselves and others and who continuously disrupt the class. And if the issue can be addressed in the early years, there is a better chance that the child will be successful in school. Fortunately, the school department has been able to

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1134313660331594812005-12-11T10:07:00.000-05:002005-12-11T10:14:25.840-05:00

The CPC is working on a project with the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Middlesex Community College, the Lowell School Department and others in the community called The Mary Bacigalupo Educational Endowment. Mary Bacigalupo was involved in many projects in the city and helped found the CPC many years ago. She died in 2001 and this project is in her honor. In conjunction with a fundraising

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1133191414221436522005-11-28T10:23:00.000-05:002005-11-28T10:27:03.926-05:00

The annual State-of-the-Schools address by Dr. Baehr was interesting and informative. We had a lot of questions from the studio audience, several emails and phone calls-so that we ran out of time and had to wrap up rather quickly. Unfortunately, we did not get to all the email questions, for which I apologize profusely. I have sorted the remaining questions and reserved those relating to the high

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1132417554344258372005-11-19T11:18:00.000-05:002005-11-19T11:25:54.356-05:00

The November 21 meeting (this Monday) will be another live broadcast from the Ch 22 LET studio, this time to hear the "State of the Schools" address from the superintendent. We are accepting email questions for Dr. Baehr on a first-come, first-served basis; please email Lowellcpc@comcast.net to get your questions answered on Monday night. There will also be a telephone number to call during the

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1130903146012649432005-11-01T22:44:00.000-05:002005-11-01T22:45:46.276-05:00

Lowell High School hosted nearly 300 parents and 8th grade students at an Open House earlier this evening. Held in the school’s auditorium, speakers included Headmaster Bill Samaras, Director of Curriculum and Instruction Wendy Jack, Coordinator of Student Support Services Norma Audy, Director of Student Activities Jill McNamara, Athletic Director Brian Martin and Director of the Freshmen

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1130535516880305392005-10-28T17:30:00.000-04:002005-10-28T17:38:36.893-04:00

UTEC has it all over the rest of us in terms of spirit and turnout. There must have been 150 people there last night. They also seem more adept at technology and despite some glitches were able to intersperse videos and music into the agenda. They had a unique format where they paired the councilors and each pair had to answer the same question. So, there were only nine questions in all, but they

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1130434447532180872005-10-27T13:33:00.000-04:002005-10-27T13:34:07.546-04:00

The United Teachers of Lowell and the Merrimack Valley Central Labor Council sponsored a candidate forum for both the city council and the school committee last evening at Lowell High’s Little Theater. In a brisk two hour program, viewers and the thirty-plus members of the studio audience were treated to rapid fire questions and answers that offered repeated glimpses of each candidate’s

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1130323391187366002005-10-26T06:42:00.000-04:002005-10-26T06:43:11.193-04:00

The state Board of Higher Education voted to take control of a middle school in Holyoke yesterday, declaring it to be “chronically underperforming.” The state board now has the power to remove the school’s principal, fire “bad” teachers, hire “good” teachers and pay them more and do other things intended to improve student performance. An article in this morning’s Globe says this is only the

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1130239555258389592005-10-25T07:21:00.000-04:002005-10-25T07:26:43.066-04:00

Massachusetts Commissioner of Education David Driscoll periodically posts a “Commissioner’s Update” on the Department of Education’s website. The lead item in his October 21, 2005 report is a comment on the department’s 2003-04 School Year Dropout Report. Here’s what the Commissioner writes:The annual dropout report we are releasing today shows that the number of teens leaving high school prior

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1130156695313676222005-10-24T08:14:00.000-04:002005-10-24T08:43:10.633-04:00

Our School Committee Candidates' forum was a great chance to observe the candidates and learn their views on many issues; tonight we can do the same for the city council race. Tonight's forum is sponsored by the Non Profit Alliance of Greater Lowell (of which the CPC is a member) and will be held at the Lowell Senior Center on Broadway (across from the Market Basket). It starts at 7:00 p.m.Before

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1130153485756411212005-10-24T07:18:00.000-04:002005-10-24T07:31:26.610-04:00

An editorial in today's Globe asserts that many of the disciplinary problems that arise in schools are the direct result of physical and mental trauma experienced outside of the school by the misbehaving student. In-class anger, rudeness or withdrawal can be symptoms or reactions to dealing with out-of-school problems such as violence or abandonment in the home. The editorial commends a new

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1130070830712641142005-10-23T08:21:00.000-04:002005-10-23T08:43:13.800-04:00

This past Thursday evening, Lowell High School awarded its Distinguished Alumni Award to five more graduates. Honored were the late Dr. Brendan Leahey (Class of 1922), a noted eye surgeon who performed the first corneal transplant in New England back in 1938; The late James Conway Jr (Class of 1941) who was president and CEO of the Courier Corporation and who served as chair of the Lowell Plan;

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1129808392779667762005-10-20T07:39:00.000-04:002005-10-20T07:39:52.786-04:00

If you rely on the Lowell Sun and its constant drumbeat of negativism for your education news, you’ll find this startling. According to the just released results of the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (which, according to an October 19, 2005 Associated Press article, is “a federal test considered the best measure of how students in every state perform on core subjects”),

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1129721311223119732005-10-19T07:16:00.000-04:002005-10-19T07:28:31.246-04:00

Thanks to all who made Monday night's Citywide Parent Council forum with the school committee candidates such a great success. The Sun wrote a nice article about the forum (although the school committee article was buried on page 13 of the paper while the article on the city council forum - which was sponsored by the Sun - made page 1). One of the highlights of the CPC forum was the ability of

Dicknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1129550206403142432005-10-17T07:52:00.000-04:002005-10-17T07:56:47.023-04:00

Be sure to tune in to Lowell Cable TV Channell 22 this evening at 7:00 P.M. to see the Citywide Parent Council's 2005 School Committee Candidate Forum. This event will be broadcast live, with frequent rebroadcasts up until the election. All nine candidates for school committee are expected to attend. The format will allow each candidate to make a 2 minute opening statement and a 2 minute

Dicknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1129291538426534772005-10-14T07:57:00.000-04:002005-10-14T08:05:38.433-04:00

Yesterday's Globe reported that Beverly High School is on the verge of losing its accreditation, making it only the fourth high school in the state to suffer that loss in the past 20 years. The reason? Maintenance and structural problems. The town has repeatedly neglected a long list including bad plumbing, outdated windows and science labs, broken furniture and a lack of accessibility for the

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1129203191797934792005-10-13T07:15:00.000-04:002005-10-13T07:33:11.803-04:00

WCAP has provided a great service to the community by having all candidates for city council and school committee on the air for 18 minutes each over the past few weeks. Yesterday morning, incumbent city councilor Bud Caulfield was asked about the likelihood of a property tax increase during the coming months. Councilor Caulfield responded that if taxes do go up, it would be due to the council,

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1129075329974708412005-10-11T19:56:00.000-04:002005-10-11T20:02:09.980-04:00

I stumbled upon an interesting article in today’s electronic edition of the Eagle Tribune (they don’t use “Lawrence” in the title anymore, but that’s another story). “School’s educate selves on marketing to lure back students” describes how the Haverhill School Department is trying to attract students who live in Haverhill but who attend other schools, both private and public, with a marketing

Dicknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1128876030036410322005-10-09T12:10:00.000-04:002005-10-09T12:40:30.080-04:00

Well, the Sun finally sent a reporter over to the Stoklosa School and the story is very different on Friday from what it was at Wednesday's school committee meeting when the Mayor responded to pressure by saying we'd be in after "Thanksgiving" and the school department couldn't even give a date for when the project would be completed. I've been driving by the school for weeks and have never seen

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1128607406565131862005-10-06T09:51:00.000-04:002005-10-06T10:03:26.573-04:00

The real scandal in this city is that the Stoklosa School is not done and won't be done by Columbus Day as hoped. When I spoke to the editor of the Sun about a month ago, he was very patronizing about my concerns. He said it was 90% done and that it would be done soon and done right, blah, blah, blah. Well, right after that I started hearing that it was "70%" done. The crews still don't seem to

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1128476381440904782005-10-04T21:39:00.000-04:002005-10-04T21:39:41.483-04:00

In another example of slanted reporting to further its own agenda, the Lowell Sun ran a story in Monday’s edition entitled “City schools close, yet custodians increase.” The reporter makes the point that two schools were closed, the McDonough City Magnet and the Demonstration School, yet the district hired five new custodians. First of all the McDonough building is still in use, now as the

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1127911894343651492005-09-28T08:51:00.000-04:002005-09-28T08:55:28.300-04:00

I want to address the spurious charges against Lowell High’s Latin Lyceum that were printed in Monday’s Lowell Sun (“Left out of the Lyceum,” 9/26). The main point of the article seemed to be that minority students are not represented in the Lyceum to the same degree that they are in the overall population of Lowell High. This is true, but it is part of the much wider problem of Hispanic students

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1127386737032119972005-09-22T06:57:00.000-04:002005-09-22T06:58:57.036-04:00

Everyone seems to agree that something must be done about bullies in school, but no one is talking about the rights of the victims of bullies. Efforts to reduce or eradicate bullying in general certainly would benefit everyone, past and future bully-victims included, but other than that, the system doesn’t pay much attention to the victim. Often the bully is placed right back in the classroom

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1127265002861050252005-09-20T20:47:00.000-04:002005-09-20T21:10:02.866-04:00

The shapers of public opinion in Massachusetts finally seem to have realized that bullying is a real problem in our schools (With an entire meeting on the topic of bullying last Spring, the Citywide Parent Council again demonstrated that it's on top of important issues in education). Just this past Saturday, the Lowell Sun weighed in with an editorial titled "Get tough with bullies." While

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1127162036123365282005-09-19T16:30:00.000-04:002005-09-19T16:33:56.130-04:00

Tonight is the first CPC meeting of the year and we urge parents, guardians and all those who are interested in the public schools to come out to the Bartlett School (77 Wannalancit St) at 7 p.m. to meet us, hear our concerns, ask questions and get involved. We will be hearing from Principal Grace Wai about the "new" Bartlett, as well as the Dean of the School of Education at UMASS Lowell, Don

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1126804660633192902005-09-15T13:17:00.000-04:002005-09-15T13:17:40.693-04:00

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

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1126709952284492802005-09-14T10:46:00.000-04:002005-09-14T10:59:12.290-04:00

I suppose this issue will continue to come up, but I don't see how it could ever work. We don't have the resources to run the schools for 10 months, we've cut back on summer school and after-school programs that would benefit struggling students. Why not restore worthy programs that have been cut instead of trying to revamp the whole system?On a related topic, I met a parent the other day who

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1126577368485175432005-09-12T22:03:00.000-04:002005-09-12T22:09:28.493-04:00

I went by the site of the new Stoklosa last week and it still looks like a construction site. There was work going on, but just on one side of the school. I have a suspicion that since they missed the deadline, the pressure is off. I heard that there was no one there over Labor Day Weekend and that the crew stops work at 3:00 pm every day. Sure enough, I drove by today at 3:30 and there was no

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1126210422973168042005-09-08T16:13:00.000-04:002005-09-08T16:13:42.980-04:00

Today’s paper has a story contrasting the experience of a couple of New Orleans-based small businesses in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. One self-employed individual who grossed $500,000 per year working out of his apartment and SUV to ship local Louisiana crafts and music CDs to worldwide customers who ordered through his website, lost everything. By the time he was able to return to his

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1126142676514133632005-09-07T21:11:00.000-04:002005-09-07T21:24:36.523-04:00

Some parents, as expected, are upset that their children have to walk further to get to their bus stops. This is a direct consequence of cutting seven buses. While I'm not arguing that there wasn't waste in the transportation department, I can see the push to save money on buses starting to go too far, especially since this is an election year.I'm still concerned about the students who are

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1126059278161154072005-09-06T21:58:00.000-04:002005-09-06T22:14:38.166-04:00

The weekend was spent trying to absorb the sheer volume of misery and hardship being visited on residents of the city of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. One bright spot was that many colleges around the country are opening up their rosters to displaced college students. Another is that Massachusetts was one of the first states to offer refuge to people who have lost everything. A group of about

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1125601507752341352005-09-01T14:58:00.000-04:002005-09-01T15:05:07.756-04:00

Despite the fact that the Stoklosa School did NOT open on time, it seems that opening day went well for the former Bartlett School students who are being bused to two different schools while waiting for the construction job to be finished. A lot of the credit has to go the superintendent and school committee for coming up with a workable contingency plan and for the staff of the Stoklosa (

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1125427038082944772005-08-30T14:13:00.000-04:002005-08-30T14:37:18.126-04:00

With the new bus routes at LRTA, some high school students were afraid that they would have to change buses at the bus transfer station (located at the Gallagher train station) in order to get home. This is NOT the case. The LRTA has morning and afternoon service directly to LHS. The reason I know this is that a memo has been sent out to parents of high school students giving the new bus

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1125318542462488392005-08-29T08:21:00.000-04:002005-08-29T08:29:02.656-04:00

Well, tomorrow is the first day of school, and it will be interesting to see how the new bus routes work out. As the new director of transportation, John Descoteaux, pointed out, the changes that have allowed us to cut 7 buses could be upsetting to some parents. "I'll be getting a lot of calls. You'll be getting a lot of calls." he told school committee members.It seems as if a lot of school

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1125148415610155842005-08-27T09:12:00.000-04:002005-08-27T09:13:35.616-04:00

The big story last spring was the discovery that many Lowell school buses were running at less than full capacity (some were only 40% full as they went about their daily routes). This wastefulness led to an overhaul of bus routes, a new director of transportation (see previous post) and a seven-bus reduction for a savings of $303,000. The excitement over this savings was somewhat diminished when

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1125002600876024442005-08-25T16:43:00.000-04:002005-08-25T16:43:20.880-04:00

A few weeks ago while at the Parent Information Center, I met the new Director of Transportation for the district, John Descoteaux.  The transportation department has moved their office to PIC, which will surely increase parent access to them when problems occur.  It makes a lot of sense to locate transportation where parents, especially those new to the system, can see and speak to the people

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1124885536219709512005-08-24T08:01:00.000-04:002005-08-24T13:27:41.866-04:00

School committee candidate Cecilia Okafor has a letter in yesterday's Lowell Sun (Tuesday, Aug. 23) about the importance of effective communication between parents and teachers. She points out that parents are often dealing with language barriers and difficult work schedules that prevent them from getting into a school to see teachers. At the same time, teachers feel frustrated when parents don't

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1124804156488830022005-08-23T09:35:00.000-04:002005-08-23T09:39:57.646-04:00

The Lowell Sun likes to pooh-pooh the fact that Massachusetts is facing a teacher shortage, but recent statistics in the Boston Globe (Sunday, 8/21/05) tell the story. In 1999-2000, 1884 teachers retired; this year the number is projected to be over 5,000. In 1996, 24% of teachers nationwide were over the age of 50, that number is now 42%. This makes programs such as mentoring of new teachers

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1124540639239819512005-08-20T08:22:00.000-04:002005-08-22T07:49:45.163-04:00

By now everyone has heard the news: the Kathryn P. Stoklosa Middle School will not open on time. The contingency plan calls for splitting the Stoklosa population between two older schools and getting the new staff of the Bartlett, now the Bartlett Community Partnership School, up and running. (For those who haven't been following the schools that closely, the Bartlett staff is moving to the new

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1124473991561105262005-08-19T11:41:00.000-04:002005-08-20T08:21:20.173-04:00

Okay, we've talked about why we need two new schools and we've talked about cost of building them, but given the recent budget battles with city hall over school funding, it is reasonable to wonder where we are going to get the $9 million for the two new schools.It is my understanding that the money will be bonded as it was for all the other new schools we've built. The difference is that we do

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1123167239008219342005-08-04T10:20:00.000-04:002005-08-04T13:12:58.040-04:00

Naturally, people want to know where the money is coming from to build the new Morey and Butler elementary schools. The current estimated cost for the two new buildings is $32.8 million. Apparently, this estimate is good for about 6 months, but will increase by $500,000 for every six months that the projects are delayed.The schools were approved to be built at a 90% reimbursement rate; however,

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1123027061262316572005-08-02T19:50:00.000-04:002005-08-02T19:57:41.266-04:00

A new piece of the Gallagher Intermodal Transportation Terminal opened today - the Robert Kennedy bus transfer station. Bobby Kennedy is a Lowell resident who has served his community for more than three decades, as a city councilor, mayor, state representative, governor's councilor, and recently retired director of the Lowell Regional Transit Authority. In the midst of his term as mayor in the

Dicknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1122980459570225502005-08-02T07:00:00.000-04:002005-08-02T07:00:59.576-04:00

Lowell is coming to the top of the list to have two new schools built. These projects have already been approved by the state at the soon-to-be discontinued reimbursement rate of 90%. A few people have asked me why we need to build these schools.One of the new schools is to replace the Morey elementary school and the other will be a new Butler elementary school. The students from the Varnum and

Margarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600691245734361342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1122939016483773382005-08-01T19:23:00.000-04:002005-08-01T19:30:16.490-04:00

School committee member Joe Mendonca, who's now a candidate for city council, appeared on WCAP this morning. He discussed the status of the under construction Stoklosa School and whether it will be ready for occupancy by the start of the school year on August 30. Joe said there are contingency plans being formulated that would place students temporarily at another site, most likely the old

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1122831198176493652005-07-31T13:07:00.000-04:002005-07-31T13:33:18.183-04:00

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

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312707.post-1122588680172003232005-07-28T18:07:00.000-04:002005-07-28T18:11:20.176-04:00

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

Dicknoreply@blogger.com0