Left In Lowell

Yesterday’s Lowell Sun “The Column” had an item which made one scratch their head and say “What?” Unfortunately, I cannot link to it since the Sun has decided not to make this feature available on its free, on-line edition.

Here is what was written (in part):

“Speculation (my italic) has been that the majority of the School Committee – John Leahy, Connie Martin, Jackie Doherty and Jim Leary – have bigger plans for [Brian] Martin. They would have liked to have added ‘Superintendent of Schools’ to his lengthy resume.

“Despite given [School Superintendent Chris] Scott a positive evaluation, the prevailing thought (my italic) is that the committee majority has never been 100 percent behind her and would not be heartbroken to see her go.”

The comments go on to say how great the Superintendent is doing and how well are schools are performing.

And then the comments end with this “Scott has credited her staff and the teachers’ union for collaborating on several key initiatives that were impossible to achieve during the Karla Brooks Baehr era.

Some school board member still pine for Baehr’s frustrating leadership style – and that is the problem.”

I do not know how much truth there is to those comments, but I have not heard not any criticism of Superintendent Chris Scott. The great majority of people are saying it is too early to tell but for now they appreciate her efforts. I do not pretend to know as many people as the writers of the Column, nor do I have any of those connections but to me this was an unnecessary swipe at certain School Committee members and at the previous Superintendent. I wish the paper would get off Karla’s back. They succeeded in driving her out of town, what more do you want from the woman?

Now back to the current Superintendent, I have sent her an e-mail asking her what key initiatives would she identify that were achieved during her tenure. As soon as I hear from her, I will let you know what she said.

And the part about Brian Martin being the next Superintendent; where did that come from? Someone at the Sun wants to either create controversy or control the narrative. Or start beating up on a few, selected School Committee persons. Whatever the motivation, it is an absurd comment.

A nice article in the Lowell Sun about Move Lowell Forward’s push for more transparency and availability of Committee documents at the Greater Lowell Technical HS. The GLTHS SC was very receptive to our members’ request, and we appreciate their prompt action to address this. One of the biggest impediments to citizen participation in government is lack of access to information, so we’re glad to see that according to the Sun:

Morin and School Committee member David Laferriere of Lowell voted in favor of making the recommendation to the full board, according to a draft of the meeting minutes.

Morin said the recommendation will likely be brought to a vote when the full board meets Wednesday, and he expects the measure to pass.

We look forward to continuing our work and hope to keep Lowell informed about their government. We’re still here and we’re not going anywhere!

Update: helps to link to the article!

City Council packet and agenda posted on Move Lowell Forward’s home page, as well as the schedule for upcoming SC meetings (note: this week’s budget hearing was postponed to next week due to the impending snow).