jackiedoherty.org

Please vote! The polls are open from 7:00 am – 8:00 pm; if you need to find out where to vote, see the map of polling locations on the city website.

The canvassing, mailing, advertising and strategizing are done.  The final task of campaigning remains, which is to stand out at different polling locations, holding-or more likely, leaning on a sign, greeting voters and trying to stay warm. Whether this type of poll visibility does any good or not is a matter of opinion. Before I got involved in politics, I did not enjoy having to walk a gauntlet of sign-holders, avoiding eye contact and feeling rather embarrassed for those people who felt compelled to force their opinions on the ordinary citizen who was just trying to vote in peace. Now, that I am a seasoned campaigner, I am one of those embarassing people and I know what it’s like to stand out there for 6 or 8 hours at a stretch.  I now appreciate the hard work, dedication and zeal of these folks.  These days when voting, I make a point to say an encouraging word as I pass by.  (Similarly, I always wave and beep my horn at sign-holders standing at busy intersections, whether I am for the candidate or not.) So, spare a nod and a smile for the cold and hungry campaign workers and candidates who hover near the polls and, if I may give a final plug for our favorite school committee candidate – I hope you’ll remember the hard work, dedication and zeal that Jackie has brought to her work on the committee day in and day out for the last four years (and in the 5 years previous as a parent volunteer). She’s Number 25 on the ballot–let’s continue the progress we’ve made and support excellent schools in Lowell!

It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, which doesn’t bode well for voter turnout, although  the weather was perfectly fine two years ago and the turnout remained stagnant at around 25%.  Thinking about voter turnout and why people vote or don’t vote compelled me to look at the data for the last few local elections compared to that of 2004. As you can see below, in the last two local elections (2003 and 2005), voter turnout has remained at around 26% in Lowell, with only about 12,000 of the registered voters in the city bothering to vote. While the number of registered voters has increased since 1999 and 2001, the percentage who vote has actually gone down, who knows why? The really interesting contrast is between the local elections and the presidential election of 2004.  Imagine if 30,000 people turned out to vote tomorrow! 

         Turnout        Registered       %

1999   14300        44431             32

2001    14708       45381             32

2003    12222       47048             26

2004     29148      48405             60

2005     12653      47484             27

Too often the issue of gangs comes up only when there’s been youth-involved violence. Most people don’t know the City Manager’s Gang Advisory Board has been meeting monthly for a year to develop solutions to the gang problems facing Lowell, and those efforts are showing results. This morning, the board decided to hold a Community Summit in January to share the board’s accomplishments and goals, look for suggestions going forward, and challenge citizens to be part of the solution for developing youth opportunities and preventing gang involvement. (Stay tuned for more specifics regarding the date, time, and summit location.)  

In the meantime, here’s an update on a board-related action: A concern identified at a recent board meeting regarding the relationship between the Lowell Police Gang Unit and the United Teen Equality Center’s (UTEC) Street Workers led to a meeting between the two groups. Both groups target gang-involved youngsters; the police gang unit focuses on crime prevention and enforcement while UTEC street workers look to build relationships with teens, connect them to community resources, and foster peacemaking. Although UTEC leaders have been meeting regularly with Police Superintendant Lavallee and his command staff, there was a disconnect between the rank and file members of both groups along with a sense of distrust—even cross purposes. According to UTEC Executive Director Gregg Croteau and Police Deputy Artie Ryan, getting these groups together has been a major first step in collaborating their efforts around gang prevention. Both Croteau and Ryan noted that at the meeting, the police officers and street workers realized their focus and perspectives may be different, but they share many common goals in working with the city’s troubled youth. The two groups will continue to meet and develop a partnership as advocates sharing resources in a community effort against gangs and youth violence.

Today’s “Column” got this right: I did call The Sun to complain about their article endorsing school committee candidates. As you can see from my post, Thanks for the Endorsement, my problem with the article was its refusal to give the schools credit for the significant gains we have made in curriculum, instruction, and student learning. As usual, The Sun denigrated the schools while announcing its endorsements, and that’s an injustice I couldn’t let slide—endorsement or not. It is also the point completely lost in today’s coverage of the conversation. I know of at least one editor who told me he was not happy with the “sarcastic, thanks but no thanks” attitude of my post, and perhaps that was part of his motivation in twisting my words for today’s column.  Either way, I stand firm in my conviction that we are making progress, and we must continue to build on that momentum. The current school board is key to that success—not as a rubber stamp—but to support and push for initiatives that make sense for all kids, to ask the right questions, and to hold the administration accountable.

Election Day is this Tuesday, November 6th! What a change from years past when there was just the newspaper pullout section to guide voters. Now, there are many forums for voters to consider their choices.

Over on Left In Lowell, Lynne and Mimi have consolidated their voter information on one page – here.  They did detailed questionnaires for each race and have the answers from those who responded. They have also offered every candidate the opportunity to record an interview with them and these are listed here as well (I understand that they are diligently working to get more of these podcasts up on the site before Tuesday).  They also have made available the Stand for Children voters’ guide and have a link to the Lowell Sun candidate information.

The United Teen Equality Center (UTEC) held their own youth-led debates for city council and school committee candidates last week. To view streaming videos of the debates online, check the following links: For the council debate, click here. For the school committee forum (which was televised live), click here.

UML Sunrise (91.5 fm) has been doing candidate podcasts and has many of them up on their site.  You have to click on podcast and then scroll back through until you see one under the category of election coverage.  I did the work and found Jackie’s Sunrise podcast for you. I think they’ve done one for all the candidates, so it would be worth scrolling through to find them all. 

I loved the UTEC city council candidates’ forum last night and was glad to experience it firsthand. For a complete take on the event, check Marie’s post. This is the second time I’ve watched council candidates face the exuberant, joyful UTEC teens. Last time was in 2003 and some of the candidates looked as uncomfortable then as they did last night—kind of like deer caught in the headlights.  But UTEC has gone high tech since that earlier debate; last night’s performance was a multi-media, high energy event that was truly fun. The “Price is Right” game show format for deciding who answers questions first, the fact that it was held at UTEC’s  new facility and taped by LTC for later broadcast, and the entertainment were all added features to this year’s event, which truly made it a rocking political experience. The teens were loudly supportive of each other and the candidates. They also had some great questions about jobs and stores for youngsters, teen homelessness, transportation, and the city manager’s contract. As expected with 30-second sound bites, the answers tended to be short on substance as well as time. By far, the best part for me was the incredible energy of the students and the singing, dancing, and poetry performances. For a broadcast schedule, check: more »

Sorry if I seem ungrateful, but I wasn’t thrilled with yesterday’s editorial even though I got endorsed.  Instead, I’m disappointed because once again the paper has belittled student progress while unfairly whacking the schools: “The district has made some progress in its MCAS scores, but still has too many schools on the state’s ‘needs improvement’ lists and too many students struggling. The pace of progress must be stepped up.”  So, double the state improvement average is no big deal. Apparently, so is seeing 29% more students achieve advanced or proficient while moving 18% more out of failing since 2005. How about the fact that it takes two consecutive years of meeting AYP in all subgroups to get off needs improvement?  (AYP is a moving target based on 100% proficiency by 2014: for details, check here.)

My point is not that the progress is enough—we are clearly not done. But we are moving in the right direction, and we are now seeing the fruits of seven years of intense focus on curriculum and instruction. Yet, all the schools get for their hard work (the hard work of students and teachers led by an administrative vision that made it happen) is a nod and several whacks about pacing etc. Speaking of the pace: How much time is allowed to turn around 23 schools, 1,200 teachers, 14,000 students, and countless support staff with shrinking resources?  How long should it take to develop consistent, standards-based curriculum from kindergarten to eighth grade, get all staff onboard and using it effectively, and inform parents of the standards their students will learn each year? Not to mention changing the culture so that teachers, students, administrators, and parents expect more from themselves and each other. And one last question: Why give credence to unsubstantiated claims of a hiring conspiracy (as opposed to simply trying to choose the best, most qualified candidates) when those choices are leading to student success?

Student learning is the single most important purpose of our schools, and it is the standard from which I base all my decisions. Perhaps I have the bar too high, but it is also the standard I expect our business, political, and media leaders to set for themselves regarding our schools. So dear editors, thanks again for the endorsement, but your pace joining the movement for excellent schools is a bit slow.