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The Citywide Parent Council has invited other groups that are concerned with the future of the Lowell Public Schools to meet and discuss issues and options tonight, 7 pm, in the Little Theatre at LHS.  This first-ever collaborative meeting will bring together four organizations, Stand for Children, the Mary Bacigalupo Edcuational Program (website will be coming soon), One Lowell and the CPC, all of whom share a common goal of supporting Lowell schools and students.  The first part of the meeting will feature summary presentations from each group about their goals, recent activities and current concerns, which will be televised, followed by untelevised small group discussion and networking.  The hope is to identify some focus points for collaboration.  The entire school committee has been invited along with PTOs from individual schools.  There are so many issues facing the school district, with budget concerns topping the list; it’s vital to pool talents and resources, to communicate and collaborate and to look ahead to identify the next challenge.  Tonight’s meeting should be a great first step.

Perhaps I’ve lowered my expectations, but I’m not surprised that in today’s Column, the Sun ignited a few sparks from the recent school personnel subcommittee meeting and left out the substance; after all, inflating controversy to sell papers is their bread and butter, and they only have so many column inches. My take on the personnel subcommittee meeting is that it was constructive and absolutely necessary to remind the entire board of its roles, rules, and responsibilities under law. For instance, we will not tolerate another breach in the confidentiality of executive session, self-reporting to the Attorney General if necessary. Also, while it is okay to “make inquiry” such as ask questions about an outside agency’s effectiveness, it is not acceptable to “instruct or engage in” the operations of any school, such as coordinating an event, assigning staff, or telling a principal what to do. Also, concerns brought to an individual school committee member should be investigated through the superintendent. Asking for reports, forming a task force, or directing any school activity or expense must be done by board consensus, which requires a majority vote of the school committee. As usual, the newspaper chose to focus on the negative—minor disagreements—rather than the positive outcome of the school committee asking for and receiving guidelines for future behavior that will allow it to be a more effective elected body.

On another note, as fellow bloggers have mentioned, televising the personnel subcommittee meeting would have eliminated the public’s reliance on the newspaper and given folks a clear view of what happened. (It’s called 20/20 hindsight for a reason.) That said, it would be great to see support for televised school subcommittee meetings not only from bloggers, but from the City, and from Lowell Telecommunications Corporation itself (board members paying attention?). One major step to get more school subcommittees televised is to wire the Mayor’s Reception Room for live telecast and provide the staff to broadcast the meetings. A few months ago, four school committee members re-affirmed a motion from last fall to broadcast LHS subcommittee meetings live from the high school studio, but it is a limited solution that only impacts one subcommittee and relies on student volunteers, as well as a communications club with no paid faculty advisor. It will also cost the school department about $2K over a year (the reason stated for the three dissenting votes) and still, it’s only one subcommittee. Clearly, more transparency in school governance will provide more informed, engaged citizens—something we must all work toward.

I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time on my taxes this year which has been rather unpleasant; however,  I did come across some information that might be of use to others:  if you or someone you know doesn’t typically file taxes, you should do so this year because you are probably eligible for a rebate, which you can’t get if you don’t file.  Maybe everyone knows this already, but I thought I should pass it along just in case. According to the IRS, about 20 million people aren’t required to file a return because they earn too little; however, they could still be entitled to a rebate.

The other tax tidbit I have to share is that if your taxes are confusing or you run into a situation that you can’t solve by searching the internet for hours and days to read about other people’s experiences and opinions (which is what I’ve been doing for the last several weeks), you can pick up the phone and call the IRS (1-800-829-1040).  I know what you’re thinking, that it would be a hassle, that you’d never get through, etc; however, I have now been on the phone with them three times, and each time, my call was answered right away and I was put through with a minimum of waiting time to a person who was skilled in my area of concern.  

Finally, I am a person who believes in taxes (I want good schools and services), but….does it have to be this complicated?? Once you start delving into the tax code, you feel as if you are in the mines of Moria and have awakened a balrog! I’m just saying, it starts to feel as if the tail is wagging the dog. 

MassVOTE is inviting people to join them at the State House on Tuesday, April 8, in support of S.2514, which would allow Election Day Registration.  This bill makes sense. Everyone complains about the lack of turnout at elections, so why not make it a little easier on people? Sure, democracy doesn’t have to be easy, but life is busy and confusing enough. Last November, I was urging a young friend of my son’s to vote in the local elections. Well,  he had been away at school and had never gotten around to registering and by that time had missed the cut-off date. Why choose an arbitrary cut-off day that’s weeks before the election (I think it’s 20 days in Mass) when technology makes it easy for us to streamline the process and allow people to just show up, register and vote. Seven states, including New Hampshire and Maine, have election day registration. Statistics show an increase in voter turnout in those states: for example, in 2004, four of these (ME, NH, WI and MN) were in the top ten for voter turnout.  The League of Women Voters reports that in 2006, five of the seven were in the top ten. There seems to be no evidence of increased voter fraud associated with same-day registration. In addition, same-day registration could motivate more young people to vote. I’m pretty sure my son’s friend would have voted last year and gotten into the habit of voting if the process had been more convenient. If you are interested in joining a group from Lowell to go down to the State House on Tuesday, contact us for information. At the very least, contact your representative by email or telephone and convey your support of same-day registration.

Jackie will be joining George Anthes tonight on WCAP, 980 AM, at 8:00 p.m.

As a student at UML, in a Sociology class, Chancellor Marty Meehan read a book called Death at an Early Age, by Jonathan Kozol.  It changed the way he thought about education and equality.  Today, Meehan introduced Jonathan Kozol to a packed room at the Leary library.  Present were faculty, students, teachers, members of the school department, and interested community members. Current Lowell Superintendent Karla Baehr was in the audience along with future superintendent Chris Augusta Scott. Dana Mohler-Faria, president of Bridgewater State College and special advisor for education to Governor Patrick, sat on the panel of respondents and told the crowd he feels a ”sense of urgency” about our children and that education is the governor’s number one priority.

Kozol is a brave and compassionate man who has spent his career saying uncomfortable things about poverty, race and class.  Today’s lecture was entitled “Public Education Under Siege:  The Challenges for Educators in our Nation’s Separate and Unequal Schools.”  He sees the challenges that face urban teachers stemming from too little resources and too much testing, testing that is relentless because of the sword of AYP that hangs over the heads of principals and districts.  He is outraged that a poverty-stricken district, whose children may never have had the advantage of 2 or 3 years of quality pre-school (the norm in wealthy and even middle-class families), will be punished and have their funding decreased when these children fail a test in the third grade.  Studies have shown that early childhood education is the greatest predictor we have of student success, and many of the neediest children never get it or don’t get enough.  (This is a sore point with us in Lowell, since pre-school transportation was cut in 2003 and never restored.) Thus, the pressure is on idealistic, impassioned young teachers to become “drill sargents for the state,” and the pressure is on urban districts to squeeze out creativity, enrichment, even recess, to avoid the harsh penalties of the No Child Left Behind Act. As he points out, no one is opposed to useful, diagnostic testing that can give valuable and timely feedback to educators about a child’s needs and strengths. His thoughts on NCLB:  “It can’t be fixed; it needs to be rejected.”

But Kozol isn’t all gloom and doom. He complimented Lowell on being in certain ways “a wonderful exception, partly because of demographics and partly because of leadership.”   He deeply reveres the profession of teaching and the mystical chemistry that can occur between teacher and child that can result in a magical learning environment (something that is totally absent from the rigid formulations of NCLB).  He visited a Boston first-grade classroom over a school year in the course of writing his latest book, Letters to a Young Teacher, and his descriptions of his visits were vivid, delightful and heartwarming. For more information about this impassioned crusador for children, his writings, and his causes, you can visit Education Action! 

There are several activities this week to celebrate Marty Meehan’s inauguration as UML chancellor, many which interest me. For instance, yesterday I attended a breakfast on Achieving Excellence Through Partnerships.  Most would agree that partnerships are important for Lowell’s continued progress, especially during these fiscally challenging times, and it was interesting to learn more about connections between the university, businesses, and the communities of both Lowell and Lawrence. As someone committed to expanding more partnerships with our public schools, I know how difficult it can be. That’s why when I learned about the simple, yet effective tobacco-prevention initiative with Lowell fifth graders, it resonated.  Under the Greater Lowell Health Alliance, a partnership developed that included UML, Saints Memorial, Lowell General, the Community Health Center, and the Lowell Public Schools. As with most good partners, they had a specific goal and target group: educating youngsters about the dangers of smoking cigarettes.

Public school staff, using curriculum developed before state funding for tobacco prevention was depleted, trained healthcare volunteers (many of whom are nurses) on the curriculum and how to present the material in an engaging, informative way to fifth-grade students across the district. By the end of this school year, the program, which is already underway,  will educate 46 fifth-grade classes on the health risks associated with smoking cigarettes, peer pressure, and other aspects of tobacco prevention. The sad reality is that our public schools do not have the resources to do comprehensive health education k-12 around nutrition; fitness; drugs, alcohol and substance abuse; as well as other areas that would benefit our students. The fact that this partnership is helping to fill the gap provides some comfort.

Now we have a Lowell Film Festival and it looks great! This FREE event takes place this weekend, April 4 and 5, check out the schedule to see times and venues. There is an opening reception Friday night at the Revolving Museum. The theme of Globalization and Immigration couldn’t be more timely or more perfect for Lowell.  The “Headliner Films” on Friday (Sacco and Venzetti) and Saturday evening (Bamako) have limited seating which is going fast.  To reserve for these showings, email getinthefilm@lowellfilms.org.  Other offerings include The Green Square Mile, about the Irish of Charlestown; Sentenced Home, about deported Cambodian teenagers; and The Busker, which I’ve been wanting to see for years.  So, I’m kicking myself for having other plans this weekend. I’m going to miss the whole thing.  I hope others can take advantage of this unique local event.