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In what was expected to be a photo opportunity to announce funds for summer jobs turned spontaneously engaging as Governor Deval Patrick left the stage and ventured into the audience to answer random questions from Lowell High School seniors. After making his points about the need for more jobs for kids and his commitment to helping with that—which included telling students to take out their cell phones and record this number (866-968-8461), he politely answered selected-in-advance student questions read by Senior Class President Natalie Petit. Once he finished answering those questions, however, he surprised everyone by jumping off the stage and moving through the audience, taking questions from randomly selected students on a variety of topics.

Issues raised by the students included dropout rates, gas prices, cost of living in Mass., income gap and middle-class squeeze, environment, gay marriage rights, violence in the streets, lack of scholarships, and the economy. Other questions included asking the Governor for a date to the prom (he replied he’s married), if he can dance (he said yes but that he wouldn’t demonstrate), and what it was like being the first African-American governor of Massachusetts (“way cool”). In his remarks, the Governor restated some messages that had been key to his campaign–that is: We must try new things and see our stake in each other’s success.” He spoke of revitalizing a sense of community, the idea of service and connection with our neighbors. For me, I couldn’t have been prouder of our students, who represented LHS and the city with respect, humor and intelligence, and our Governor. For a summary of his responses to some of their questions, check: more »

You can now access Superintendent Baehr’s recommended FY09  budget for the Lowell Public Schools online. Also online is the re-examination report of the district conducted in 2007 by the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (EQA). This most recent report by the state agency praises Lowell schools for significant improvements while also indicating areas of continued concern. As mentioned in this earlier post, the school committee will hold a series of public meetings to review the superintendent’s budget recommendations, beginning tonight with a finance subcommittee meeting at Central Office. The recommended budget calls for staffing cuts and program adjustments to stay within limited revenue (less than one percent increase from last year) while also attempting to enable the district to continue to improve student learning and address concerns identified in the recent EQA audit.