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I first met Senator Ted Kennedy at a National Schools Board Association (NSBA) meeting in Washington years ago where he was the featured speaker. Before the meeting, those of us from the Bay State got a private audience with the Senator. We numbered about 20 folks from the Commonwealth, and I’ll never forget the sheepish grin on his face when he walked into the room and softly asked, “Massachusetts?” We nodded enthusiastically and clustered around him to shake his hand, make eye contact, and share a few words. Later, we were escorted into a huge auditorium where the front rows had been reserved for us. We had the best seats in the house as Senator Edward M. Kennedy entered behind us to thunderous applause and a standing ovation. I was proud to be from Massachusetts, to sit at the front of that huge auditorium with my colleagues and know that our Senator was a national champion for public schoolchildren. The cheers and adoration from thousands of school committee members from across the country felt like a personal accomplishment: he’s our Senator, he belongs to us!

A few years later, I got it in my head that I wanted Senator Kennedy to visit Lowell and see firsthand the good work being done in our schools. Federal resources for education had steadily declined under the Bush administration, No Child Left Behind was under-funded and over-mandated, and we needed help. I was a Lowell delegate at the upcoming Massachusetts more »