Laraba welcome challenger for school board
Yesterday’s Sun has an article about Alison Laraba, the only challenger for a seat on the Lowell School Committee in the upcoming election. I met Alison Laraba through the Friends of Lowell High School (we’re both members) and especially noticed her during school budget hearings last spring. She is an outspoken parent with good ideas and I welcome her to the race for school committee. If you suffered through our budget hearings, you may recall Laraba as the speaker at the June 17 meeting who took issue with four members of the committee leaving council chambers while Sullivan School Principal Edith LeBran spoke about the importance of library media specialists. Laraba impressed me then as someone willing to take a stand for her convictions, and I look forward to an interesting campaign with her involved. Note:This LINK just in from LTC streaming video. (You can fast forward past Principal LeBran’s speech to see Laraba’s brief comments on the absent school committee members, but they are not shown leaving chambers due to the camera’s tight focus on the speakers.)
The number of candidates for school committee has steadily declined over the past six years, and quotes from my colleagues hypothesize why in yesterday’s article. As my earlier post on the issue reveals, “WANTED: Lunatics to run for school committee,” I have a few ideas of my own why more folks aren’t pulling papers for school committee. I also posted here why appointed school boards are not the solution. How do we get candidates interested in running and how do we overcome voter apathy? Given my slanted perspective, education seems key: not only education of our youth, but also consistent education of our community about the importance the board and our public schools play in the success of our city.