Letter by Jackie Doherty published in The Boston Globe Magazine, April 15, 2007
The below severely-abridged version of my letter was in response to an article, published in the magazine on March 25, 2007, in which Lowell was mentioned as one of “the hot five” real estate markets for first-time Massachusetts home buyers. In addition to writing “Lowell’s school system is considered troubled by some,” the reporter added: “New parents might consider moving across the Merrimack River to Dracut for better schools…” Obviously, I could not let that go–see below for my response:
Lowell got a nice mention, but the article said its schools are “considered troubled by some.” Do those people know our graduation rate was 8 percentage points higher than the state average for urban districts? Or that the MCAS scores of students in our Latin Lyceum Academy are on a par with those of the top three public high schools in the state? Lowell schools are not perfect, but we make progress every day in the quality of education our children receive. I’m proud to have my children in the Lowell schools.
Jackie Doherty
Member, Lowell School Committee