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Despite an out-of-left-field attack on me in today’s “Chat” by Kendall Wallace, good friend and staunch ally of  LHS Headmaster Bill Samaras as well as chairman of the Sun board,  I’m sticking with my compliment regarding recent changes to the paper. Yesterday I visited Jim Campanini, the managing editor of the Sun—a man known to dish out his own criticism with wild abandon while also taking his share of written abuse, particularly in the blogs.  LiL can be especially harsh, so can Dick Howe on his blog, and I’ve certainly written a litany of critiques. One thing about Campy, no matter how pointed my criticism, he always gave me ink in the paper when I asked for it. (For a review of my past letters to the editor, check out the Published Articles page; here is a recent one.)  When Campanini greeted me outside his office yesterday morning, I held out a small bag and announced:  “I baked you muffins because I heard it would get me good press!” Someone laughed behind me, but Campy’s face froze. “It was a joke,” I said. “I’m kidding.” He retorted, “So, you believe what you read in the blogs!? Where’s the gown?”

Along with being critical, I like to give credit when it’s due, and I have noticed a marked improvement in the paper’s substance and coverage of local issues over the past several months.  For instance, instead of running one story after a school committee meeting (usually the most controversial), the Sun now publishes several stories over the week, or the paper will run an additional article that gives a synopsis of other issues discussed at the meeting. Providing this space to inform readers about issues in the schools is an important community service. The paper’s enhanced coverage has included more substantive articles on other local issues as well, such as the vocational school and city council concerns. I had noticed the change and wanted to let him know I appreciated it. He accepted my praise graciously. We then went on to have a heated debate on various topics, school related and otherwise, as we both tend to vent our opinions stridently and seldom agree. (The lowfat, high-fiber muffins remained uneaten.) Despite better local news coverage, however, I suspect the slurs from Mr. Wallace will continue as long as I keep pushing for improvements at the high school, which, by the way, is nothing personal against his dear old friend, but simply the job I was elected to do.

We have triplet nieces in California who have become quite the hit in television ads (picture three tow-headed four-year olds).  You may have seen them last year being pulled in a wagon together for a Dunkin Donuts commercial that aired during the Super Bowl and President Obama’s state of the union address.  Last fall, they appeared in raincoats and umbrellas for H+R Block ads. Their latest venture is a series of story ads currently airing about a family who loves their Toyota Sienna (“modern, stylish, super good looking—like us”). The ads appear regularly on television, but also can be seen on youtube.  Check out the Meet the Parents,  Daddy Like Help, and Daddy Like Bonding Time and see if you can tell the difference: The girls appear individually, each playing the same role as the daughter in the family. Despite requiring a grueling time commitment—sometimes hours of shooting over several days—the girls apparently love the spotlight, and can’t wait until it’s their turn to be in front of the camera. The money, of course, will come in handy for the girls’ college tuition, but the ads themselves—a series of funny short stories about a narcissitic couple obsessively in love with themselves and their car—are creative in their own right.

It was too surreal: First thing I heard this morning is that Kansas City is closing half their public schools due to budget woes; a few hours later, I learned that Hawaii cut its school year short by 17 days to save money. All this is on top of news earlier in the week that a Rhode Island superintendent fired all 93 teachers and the principal of the high school.  At this point, twisting the above-mentioned R.E.M. song to make a point isn’t being overly dramatic, it’s too true. If the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), with its unreachable goal (100% at grade level by 2014), punitive approach to accountability, and lack of funding, was the beginning of the end of public schools, the recent economic crisis appears to be the final note.  For a national perspective on this issue, check out today’s NPR interview with Diane Ravitch, author and former assistant secretary of education under President Bush.  A NCLB supporter now converted, Ravitch argues that punishing schools under the mantra of accountability while pushing for privatizing our educational system is not good for kids, communities, or democracy. She claims her research shows that charter schools have not outperformed public schools.

 In Massachusetts, where our public schools enjoy national recognition as leaders in student achievement, our state Department of Elementary and Secondary Schools (DESE) has determined 35 failing schools (level  4) have not made adequate progress in student learning.  All 35 schools are from urban districts. (In Lowell, we have one, level 4 school, the Murkland, which will undergo various punitive/restructuring options such as described here in the Sun .)  As Joan Vennochi mentions in today’s Boston Globe, the problem with these supposedly bold reforms is their limited success in actually improving student learning. She cites Chicago’s Draconian measures as having mixed results and compares it to other cities whose students made greater gains without the turmoil.  According to Vennochi, the problem is more complex than redistributing students and staff: “How to improve learning in public schools, especially those located in poor, urban neighborhoods, is worthy of debate. The problem is that even the staunchest reform advocates can change their mind about what really works up against the cumulative effects of poverty.”  Perhaps the problems of poverty are just too hard to fix:  much easier to blame it on the schools.

If you check this site regularly (thank you for that), you may have noticed many days without posts.  Although this does happen occasionally because living my life takes precedence over writing about it, the last few weeks featured a particularly long stretch of silence, and with reason. The first reason was that my blog was sick and it took me awhile to figure out it wasn’t my computer; the second reason was school vacation (as many of you know, kids can be so distracting), as well as other commitments and family concerns. Speaking of kids, it was actually a young LHS student entrepreneur who solved my blog crisis.

Nate Tenczar, a junior at LHS whose parents are former city councilor Attorney Dan Tenczar and Lisa Tenczar of DancEnergy, was the young tekky to solve my problem at last. Charging very reasonable rates, Nate Tenczar Computer Consulting, which can reached via ntenczar@gmail.com, discovered that “somehow malicious lines of code were injected into the header.php file of my blog, which caused the person viewing the blog to be redirected to an advertising website.” I confess to not understanding what exactly happened or how—something about my blog code being modified to send people off to random ad sites—what I do know was that it was incredibly aggravating to try to post during this period and that I wasted much time trying to figure out what was wrong with my computer when it was actually the blog. In any case, Nate resolved the issue; other than being annoying, it didn’t cause harm; and I’m now ready to get back to posting regularly. Please let me know if you notice anything weird in the future, and I highly recommend Nate as a source for your computer needs!

I unfortunately missed the Lowell Film Collaborative’s presentation of The Invention of Lying when in came out on DVD, but we watched it soon after, and as Dick mentions, the scenes of Lowell are great. It is fun to see the actors dining at La Boniche and Cobblestones, the aerial views of the city are lovely, as well as the brick buildings and cobblestones. Wow, we live in a cool city! The movie was okay (I agree with the Globe’s assessment that they ducked the big issues that were raised); but, for us, seeing Lowell on film made it great.

What I’m left wondering is, how did they happen to pick Lowell? I guess they needed an old-fashioned looking place that could serve as an alternate universe; and I suppose, that was a city, not a town. Here’s the Washington Post’s take on the movie, wherein they describe the setting as “a nondescript town (charmingly played by Lowell, Mass.).” In any case, it will be interesting to see if Lowell catches on as a movie set – sometimes nondescript can be a good thing!

According to Coach Batt (Battistini), five years ago the LHS boys swim team didn’t even have a parent representative on the Friends of Lowell High School and winning a meet was as likely as finding a shark in the pool. Fast forward to last Friday when the Lowell High Boys Swim and Dive Team, fresh off a 10-1 season that included a first ever win against Chelmsford, placed seventh in the State Division I competition held at Harvard University.  If you exclude the private school winners, such as St. John’s Prep which took first place for the fifth consecutive year, and Boston College High School, which took sixth; LHS placed fifth overall for public schools (beating Chelmsford again by 12 points). The top ten Division I teams were:  St. John’s Prep, Lincoln Sudbury Regional, Minnechaug Regional, Lexington,  Andover, BC, LHS, Chelmsford, Westford, and Amherst Pelham Regional.

Aside from the importance of winning, which IS important, most folks know there are many benefits to participating in athletics, and Lowell’s swimmers were no exception. The varsity team met the MIAA’s gold standard for grade point average (3.00-4.00), and equally impressive, nearly every Lowell swimmer who participated in the state meet improved his best-ever high school time, and isn’t that what it’s all about—doing our own personal best. (For details on some records broken, see this Sun article.) Congrats to the team, coaches, parents, and the high school for its support of student athletics. On another note, all 11 winter varsity sports at LHS achieved the MIAA’s GPA gold standard with a combined average of 3.15. Go Red Raiders! (Full disclosure: My son swims on the team.)

February seems shorter than usual this year, but that means the 15th Annual Women’s Week starts Sunday! There is an impressive list of events lined up: a quilt raffle and quilting workshops at the New England Quilt Museum; a display about fashion in America since 1700 at the American Textile History Museum; a mill girl walking tour; the latest MRT play, Black Pearl Sings, and MUCH MORE – really too many events to name. Of course, there’s also the annual Breakfast celebration at the Lowell Inn and Conference Center (that’s Monday, from 7 – 9 am; tickets $25). There’s also a rock concert (Mothers of Rock 2010) and a Living History presentation about women in New Bedford during the height of the whaling boom. I’m amazed at the variety and quality of the offerings and am planning some serious schedule-juggling to take advantage of these opportunities. Take a look at the event calendar to plan your Women’s Week.

Love your crooked neighbor with all your crooked heart. W.H. Auden

As I sit here in cool weather under cloudy skies, a group of Lowell High School students are enjoying an exciting and educational adventure in Madrid. (See here for their day-by-day account of the experience.) The students, who row in the school’s highly successful crew program, are participating in the trip under the guidance of LHS teachers and coaches, and with full approval of the Lowell School Committee. As required under the travel policy, the committee approved the trip before any funds were collected; also per the policy, the request for that approval (which provides insurance coverage) included written explanation of the learning outcomes to justify two days missed from school. Congratulations to the students–sounds like they’re having a wonderful experience–and muchos gracias to the teachers/coaches for making it happen!

Looking for something to do this weekend? Consider music and romance brought to us through the Image Theater, our local theater group. This from their website:  “Lowell’s Image Theater is proud to collaborate with the illustrious Whistler House Museum for a Valentine’s weekend celebration of romance, wine and song. Boston cabaret artists Bobbi Carrey and Will McMillan will bring their acclaimed cabaret performance “If I Loved You” to the beautiful Parker Gallery at Lowell’s Whistler House Museum, 243 Worthen Street, Lowell, accompanied by Doug Hammer on piano.

Saturday, February 13th, with a cocktail reception at 7 pm and a show at 8pm and Sunday, Feb 14th at 2pm and 3pm, for the price of $59 a couple, $30 for single tickets. Will and Bobbi will delight you with songs from Gershwin, Rodgers, Berlin, Porter, Sondheim…songs that speak to the heart, mind, and soul. Hear the duo that The Boston Herald claims “transforms listeners into a beautiful daydream…” and The Improper Bostonian called “…sparkling and sultry…” Call 978-452-7641 for reservations (which I just did) and discovered there are only seats remaining for the Sunday performanceL.