After An Educator's Journey
Out of the classroom & into the universe
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Once upon a time, I taught 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders. Now I’m retired and working on new ventures.
Tag: Lowell
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Superintendent’s Proposed Budget Presentation, April 25, 2016 5 present, Mr. Gendron absent. There have been many reports that this budget season is going to be a tight one. Although the City has committed to increasing their contribution by $1 million, the school department had recently floated a budget total with an additional $1 million deficit gap. Dr. Khelfaoui…
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School Committee Meeting: Wednesday, April 06, 2016 All members present. The Special Order of Business tonight focused on the Kathryn Stoklosa Knowledge Bowl competition, which has been a yearly academic match-up since 1988. The 2016 winning Wang Middle School Team was featured along with all participants. Congrats to the Wang Team and their coaches and…
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School Committee Meeting: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 All members present. Item 19, a motion by Ms. Martin meant to highlight innovative curricula in the Lowell Schools, was taken out of order. The featured school, The Pyne Arts (link here), is a Grades PK-8 magnet school. It is unique because of the grade span that the…
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The current Mayor of Lowell, Rodney Elliot, recently posited this gem in our local newspaper. Take a look at the bulleted items, if you have not already read this, and be outraged. Note the date on the letter – the day after the City elections. Could this be a manipulation of facts engineered for personal…
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What follows are some highlights from a very lengthy School Committee meeting. In place of a bulleted list of meeting agenda items (the meetings are televised and rebroadcast by LTC), I’ve included some explanatory commentary. Why? Education issues are often fairly complicated; we use too many acronyms and assume what is obvious to those of…
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A year ago, my patient spouse and I moved from an exurb to the city of Lowell, MA. Even though we lived in the center of this (formerly) small town, walking was not an easy activity. In fact the walk score for our former address was 24 – meaning most every errand requires a car. In addition to…
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Our Fourth Graders were charged this year with finding and executing a community service project. Luckily, we needed to look no farther than a small City park about a block from our school. Lincoln Square Park honors our 16th president with a monument erected by Lowell school children in the early 1900s and a small…
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This year, one of our efforts as a school community was to engage our students in community service. I personally think this is a great idea, especially for mid-elementary students who can be somewhat egocentric. It’s a big wide world out there! Fortunately for us, our service opportunity was within walking distance of our urban…
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This is the longer version of Adrien’s short documentary about an extraordinary group of young people and the United Teen Equality Center (UTEC) here in Lowell. Take a moment to see what overcoming adversity to hope and to dream about a future really look like. And then,if you are so inspired, support UTEC’s programs and…
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It was at the end of our school day yesterday when one of my students matter-of-factly asked if I had heard about “the shooting”. Knowing about the violent incident this past weekend on a street near my elementary school, I waited for her to continue. Which she did. As if it weren’t something out of…
After An Educator's Journey 