The legislative delegation including Mayor Dan Rivera met with a group of local public school teachers to discuss some of the problems they face on a daily basis in their classrooms. There were also representatives from several other cities and teachers’ unions.
Frank McLaughlin, president of the Lawrence Teachers Union opened the meeting talking about our vibrant community and children praising Mayor Rivera as one of his former students.
The teachers expressed their support for bills dealing with public education this legislative session. Senator Barbara L’Italien is a co-sponsor of many of the pieces of legislation and remains committed to supporting public school teachers and students.
Addressing the charter schools question on the ballot last elections with pride because they discovered through this campaign that people love public education.
When Representative Frank Moran spoke of why he favored charter schools, his comments were received with sneers.
Representative Juana Matías spoke eloquently about her efforts to pursue the Safe Communities Act claiming that the State Police is overburdened doing immigration work. Meanwhile, she is fully supporting that anyone who had committed a crime should be processed accordingly.
Representative Matías asked that if anyone knows of anything in their community, to contact her office.
Senator L’Italien supported Matias’ ideas about the rights of students to be here and pledged to bring more money to Chapter 70.
Representative Diana DiZoglio spoke briefly about the area she represents covering North Andover, Methuen, Lawrence and Haverhill also pledging to support bills on collective bargaining, benefits and good salaries for our teachers, pending in the Legislature.
Teachers complained that there is too much testing going on in our schools but Matias wonders that if we take away testing, what are we putting in its place.
Among other things pending before the Legislature are several bills sponsored by many senators and representatives dealing with the minimum wage to $15 per hour, paid family sick leave in Massachusetts; the millionaires’ pact by which for every person earning over one million dollars the schools and transportation system should get more money, too.
Representative Moran concurred that he also will be approving the paid leave and minimum wage increase, getting the teachers’ applause.
Senator L’Italien thanked the “AFT Massachusetts and MTA for bringing everyone together at this meeting. Lawrence and the greater Merrimack Valley is fortunate to have teachers who do great work like this for our students. Our collective work, led by these organizations, to stop Question 2 was a tremendous success, but there is always more we can do for our public school students and teachers. I remain committed to protecting and strengthening education here in the Commonwealth, and have co-sponsored many of the bills on AFT/MTA’s legislative agenda.”
