Lately both voters and the Lawrence School Committee are loudly sounding the alarm as to the amount of power that the LPS committee lacks or that the receiver’s education committee thinks they have over everything school and school topics.
Imagine administrative employees (lunch administrator) telling school committees what they cannot do.
Imagine a mayor demanding that school committee cannot meet.
Imagine a superintendent losing control of the school system. No need to imagine: it’s all happening.
This takeover of government is not about the students. It never was and the mayor knows it. He is helping keep the city economic environment to a local level and keeping the Latinos poor for his friends and the powerful politician’s benefit. So much for being a Lawrence kid (born and bred) as he always says.
This receivership is about money. It always has been. From the day that the first elected Latino mayor took office, a wave of insecure people and politicians, including their lobbying and financial powerful companies, decided to take control over the city. The reasons for the control were because those same powerful individuals wanted to ensure that companies that have millions of dollars of the city contracts not lose that money.
For some reason they were under the belief that their lobbying friends would no longer continue getting those fat contracts from the city. The underground conversation is that local Latinos businesses have made their grievance as to the amount of contracts that are not being awarded to Lawrence Latinos businesses.
They wonder if the City would breakdown the contracts to smaller and manageable pieces, the local businesses would benefit and possibly compete with the large out of town, out of state, and political funding friendly companies that provided millions and millions of dollars of products and services to the city.
Do you know who has the contracts for foods in the LPS? Not any business in Lawrence. What about products being delivered on a daily basis to city departments? Not any business in Lawrence. This is even true for small business services such as locksmiths – not any business in Lawrence. How about roof repair, HVAC, painting, or masonry services? Not any small business in Lawrence.
Take for example the food services of the LPS. The breakfasts are high carbs, high sugar, and low protein for the students. It’s the type of contracts that have been signed to bring in these lesser healthy foods. It’s the companies that have a strong hold on the Massachusetts politicians and the powerful rich by donating thousands of dollars to their campaigns to provide unhealthy or unsafe products to the poor.
Perhaps the Lawrence Partnership or EforAll have some suggestions about training potential vendors interested in doing business with the City or possible ways to get it done.
It also goes to the millions of dollars of books, study materials and testing materials given to our students every year. It’s all contact based. The forced ANET, Access and MCAS testing is an issue both in the learning area and the funding area. It’s toxic.
The LPS is losing hundreds of teachers every year due to this receiver stronghold and the very same turnover plan from 2015. It’s 2020!
Many things that are not ethical are a reflection of Jeff Riley, the board, and the Mayor and how little they think of the student, the employees, and the city residents. This entire receivership, and now the board, is a charade. It always has been. The fact that the current LPS elected school committee is just starting to realize this is sad. But I applaud their efforts to get answers so that they themselves may assist parents throughout the school district.
They can meet whenever they like and not have to answer to the board. The board did not vote for them. Their votes came from the city’s voters and that is who they answer to. Many people, including the LPS school committee believe it’s time for a revolution in taking back the schools and given to the leadership of the elected officials of the school committee.
Local school boards have been an integral feature of the U.S. public education system for nearly 120 years, and they are widely regarded as the principal democratic body capable of representing citizens in local education decisions.
Bypassing local school boards in the haste to reform public education, additional legislation has emphasized choice as well as quality, and encouraged the development of charter schools with limited regulatory ties to the local school system, school-based management, vouchers, tax credits, and home-schooling options.
I again will say that the reason for a receiver is to take the power of school committee away and give everything and the kitchen sink to those of status quo. The Mayor and all his LPS board cronies know it.
