It's almost Thanksgiving. I really want to be grateful for all the grant money that flowed into the Lynn Public Schools, just after the budget was finished. We were so blessed.
Unfortunately I have not seen where any of that money has went. Our classrooms are overcrowded, our libraries mostly remain empty, and our mayor publicly trashes the education system she heads while singing the praises of a private school that drains public funds from that same system she heads. I have always had the utmost respect for Mayor Kennedy's pragmatic sense, maybe she is just keeping her options open if this mayor thing doesn't pan out.
The LSC meeting tonight will be hectic. The Food Project people will be there in force. The anti-garden people will be there to press their point. To be fair and balanced, the gangs need to show up to give their perspective.
I hope someone who sits in front of a microphone realizes the real reason we all should be there and demands some fiscal accountability for the education of our kids.
I'll be there if anyone wants to talk.
The reason the schools are a mess is lack of parental involvement.
ReplyDeleteLook at any community where the majority of the parents are uneducated, uninvolved, on drugs and on social programs and you see Lynn.
You can throw money all around and the end result is still failure.
At least the charter schools allow a small percent to succeed.
You have a right to vent but at the same time you are hurting your own battle, by the incessant bitching and whining about everything.
Do something to get parents involved. I do not think anyone by choice send their kids to school in Lynn. They should make the best of it by getting involved until they can move. Those that use their children by choice as a social experiment are the worse though. Without a proper education you have nothing. Thats the sad reality.
Anon. - I assume you are an educated, involved parent. To be honest, some of the venom you are espousing is quite scary is quite frightening. Where do you live? Because many of the problems of in our schools are city-wide.
ReplyDeleteHave you listened to yourself? You bad-mouth your neighbors and propose your own anti-social experiment.
I don't want to live in your neighborhood. Like you said though, everybody has a right to vent.
Anon, is that you Stacey?
ReplyDeletevocab doesn't change much? we all know by now
Stanley,
don't assume anon is educated. anon doesn't vote in lynn probably, and likes harassing ALL the lynn blogs
Anon, I really don't like having to respond to someone that hides behind the veil of secrecy because they lack the courage to put their name to their statements, but I just couldn't let this one go. How dare you assume that the "majority" of Lynn parents are on drugs, uneducated and uninvolved and that no one chooses to send their kids to Lynn schools? What experience do you have that qualifies you to make moronic statements like that? Both my wife and I are lifelong Lynn residents, by choice. We live in a great neighborhood and wouldn’t trade it for anything. I had the privilege to teach in Lynn for 14 years and have met some of the best people imaginable while doing so, and have owned a very successful business for 27 years. Oh yeah, we also made the choice of sending our kids to Lynn schools (or made a social experiment out of them) and have never regretted that decision. Even though my kids would express their desire to go to private schools when they were younger, it was because they were overly conscious of statements made from “perfect” people such as you. As they got older they realized that they were not only getting an excellent education, but were also getting an education in diversity that you can’t pay for. In fact my oldest daughter who graduated from Lynn English in 2009 wrote about this very topic in her college essay. She also came to realize that many of her friends that attended area private schools were behind the level that she was at. She is now attending Northeastern University and is getting along rather nicely. Most of her friends from high school are attending schools like, Harvard, Fordham, BU, BC, NU and many others. And guess what? They and their parents are actually paying for it. My youngest daughter is a student at LEHS where she is a successful, well rounded student that will, like her sister, be attending college in 2 years as a young woman fully prepared to enter the “real” world with again, an education in diversity that is a must to succeed in America today. I don’t know where you are from but let me tell you that the problem of drugs in schools, are far worse in area suburbs than they are in Lynn. Problems with bullying and overall failing to accept those that are different are also far worse in area communities than they are in Lynn. I am not saying that Lynn is without its challenges, including some of the issues that you point out, but they are far from the majority. There are problems in every community and if you feel that you live in the perfect place where these issues do not exist and there is nothing left to do than to chastise others around you, I am glad that my family chose not to join you.
ReplyDeleteRick, Thanks and Well Said. You are a classy guy.
ReplyDeleteowned by Rick
ReplyDeleteAnon. If I was owned by anyone, I would hide behind an anonymous name. Are you sad that you don't have the intellectual capital to buy me?
ReplyDeleteGlad Rick is so passionate. You are one of the "successful" people in Lynn, not afraid to say so either are you? You love that others look up to you huh? Based on your bio you live an average life with average successes. Welcome to how the majority of the world lives! There is nothing wrong with this but to tote it like your a noble prize winner is a little much.
ReplyDeleteA few select kids from Lynn are going to good schools. Good for them and their success. And it is a mute point if their parents are paying they have earned their way coming out against odds of a HORRIFIC school district.
Your agruement for diversity is baloney. Kids now a days where ever they go to school are exposed to diversity (ie people from different cultures and places)whether it be Newton, Marblehead etc. Just as drug problems are in every community in some form. Diversity is not gangs, teen parents and the street lifestyle of crime.
Lynn has a large percentage. Take a look at the stats of the # of students on the free lunch program, the laughable stats of tests and then tell me those kids are getting a great education.
Do what you can to help the situation but pull the wool out from your eyes.
I would also encourage you to take people such as the author of this blog and to steer them in a positive manner so that things may actually get done. He sounds like a raving fool and few other communities leaders would even heed someone as such attention. Only in Lynn.
You are doing your children a disservice if you have the means to sent them else where. If not I guess all you can do is make the best of the situation.
Sputter away.
Anon. - I feel sorry for you. I bet all that hatred inside you gives you stomach trouble. Be grateful though, your hatred manifests itself as a pain in other peoples lower body part. Take care of yourself.
ReplyDeleteanon,
ReplyDeleteget a life