THE RIGHTS FIGHT

 Glad to see my good friend HONG NET, Councilor-At-Large last night sat Rick Ford's Campaign Kickoff for his bid for one of the At-Large Seats.

HONG has been a particularly strong champion for HUMAN RIGHTS since he joined the COUNCIL even successfully fighting for the establishment of the HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE for the city. It has been an honor to know him.

SANDRA SEES NEEDS

Happy to meet fellow candidate for LYNN SCHOOL COMMITTEE, SANDRA LOPEZ tonight at RICK FORD'S, COUSELOR-AT-LARGE KICKOFF EVENT. Fresh ideas and new energy is needed now more than ever.

MAGEE IS THE MOST

Honored to meet candidate for MAYOR of LYNN THOMAS MAGEE. Senator MAGEE has such a steller resume of public service leaves me in awe.

DONNA ALWAYS DOES RIGHT

How great it was to get to spend a little time with long time when I was at RICK FORD, COUNCILOR-AT-LARGE CAMPAIGN KICK-OFF PARTY with LYNN SCHOOL COMMITTEE member DONNA COPPOLA. Not only did I work with her for years at the Department of Mental Retardation but also I have cherished her as a dear and trusted friend. Her tireless crusading for the students of Lynn has always been inspiring for me. I can only hope to be as half the advocate for parent and student's rights as she has been.

FOLLOWING GEORGE THROUGH THE JUNGLE

I was thrilled tonight to finally meet GEORGE MIMETEAS, CANDIDATE FOR WARD 3 who is a fellow TRUTH TO LIGHT warrior.It was refreshing to tal with someone who likes to see through the spin.

FULL DISCLOSURE = He gave Me and TRIPPY a ride home tonight from RICK FORD"S campaign kickoff.

THE BEST OF BILLY

Glad to have the opportunity to meet up with William Trahant, retiring (at least temporarily) WARD 2 COUNCILOR. Told im what a lasting memory he made for my daughter ASIAH when her photograph with him for the FIRST Lynn Youth Council made the front page of the Item.He laughed and said that he still thinks he has that picture in his office.

A NOD TO NATASHA

Though we have clearly had on the role CHARTER SCHOOLS play in public education, I have never doubted the sincerity of her wanting what she perceives as best for the students of LYNN. That;s why it is a great honor to be competing with NATASHA MEGIE-MADDREY for one of the six seats on the LYNN SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

THE PAYOFF OF PERSISTENCE

Loved meeting with BRIAN CASTELLANO, a fellow candidate for LYNN SCHOOL COMMITTEE tonight at RICK FORD, CANDIDATE FOR COUNCILOR-AT-LARGE'S campaign kickoff event. Brian has a great story of human persistence and I hope for the honor of working with him in the future.

READING THE AUDIENCE

Met with BRIAN FIELD. CANDIDATE FOR COUNSELOR-AT-LARGE at tonight's Campaign kickoff for RICK FORD'S bid for one of the COUNCILOR-AT-LARGE positions. The fact BRIAN played such a key role in the last voting in which the tax overide was defeated indicates he has his fingers on the pulse of the community. Always wanting to learn.

THE OTHER RICK

Great to meet tonight  at RICK FORD, CANDIDATE FOR COUNCILOR-AT-LARGE'S FUNDRAISER with RICK STARBARD, a candidate for WARD 2 Councilor and a former LYNN SCHOOL COMMITTEE member. Have always found Rick full of powerful insights and usually good for a ride home on most nights.

SLUSH GOES THE FUND

Everybody loves the new MARSHALL school now. It's a modern, state of the art educational facility. While seemingly to have  not done enough to solve our overcrowding problem imagine if you will if it had not been built. Yea maybe we should all agree now it was a good idea that we bonded $92 million for it. You know they say hindsight is 20/20.

Then again maybe we need to look back through some corrective lenses. What role does the servicing of that debt in the city's current financial crisis? Don't forget an extra $4 million or so was added onto that bond to pay for the demolition of that supposedly inhabitable school. Now I thought I heard yalk about the possibility of selling it to a potential private developer and if so what happens to the money supposedly set aside for its demolition?

Could the money we are paying to service this debt have allowed us to release some of the pressure on the tightening of our public service budgets? There are no easy answers but we got to ask probing questions to get the best answers.

TIME FOR REBIRTH

I have offended my fair share of people with this blog and for that I am sorry, not sorry. My constant overwhelming mission was to enlighten, inform and generally get the attention of educators, elected officials, and parents everywhere to the important issues surrounding our schools. I figured the administrators and elected leaders were big enough to risk getting their feelings hurt in order to insure that proper attention and due diligence was being carried out. Well after much reflection and consultation with my kids and a few others, I have tried to turn over a new leaf and make a serious attempt this time at getting elected to the school committee.

I am still poor, disabled, and able to turn a phrase. What is different is I feel the need to share my unique perspective and insight into what looks to be an increasingly troublesome outlook for public education, all manners of education for that matter. Consequently I've decided to get serious in my delivery of my goals for a better education. I hope they are yours as well!

STEPPING FORWARD BY STEPPING OUT

Glad to have a chance to talk with Drew Russo of the LYNN MUSEUM the other night. The LYNN MUSEUM has wsorks closely with the LYNN PUBLIC SCHOOLS providing the possibility of enhanced learning and promoting a sense of community ownership.

It is the leveraging of community resources that will provide SMART GROWTH for our cash strapped educational system. Thank you Drew for your leadership in this area.

RESULTS ORIENTED

As Taso Nilolalakopoulos, Candidate for Councilor-At-Large pointed out in his remarks the other night, the city of Lynn has an obligation to appropriately educate 100% of our students not just the minority that go on to college. A majority of the city budget goes to the schools and it is in our future's best interest to make sure that we provide a variety of pathways that our students can achieve success. Since he is a owner of the popular JOHN'S ROAST BEEF and a former president of LYNN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, I look forward to picking his brain over the course of the campaign to develop innovative approaches to solving our problems.

LET ME BE YOUR VOICE

I am just a poor parent with no money only words but a willingness to use them.


STAN WOTRING, CANDIDATE FOR LYNN SCHOOL COMMITTEE

THE TRUTH OF THE ART

GOOD LISTENING IS MORE THAN JUST HEARING WORDS BUT KNOWING WHAT THEY'RE SAYING.

LOOK FOR POWER IN TRUTH!

Okay maybe I wasn't the FIRST but I would bet I was in the first dozen. Anyway I believe I can safely say I was the MOST vocal on the need to investigate the NET SCHOOL SPENDING crisis which is at the center of the city of LYNN'S precarious financial position. I have always pushed the need for transparency for intelligent decision making. I strongly ask for one of your six votes in the upcoming election. Now I just got to get enough signatures to get on the ballot!

I'M NOT WORRIED, I HAVE TWO SECRET WEAPONS, MY NEWLY GRADUATED KIDS, TRIPPY AND ASIAH.

STAN WOTRING, CANDIDATE FOR LYNN SCHOOL COMMITTEE

ANOTHER RUN? THIS COULD BE SERIOUS

You know I was really planning to ride off into the sunset. My kids graduate this year and I was kind of looking forward to writing poetry and reading philosophy. Both kids are going to college, they'll be involved with a new more grown up life and I would get to sit back and reflect maybe even finish my autobiography. Ha ha, I always tell people I've lived an eventful life.

Unfortunately a dark cloud of impending devastation looms over the school system and some people have pushed me to run for SCHOOL COMMITTEE and stressed that I may be the best person to point out these dangers so we can avoid them in order to avoid falling further behind. Of course there is the added reason Trippy threatened me if I didn't run he was going to pull papers and run himself. Ha ha, he needs to devote his attention to being a freshman at Salem State.