Amy Bisson watched Wednesday night’s Lowell School Committee meeting and posted a full report on her website.  The highlights of what she described as a “packed agenda” included:

• A discussion on the number of children who live outside of Lowell but attend the Lowell public schools because a parent is an employee of the Lowell schools.
• A discussion of the assignment process as it exists in policy and in practice to highlight differences between the two.
• A decision to utilize this winter the delayed opening of schools rather than outright cancellation when circumstances warrant it.
• Expressions of concern that repairs to school buildings and facilities are not being made in a timely manner.

The school committee consists of seven members, six elected by voters and the mayor elected by city councilors. At a minimum, there will be four new members of the committee in January and, if news reports are accurate, there will also be a new mayor. Given this unprecedented turnover of membership, the next six weeks should be an action-packed period for the committee as outgoing members seek closure for issues they deem most important. Consequently, to be informed citizens, we should all make an extra effort to pay attention to the school committee during the closing weeks of this term. As a recently-retired Lowell Public School teacher, Amy has the background and experience to put these items in the proper context which she does in her blog post. Please read it.