On Thursday night, October 23, 2025, I attended Lowell Public School Superintendent Liam Skinner’s State of the Schools address at the just-renovated Lowell High Little Theatre. The evening began with a reception in the school lobby that featured musical, dance, and poetry performances by students. Then LHS student ambassadors led the 100-plus attendees to the Theatre.

After being introduced by Mayor Dan Rourke, the life-long educator Skinner did not so much give a speech as conduct a master class. The early part of his talk reached back into history for important context. He explained that 250 years ago as the form of government our new nation should adopt was being debated, many feared making it a democracy because in a democracy, important decisions would be left to uneducated voters. Skinner then quoted Thomas Jefferson who said the solution to that problem was to educate the people. Consequently, public education was one of the core principles upon which our nation was founded.

Skinner next acknowledged that 250 years ago, public education for all really wasn’t for all. If you were Black, you were excluded. If you were a woman, you were excluded. If you were an immigrant (in many cases), you were excluded.

Lowell, however, was at the forefront of making public education more inclusive. When Lowell High School was founded in 1831 it admitted female as well as male students, making it the first coeducational public high school in the United States. A few years later, Lowell High admitted Black students, making it the first integrated high school in the United States.

Does an educated populace still matter in a democracy? Superintendent Skinner said emphatically that it does, citing studies that show that educated citizens are more likely to vote, volunteer, and get involved in civic decision making than the less educated. He said that strong schools build strong families, create more stable neighborhoods, and cause crime rates to decrease. Strong schools have economic benefits. They attract businesses, create upward mobility, and decrease the need for social services. Spending money on public schools yields an excellent return on investment.

Next, Skinner shared some important demographic information about the Lowell Public Schools. He started with the racial/ethnic makeup of the students:

Total – 14,689
Hispanic – 6,269
Asian – 3,717
White – 2,665
Black – 1,405
Mixed – 582
Amer Indian – 34
Pacific Islander – 17

Regarding the economic and educational circumstances of those 14,689 students:

69% are from low-income families
10% are homeless
20% have disabilities
30% are English Language Learners

Superintendent Skinner then observed that if you ranked the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts by income level in one column, then ranked the same 351 communities by academic performance in a second column, the position of the cities and towns would mostly match.

But when it comes to educational achievement, “student poverty is not a determinant of ability to learn,” Skinner forcefully said. He cited research that’s been repeatedly validated that proves the single most important factor in the educational achievement of a child is having a great teacher. And that – helping to create great teachers in Lowell – is at the center of Superintendent Skinner’s strategy for improving the Lowell Public Schools.

Skinner next cited evidence that this approach is paying off: The state’s 2025 assessment of the Lowell Public Schools gave an overall classification of “not requiring assistance or intervention” and that LPS was showing “substantial progress” toward its targets. The same assessment found just four schools in the “requiring assistance” category whereas that number was eight before Covid and eleven in 2024. Progress towards obtaining English Language Proficiency was “met for non-high school and exceeded by high school students.” The LPS dropout reduction rate exceeded its target overall. And the Lowell Public Schools showed “high growth in both English and Mathematics for non-high school students.”

Notwithstanding these good grades, Skinner emphasized that the Lowell Public Schools still face great challenges.  Among other things, more early childhood seats are needed. So is air conditioning in all classrooms and more after-school programs with transportation.

Skinner commended City Manager Tom Golden and the city council for their strong commitment to the new Lowell High School and for their diligence in improving the physical plant of all the other schools. But he did make a plea for more local funding. He conceded that while the city has met its “net school spending” requirements (the minimum amount of support for the schools from local government that is mandated by the state), Skinner explained that a larger and larger percentage of that funding comes as “in kind” services rather than an explicit outlay of cash to the school system. Being deprived of that cash allocation prevents the school system from implementing its strategies. He recommended that at least one-third of net school spending should be granted as cash which I believe he said would equal $23 million whereas in this current fiscal year, the city provided just $12 million in cash to the public schools.

Superintendent Skinner closed his remarks by urging everyone to become a vocal advocate for the Lowell Public Schools. He also invited everyone to check out the LPS strategic plan and to consider donating to the Lowell Schools Fund, an initiative of Project LEARN that seeks donations from alumni, foundations and corporate sponsors to help fill the gaps in public funding.

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In last week’s newsletter, I mentioned a Lowell Sun report that the Markley Group had withdrawn its application to amend the fuel storage license issued by the city for Markley’s South Lowell datacenter. This past Tuesday, City Solicitor Corey Williams provided councilors with a brief memo confirming the Markley withdrawal, adding that since there was no longer anything pending before the city council, there would no longer be a public hearing as was scheduled for that evening (October 21, 2025).

Councilors quizzed Williams on some related issues, perhaps most importantly, whether there was a waiting period that had to pass before an applicant could resubmit a once-withdrawn application. Williams said No, explaining that unlike this situation, if an application to the Planning Board is rejected or withdrawn, a state statute specifically says that the same application may not be resubmitted for at least two years. However, when it comes to license applications such as the Markley proposal, state law carries no comparable delay on refiling.

Councilors asked if the council could create a time limit on the refiling of a withdrawn petition. Williams said he would have to research that topic to answer the question but as he continued speaking, he left the impression that such a rule might be invalidated by a court. Under the normal rules of statutory interpretation, a court would likely conclude that the legislature’s failure to include a limit on resubmitting a withdrawn license application was an intentional omission by the legislature and not an oversight, especially in light of the inclusion of such a limitation in the statutes governing planning board matters.

In any case, I believe Williams will get back to the council in the future with a more detailed explanation.

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On Tuesday, the council received a memo from Will Rosenberry, the Director of Elections and Census, in response to a council motion requesting Rosenberry “take steps to help increase voter turnout in the general election.” The memo reviews a multipart strategy by the Election Office to help with turnout including:

• Regular press releases and social media posts
• An improved website
• New options for people to receive text and email alerts from the Election Office
• Frequent appearances on local media
• Tabling at local events such as the Puerto Rican Festival and Volunteer Fair
• Placing flashing sign boards and A-frame signs at busy intersections
• Continued collaboration with local nonprofits

Besides the memo, Rosenberry also answered council questions at the meeting. He said that despite the low turnout in the preliminary elections, he has seen some encouraging signs of greater interest in the November election. He identified the number of mail-in ballots – 300 – that had already been received back to the Election Office as greater than the entire number of mail-in ballots cast in recent elections.

Rosenberry also answered questions about the ability of “inactive voters” to participate in this election. He explained that if someone fails to answer the city census, they are automatically marked as inactive on the voter rolls. If a person in that status shows up to vote, they can still cast a vote but for their ballot to count without limitation, they must produce evidence of residency in the form of a utility bill or something comparable. If they cannot do that, their ballot would still be accepted “provisionally” which, if I understand this correctly, means that their ballot would be counted but would somehow be segregated so that in the event of a recount, that ballot and other like it could be challenged as part of the recount process.

If you have voted by mail, the Secretary of State Bill Galvin maintains a handy webpage called “track my ballot” that allows you to determine if the election office has received your ballot back through the mail. After you enter your name and address, the webpage shows you the date the ballot was mailed, the date it was received back at the election office, and its status. The four status categories and their meanings are:

• Accepted – submitted to be counted
• Pending – application received, ballot not yet mailed
• Rejected – ballot rejected
• Not Returned – ballot not yet received by local election official

While this website is maintained by the Secretary of State’s office, questions about it should be submitted to the Lowell Election Office at (978) 674-4046.

Finally, in-person early voting commenced yesterday. All early voting is done at the Lowell Senior Center at 276 Broadway. Here are the dates and times when early voting is available:

Monday, October 27, 2025, from 9am to 3pm
Tuesday, October 28, 2025, from 9am to 8pm
Wednesday, October 29, 2025, from 9am to 3pm
Thursday, October 30, 2025, from 9am to 3pm
Friday, October 31, 2025, 9am to 3pm

Election Day is Tuesday, November 4, 2025, with all polling places being open for in-person voting from 7am until 8pm.

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This week’s installment of there’s always a Lowell connection comes from Major League Baseball. In his “Sunday Baseball Notes” column last week, the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier wrote about the magnitude of the transition of Mookie Betts from a centerfielder to one of the best shortstops in baseball. Speier points out that at age 33, Betts is “the first player in major league history to start at least 140 games at short in his age-32 season after making fewer than 100 career appearances at the position prior.” (see “Mookie Betts’s stellar play at shortstop another part of his game that escaped the Red Sox.”)

For several years, I’ve been telling anyone who will listen that (1) we saw Mookie Betts play for the Lowell Spinners at Lelacheur Park in Lowell; and (2) he was terrible at the time. My basis for saying that was that he made a lot of errors, at least that’s how I remembered it. And my purpose in saying it was not to criticize Betts – I’ve always been a big fan of his – but to highlight the unpredictability of judging a baseball player’s abilities at the start of his career.

But until Sunday, no one else ever mentioned the sketchy defense of Betts while in Lowell. I was beginning to doubt the accuracy of my memory. Fortunately, Speier backed me up. Here’s what he wrote:

After the Sox took Betts in the fifth round of the 2011 draft, he started his time in the minors at short. It didn’t go well. He made three errors in his one-game pro debut, then another six in 13 games at short for the Lowell Spinners in 2012.

Seven of those nine errors were throwing. He misfired three times on July 6, 2012, including on back-to-back ninth-inning plays in a walkoff loss. . .

When the Sox needed to create Betts a path to the big leagues in 2014, they moved him to the outfield, where he rapidly emerged as one of the best defensive players in baseball — and, for that matter, one of the best overall players in the game.

This year, Betts and his Los Angeles Dodgers are back in the World Series, playing the Toronto Blue Jays in a best of seven series that began Friday night.

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Paul Marion is out with a new book, City Hikes, which I reviewed this week on richardhowe.com. Please read the review and consider buying the book which recounts nearly two dozen walks around Lowell.