I posted an item last week about a comment Jackie Doherty had made about not having the stomach to make any more cuts and insinuated that she was to pro-union and that if she didn’t have the stomach then she needed to step aside along with Dave Conway and Allison Laraba to bring about change.

I received many emails defending her and her position along with a comment by another school committee member who thought I was being to harsh on her. I may have been and for that I apologize.

Jackie has children in the school system at Lowell High and has been a strong advocate for change. She like all members have made cuts but her point that night wasn’t so much that she didn’t have the stomach to make cuts, it was more of we already cut 4 million and that’s as bad as she wanted it to get.

She didn’t want to have to make any more cuts. She knew fiscally it wasn’t the best thing to balance a budget on 1 time funding but after eliminating jobs and cutting four million dollars, she didn’t want to have to cut any more. She felt that the students had suffered enough.

She will I am told work towards getting the union to work with the committee on concessions during the new contract negotiations and will take a hard-line on sick leave buyback.

I hope she holds the line against buybacks and Union raises and proves that what people have told me on her behalf is correct. That she is a strong advocate for the kids and supports change that benefits the students over the Administration and Union.