Meet the new Lowell High Head Master Edward J. Rozmiarek
A few things that I really liked about him were his plans to try to bring a small town school feeling into a school of 3500. Some ways that he has done that is by coming into classrooms, introducing himself in the halls, attending students events like the senior election, and coming up with new ideas like lunch with the headmaster.
Meet the new sped director Sheila O’Brien
I found the highlight of the discussion with her was the alarming increase in preschoolers entering our schools with an autism diagnosis. In the last 2 years they have added 4 autism classrooms to try to ease out the number of out of district private placements. Instead, the classrooms have filled right up with new placements and the existing out of district placements are still in place. Just alarming numbers and the state circuit breaker funding have been diminishing steadily.
Discussion with Dr. Scott
Some of the parent’s questions-
Can school be cancelled on voting day and can it be used as one of the teachers professional development days instead?
It will be referred to the CPC to survey parents. Many parents want their child to see voting happening, and many do not want their child home that day because they want to vote alone or participate in the process.
Any forecasts into 2012?
Dr. Scott said that 2012 will be a devastating year to the school system with 8 million in stimulus funding drying up. There are no answers at this time what will be cut
How will new principal hires be handled and will parent participation be included?
Dr. Scott said they will be posting soon and a parent will be part of the committee
Why is there an inequality in what some middle schooler’s learn at different schools?
A summit is being held with all 4th grade teachers to talk about what is working and what is not.
Would you consider banning cell phones completely in school with all of the bullying and sexting issues going on?
There is a cell phone ban in the school and many parents want the child to have the phone for safety reasons for the walk home. It is not off the table however.

Thank you to Ms. Laraba for taking the time to attend!