I received this note from former Greater Lowell Tech School Committee member Mike Hayden in regards to the possible opening on the Greater Lowell Tech. Board

Gerry

You can count me out of the running ok , On Friday I sent a email to 14 of the 15 people who will be involved in making the pick stating that I not interested in gaining support for the seat.

I left one person out who I suspected was the rat who sent my original email to the Lowell Sun and it ended up in the column. The fact that the paper did not know about the second email confirms my my thoughts of who the rat was.

Secondly the amount of negative talk and blogging on my interest was enough for me to realize that my family and I do not need this negativity in our lives. I spent 16 great years on that board and I am proud of it and that is how I want to remember it. My political days are over.

Mike

According to the Breaking News Section of the Sun and reporter Sarah Favot ” Lenzi’s upcoming move to Dracut will open GL Tech Committee seat”

She states ” The mortgage of the property at 7 Brianna Way, was signed Tuesday by Lenzi and his wife, Sandra, according to documents filed with the Middlesex Registry of Deeds.
Lenzi also filed a Declaration of Homestead for Homes Owned by Natural Persons with the secretary of state’s office, which states the home will be occupied as the owner’s principal residence.”

So according to the Technical School Charter, the combined Lowell City Council / School Committee (15) will select 1 person to fill the seat ONLY until next year’s municipal election at which time someone would have to run to fill the remaining 1 year left on the term.

Already names being floated (but not all have confirmed an interest) are: Mike Hayden – Ralph Hogan – Dave Laferriere – Paul Belley – Cliff Krieger – Ray Boutin – and probably a few more.

Let the jockeying Officially begin !

I was intrigued by two School Committee motions on tonight’s School Committee Agenda.

The first would involve placing camera’s on School Buses to catch drivers who pass when the busses are stopped with flashing lights and sending them a fine. A third Party Company Smart Bus Live would place the camera’s and collect the $$. They would get a share and the state,city would get a share. The motion is sponsored by Dave Conway.

[by David Conway]: To be recorded in support of house bill no. 3817, and further explore the creation of a pilot program with Smart Bus Live for the installation of surveillance cameras on buses to track and penalize motor vehicle moving violations.

While I realize that it is a danger and I get furious when I see people passing stopped school buses, I’m not sure we should ticket a car based on a video. We do that now I believe when people jump the toll booth but when do we stop? Why not set up camera’s and fine people who run stop signs, make illegal right turns or jaywalk? I know we are in the technology age and camera’s are everywhere but I’m not a proponent of this one.

The other motion involves the city running a Civic Day for the Elementary schools by Kim Scott:

[by Kim Scott]:Request the Superintendent report on the feasibility and price for our elementary students to attend a civics day field trip. The day should include a visit to Lowell city hall, the library, the police and fire departments, and a discussion on municipal voting and our plan E charter. Also, to be included in the report would be the pricing for a field trip to tour the state house for our middle school students.

While I like the concept of having a city sponsored Civic Day, I’m thinking that elementary school kids isn’t the right target for this. I’d think an 8th grade and then again at 11th grade Civic Day would be better.

Give the students who will be entering High School some basic lessons on their city, where City Hall is and what it does, talk with the police and fire and show them where the Library is. It could also include a brief overview of Plan E and the importance of voting and explain the voting process of municipal elections versus state and federal elections.

Then do it again when they are juniors and are a year or two away from being able to vote and give them a much more detailed view of plan E and include the State delegation and Congress person to provide an overview of their roles and the importance regardless of party affiliation of voting.

What are your thoughts on this?