Schools
Profile: Presser Works to Ensure Quality Education
Dorothy Presser is actively involved advocacy for education and the Lynnfield community
A resident of Lynnfield for twenty four years now, Dorothy Presser has dedicated much of her time to advocating for Lynnfield’s educational programs. As a chair of the Lynnfield School Committee, president of the Massachusetts Association of Schools Committees and president of the Suburban Coalition, Presser is deeply immersed in the current issues facing both the Lynnfield schools and the community itself.
School Committee Work
When her older son started school, Presser got involved in the school council, which led her to run for the school committee and eventually get involved with educational issues at the state level. She has now been on the committee for thirteen years, ten of which she has been the chair.
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Over the past ten years Presser has seen a lot of positive changes in Lynnfield. Class sizes have been reduced, the district is one of the top systems in terms of MCAS, SAT scores have gone up, more AP classes have been added to the high school curriculum and kindergarten has been increased to a full day program.
Current projects include adding to the High School, a project which will be complete by 2012. The addition will be at the back of the Math and Science wing. Two science labs and six additional classrooms will be built.
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The school committee and the Lynnfield school district continuously strive for improvement and is looking at the next steps, including the transition to new leadership under Dr. Jefferson. When considering improvements the committee looks to the administration and to current research in best practices when making decisions.
“We also look at neighboring schools and say what do we need to do or work on?” Presser said.
In the coming months the school committee and public schools will be looking at the new national common score standards. Presser said she expects there will be minor tweaks, but for the most part these standards are already well aligned to the current Massachusetts standards.
Involvement with the Massachusetts Association of School Committees
In addition to her work on Lynnfield’s school committee, Presser is also the President of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, which is a professional organization that nearly all town and city school committees belong too. She became a member of this group in 2005.
All members on this committee undergo eight hours of training. The group puts together a yearly conference, meets with legislators at the state level and additionally travels to DC once a year to talk to congressional members to advocate for various education issues. They are an important voice in keeping local school committees up to date with educational news and research.
Suburban Coalition
Presser is also involved with the Suburban Coalition, an organization comprised of selectmen, people in finance, and school committee members from many local small towns. “It’s very unique because it’s the only time all these people sit down together to talk,” Presser said.
The Suburban Coalition works to promote common interests and ensure that the voices of small towns are heard at the state level. “Often the state requires municipalities to do things without providing money, which means we lose the money in other areas,” Presser said. For example, the Suburban Coalition stood against the ballot question to repeal the increase to the state income tax, because with a lower tax, towns would get less money.
The group strives to create a partnership with the government. “There are three essential things that towns provide,” Presser said, “education, public safety and infrastructure maintenance.” A strong relationship between town and state government helps to ensure all these things run smoothly.
Currently the Coalition is trying to protect municipal employees who are at risk of losing their jobs because of the rising health care costs. The state has a significant amount of power over the health insurance of its employees. “For the past several years, municipalities have been asking the state to allow them the same authority that the state gives itself over health insurance plan design,” Presser said, “ To protect employees, we propose that any plan be at least a generous as what is currently offered to state employees under the state's Group Insurance Commission plans.”
The issue is an especially important one this year because towns no longer have federal stimulus money to work with, leaving budgets lower than in years past.
Presser said her work with the Suburban Coalition and the Massachusetts Association of School Committees helps her to stay apprised of the issues affecting education. “It helps me serve the Lynnfield schools better and the Lynnfield community,” said Presser.