Thursday, April 11, 2013
Susan Parziale of Lynnfield and Reading Athletic Club director Lori Haverty team up for some fundraising to support Nashoba Learning Group, a school for kids with autism.
April is Autism Awareness Month – and for the coming school vacation week, Lynnfield resident Susan Parziale and Reading Athletic Club program director Lori Haverty have teamed up for some fundraising activities. During the April vacation, the RAC will offer Kids classes, with a portion of the proceeds being donated to an area school for children with autism, Nashoba Learning Group. Classes are $10, drop-in. Here’s the schedule: Tuesday, April 16: Zumba at 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 17: Kidz Yoga at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 18: Zumba at 10 a.m. Friday, April 19: Kidz Yoga at 10 a.m. Also, Parziale reported that for a small donation, there will be blue hair extensions for the kids Tuesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to noon provided by Em-…
Friday, April 5, 2013
Candidate for re-election spent seven years as a middle school teacher.
The following is a candidate statement from Susie Cleary, who is running for a second term on the Lynnfield School Committee in the April 8th town election: I am Susie Cleary and I am running for my second term on the Lynnfield School Committee. I have children in the 5th and 6th grades at Lynnfield Middle School and a 3rd grader at Summer Street School. My background is as an educator, having taught for seven years at the middle school level. What I have learned during my first term has been invaluable. I have seen firsthand the dedication and long hours of so many in our town: administrators, teachers and parents alike. We are all committed to creating and maintaining a premium educational environment for our children. Together as a …
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Thanks to Maria Terris for these images from last week's Spring Band Concert at the LHS auditorium.
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Wednesday, April 3
Last week, Lynnfield High School hosted its annual Spring Band Concert, featuring the talents of numerous bands, ensembles and individual musicians. Check out these photos provided by Maria Terris from the performance, which took place before a full auditorium.
Event will help raise funds for extracurricular activities for the town's special needs students.
Coming up this Sunday afternoon from 1 to 4 p.m., the first Community Connections event on the Lynnfield Common will help raise funds for extracurricular activities for the town’s special needs children. Event Chair Julie Perrin told Lynnfield Patch this week in a phone conversation that the event will feature numerous carnival-style games such as truck toss, duck hunt, Kick and Score, and much more. A DJ will provide musical entertainment and there will also be demos from Cervizzi’s Martial Arts and Flipps and Giggles Gymnastics. Other activities will include an air track, face painting, a balloon artist, raffles, and a silent auction. A sensory area will be available as well. The Common will feature blue lights in observation of Autism …
School Committee Chair and candidate for re-election Dorothy Presser discusses accomplishments of the district and its students in past few years.
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Wednesday, April 3
The following is a letter provided by School Committee Chair Dorothy Presser, who is running for re-election on April 8th: In Lynnfield, we are justifiably proud of the quality of our schools and the accomplishments of our students. During the time I have served on the School Committee, our schools have continued to rank highly in state and national measures of achievement and accomplishment: As we strive for educational excellence, my fellow committee members and I also focus on fiscal responsibility. In FY2011, the latest data available, Lynnfield spent $1886 per pupil less than the state average. Our budget would have to increase by $4.3M to match the state average. It would have to increase by $7.1M to match the per pupil spending …
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Former school committee member and longtime science teacher Jim Dillon weighs in on debate over early release days.
I was surprised to learn that some parents are against the early release days that have been negotiated by the School Committee and the teachers. I believe that the Committee was able to take a huge step forward for the district. The methods by which teachers and administrators are evaluated are radically changing. In the past, most teachers were evaluated every other year in a system that consisted of the teacher inviting the principal or department head to observe a class. New Massachusetts laws, created to comply with federal “Race to the Top” legislation, will require major changes in the way teachers are evaluated. Teachers will have to create specific measurable job targets. They will be required to have professional practice and…
Friday, March 29, 2013
Dan O'Connell will move on from leading North Shore Tech to the new regional vocational high school that will replace it in Danvers.
School board members for the new regional vocational school under construction in Danvers have chosen to keep Dan O'Connell along for the ride as the new superintendent-director for the school. The Salem News reports that committee members from the 17 member cities and towns voted unanimously Thursday evening to hire O'Connell after interviewing him and one other finalist for the job earlier that evening. O'Connell is currently the superintendent-director at North Shore Technical High School in Middleton, which is one of the schools that merged with Essex Agricultural & Technical High School and Peabody High's vocational program to form the new school district for what is now called Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical High School…
Group of Lynnfield parents circulating a petition seeking alternative to plan recently announced by school district.
March 27, 2013 To the Editor: As you are aware, Dr. Jefferson and the School Committee have proposed an “early release” initiative to provide additional professional development hours to the Lynnfield Teachers Association (“LTA”); an initiative which was ratified by the LTA on March 15, 2013, as part of its new contract. The School Committee expected to vote and ratify the new terms of the LTA’s contract on March 19, 2013, but postponed the vote until April 9, 2013. The new terms that the School Committee and Superintendent negotiated with the LTA provide the following proposal (the “Proposed Early Release Initiative”): (1) an early release day – 90 minutes early – every other Wednesday; and (2) an earlier school day – …
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Summer Street School held food drive to benefit Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry.
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Thursday, March 28
Summer Street School Fourth Grade Student Council ran a food drive for the local Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry. The students collected non-perishable items along with paper products. In total they filled five grocery baskets for the food pantry. Congratulations on a job well done! Editor's Note: Check out this video that was created by Wakefield Cable Access TV and the Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry to help mark that organization's 30th anniversary.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
A number of readers have emailed in recent days about the plan for next year's school day. Lynnfield Patch spoke with Superintendent Thomas Jefferson about it.
Following last week's school committee meeting where several dozen Lynnfield parents turned out to express their concern about planned changes in the school day, a number of readers have contacted this website also expressing their concern about the issue. Specifically, the Lynnfield School District informed parents in a recent letter that in order to satisfy professional development needs for the 2013-2014 school year, each day will begin 10 minutes earlier - to allow for a 90-minute early dismissal every other Wednesday. "It's actually a little time positive. For all intents and purposes, it's time neutral," said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Thomas Jefferson in a recent phone conversation with Lynnfield Patch, adding that the district …
Joe Smith
9:22 am on Monday, April 8, 2013
KO, I think Jessica asked a great question. Please articulate what policies Susie supported that you disagree with and why you disagree with them. You keep calling her a puppet but have not backed up your accusation with anything convincing. From what I can see, the committee makes sound decisions based on educational and/or budgetary facts. That Crafeey guy used to vote against everything just … more ›