It's time to change the
city charter
Peter Larocque
\The new Buzzword in
politics is: CHANGE.
Now I guess its my turn to use this
word, but I must go back to the
beginning. No, not that far back. I mean
the beginning of my political carrier.
When I first ran for the Lawrence School
Committee in 2005, I ran against the then
popular incumbent Ms. Amy McGovern. She
was very well loved in our community and
particularly in the District.
To make a long story short, I didnt
make my campaign specifically against
her. I was campaigning against how the
School Committee conducted its business.
Meeting after meeting, I watched how Ms.
McGovern was frustrated and it seemed to
me that the frustration that she was
facing was due to a lack of communication
between the Administration and the School
Committee.
I knew this could not continue. But it
really didnt matter because she won
the election hands down. As life goes,
with all of its surprises and the changes
they bring to the peoples lives, I
now find myself (because of persistence
and the Lawrence City Council in October
2006 and of coarse eventually the good
people of District E in 2007) that Im
just about to finish my second year as a
member of the Lawrence School Committee.
With all this being said, I now want to
speak to what I believe needs to CHANGE
in the City of Lawrence. Yes, I know Ive
written and talked about this before but,
I am more convinced now, as we endeavor
to move the City forward in a positive
manner. To do this, I must say out front
that I mean no disrespect to Mayor
Michael Sullivan or Superintendent Dr.
Wilfredo T. Laboy. This is not a personal
affront against them. It is just my
opinion, right or wrong, and its
strictly business! (I have always wanted
to say that). When I speak of the mayor
or the superintendent, I am speaking of
future Mayors and Superintendents in
Lawrence.
The City of Lawrence will be getting a
new Mayor in January 2010 and a new
Superintendent after June of 2011. So
now, in October 2008, it is my opinion
that this is the perfect time to consider
changing the Lawrence City Charter in the
following areas:
1. Electing the Lawrence School
Committee.
2. The mayors involvement on the
School Committee.
It is my view that there needs to be the
same passion from the Lawrence City
Council and our citizens to change the
City Charter as we saw for the Voter
I.D.Bill # 4704.
I have seen more than enough examples in
the last few months that speak directly
to why a charter change is needed before
the next Mayor takes office.
The Mayor should not be a member of or
the Chairman of the School Committee.
There are just too many areas that
overlap and that may have the appearance
of impropriety.
First there was the mistake by the Mayors
Office delivering to the Lawrence City
Council a FY09 LPS Budget different than
the one voted upon by the Lawrence School
Committee without School Committee
knowledge.
Secondly, this past summers
disagreement between the Superintendent
and the Chief of Police over the number
of arrests at the new Lawrence High
School Campus. This dealt directly with
the School Resource Officer Agreement,
which is between the Lawrence School
Committee and The Lawrence Police
Department. There was a meeting to
reconcile this involving the Mayors
Office, but very little if any School
Committee involvement.
Thirdly, is the situation with the
Superintendents salary increase. I
wonder if the outcome would have been the
same if our Chairman of the School
Committee were not also the Mayor of the
City? For your reading enjoyment I would
like to call your attention to an article
in the Boston Globe dated September 30,
2008 by Globe Staff member Mr. James
Vaznis entitled, Boston schools chief
gets praise, no bonus. Take note of who
the Chairperson of the Boston School
Committee is, it is not Mayor Menino.
Fourthly, I believe the Lawrence School
Committee needs to entertain the idea of
acquiring a new Attorney. I sometimes
wonder who the current Attorney
represents?
This brings me to the Superintendents
contract. This is former Mayor Dowlings
handy work along with the Superintendents
Attorney. I do not fault the
Superintendent at all for getting a good
contract in his favor like the one he
has. Good for you Superintendent.
But with the coming of a new
Superintendent means a new opportunity to
work out a new contract between the
Lawrence School Committee and whoever
will be the next Superintendent. But what
do you think are the chances that the
contract would be any different if the
Mayor of the City is still the Chairman
of the School Committee? Would the
contract be, in fact, between the School
Committee and the new Superintendent?
How much input will the School Committee
actually have? Or, will it again be put
together from the mayors office?
A contract for the superintendent of
schools should be between the Lawrence
School Committee and the Superintendent.
I would think that once an agreement is
in place between these two, then the
contract would need to be singed by the
Chairman of the School Committee (who
would be voted upon by colleagues of
equal standing), the attorney for the
School Committee, and the new
Superintendent and his/her attorney.
Once again I would like to express my
belief that the way school committee
members are elected in Lawrence needs to
change. Each member should be allowed to
be elected in an at-large (city-wide)
capacity rather than by districts. They
should then elect their own chairman and
vice-Chairman.
In order for this to happen, the city
charter must be changed. My question to
the Lawrence City Council and to the
registered voters of Lawrence is: what
are we waiting for? Please do not give me
the Federal Government story. Times have
changed in our city and its time we
take care of our own business.
There are even some citizens who have
expressed a desire to see the City of
Lawrence have a City Manager handle the
day-to-day operations of the City and
that the Mayor would have other
responsibilities.
So, to the Lawrence City Council, how
about conducting a well-publicized public
forum on the subject of a city charter
change and review, and let the citizens
be heard on the topic. At the very least
you can place it on your agenda for
discussion. What are you afraid of?
God Bless you all,
Peter Larocque is a member of the
Lawrence School Committee. He was
originally elected by the Lawrence City
Coun-cil to fill the unexpired term of
Amy McGovern in 2006 and then elected in
his own right last month. You can email
him at peterlarocque@hotmail.com
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