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School Superintendent As you know, Dr. Tate resigned as superintendent effective late June. The School Committee and I worked to immediately search for the best superintendent we could find. The School Committee began by asking me to nominate a Superintendent Search Committee. I chose people like William Lannon, long-time former School Superintendent in Cambridge, Dr. Glen Lewandowski, 22-year member of the School Committee an excellent young school principal in Mike Rossi at Bradford Elementary School. Our search committee has narrowed the field to five (5) excellent candidates. They are: · Raleigh
Buchanan Superintendent of Schools in Seekonk,
Massachusetts The next step is to work with those candidates and have a new superintendent chosen as soon as is reasonably possible. High School Renovation Project A fully accredited fully rehabbed high school has been a top concern of mine for many years. Earlier this year I signed the orders to fully implement a $27 million bond order for a full rehabilitation of Haverhill High School. Thanks to the careful work of our architects and our school building committee, the high school renovation project is under budget and ahead of schedule. Most of the window and doors at the high school have been replaced. The high school science labs that have been broken for decades are being repaired and we expect to have them fully operational by December or January. My Dad taught science at the high school for 30 years, and complained for every one of those years that the science labs did not work correctly. By early next year, our children will have fully renovated and fully functional science labs. Repairs To Other Schools Despite our severe budget problems, we have begun to make repairs and capital improvements to buildings that have long been neglected. At the Crowell School, a boiler that had been breaking down for years was replaced this summer. The auxiliary building at the Crowell where the roof had been leaking for several years has been repaired. At the John Green leaf Whittier School, broken and defective windows have been replaced. At the Walnut Square School, a broken brick archway was repaired. At the Tilton School, repairs were made to the roof. At the Bradford Elementary School, the flashing light at the corner of Salem Street was installed. Little by little, we are making progress. Summer School This summer, Haverhill became the second school system in Massachusetts to mandate summer school for some of its students. A little over twenty children who did not pass the 6th grade were required to attend summer school before they could go on to the 7th grade. I am told that all of the children attended and all of them passed. School Budget Haverhill
has made an extraordinary effort to make our schools
better. The school operating budget But even that extraordinary increase in school spending does not begin to tell the story. The cost of repairing the high school went from $54,000 in FY 04 to over $500,000 today. The cost of repairs to other buildings has increased. All told, the city is spending nearly $4 million more on public education than we did when I took office less than two years ago. Because of that additional spending, today music classes are restored and expanded in our middle schools, class sizes have been kept to a reasonable level, athletic user fees have been cut, new teachers have been hired at the high school, summer school has been instituted, and the numerous repairs outlined above have been made. Am I satisfied with the results? No. We are making progress, but we have a long way to go. One thing is certain—improving public education involves a lot more than money and budgeting. I’ll talk more about that in a future edition. The
following table outlines our extraordinary commitment to
public education in our budgeting: Other issues EEE Danger (Eastern Equine Encephalitis) As we know, mosquitoes bearing the EEE virus has been found in the area, and a horse in Haverhill was found to have the EEE virus. No human cases have been found in Haverhill, although a human case was found in New Hampshire. This is not a time for panic, but it is a time for reasonable precautions. Here are some reasonable precautions for you and your family: ·
Eliminate standing water in your yard, a source of
mosquito breeding, including To protect
yourself and your family from mosquito bites while
outside… · Wear
long-sleeved shirts and long pants at dawn, dusk, or
after rain. I recently proposed that the city of Haverhill join the local mosquito control network and join with other communities to spray for mosquitoes. The city council disagreed with me and has, thus far, not voted to join. Spraying for mosquitoes is costly ($100,000 per year) but it is recommended by the chair of our Board of Health, Dr. Carl Rosenbloom and by the State. Everyone on this list is aware of our incredibly difficult budget problems, but the health of our city has to be given a top priority. A most productive trip This past April, I went to our nation’s capital, (at my own expense,) to lobby for more Federal money for our city. Our Congressman, Martin Meehan, and our Senators Kennedy and Kerry, listened. The Federal transportation bill allocated $7.6 million to our city for a new parking deck, the largest public works improvement ever awarded to our city. In addition, we received $200,000 to begin the process of dredging the Merrimack River. Redeveloping our waterfront The future of Haverhill is in its past, in the Merrimack River. Many people are not aware that before Haverhill was a shoe city, Haverhill was ship building port. Rebuilding Haverhill means encouraging development along the river that has a public aspect to it—that allows for public viewing, public docks and public walkways. Part of the vision I have outlined for Haverhill is to reconnect our citizens with our waterfront. There are many aspects to this. Reconnecting means dredging the river—talked about for decades, but finally some progress is being made. Reconnecting means more docks, marinas and boats, and the harbor commission we established last year is working on that. And, reconnecting means a waterfront overlay district that will encourage people to build if there is a public aspect to the building—a view of the river, a public walkway—and discourage those projects that block the river and block access to it. The river belongs to all of us, not just to those lucky enough to own land next to the river . I have established a zoning advisory committee to work on a waterfront overlay district and waterfront master plan. If you have ideas or would like to help, please let me know. The Mayor’s Reading List If you share my passion for cities and for city redevelopment, here are some books I read over the summer time. (If you are not interested in cities or in redevelopment, these books probably seem incredibly boring to you.) · The Prince of the City, The Prince Of The City: Giuliani, New York And The Genius Of American Life by Fred Siegel An extremely flattering portrait of “America’s Mayor” a man I often disagreed with but whose take charge leadership style I admire greatly. There is a great quote in the book from Lyndon Johnson: “Whenever I am in the depths of despair about my presidency I think to myself, it could be worse. I could be a Mayor.” · Giuliani, Nasty Man, by Ed Koch – if you read the first book, I strongly recommend this one to get the other side of the picture. · Providence, the Renaissance City — by Francis J., Jr. Leazes,— the story of how Providence Rhode Island came back, and the role of its colorful Mayor, Buddy Cianci. · Empire Statesman, The Fall and Redemption of Al Smith—my favorite summer reading about one of my heroes. *Send your questions
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Tuesday, August 30th, approximately
8,000 children in Haverhill headed back to school from
their summer vacation. It is a good time to update you on
our school district.
has increased from $47 million in
FY 04 to $50 million today, a $3 million increase.
All of that increase has come from local tax
dollars.