My Vision for Woburn School District

I am Ellen Crowley and I am Running for Woburn School Committee. Please make me one of your five votes in November.  

I am responding to the various questions about my vision for Woburn Public Schools as I campaign for school committee and to introduce myself to the people of Woburn. 

Let me tell you what my vision is for educational goals for Woburn Schools. This is what my voice will sound like on the school committee.

 I support these educational values:

 Promote Vocational Education and Transferable Skills for Students to Meet the Demands of Today's World.  

 When I graduated from Merrimack College in 1999, the world was a different place.  I had job opportunities, despite my liberal arts degree.  The world is different and our educational curriculum needs to meet the demands of today’s world.  I fully support an educational vision that trains students in vocational skills.  I am in favor assessments of young high school students to determine their skills, desires and capabilities.  I believe that young students should be encouraged to pursue a career path, even at fourteen years old.  Not only does this allow them to see their own strengths, but it is an important source of self-esteem and pride. 

Update the Use of Instructional Technology 

I believe our school system should actively pursue grants for the use of technology in the classroom, but also access technology for students.  

In Addition to a Rigorous Academic Curriculum I Support a "Whole Child" Approach to Education to Encourage Resilience and Kindness 

I truly believe that a school is a place to view the Whole Child. A child is not a sponge for facts and figures.  A child is a developing human being with an innate capacity for goodness.  

As a parent, I am happy when I watch my child write her name (she is almost 5) and learn to count to 100.  However, I am overwhelmingly proud when my child tells me that she shared a toy, helped a child who was crying, or admitted when she “fibbed”.  I am proud when my son (he is 3) stops himself from hitting another child and chooses to be “gentle”.  Those are the moments that bring tears to my eyes.  I want my children, and the children of Woburn, to learn the virtues of humanity, empathize with our fellow citizens.  We live in a harsh world.  We have to build resilient children who see the world as good and hopeful.  We have to teach children to have pride in themselves, their work and their communities.  I therefore support programs and a curriculum that weaves personal virtues into the standard academic curriculum.  I care about what happens on the playground, in between classes, and at our extra curricular activities as much as test scores (discussed below).  I want Woburn’s schools to be rich with various, diverse activities that promote tolerance, kindness, and empathy of all people. Only in an environment of tolerance and peace can children truly strive.  

As A Parent of Young Children, I Will Work Alongside the Other Parents in The Trenches and Inspire Parental Involvement In Our Schools

Think about Woburn.  We have a great city that is rich in history and culture of which we should be very proud.  I have mentioned this before, but I was excited to see children at a school committee meeting in May.  The children had just finished a history project intertwined with the historical society.  The children were so proud of themselves.  This kind of pride is the catalyst to real learning. 

I want to teach our students to be more involved in our community. In addition to more out of school-civic lessons, I firmly believe that we need more parental involvement on every level in our city.  We have hard working, very dedicated parents in Woburn.  I want to bridge the gap between the city leaders and the city residents.  As a school committee member, I WILL BE available to each and every resident of Woburn.  I will be visible.  If your daughter has a tennis banquet I will be there to clap for your daughter because I believe her participation on the tennis team is important.  I believe that your daughter’s participation on the tennis team is a good thing for Woburn. 

As a parent, I will be alongside the parents in the trenches of parenthood.  I am a professional advocate and a straight shooter.  Honestly, if you have a question, call me. If I do not have the authority to deal with an issue, I will listen and direct the person to the right person. 

I Will Take On a Thorough Study of Woburn's Position as Compared to Other Cities and I Intend to Study Woburn’s Test Scores In Depth

 If you are a student in the Woburn Public Schools and you are reading this, please look away because I am going to talk about your test scores.  In this election, we have heard the start of a debate on test scores and why Woburn is not where is should be.  My next sentence is not a discussion upon whom to place blame.  Rather, I shift to, “okay, so now what?”

 What do we need? We need to study.  We need to look at all available data and all test scores in all areas.    Some questions I want to ask are: are test scores really low? Which test scores?  Are the test scores going down or gradually increasing? Are graduation numbers low?  What about SAT scores? What special challenges does Woburn have which could have caused a dip in performance? Are we providing enough support to teachers?  What have other cities with a similar socio-economic population done to improve test scores? What is the most affordable, effective way to solve this problem?

This is quite the project.  I am ready to do this very thoroughly alongside the other hardworking school committee members.  I am not afraid of large amounts of work and innovating solutions to fix problems. 

Unfortunately, the way the world works, Woburn does in fact need to compete with neighboring cities.  If we want to continue to strive economically and attract more amazing people to our city, we need better test scores on paper.  However, I am certainly not ready, as I have not yet researched the issue, to take a position.