LOWELL — Taking a page out of the City Council’s agenda playbook, the new School Committee filed a record 14 motions during its Wednesday night meeting. But first, it voted to approve Superintendent of Schools Liam Skinner’s three-year, $230,000 yearly contract that runs through June 2027.
“Once the interim label was removed and Mr. Skinner was put in, I thought the negotiations went as smooth as could possibly be,” said Mayor Daniel Rourke before the vote. Only five of the seven members were present for the executive session that negotiated the contract, with committee members Jackie Doherty and Eileen DelRossi absent.
The committee voted to appoint then-Chief of Schools Skinner as the interim superintendent last June, replacing former Superintendent Joel Boyd who resigned at the end of the last school year, but before the end of his June 2024 contract with the district.
A 4-3 vote of the School Committee Jan. 17 removed the interim from Skinner’s job title to name him the district’s next superintendent of schools.
The approval process bypassed the committee’s stated commitment to select the next superintendent through a Blue Ribbon Panel that would have solicited community and stakeholder input.
Despite the close vote, Rourke said he thought the committee was ready to move “the district forward.”
“We’re here to support, but also hold the superintendent accountable,” Rourke said.
Committee member Fred Bahou’s motion to have Skinner and Chief Academic Officer Robin Desmond look into the feasibility of developing Chapter 74 vocational programming in the Lowell High School curriculum fulfilled a campaign promise he made when running to unseat former member Stacey Thompson.
There are more students who want a vocational education than there are available slots. The waitlist at Greater Lowell Technical High School is currently at 600 students; across the state, it’s 10,000.
“There are over 400 students on the waitlist from Lowell Public Schools to attend Greater Lowell Tech,” Bahou said.
He said that while the district was not equipped to have an electricity, carpentry or plumbing curriculum, there were 40 other Chapter 74 programs, such as criminal justice or cybersecurity certification, neither of which are currently offered at GLTHS.
“We could use ordinary classroom space with computers and make kids job-ready upon graduating high school,” Bahou said.
The motion enjoyed unanimous support.
Skinner applauded Bahou’s motion as an opportunity for students who didn’t make the cut for vocational schooling to stay engaged in their learning at Lowell High by taking similar hands-on, job-ready programming.
“We’re trying different other ways to engage our students and bring up their attendance,” Skinner said.
Skinner also said he welcomed DelRossi’s motion on the status of what schools have received migrant students and what English language learner programs and trauma-based services those students were receiving.
“Our schools have newcomer classrooms,” he said. “Students who come to Lowell and don’t speak English …go to newcomer classrooms to gain English language proficiency before they are mainstreamed.”
DelRossi had six motions on the agenda including a request that the superintendent revisit the district’s newly implemented cellphone policy at the high school.
Student Council member Jisella Sanquiche represented a first for the committee when she asked to be recognized by Rourke to speak in favor of the motion.
She challenged committee member Dave Conway’s narrative that “students like the break from the cellphone” since the policy was rolled out on Jan. 24.
“There were only two students with input on this phone policy,” the Lowell High senior and class senator said. “I talked to them and collected data from them. They said they were rarely allowed to talk and cut off consistently at those committee meetings. I think a majority of us dissent.”
She reported that the cellphone container boxes were cheap and easily broken and she had seen the containers handled by students instead of teachers.
“There’s already a lot of nonconformity with this policy,” Sanquiche said. “It definitely needs to be revisited, especially with parent acknowledgment and student input.”
Rourke replied that he had not heard of it “not working in any other community.”
Lowell High is the second-largest school by enrollment in the commonwealth after Brockton, whose School Committee approved a cellphone policy in June 2019.
The policy allows students to maintain control of their cellphones, tablets and other forms of technology, but “when prior approval is not given, students must keep all devices stored away.”
The motion passed with DelRossi, Doherty and committee members Domink Lay and Connie Martin voting in favor and Rourke, Bahou and Conway voting against.
“We’re committed to return to you at the end of the school year with a rendition of how it worked out and have the committee respond with a way forward,” Skinner said.