City leaders take blame for schools - Lawrence School State Takeover

The public education system in Lawrence is not working for all its children, and that's a big problem.  The solution is also problemmatic because the proposed solution has not been previously tested in MA so we don't know if it will achieve the desired results.  Is it appropriate for our children to be a trial case for the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education proposal of takeover?

"My concern is not the label," Lantigua said after the meeting. "My concern is that we do what needs to be done to get it out of a (chronically underperforming) system."

Many board members were concerned that the state's legislation for allowing the takeover, An Act relative to the Achievement Gap, was passed in 2010 and has not yet been used before for a takeover.

[State Education Commissioner Mitchell] Chester told [school committee member Jennifer Ann] Cooper that there are no guarantees that the takeover will right the system.  [Full Article: Eagle-Tribune]