LPS Connector
May 2022
Dear Lowell Public Schools Families, Staff, and Community Partners,
Thankfully spring has finally sprung!
It is one of my favorite times of the year - when we get to celebrate our end of year victories - most notably the achievements of our Lowell High School seniors. I’m looking forward to cheering them on and giving them the congratulations that they deserve as they walk across the stage to receive their hard earned diplomas on June 8.
In the month of May, we also get to thank our dedicated educators during Teacher Appreciation Week. This year, it was fitting to see Bailey School teacher Marianne Fiocca-Stern honored by the Red Sox and iRobot during Teacher Appreciation Week for her work incorporating STEM lessons into her work with English Language Learner students. Like so many of the teachers in the Lowell Public Schools, her hard work, dedication to her students, and ability to think outside of the box is an inspiration.
As you navigate this month’s newsletter, you will see that we have a lot of important and exciting things coming in the next school year and beyond. With the recent approval of the district’s budget for the 2022-23 school year, we are poised to start the new year off strong. Significant funding has been allocated to important initiatives to meet the needs of students in the classroom, including extended learning time at all schools, further investment in the strengthening of the home-school partnership, and a wide variety of free summer programming open to current Lowell Public Schools students, to name a few. The deadline to register for a summer program is Friday, June 3, so don’t delay in submitting your online application on the district website. (https://www.lowell.k12.ma.us/summerprograms)
Also captured in this newsletter is last week’s visit to Lowell High School from the U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. At the invitation of Congresswoman Lori Trahan, Secretary Cardona came to hear from some of our student leaders about pandemic recovery, as well as early college and career pathway programs. As always, the students represented the school and the city well and pictures capturing this momentous occasion can be found in the newsletter.
Lastly, as we wrap up the month, which is also Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, we were honored to host a book discussion with Seng Ty, author of the memoir The Years of Zero and recent retiree of the Lowell Public Schools. This special event featured Seng Ty recounting his experiences fleeing Cambodia as a child during the Khmer Rouge genocide. Lowell Public Schools staff Bopha Boutselis, Tara Hong, Vannak Theng and Vannak Khin also joined the event on a special panel and shared personal reflections on the impact of the Cambodian genocide on themselves and their families. We thank all of them for their courage in sharing their personal histories and experiences with us as we continuously seek to deepen our understanding of the students and families we serve, and the teammates we serve alongside in our wonderfully diverse Lowell Public Schools district.
We hope you enjoy reading this month’s newsletter as we count down the days to the last day of school - June 21, which is also an early release day.
Be well,
Joel D. Boyd
Superintendent of Schools
Snipping Hair and Changing Lives
Billy’s Barber Shop is a place of community, of brotherhood; a place to be listened to and respected – and you’ll leave looking pretty sharp too.
It’s a Friday afternoon and 10 young men from Lowell High School’s McDonough Freshman Academy file into Billy’s and get comfortable on the couches. They grab a slice of pizza and a soda. This is the third of six sessions Billy Cabrera and his team have held for the students and they already see him as trusted uncle and his son, Willie, as their big brother.
The group talks about things they have been struggling with recently – anger issues, school, family troubles. They talk about toxic masculinity, what it really means to be a man, and how to find and stay on a path to success.
“Things happen,” Cabrera tells the guys. “We learn from them, try to get to the root of the problem and move on.”
He tells them not to give in to negativity or let people antagonize them into fighting by trying to insult or offend them.
“At the end of the day, you know the truth and that is what really matters,” he said.
The barbershop is also a place to share their successes – Edwin Algarin proudly pulls certificates out of his backpack chronicling his achievements on the wrestling mat.
While they are talking and sharing, one by one, the students get called to the barber chair for a free haircut by Billy, Willie, or barber Alex Delgado.
Devin Farrell had a lot of hair. He sat with his head down, a black hoodie covering most of his face. He got into Delgado’s chair ready for a new look. He flipped through the style book to find something that may suit him.
Snip, snip, buzz. Delgado even trimmed Farrell’s eyebrows and shaved his mustache. He turned him around in the chair so he could face the mirror. The young man’s face lit up. He looked like a new person. The other kids even told him how good he looked.
Step one on the path to success completed. You need that confidence to keep moving forward.
The older men know how a path to a successful and fulfilling life can easily be derailed. Billy spent his younger years getting into trouble and falling into drug addiction. He spent time in prison and in rehab before attending barber school and improving his life. After renting a chair at another shop for five years, he opened Billy’s Barber Shop on Andover St. in 2014.
He knew he wanted the shop to be more than just a place to get a fade and a close shave. In the backroom he created the Resource and Reclamation Center, a place where people struggling with homelessness, addiction, or other troubles can stop in for a cup of coffee, necessities, information about local programs and resources, and some time with a friend who will listen.
“I started mentoring, took courses and workshops and began to train other people to become mentors,” said Cabrera. “Today, we run a group for fathers in recovery reintegrating into their children’s lives, as well as mentorship for citizens returning from the prison system (all of whom receive a free haircut).”
Superintendent of Schools Joel Boyd gets his hair cut at Billy’s. Once they got talking about what Cabrera does for the community, Boyd asked if he would be willing to do some mentoring with a group of young men from Lowell High School. Billy jumped at the chance.
“We have a unique set up to do it because it is a barbershop; it is a more comfortable environment, not so structured,” Cabrera said. “Creating a space where people feel comfortable was my mission.”
On this Friday afternoon, Boyd stops in to say hello and see how things are going. He tells the guys that he was not a great student in school and did not find his way until he made a connection with a trusted adult – his wrestling coach.
Cabrera points out Algarin’s mastery of the mat and the trash talking you expect to hear at a barbershop ensues, with talk of a possible matchup between the two.
“I don’t lose when I get on the mat,” said Boyd.
“You’re going to lose,” said Algarin.
Everyone laughed.
Boyd attempted to draw Lowell High School Student Support Specialist Sean Kiley, who himself was a championship wrestler at Methuen High and later Springfield College, into the fray, but he declined saying he’s “retired” from wrestling.
Kiley did say the sessions at the barbershop have “paid off in dividends” for the young men. He said he has seen an improvement in their academics and behavior and they are bonding as a group and helping each other out.
“I’m very proud to be part of this,” he said. “There is a lot of courage in this room right now. It means a lot for them to have a place where they can talk openly and feel safe.”
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona Visits Lowell High School
It was an honor to host U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Congresswoman Lori Trahan (LHS ’91) at Lowell High School on Friday May 20.
Sec. Cardona, a lifelong educator, made the most of his visit to Lowell High. The focus of his visit was to learn more about the Early College Lowell Program, the Lowell High School Pathway Programs, as well as how Lowell High will benefit from the federal ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funding.
During the visit, Sec. Cardona was able to visit Ms. Pederson’s Early College Intro to Engineering class and Ms. Riley’s High Honors English Language Arts class. Both courses are part of LHS’ Early College partnership with Middlesex Community College.
The afternoon concluded with a roundtable discussion with student leaders and Early College students. Mayor Sokhary Chau, Middlesex Community College President Phil Sisson, UMass Lowell Chancellor-Elect Julie Chen, and LHS Head of School Mike Fiato joined Sec. Cardona and Congresswoman Trahan in the discussion with the students.
Free Bikes for Summer!
“No bike should be idle,” says The Bike Connector Founder/President Wade Rubinstein.
On the afternoon of May 12 at the Stoklosa Middle School there were more than four dozen most certainly not idle bikes being ridden by a very happy crowd of 5th and 6th graders.
The Bike Connector, a downtown-based non-profit, collects donated bicycles then teaches kids and others how to fix them up and give them a second life, becoming a way for their new owners to get to school, get some exercise, or get to work.
Earlier this year, Lowell Public Schools Community Schools Manager Lauren Campion connected Rubinstein with the Stoklosa. He began running an “earn-a-bike” after school program where students could learn how to fix up and maintain bikes and then take them home.
The Stoklosa Bike Rodeo was a collaboration between the Bike Connector, Lowell Public Schools and Mass Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School program. Fifty 5th and 6th graders were gifted refurbished bikes that looked brand new, as well as well-fitting helmets, courtesy of the law firm Breakstone, White & Gluck. Those who were not experienced riders were given lessons on how to ride, while their classmates took part in drills crafted to teach them how to safely ride their bikes in the city, how to use hand signals, and how to properly care for them.
Rubinstein said if any of the kids have a problem with their bikes, they can always bring them to the Bike Connector to be fixed.
He would like to see everyone in the city who wants a bicycle to have one of their own. How can you help make that dream a reality?
The Bike Connector is actively seeking three things:
1. Donated bicycles – even if they are not in working order.
2. Volunteers to fix bicycles and help teach kids how to fix them.
3. Money to keep the organization active.
For more information about the Bike Connector, including how you can donate goods, time, or money, visit: Bike Connector
Honoring the Class of 2022
Lowell High School held its Honors Awards Night on May 17. More than $350,000 in scholarships were awarded to members of the LHS class of 2022.
Greater Lowell Community Foundation President and CEO Jay Linnehan said the GLCF's partnership with LHS began in 1998 with 26 funds totaling $75,000 and has grown 24 years later to an endowment of $6.75 million.
He credited generous donors and those who have set up scholarship funds for their "commitment to education and excellence in our community," urging this year's recipients to never forget where they came from and to always remember to "pay it forward."
Linnehan told the crowd that philanthropy is not just about money, but also civic engagement and involvement, encouraging these budding young leaders to be involved in their community.
Shooting Hoops for a Good Cause
On May 19 afternoon, Mr. Fiato and a team of LHS staff took on a team of students involved in Elevate New England to raise money to help the folks at Living Waters provide services to unhoused members of our community.
Elevate is an elective at LHS that provides classes in leadership, character building, college & career readiness, as well as an opportunity to participate in community improvement projects. It was a hard-fought, nail biter of a game, but in the end the staff came out on top 52-49.
Author/Illustrator Scott Magoon Visits the Greenhalge!
The Greenhalge Elementary School celebrated Writing Showcase Week May 23-27, which included a visit from local author/illustrator Scott Magoon.
Magoon has illustrated 31 book; 6 of which he also wrote.
He explained that he started drawing as a kid by sketching scenes from his favorite TV shows and movies – like Star Wars. Back then, he told the students, there was no internet, so he couldn’t just rewatch and relive his favorite scenes on YouTube – so he drew them.
It was when he was a student at Northeastern University that Magoon was first paid to create art – a comic strip called Duct Tape Man.
“That was when I realized I could get paid to make art and that’s pretty neat,” he said.
Magoon read Misunderstood Shark, a very funny book he illustrated that was written by Ame Dyckman, to the students and then explained how a story goes from a bunch of text on a page to a beautifully illustrated book. He reads the manuscript several times to help him imagine what the characters look like and how they interact with each other; then he begins the preliminary sketches, which go through many revisions with input from the publisher before they reach the final product.
Magoon draws using Procreate, an app on his iPad that includes all kinds of fun tools, some of which he showed the students how to use. He also told them it is okay to color outside of the lines when creating a character, because it gives them some energy and movement; and any cleanup that needs to be done is easy to do in the program.
For more information about Scott Magoon and his work, visit: https://scottmagoon.com/
A Day at the Farm
Greenhouses full of young tomato and cucumber plants, hanging strawberry bushes, and rows upon rows of spinach are growing strong, ready for the spring/summer season at Farmer Dave's on Parker Rd. in Dracut.
A group of Lowell Public Schools Food Service workers had the opportunity to tour the 90-acre farm earlier this month, as part of a series of professional development field trips funded by a USDA Farm to School grant. Earlier in the week, two other groups of food service workers were able to tour Mill City Grows’ urban farm in Pawtucketville.
Through its Farm to School/Harvest of the Month program, Lowell Public Schools have been working hard to cultivate partnerships with local farmers and to bring in as many locally grown products as possible.
“Fruits and vegetables have a whole life before they get to the kids,” said LPS Food and Nutrition Manager Maggie Nowak, adding the farm tours help get the staff excited about the products they are serving and where they come from, which they can they share with the students.
“Our goal is to feed as many families as possible,” said Farmer Dave’s Kitchen Manager Tracey Valera, as she showed the group the under-construction new climate-controlled farm stand and kitchen on the property. “The new facility will make it possible to expand the number and variety of grab-and-go healthy meal options we can offer families in the community.”
In the greenhouses, pots of vibrant flowers hang above rows of sprouting cucumbers. Cucumbers and tomatoes will be ready in the next couple of weeks, Valera said.
She told the tourists to notice the little packets hanging on the plants – that’s pest control. Instead of using harmful pesticides, the farmers use ladybugs and other beneficial insects to eat the destructive ones before they eat the crops.
They also work hard at Farmer Dave’s to expand the growing season by planting different varieties of fruits and vegetables that thrive under different conditions. For instance, they grow six varieties of blueberries.
“We are growing blueberries, apples, potatoes and carrots at the same time, which is pretty unheard of,” said Valera.
Carrots are preserved when the season is over in a sandpit, while apples are placed in special bins that filter out the ethylene gas that rots the fruits, keeping them fresh and crisp for many many months after the harvest.
There is very little waste at Farmer Dave’s. Surplus fruits and veggies go to the production kitchen where they become shepherd’s pies, apple crisp, soups, and a number of other delicacies. Last week, a batch of asparagus soup was in production, made with asparagus frozen from last year’s harvest. All fruit and vegetable peels and scraps from the kitchen are trucked to the cows that live down the street.
Farmer Dave’s homebase is the Dracut farm, but they also have satellite locations in Tewksbury and Westford, sell their gods at many local farmers’ markets, and offer a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program through which customers can receive weekly boxes of produce everywhere from Quincy to Windham.
Farmer Dave’s also participates in the Healthy Incentives Program, which allows people with SNAP/EBT benefits to purchase produce at the farm and have the amount they spend credited back to their account (up to $40-$80/month based on household size).
For more information about Farmer Dave’s, including a really cool produce identification page to help ID some of those unusual fruits and veggies, visit Farmer Dave's
For information about the Lowell Public Schools’ Farm to School Program, visit: www.lowell.k12.ma.us/farmtoschool
Teacher Appreciation Week!
Bailey Elementary School teacher Marianne Fiocca-Stern will took the field at Fenway Park on May 5. Was she been called up to the big leagues to show off her impressive curveball?
Not this time. She was there to have an even more impressive talent recognized.
Fiocca-Stern was honored by the Red Sox and iRobot for her commitment to incorporating STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education into her classes.
Pre-COVID, when her daughter began working for iRobot (you know, the guys who make that Roomba vacuum so you can lay on the couch and clean at the same time), Fiocca-Stern asked her if they have an education department; of course they do. That was when she learned about Root and brought it to her classroom.
Root is a robot that kind of looks like its cousin Roomba, but is a lot more fun. It is an educational robot that can be coded to draw, play music, respond to light, touch and sound, and more.
“Sometimes people think it is strange that I’m teaching STEM in a language class, but project-based learning is so important,” said Fiocca-Stern. “It really gives kids the tools and confidence they need to practice language and provides a tool for increasing social skills.”
With more than 150 English Language Learner students at the Bailey, she has students who speak Spanish, Portuguese, Khmer, Persian, and many other languages. When they are working on a project together, they find ways to communicate and work together toward a goal. When they are distracted by something fun like robotics, the kids lose the self-consciousness around speaking English and are more apt to try it out.
“Marianne is a tremendous educator and strong advocate for our EL students,” said Bailey Principal Kimberley Clements. “During remote learning, she was able to arrange for a bilingual remote STEM program with questions and answers in our student's first language.”
Fiocca-Stern started her career in journalism/public relations after graduating from Kent State University, but pivoted to education after helping to teach music at her children’s pre-school. She earned a master’s degree in Education and Creative Arts and Learning from Lesley University and taught in Lexington and Sudbury before landing in Lowell as an elementary school teacher in 2005.
“I really wanted to work with a diverse population,” she said, explaining that while she grew up in Ohio, she did visit Lowell when she was 20-years-old while touring with the performance group Up With People.
During that time, she traveled the world with cast members from 14 countries. They had to figure out how to communicate, work, and live together without sharing a spoken language.
Fiocca-Stern began teaching EL students four years ago.
“I really love working with the kids who are learning a new language to make sure they get the support they need,” she said. “I like to get creative and once I started using Root I saw the possibilities of how his could grow.”
In her free time, Fiocca-Stern is a reading tutor at the Children’s Dyslexia Centers, and this summer will be volunteering to teach Ukrainian children remotely.
iRobot and the Red Sox are honoring one teacher/district per month who are going above and beyond in STEM education.
Lisa Freed, iRobot’s STEM Project Manager, said the work Fiocca-Stern is doing with Root is very compelling to the team at iRobot.
“It’s about inspiring students and making sure they see the opportunities they have in STEM,” she said. “The Sox are very invested in education, particularly in areas where students need the resources and access. iRobot is proud to be a partner in STEM education with the Sox and able to bring this into the spotlight.”
Points of Light Lantern Festival
Free Little Library @ the Greenhalge
Social worker Darcie Coleman explained that the idea was born more than two years ago, but there were a lot of naysayers. People didn't think it was possible. People thought it wouldn't work at the Greenhalge - that kids wouldn't use it or if they did they wouldn't replenish the book supply. She and a small group of dedicated staff were determined to prove them wrong, because, as she said "we teach persistence at the Greenhalge."
So, she got everyone's favorite Greenhalge staffer John Hamblett to build it, Art teacher Ms. Casey to paint it, Reading teacher Ms. Wong to collect the books to fill it, and Ms. Ortiz to make sure there were books in other languages included in the mix. The little lending library will be open for students and their families before and after school every day.
Passport to the McAuliffe
There are 17 languages spoken among the student body at the school, so Ms. Peal, an English Language Learner teacher had the idea to throw an international culture party. That was a few years ago - then the pandemic hit and plans were put on the back burner, on a low simmer. Well, the idea boiled this spring and it was well worth the wait.
Volunteers brought food from around the world: Cambodia, Puerto Rico, Portugal, France, Poland, The Netherlands, Italy, Mexico, Ireland, and more! Kids played musical chairs in the gym, decorated flags in the hallway, had beautiful Henna tattoos applied to their arms. We are already looking forward to next year!
As part of AAPI Heritage Month, the Lowell Public Schools hosted a very interesting book discussion and community Q & A session with Seng Ty, author of The Years of Zero at the Butler Middle School.
A recent retiree of the Lowell Public School system, Seng has dedicated his life to spreading hope throughout the world by sharing his story as a survivor of the Khmer Rouge. Through his poignant memoir, The Years of Zero, Seng takes readers on a captivating journey, recounting the torture, betrayal and despair, which gave way to courage, triumph and endurance.
In addition to hearing from Mr. Ty, the event also included Cambodian dance, food, and a panel of LPS Khmer staff members, who provided their thoughts about the book, as well as their own experiences. The panelist were: Bopha Boutselis, math teacher at Lowell High School; Vannak Theng, EL teacher at the Robinson Middle School and LHS alum; Vannak Khin, Bilingual Family Lead and LHS alum; and Tara Hong, Portrait of a Graduate manager, LHS alum and former student of Mr. Seng Ty.
It's Kindergarten Registration Time!
Party Time!
School's (Almost) Out For Summer!
Things to Do This Summer
Boott Mills Camp
July 11-15 or July 25-29
(Ages 8-12)
Play, create, and discover – on a trolley, by boat, and on foot. You’ll weave by hand, create amazing works of art, and become a hydropower engineer. You’ve never had so much fun with history.
Eco-Explorers
July 18-22
(Ages 10-14)
Have fun being green on our big blue planet. Spend a week with other explorers as we investigate pockets of wilderness in Lowell and beyond. Go canoeing on a lazy river, explore tide-pools, and have fun learning about the world outside our windows.
The cost is just $185 per week (sibling discount $165). More info here
2022-2023 School Calendar
Get Your Red Raiders Gear!
Global Flavors Menu
In mid-May, Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches were featured in school cafeterias and were a hit with students and staff. Many students asked for seconds! These delicious sandwiches will be on school menus in June and next school year.
Tasting History
This month's featured recipe was Lucas Alves Moreno's faijoada - a black bean and pork stew popular in Brazil. A great addition to any menu, and an excellent way to fuel up during the school day.
Harvest of the Month
Food Pantry June 14
Lowell (and Dracut's) Oldest School
By Rebecca A. Duda, Ed.D, Family Resource Center Coordinator
Lowell’s Pawtucketville neighborhood has a long and rich history. Originally, Lowell and Dracut were all Chelmsford. Samuel Varnum and Edward Coburn moved from Ipswich to Chelmsford in 1668 and settled on the northern banks of the Merrimack River—what today is Pawtucketville. They made their homes along todays’ Varnum Avenue.
The community in Pawtucketville continued to grow and by early 1701, the settlers on the northern bank of the Merrimack wanted to be independent from Chelmsford. They petitioned the state legislature for independence from Chelmsford. Their petition for independence from Chelmsford was granted by the state legislature. They named their community Dracut. Pawtucketville remained part of Dracut until it was annexed to Lowell in 1874. (Lowell was established in 1826 as independent from Chelmsford.)
By the 1770s, the community was large enough to have an actual schoolhouse and not rely on teaching the children in people’s homes. The first school building erected in Dracut was on land owned by Deacon Edward Coburn. The location would be today where Varnum Avenue and Tower Avenue are located. It was built in 1755. The original school building was torn town about 1821 and was discontinued as a school in 1900 when the Lexington Avenue school was built.
The building was still owned by the Coburn family. The land and building had never been deeded over to the town of Dracut. So, when the city of Lowell no longer needed it as a school building, the Coburns leased it to James D. Caddell from 1900 to 1940 (the lease ran in 5-year intervals). He used it as a church and a place to hold Sunday school classes. It was at this point in the building’s history that it became known as the Coburn Mission. It was in the early days of the lease that the belfry was added and a 400-pound Paul Revere bell added to the belfry. Services were well attended and bean suppers were held rather frequently.
However, as early as 1912, attendance at the Coburn Mission was dwindling. The last service was held there in 1940. However, there was still interest in saving the old structure due to its historical value.
From 1940-1956, several of the mission’s former congregants served as trustees of the building. In 1956, Richard Edwards petitioned, and was granted, from the city a permit to make repairs on the building. Even with trustees overseeing the building, little had been done to maintain it. It kept falling further into disrepair and was the victim of vandalism.
The mission was deeded to Joseph Wooster of Bedford with the understanding that he would maintain the building as a landmark. Sadly, Wooster did not maintain the building.
The city razed the Coburn Mission, and a vestige of Dracut’s colonial history, in 1965.