Season 2 Episode 22: Chatting with Citizens for Public Schools' ED, Lisa Guisbond
In our advocacy role, we’ve met some tremendous public school advocates from, across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Working together in collaboration is essential to raising awareness of the issues that impact our public schools, our students and our families. Clearly the success of the Fund Our Future campaign which ultimately resulted in the passage of the Student Opportunity Act, relied upon a broad coalition of partners from every corner of Massachusetts. One of those partners is Citizens for Public Schools, or CPS.
Today we have the privilege of speaking with CPS’s Executive Director, Lisa Guisbond who is one of the strongest advocates and supporters of public schools here in the Commonwealth. Whenever there is an opportunity to speak in a Legislative Hearing or to educate citizens about issues that affect of public schools, you can count upon Lisa and Citizens for Public Schools to be there.
We asked Lisa to speak in particular about the need for all of us who care about public education to keep speaking up as plans for spending Student Opportunity Act funding are being developed in each Massachusetts community. CPS has some suggestions for how we all can do that so that these hard-fought-for funds are directed toward our public school students and our schools themselves.
We also asked Lisa to speak today about an event CPS is sponsoring this coming Wednesday, February 26th: CPS is sponsoring a book talk by nationally known education historian Diane Ravitch and a discussion that will include former MTA President Barbara Madeloni and Education blogger and advocate, Dr. Maurice Cunningham. You won’t want to miss this opportunity! The event will take place at 7 pm at the First Parish Church in Cambridge (3 Church Street, Harvard Square) on February 26. Tickets ($12) are available for the even through CPS’s Facebook Page and CPS event webpage detailing the event and ticket information.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
For general information about becoming involved with Citizens for Public Schools, visit CPS’s website at citizensforpublicschools.org.
The two-page summary of the new Student Opportunity Act law that we spoke about with Lisa is downloadable on the CPS website.
Many of our schools have already begun to develop their school-based funding plans with School Site Councils. Even if you are not a member of your school’s council, you can attend meetings and voice opinions. Check the Lowell Public Schools website for a listing of each Lowell Public School and then click on the School Site Council link for an individual school in order to view meeting schedules and agendas.
If you have a suggestion for use of Student Opportunity Act funding, you can email Dr. Boyd, Lowell’s Superintendent of Schools with your suggestions. You may also wish to copy the School Committee with your suggestions as well. School Committee Members and contact information is listed on the LPS School Committee webpage.
Thank you to Lisa for bravely chatting with us via a remote connection! It’s always a pleasure to speak with Lisa about public education and the work Citizens for Public Schools has advocated for in the past and will continue to advocate for in the future. We hope that many of our listeners will attend the CPS Book Talk and Discussion on February 26th. Be sure to reserve those tickets in advance so you are not disappointed!
Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to this episode. We hope that if you enjoy what you hear, you will subscribe to our podcast using Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or one of your favorite podcast aggregators. As always we welcome your comments and feedback and, should you have a suggestion for a future podcast topic or know of a UTL Member who might be willing to share experiences or expertise, send us an email at utlstraighttalk@gmail.com.
