Wait goes on for Lynn school annex

LYNN – Proponents of the re-opening of the Ford School Annex attended Thursday night’s school committee meeting looking for action, but left disappointed when a motion to table the discussion was approved.Discussion about the annex had been postponed until Mayor Judith Flannagan Kennedy arrived and the rest of the night’s agenda was discussed, which included a 45-minute closed-door executive session to discuss Lynn Teachers Union, Local 1037 contract changes.The Lynn Vocational Technical Institute Tiger’s Den had been filled nearly to capacity, but hopeful parents and their children left early, many saying they did not believe the issue would be covered.Stanley Wotring is the father of an autistic child and is concerned there seems to be no educational plan for his son, though he believes the re-opening of the annex would be the answer. He was one of the few parents who stayed through the entirety of the meeting.”I came here looking for action and I didn’t see any action,” he said.Harrison Harley said the school committee needs to start addressing the education in the school system, mentioning 30 percent of students are not graduating on time, five schools are under performing and low MCAS scores.”The whole thing fizzled,” he said. “There were 100 people watching. We are going to have unhappiness in the citizenry. These people were upset, with their children here, on a school night, but they were hopeful and trying to do something for their own benefit. Of course, my issue is simple. If you have a plan that’s working and you have a school that is doing the job, then how hard is it just to copy that budget and do it for everybody?”Harley also said parents have to take care of their kids and be involved since there is no real funding left. This is a point that was also made by Lynn Teacher’s Union 1st vice president and Breed Elementary School teacher Brant Duncan during the open-mic session held before the meeting.”I would like you to think about all of the school kids, as Mrs. (Patricia) Capano had said. We are responsible for all of the kids in the school district,” he said. “You’ve heard Mr. (Vincent) Spirito talk about some of the class sizes at our elementary schools. If we have all of these (budget) reductions and we are anticipating adding a new school, what is the cost to the kids in Lynn? I think that is an important thing to be considered.”