School Superintendent Dr. Catherine C. Latham is retiring and although she will hand the School Department’s reins over to a successor, her legacy will cast a long shadow across education in Lynn.
Latham made an impression on local schools that in so many ways exceeded her eight-year tenure as superintendent. The first new public school to be built in Lynn in almost 20 years opened under Latham’s direction with the construction of the Thurgood Marshall Middle School.
A host of new and talented principals took the reins at schools such as Sewell-Anderson, Drewicz and Cobbet under Latham’s stewardship. One of the true testaments to her ability to recognize and reward talent is Harrington Elementary School Principal Debra Ruggiero’s status as a finalist for the Peabody public school superintendency in 2016.
A self-professed lover of all topics mathematic, Latham applied her keen understanding of numbers to running the School Department. She relentlessly and thoroughly examined state comprehensive assessment (MCAS) scores and probably could recite from memory the MCAS scores for every grade in every school in her district.
Latham harnessed numbers and statistics to make vital arguments on behalf of Lynn’s schools and all urban schools. She challenged state education officials to understand and, in turn, to commit to providing the resources urban schools need to succeed and to make every student a success.
She demonstrated an equal degree of passion in her arguments challenging charter schools. She pointed out how charters compete for the extremely limited amount of available space in Lynn for new schools and noted how local public schools take any and every student into the classroom.
For all her ability to analyze, break down and harness numbers to make a case on behalf of Lynn’s schools, Latham loved bringing the gift of knowledge to young people. Her smile was never broader than when she watched students parade before the School Committee to accept the George F. Laubner Academic Award.
The annual Laubner presentations packed the committee meeting room with proud parents and students. For Latham, the evening highlighted the role schools play in turning parents into teachers and making students thirsty for a lifetime of knowledge.
Latham’s grasp of complicated formulas and concepts allowed her to explain every nuance and detail of state and federal education law to sometimes-befuddled committee members. But her smile shone brightest when she watched a student celebrate an achievement.
Even as a veteran administrator of a 16,000-student school system, Latham always seemed to be a student at heart. She listened intently when young teachers explained new instruction methods not even imaginable when Latham started her teaching career. She loved making leaders out of ambitious Lynn educators and administrators who followed her example by embracing innovative education ideas even as they relentlessly adhered to tried-and-true teaching concepts.
Cathy Latham is retiring but it is hard not to imagine her successor leaning heavily on Latham’s talent and institutional knowledge to continue keeping Lynn schools on course.
