LYNN — With less than a week remaining in Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Tutwiler’s tenure, Latino mothers and children took turns speaking in praise of his tenure at the Lynn Housing Authority headquarters Saturday afternoon, for the Latina Center MARIA’s tribute to Tutwiler.
As children ran around the room playing, Latina Center MARIA’s executive director and founder, Magalie Torres-Rowe stood to speak. She started the event by comparing Tutwiler’s impact on the Lynn Community to Jesus healing the lepers in the Bible and said that the crowd for Tutwiler’s tribute should be as large as the crowd at his welcoming ceremony.
“It’s very important that all Latino moms know the work that’s been done. He always cared about students, families, community, wherever we invite him, he’s there, he’s present,” Torres-Rowe said. “Sometimes, we’re not good at saying thank you, so if you see the welcoming ceremony for Dr. Tutwiler, it was huge, many people, but now, the tribute? Only the people here, people who really love him. It’s easy to congratulate people when they have power, but when they leave, few people recognize him for what he did.”
Torres-Rowe prompted everyone in the room to stand, one at a time, and voice their appreciation for Tutwiler. Groups of children approached Tutwiler with hand-written thank you notes and gifts.
Among those who spoke was School Committee member Tiffany Magnolia, who remarked on Tutwiler’s mission-driven work and his efforts to expand diversity in the Lynn Public School System.
“We’ve only worked together for a short time, since January, but you have redefined professionalism in a way that shows that it is always the mission that matters, and that is what we need. We need mission-driven people to lead our school system, to understand what it means to teach the whole student, to respect the whole student, and to value all of the strengths that every student brings to the Lynn Public School system,” Magnolia said. “Our diversity is our strength, and you have shown that you value that intrinsically. For that, I am grateful, for your expertise, for your grace, all of that.”
Michael Satterwhite, who served on the committee when Tutwiler was made Superintendent, said that he saw Tutwiler eating lunch with two students the day that he announced his resignation. Satterwhite said that seeing Tutwiler interacting closely with students reminded him just how engaged Tutwiler was with his constituents.
“Patrick means what he says and he says what he means. That’s the kind of leader that we needed, and we still need. The day that Patrick made the announcement that he was no longer going to be our superintendent, I actually saw him at Brother’s Deli with two students eating lunch. It made my heart so full to see that he was out where these kids are and he was interacting with them in such an intimate way,” Satterwhite said. “When he made the announcement, it made it more real for me that he’s real. We had a superintendent for the last four years that cared about each and every single student, who cared about each and every single parent, and really collaborated and cared about his colleagues.”
Ward 3 Councilor Coco Alinsug made the crowd laugh with his opening remarks, joking that Tutwiler resigned to pursue a career as a professional runway model in Europe.
“I came here for two reasons: number one because the food [at] MARIA’s is very good, but I’m here for you Dr. Tutwiler. Know this, Dr. Tutwiler and I are professional runway models. I know the reason he’s leaving as well, is he’s going to Europe for a modeling job. Dr. Tutwiler and I did runway modeling to raise money for the Lynn Museum, that is true,” Alinsug said. “On behalf of the Lynn City Councilors, thank you very much for your service.”
Before the crowd lined up for refreshments, Tutwiler delivered closing remarks, which he opened by restating his “Three Bes” formula for speechmaking, before talking about his mother’s role in shaping him as a leader, and his guiding principle as an education leader.
“Those who know me well know that I have a formula for speechmaking, it’s called my ‘Three Be’ formula: be good, be brief, and be seated,” Tutwiler said. “I’m just going to say this: I had the good fortune of being raised in a single-parent household. Sometimes, people don’t characterize that as good fortune, but when you have a mother like mine, it was good fortune.”
“One of the many things that she instilled in us was core values around having an impact in your life. I watched her for many years as an educator do just that […] I’ve dedicated the last 22 years to making a concerted effort to have an impact for all of the students for whom I was responsible, but in particular, the ones that look like me. There’s a very simple phrase that I use that guides me in that work, and that is: as an educational leader, I must love the student, the teacher, and the craft of teaching, none more than the other, but in that order,” he continued.
