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Tag: rep. vanna howard

  • The Five Minute Read

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    Instruments donated to Lowell High students

    LOWELL — The Gerry & Franca Mulligan Foundation presented the students at Lowell High School with a donation of top-quality musical instruments valued at $15,000 during a ceremony at LHS held Dec. 17. Each year, the foundation gives the “gift of music” to three schools in need. The donation includes soprano, alto and tenor saxophones, two clarinets and a trumpet. All are Conn-Selmer instruments, Gerry Mulligan’s favorite instrument of choice.

    “Gerry loved to help young musicians,” Franca Mulligan said. “He would be so proud that we are carrying on his legacy. Lowell High School is a very deserving school.”

    LHS was selected upon the recommendation of Glenn Morgan, a graduate of the then-University of Lowell (now part of UMass Lowell), who now serves with the Lowell Arts Community. Morgan learned that the school had a flood five years ago, which destroyed many of the school’s instruments. He contacted Mia Toschi, executive director of the Gerry & Franca Mulligan Foundation, and the foundation agreed to provide a donation.

    In addition to the flood, the school also had major budget cuts to the music program in 2025.

    “This donation will make a huge difference and change lives,” Instrumental Music Director Jared Logan said. “Music builds confidence, shapes hearts, and opens doors to possibilities children never knew they had.”

    Gerry Mulligan was known as one of the greatest baritone saxophone players, but he also had a long history of helping young musicians in need. For more information about the foundation, visit gerryandfrancamulliganfoundation.org.

    Winter market

    TEWKSBURY — Tewksbury Community Market’s winter market is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 8, from 4 to 7 p.m., at the Tewksbury Senior Center, 175 Chandler St. The last winter market of the season takes place Feb. 12. Each market features 25 to 30 vendors selling food and other products.

    Vendors include many of the same businesses featured during the summer markets including Big Rich’s Gourmet Hot Sauce, KRM Chocolates, Tewksbury Honey, Black Sheep Craft Ice Cream, Bittersweet Herb Farm and others, as well as handcrafted goods, artisan soaps, jewelry, books, clothing and more.

    Food vendors include Polish Prince Pierogi, The Stand (lemonade), Sofie’s Apples, and Bird’s Nest Italian Street Food. The community groups of Baldwin Girl Scouts and the Public Health Museum will be tabling at the event.

    For information, contact Community/Economic Development Planner Alex Lowder at 978-640-4370 ext. 248 or alowder@tewksbury-ma.gov or Community Outreach Librarian Robert Hayes at 978-640-4490 ext. 205 or rhayes@tewksburypl.org, or visit tewksburymarket.com.

    Vanna Howard fundraiser

    LOWELL — The Ban family, Kowith Kret, Mony Var, Narith Sokun, Rithy Uong, Saroeun Thou, Sophy and Sopheap Theam, Sreyvan Nget, Thao Lan and Vichtcha (Vee) Kong host a fundraiser Saturday, Jan. 10, from 4:30 to 6 p.m., to support state Rep. Vanna Howard’s bid for the 1st Middlesex Senate District seat. The event takes place at Simply Khmer Restaurant, 26 Lincoln St.. Suggested donations start at $25.

    Merrimack River survey

    The Alliance of Climate and Environmental Stewards wants the public’s help to shape the future of the Merrimack River by filling out a 2025 River User Survey at surveymonkey.com/r/MRUS2025. The survey will help ACES assess user concerns about the river’s condition, allowing for a comprehensive five-year update that highlights changing trends, environmental changes and public perception. All survey responses to the 15-minute survey are confidential.

    For more information, visit aces-alliance.org.

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  • Project LEARN launches Lowell Schools Fund

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    LOWELL — Lowell High School senior Cyrus Bridge’s passion for STEM education began in fifth grade at IDEA Camp, a summer partnership between UMass Lowell, Lowell Public Schools, and Project LEARN. The weeklong camp provides hands-on STEM experiences for students in grades 5-12.

    At 17 years old, Bridge is a eight-year IDEA Camp veteran, now serving as counselor.

    “I did robotics, I did computer programming, there were art courses,” Bridge said. “It’s been great exposure and formative for my career choices — showing me that I want to go into STEM education.”

    In a time of uncertain funding, rising costs, and shifting priorities, experiential learning opportunities are at risk.

    Enter the Lowell Schools Fund — a Project LEARN initiative raising private dollars for high-impact programs in Lowell Public Schools. The fund is designed to fill gaps in public funding by soliciting donations from alumni, foundations, and corporate sponsors.

    “Federal funds are drying up; grants that we depend on are being cut back or just stopped midstream,” Superintendent of Schools Liam Skinner said. “The Lowell Schools Fund will help fill these gaps, providing educational opportunities for students that complement the work happening inside LPS classrooms.”

    The fund will invest in programs that empower the whole child: priorities include literacy and early learning, college and career readiness, STEM and arts enrichment, wraparound services, and funds earmarked for teacher innovation. Funding decisions will be made jointly by Project LEARN and LPS leadership, dispensed quarterly to respond to student needs in real time and in tight alignment with district LPS priorities.

    The establishment of the fund, which aims to raise $100,000 by the end of 2025 and $300,000 by the end of the 2025-2026 school year, was announced at the Sept. 30 grand opening of the Nancy L. Donahue Learning Lab, Project LEARN’s new space on Central Street.

    “It’s a hub for curiosity, connection, and possibility,” Project LEARN Executive Director LZ Nunn said of the Learning Lab. “It’s a place where students can see themselves as future scientists, entrepreneurs, civic leaders, and professionals — and where our community comes together to make that vision real.

    “We’re closing opportunity gaps. Every student deserves the opportunity to build the skills, confidence, and networks necessary to navigate higher education and the workforce” Nunn said.

    Support for the Fund will allow these pivotal career connected opportunities to thrive. With sustained investment, students can continue to expect access to paid internships with industry leaders, hands-on STEM experiences, immersive art projects, and ongoing opportunities to grow their 21st century skills.

    “This is a good day for Lowell,” said state Rep. Vanna Howard, who had the honor of dedicating the Learning Lab’s spacious conference room to her friend and mentor, Project LEARN co-founder and Chair Emeritus Brian Martin. “His vision and dedication to this city continue to inspire not only me, but generations of young people in Lowell.”

    Martin, a former Lowell mayor, city manager, and head of Lowell High School, and his extended family, made the first donation to the Lowell Schools Fund, pledging $10,000.

    In addition to Cyrus, several Lowell High School alumni attended the event, highlighting how programs available through LPS and Project LEARN built their confidence and improved their skills.

    Sebastian Rivera (LHS ’24) participated in the Education Pathway at Lowell High, where he was able to gain hands-on experience in a third-grade classroom at the Bailey Elementary School. While reading to a group, he noticed a student struggling to comprehend. Initially Rivera thought he was speaking too quickly or the visuals were unclear. But by the end of the lesson, he realized the student’s primary language was Spanish — just like his.

    “I was so eager to connect with this student and show him the representation that was in front of him,” Rivera said. “We were able to speak in Spanish at the end of the lesson and to see his face light up with joy because he felt seen is something that I reflect back to all the time.”

    Following that rewarding teaching experience, Rivera joined Community Teamwork’s school-age program as a group leader, teaching the same student.

    “It was a full circle moment where I was like, yeah, I’m definitely in the right spot, and it solidified that I’m on the right path,” he said.

    Today, Rivera is a junior at UMass Lowell, majoring in sociology with a concentration in policy and social problems, and dual minors in education and English.

    For more information and to support the Lowell Schools Fund, visit lowellschoolsfund.org.

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  • Cha-ching: MSBA pays out cost overrun on Lowell High rebuild

    Cha-ching: MSBA pays out cost overrun on Lowell High rebuild

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    LOWELL — The Massachusetts School Building Authority cut a check for $10,594,239 to the city of Lowell in March.

    The money represents a partial reimbursement of supplemental funding that was approved for school building projects across the commonwealth in the fiscal 2024 state budget signed last August. Lowell’s share came to almost $37 million.

    “On behalf of State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, MSBA Chief Executive Officer James MacDonald, MSBA Executive Director Mary Pichetti and the MSBA Board of Directors, we are pleased to provide you with this reimbursement, and we look forward to continuing to work with you on the completion of the Project,” said a notification of payment email from the MSBA obtained by The Sun.

    In 2019, the MSBA voted to commit $210 million to Lowell’s then-$344 million project.

    The rebuild and renovation started in 2020 with the demolition of the doctors’ offices at 75 Arcand Drive, now home to the Riddick Athletic Center.

    In March 2022, representatives from Suffolk Construction and Skanska told the City Council that construction costs were going to be higher from supply-chain increases due to COVID.

    On average, steel went up 139%, curtainwall by 38% and drywall by 24%. Those budget overruns raised the project to its current $381 million cost, with the $38.5 million difference the responsibility of the city and its taxpayers. City councilors have long argued the unexpected costs should be the responsibility of the state.

    State Sen. Ed Kennedy filed legislation to address the issue in January 2023.

    “There are a lot of communities who went to the MSBA and got funding to move ahead with their project,” Kennedy said at the time. “They found out later that the building material costs had skyrocketed, and had raised the price.”

    In addition to Lowell, other communities were over their MSBA-approved budget funding, such as Groton at $16 million, Stoneham at $19 million and Somerville at $30 million.

    The MSBA uses the School Modernization and Reconstruction Trust Fund to fund school building projects, which in turn is funded by taking one penny from every sales transaction in the commonwealth. The Massachusetts sales tax is 6.25%.

    But the funding for Kennedy’s bill came from revenue generated by the Fair Share Amendment, also known as the “millionaire’s tax.” Passed by voters in the last state election, these funds are dedicated to transportation and public education.

    The legislation included 30 school projects estimated to receive approximately $270 million in additional grants based on increased funding limits from the MSBA.

    The supplemental funding was approved by the MSBA’s Board of Directors in October 2023.

    Skanska Project Manager Jim Dowd told the School Building Committee in February that the MSBA increased its maximum facilities grant for the almost $400 million project.

    “The potential for the maximum facilities grant went from $215 million to $252 million, which is a total increase of $36.9 million,” he said.

    Some of that money is against the construction contingency funding, which may not be spent, thereby limiting the remaining $1.5 million overrun burden on the taxpayers of Lowell.

    A construction contingency is money set aside to pay for change orders from new requests or unforeseen construction requirements, and that amount of $21.2 million is built into the overall budget figures.

    As of February, the remaining funds in the contingency account were $17.2 million.

    “There have been 18 change orders to date totaling $3.9 million,” Dowd told the committee.

    The Executive Office of Education will transfer additional funds to the MSBA in April and June, which in turn will disburse remaining funds to the city.

    Kennedy is a member of the School Building Committee and City Manager Tom Golden publicly thanked him for his legislation during the February meeting.

    “Thank you to Senator Kennedy for spearheading this, and the representatives for making sure it got through on the House side,” he said. State Reps. Vanna Howard and Rodney Elliott also sit on the committee.

    “We’re very, very thankful for these additional funds that you shepherded through,” Golden said. “Senator Kennedy, on behalf of the entire city of Lowell and the City Council, I want to say thank you very much.”

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    Melanie Gilbert

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  • Mill City miracle: Draper Labs expands to Lowell

    Mill City miracle: Draper Labs expands to Lowell

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    LOWELL — A company that operated the computer guidance system that helped land Apollo 11 on the moon is coming to Lowell, to be an anchor tenant in the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor project that was announced last week.

    UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen, flanked by local, state and federal leadership, introduced Draper President and CEO Jerry Wohletz during a welcome ceremony held Thursday at UMass Lowell’s University Crossing, in a room that overlooked the Merrimack River.

    “Today is a milestone in the history of this city,” Chen said. “Because [LINC is] setting in motion a vision that will not only transform UMass Lowell, but will transform this whole region for our students, but also all of the residents of this great city.”

    LINC is an $800 million development plan that leverages the prestige and innovation of the university and the resources and history of the city of Lowell with the job creation capabilities of industry like Draper Labs to envision a vibrant urban village/main street model and economic engine for the city.

    Until ground is broken on Phase 1 of the project next year, which will construct two industry co-location and professional housing apartment buildings, Draper Labs will temporarily move a microelectronics division of about 50 people into university-owned space in Wannalancit Mills.

    According to its website, Draper Labs “is an innovation company that pursues scientific advancements to solve that nation’s toughest national security problems for the betterment of the nation and secure democracy around the globe.”

    Pulling together this transformative project with a $600 million investment is Wexford Science & Technology, a company known for its mixed-use, amenity-rich, innovation-focused communities blending industry/university community models. It responded to a request for proposal that UMass Lowell sent out 16-18 months ago.

    The project will bring new housing, economic development, technology jobs and workforce development to downtown Lowell.

    The planning for this campus-style industry initiative was more than 12 years in the making, said UMass President Marty Meehan.

    “Some of the parcels that are involved in this, we acquired in 2010, 2011,” he said. “This was a vision that was set out over a long period of time.”

    That vision moved from the planning stage to implementation with support from Gov. Maura Healey and U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, both of whom were in attendance at the morning event. They were joined by Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, state Sen. Ed Kennedy and state Reps. Vanna Howard, Rodney Elliott and Rady Mom. In the audience were several Lowell city councilors, former Congresswoman Niki Tsongas and Middlesex Community College President Phil Sisson, among others.

    Healey said her administration would draw on LINC as a “marquee” example of innovation in the commonwealth. The state was recently awarded $19.7 million to establish the Northeast Microelectronics Coalition Hub, a regional hub that will advance the microelectronics needs of the U.S. Department of Defense while spurring new jobs, workforce training opportunities and investment in the region’s advanced manufacturing and technology sectors.

    “This is a space in which we’ve done really, really well,” Healey said. “Microelectronics is an example of a sector that is growing and that is key to our future and it’s going to happen here. I’m really pumped about this. Lowell deserves this … it’s good for the country.”

    Trahan brought the federal government to the table with CHIPS Act and other funding.

    The $280 billion CHIPS Act, which stands for Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors, was passed in July 2022 to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States.

    “We’ve secured investments that will position the Mill City for a multibillion economic and jobs boom the likes of which hasn’t happened here since the Industrial Revolution,” Trahan said.

    Wohletz said Draper needs talent, and lots of it. The company is doubling its staff of 2,400 in the coming years. It has campuses across the U.S., including Massachusetts with its headquarters in Cambridge and the U.S. Navy Integrated Repair Facility in Pittsfield.

    “Draper views UMass Lowell’s microelectronics program as one of the top programs in the region,” Wohletz said. “We view UMass Lowell as a strategic partner and a resource for state and federal engagement and a pipeline for engineering talent.”

    That pipeline includes Middlesex Community College, the Lowell Public Schools system, as well as Greater Lowell Technical High School.

    Several leaders spoke to a brain drain that happens in Lowell, in which promising talent leaves due to a lack of housing. LINC incorporates professional housing as part of the model. The project is expected to add almost 500 new units to the city’s housing stock.

    “LINC will retain and attract professionals to Lowell as well as ramp up economic development, entertainment and culture for Lowell residents,” City Manager Tom Golden said during his welcoming remarks.

    Golden added that the city and UMass Lowell are also planning infrastructure improvements as more people live and work in Lowell.

    The teamwork between the local government, the university and state and federal leadership is what brought Draper Labs to Lowell, Wohletz said.

    “The secret recipe has always been partnerships,” he said. “At the core of these great technology achievements has been a partnership between government, academia and industry. United in solving these tough problems while committed to educating the next generations of engineers and scientists.”

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    Melanie Gilbert

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  • Mass. Senate plans another sex education reform vote next week

    Mass. Senate plans another sex education reform vote next week

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    BOSTON — Senators next week will vote again on a bill to update the state’s sex education guidelines, something the chamber has already approved four times without getting buy-in from the House.

    The Senate Committee on Ways and Means polled the so-called Healthy Youth Act (S 268) on Thursday morning, getting it ready for action next Thursday in the Senate’s first formal session in four weeks.

    The bill would update Massachusetts’ sexual health laws and create guidelines for districts that opt into teaching sex education to go over human anatomy; how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, AIDS and unwanted pregnancy; effective use of contraceptives; how to safely discuss sexual activity in a relationship; skills to identify and prevent sexual violence and relationship violence; and age-appropriate and affirming education on gender identity and sexual orientation.

    “As I said on the floor the last four times, we know our students are talking about these issues in the classroom or not,” Sen. Sal DiDomenico, the lead sponsor of the Senate bill, said. “If they’re not learning medically-accurate information taught in our classrooms, they’re getting bad information that could have long-term consequences.”

    Though the Senate has voted to remodel the education frameworks four times in the last decade, House Democrats have never taken it up. On the House side, Rep. Jim O’Day has sponsored the bill for the last 10 years, joined by Lowell Rep. Vanna Howard this session and last.

    “When I started on this bill, the last time a framework for healthy youth, for sexual education, was addressed was in 1999,” O’Day said last month as a guest on former Senate President Harriette Chandler’s local cable show. “So here we are now in 2024, where we at least now have a good, solid, well-rounded, medically-accurate, age-appropriate, evidence-based [bill] … and this is not a mandate for this bill. We do now have a framework that if you are going to teach — if you are going to teach — health ed, sexual education, it needs to be consistent with what’s being taught in Framingham or Provincetown or Pittsfield or Worcester.”

    “That’s a disgrace,” Chandler, a supporter of the bill, said when O’Day initially raised the subject.

    The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education updated its sexual health education standards on its own accord last year to mirror some of what the so-called Healthy Youth Act calls for, after Gov. Maura Healey threw her support behind the controversial measure.

    Under the board’s new physical and sex education guidelines, students will receive sex and health education that is intended to be more inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community and teach about bodily autonomy, mental and emotional health, dating safety, nutrition, sexually transmitted infections and consent.

    Neither the guidelines nor DiDomenico and O’Day’s bill would change the Massachusetts law that allows districts to opt-in to teaching sex education. The bill before senators would also require that parents get a letter at the beginning of the school year with details about the sex ed curriculum and the opportunity to opt their child out.

    Asked by the News Service how the bill differs from the updated frameworks the board of education adopted, DiDomenico said passing the Healthy Youth Acts would codify the new guidelines.

    The bill would require data collection on what’s being taught in schools, reported to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education every two years. It would also require that the state revisit the framework every 10 years, as it took 24 years this time around to update the guidelines.

    “Lastly, the framework is more of a suggestion for schools. Healthy Youth is an actual curriculum. And so there’s a lot more flexibility with the framework. Theoretically ‘abstinence only’ can still be taught with the framework,” DiDomenico said. “Under this bill, sex ed would talk about consent, LGBTQ language and healthy relationships as well. It’s a lot more detailed, unlike a suggestion.”

    The senator added that 17 states require sex education to be medically accurate and 26 require it to be age appropriate. Massachusetts is not on either of those lists.

    “I think that’s a pretty compelling argument. Many states across the country have seen the value of this education,” DiDomenico said. “This bill will give students information they need to protect their health, have respectful relationships, and have a better future for themselves. In my mind, it’s just as important as math and science and English.”

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    Sam Drysdale

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