here to get her through 6" grade; now she’s 26 and a graduate of Nashua High South, we didn’t say what are the
parochial schools like, what are the private schools like. We said what are the public schools like. And to this
day, when | meet young families and talk to people, one of the questions that comes up is what are the public
schools like in Nashua. Just walking my Ward | ran into a family with a little girl in a stroller, she was probably 18
months or two years old. We had this conversation about the public schools. They said, “Yeah, our neighbors up
the street send all their kids to public schools, so we’re feeling good about the public school here.”
| think we need to think about everything we do with a bigger lens, and realize that it’s not just | want my child to
be homeschooled: | want them to go to parochial school. And | have to say my daughter went to Nashua
Catholic. | paid for it, it was my choice. She went there and then she went back to South. But we have to realize
public school is important. When people are moving into communities and buying homes. If you’ve moved, you
know all of the expenses of setting up a new household, having a good quality public school is really important.
And it’s important for our neighborhoods because that’s where our kids get together and that’s where we get
together as families and form a community.
So | would just encourage you to have conversations with your colleagues about the benefits of public education
and the importance of public education from an economic development perspective. Because the checklist isn’t
how many good parochial schools are there within 50 miles, or where are my employees going to send their kids,
because they probably don’t want to pay their employees to pay the tuition either.
Senator Lasky
This country has been founded on — one of the things | believe that has made this country great over the years is
our public education system, and is the fact that regardless of what religion you are, what ethnic background,
whatever, you are entitled to a public education. That is not the case. If you choose to send your child to a
private school or a religious school, so be it. More power to you. |, myself, sent my girls to private school; there
were extenuating circumstances. And each child has individual needs. We need to, | believe, instead of trying to
take away from our public school system we should make sure it is the best that it can be for every child in the
state and this country. We are depleting it by trying to make it fairer for those who choose to send their children
elsewhere, have the opportunity to send their children elsewhere. But it’s not, in my mind, what education should
be in this country. So | respect we have charter schools, | respect we are trying to do our best to make
advantages for each child in this state, because they are all different. But | do not believe it should be at the
expense of our public school system.
Representative Schmidt
| think it’s pretty clear that this bill is a priority for the Governor. | think that is a real danger up at the State House,
and | think anything anyone can do from this table to talk to people and let them know about the problems with
the bill — the bill is faulty, it's been stated that by the Chair of the committee as they passed it. They said the bill
was faulty and they’d fix it later. | think we have to make sure that we spread the word that this is not a good bill
for the state. But more than that, this bill is just simply a bad bill and should never become law.
Alderman LeBrun
| would like to make an announcement that Hillsborough County Executive Committee has accepted two ratified
contracts from the nursing home union and another union. We have determined that we will pass them on to the
Hillsborough County full delegation. I’m looking at January 10 at 6:00 p.m. as the next possible full delegation
meeting to ratify those contracts.
President McCarthy
Are these meetings useful? Should | have another one in three or four months?
Alderman Dowd
| think they’re useful but | wish we would get more of the State delegation here. | think | only see one
Republican, | could be wrong. Better yet, how many are here versus the total number from Nashua? | venture to
guess we don’t even have half here.
