Ten Years Ago

I have been thinking a lot about what I was doing ten years ago this month. Ten years ago, I was busy in an upstairs bedroom packing little red books into padded mailing envelopes. I was filling orders for my book, the Parent's Guide to Cambridge Schools, so parents would have them before the January deadline for kindergarten registration. I was also getting ready to register my first child for kindergarten. This past fall, that same child entered the high school.

In 1997, publishing a book for parents about public schools was newsworthy. I have a clipping from the Christian Science Monitor about me and two other parents across the country who were attempting it. (This was not the kind of project that real publishers would take on -- all of these ventures were self-funded.) And, of course, this was long before district and school websites, before listservs, before NCLB reports cards, DOE school profiles and Google searches.

Suffice it to say that soon after I finished the second edition in 1998, I began to try to work my way of out this job and get the district to do more publishing on its own.

These days someone will occasionally say to me, "Why don't you do another edition of your book?" Truth is, I don't think there is the same need. When I look at the Cambridge Public Schools official website and at the downloadable, info-packed Schools at a Glance booklet, at the Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School website and viewbook, and most recently, the new Tobin Montessori brochure with its stunning photos of Cambridge children, I am amazed at what can happen in ten years. Change is slow; but it can be so worth it.

And now there's this thing called Blogs. I started this one during the last School Committee campaign but then, happily, I was re-elected, got busy with committee work, and started a new day job as assistant editor of the Harvard Education Letter.

But I'm ready to make blogging a regular task. There are things I'd like to communicate that I think are important, especially when seen through the lens of ten years. About the evolution of our schools, about the nitty-gritty of educating children in a diverse district in times of great pressure and expectation. I hope you will follow along.