04162014 - Permanent security officer assigned to Rollins School

LAWRENCE — A permanent security officer will now be on duty at the Rollins Elementary School after a neighbor described as “armed, belligerent and threatening to kill” got into the Howard Street school on Friday.

Hector Muniz, 38, of 429 Howard St., was held without bail yesterday. Police said he went into the Rollins School, armed with a gun and made threats to commit murder. He allegedly got into the school behind a delivery person and was stopped first by school staff.

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04142014 - FIRST 100 DAYS - Rivera on the fast-track to remaking Lawrence

LAWRENCE - An aide cracks open the door to Mayor Daniel Rivera’s corner office at City Hall, interrupting his meeting with state probation officials and acting city Police Chief James Fitzpatrick, and motions him to the hall outside.

The mayor steps out. After a moment, he reopens the door and calls Fitzpatrick out of the meeting.

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04142014 - Shooting, arrests cause move to protect students

LAWRENCE — A city school was briefly put on lockdown yesterday after a man tried to approach the school with a gun.

The Rollins School, at 451 Howard St., was placed on lockdown, but all students and staff were reported safe, said police Chief James Fitzpatrick.

It all started when a Rollins School employee thought he saw a home invasion in a building near the school and called police to report it.

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04022014 - Lawrence teachers union ratifies new contract

 LAWRENCE — Members of the Lawrence Teachers Union finally have a new contract — their first in more than three and a half years.

The union ratified the pact by a 57 percent to 43 percent margin during three hours of secret ballot voting at the Relief’s In.

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03262014 - Senate Chair Blames "Obstinacy" For Lack Of Deal at Deadline on Charter Cap

The Education Committee apparently was unable to reach a compromise Tuesday on a bill that would have lifted the cap on charter school enrollment in underperforming districts, dealing a blow to the charter advocate community who hoped to see expansion taken up this session. "I'm sad that obstinacy and polarized rhetoric stood in the way of compromise and progress," Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, the co-chair of the Education Committee said in a statement released Tuesday evening.

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03252014 - Boston Globe: Mass. schools require dramatic change, report says

Mitchell Chester, elementary and secondary education chief, disagrees the state is stagnating.

More than two thirds of the state’s employers report difficulty hiring employees with the appropriate skills, underscoring the need for major changes in how Massachusetts educates its children, according to a report and survey set for release Monday by the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education.

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