Dear Editor,
The past few weeks have created a stir in our City. I know I was elected to bring up uncomfortable conversations that the City has not had in years. I am very happy to see the discussion is being held and seeing real changes.
I am thankful for the local and national newspapers that continue to highlight some of the excellent work and the challenges I have dealt with on the City Council.
At last, I want to bring up a fundamental matter on the Everett Public School data re-
quest. The request was Everett Public Schools Data: To request the Everett Public Schools and School Committee to share information on remote learning: How many students are in the EPS System, how many students/households have received a Chromebook, how many students have been set up on a virtual learning plan, how many have logged in consistently and how many are considered “virtual dropouts,” and include any assistance needed from City Hall that we can help with.
For weeks, elected officials tried to disparage my name and credibility by stating how I do not know what I am talking about and that the data was available during the Mayor’s Virtual weekly meeting or at the School’s Committee meeting. For full disclosure, I cannot attend any meetings (outside of City Council meetings) on Monday and Wednesday evening from 6-9:30 pm due to my MBA Summer classes at Boston University.
However, with the recent Boston Globe feature on my experience on the City Council, the writer of the story, Stephanie Ebbert, had called and asked our Superintendent about the data and where it was. The writer wanted to review it. After a couple of days of questioning, it was brought up and confirmed that in regard to the data, our Superintendent does not have the data. The school is going to analyze how they will do that but are still deciding how.
We have elected officials like Councilor Anthony Dipierro, Councilor Stephanie Martins, School Committee Tom Abruzzese, and School Committee Frank Parker, who have gone on the record to state they have seen the data, and that is available when in reality they have not. They have lied and tried to hurt my name amongst Everett residents.
I have not received an apology, yet Everett residents continue to state what these elected officials told them. I am asking them to issue out a correction to clear my name and provide our residents of Everett the truth.
Again, the data of all that I was asking was never available. I hope the lies stop.
Thank You,
City Councilor Gerly Adrien