What Follows?

For John, BLUF:  We need to keep asking the "then what" questions.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

This quote from former German Marxist philosopher Herbert Marcuse, from around 1929-30 points to the fact that one needs to think about the long term consequences of what seems like a good idea at the time:

Destroy the Weimar Republic; whatever follows is bound to be better.

I relate this to the discussion of the Greater Lowell Technical High School on City Life this morning.  There is no doubt that City Councillor Ed Kennedy is correct in stating that the election of the GLTHS School Committee doesn't pass the one man/one vote rule.  It is, on its face, unconstitutional. : And it is unlikely the US Supreme Court would make an exception in this case.

All well and good, but the School Committee, as it now exists, serves to balance the interests of the City of Lowell and the three surrounding towns.  With the School Committee favoring the City of Lowell, the towns will look for ways to bail out.  Soon the GLTHS will belong to Lowell, lock, stock and barrel.  Is that what we wish for?  Is that Councillor Kennedy's ultimate aim?

Instead of having a subcommittee working on various strange voting schemes, I suggest we have a subcommittee look at the eventual configuration, including whether it makes sense to annex to Lowell the buildings and grounds of GLTHS and the land between GLTHS and the Lowell Boundary.

Regards  —  Cliff