Some Boston Public Schools are effective and beloved by their students and those students’ parents. They are coveted but oversubscribed, so it is hard to get your child into one. The Eliot in the North End and Charlestown’s Warren/Prescott are good examples.

The Hurley School in the South End is also an effective, coveted school. But it wasn’t always. It took a group of strategic parents and a new principal to set it on a course of massive improvement. The story of its revival offers lessons that other strategic parents can apply.

It started more than 10 years ago.

A group of South End neighbors lamented that their children would not be able to go to school together, said Electa Sevier, mother of twins who are now in seventh grade. The good, nearby schools were all oversubscribed. Some parents planned to move out of the city. Others were considering private schools.

But, as the core group of about 15 families talked, an idea emerged. What if they all applied to the Hurley School, almost a “turnaround” school? That is the name for a school so woefully inadequate that the state requires new staffing, new everything to bring the instruction up to snuff. Continue reading →

Spring is definitely here so downtown residents’ inclinations turn to gardening. Digging in dirt, planting flowers, doing a bit of pruning and scooping up the winter’s detritus, all on a sunny day, is satisfying after hugging the fire all winter.

Back Bay’s magnolias and Beacon Hill’s pears are gone, but they provided weeks of enjoyment before the redbuds, cherries and crabapples put on a show. As I write this the Public Garden and the banks of the Charles are full of blossoms. Hope for cool temperatures so flowers stay longer on the trees.

It might be a surprise to country folk how much gardening city dwellers do. Charlestown gardeners gather within shouting distance of Sullivan Square, creating a lovely hillside garden entry to that neighborhood. Continue reading →

The Cape will suffer an economic downturn this summer. Fewer people can take a vacation. The reason: it seems that half the citizens of Boston are running for office. They must stay in the city and campaign.

This is occurring just when we thought we could come up for air after the 2012 campaign in which we had to listen to women-haters, poor people-haters, immigrant-haters, and government haters.

Mercifully, the many Bostonians running for mayor and for the city council seats freed up by those running for mayor aren’t haters. What a nice change from the politics of yore. Remember Louise? Dapper? The current crop is less tribal, more sophisticated and some actually seem as if they could govern well.

We’ll finish with the U.S. Senate race, the Eighth Suffolk district state representative race and the First Suffolk District state senate race on June 25. That leaves the rest of the summer for the myriads running for mayor and the city council to shake our hands.

Other columnists have assessed the chances of those who have announced their candidacy and measured their campaign coffers, maturity and general experience. All the candidates go on and on about how they love Boston, a sentiment Mayor Menino’s example has made the first step in getting into the race.

We’ll hear the candidates offer suggestions for economic growth, crime control in certain neighborhoods, how they would provide opportunities for development while also appropriately constraining it, and how they would improve trash and recycling collection and cleanliness.

They’ll mention the bombings and how upsetting they were.

But the city elections, especially in downtown Boston, will turn on two matters—housing and schools. We don’t have enough of either and what we’ve got isn’t good or plentiful enough. Continue reading →