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BPS teacher Lily Holland featured in Valerie Strauss' The Answer Sheet





Second graders imagine their dream school. It isn’t what you might think. 

By Valerie Strauss June 19  

Lily Holland teaches second grade in the Boston Public Schools. She wrote the following post as part of a coordinated event last week sponsored by the Massachusetts Teachers Association in which educators, parents and others took actions to show support for traditional public schools and opposition to expanding charter schools in the state. 
Dozens of communities, for example, passed resolutions opposing lifting the cap that now exists on charters as part of the dedicated week. Holland wrote the following piece to give voice to a group rarely heard from: second graders. A version of this appeared on the blog of Defending the Early Years, which seeks to rally educators to take action on policies that affect the education of young children. I have permission to republish. 


Please follow the link here to read the entire article.


How upsetting is to hear that our second graders dream of having a library outside of the one they have in the classroom? They are asking for so little it's a shame that our schools library closed its doors about 5 years ago and the book are stacked 10 feet high in a big closet so the room can be used for a part tim dance program.  The parents of our students are taking on the job of funding the library so it can re-open for our students to use. 

 A school without a library is a shame and should never happen.  I am shocked that there are people out there reading this article that have no idea what the conditions are in most of our schools.  It's not just the underperforming that don't have library's most of the schools are underfunded and go without much more than just a closed library. Talk to a teacher and get involved before Boston, the birthplace of free public education will obsolete. 


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