January 27, 2009
Seacoast Online
CONCORD — Gov. John Lynch today thanked Education Commissioner Lyonel Tracy for his service to the State of New Hampshire.
Tracy has told Gov. Lynch that he will not seek reappointment when his term expires at the end of March.
“I thank Commissioner Tracy for his dedication to the children and the people of New Hampshire and for his commitment to improving the educational opportunities for all of our young people,” Lynch said.
“We have worked together on some important initiatives to help ensure we are giving New Hampshire children skills and education they need to live full, productive lives,” Lynch said. “I wish Lyonel the best of luck in the future. He will be missed.”
Tracy has served as Commissioner of the Department Education since 2005.
“I have been honored to work with so many dedicated professionals who are committed to the state’s children. It has been a pleasure for me to serve the people and children of New Hampshire for the past four years and I look forward to continue being an independent voice for children in New Hampshire,” Tracy said.
Tracy said he considers New Hampshire teachers’ implementation of his “Follow The Child” initiative, which seeks to personalize the educational experience of each child, as a highlight of his tenure as commissioner. Commissioner Tracy has worked to improve the state’s graduation rate including his support of legislation that raised the compulsory school attendance age to 18. Under Tracy’s tenure, the state passed important legislation defining an adequate education and ensuring every child in New Hampshire has the opportunity to attend public kindergarten. As he leaves, Tracy said he especially thanks all the educators and excellent Department of Education staff for their dedication to New Hampshire children.
Lynch has begun the process of identifying qualified candidates to fill the commissioner’s post at the Department of Education.
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We don’t know whether to jump for joy or start writing to Lynch with our suggestions now.
One thing we know for sure and that is, Lynch needs to pick someone who isn’t going to ascribe to foolish, money wasting programs like Follow the Child, (the height of his tenure???) or employ Russell Quaglia with his ‘Student Aspirations Surveys’ upon which we wasted $250K, or who isn’t planning and scheming to do away with local school boards and collude with Marc Tucker (ala Clinton era) to ‘nationalize’ education for the global society. Write to Governor Lynch and suggest he look for someone who will support local control, parental rights, and skills-based education instead of buying into these passing fads which do nothing but pad the pockets of the consultants and snake-oil salesmen who are destroying the educational system in this country while milking the endless supply of tax dollars. To better understand how our schools are being used today and why it is costing us so much, please explore thoroughly The Illinois Loop. Everything you will read there is tragically accurate.