I love a new year. I love a new beginning, a fresh start. Armed with a renewed vision, I aim to work smarter in 2019. I know how I want to feel and what I need to do in the short- and long-term to get there. This year promises new directions for work and travel, which I intend to blog and post about in the future.
In my role on the Board of Ed, members await word from Commissioner Riley as to whether or not he will recommend new charter school authorizations and/or expansions (January and February). More on that to come.
January also marks a new two-year legislative session and in a few days a new Legislature will be sworn in. The close of the last session left much on the table, or on the cutting room floor, however you choose to look at it. I’ll be paying particular attention to Leg’action on improved education funding, vocational technical ed, the environment, healthcare, housing, transportation, and the important bills that follow.
I’m excited to be back with PDM’s (Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts) leadership team, eager to work with members on prioritizing issues for the next two years and at our spring convening (TBD). Once members vote on priorities, I look forward to working with coalitions and activists to push for the progressive change we need. I hope many of you will join me. Stay tuned.
Happy New Year to you and to those you love. Here’s to more peace, justice, and progress in 2019.
Image credit: My “Red Onion”, 1997. Graphite and colored pencil.
Mary Ann Stewart 