Thanks for supporting community book talks

The community book discussions around the book “The Smartest Kids in the World” by Amanda Ripley were inspiring to me and I hope many others. They started with a personal desire on my part to talk about all the ideas and emotions this book stirred in me, but I am so thankful to the 40-plus people who broadened the scope and took the time to bring their perspectives to the meetings and via email.

In particular, thanks to school administrators Tom Drake, Amy Rex and Lisa Atwood, and Waterbury-Duxbury School Board member Dale Smeltzer. Your candor and willingness to entertain questions and thoughts from community members speak to your leadership and desire to make our schools the best they can be.

Stay tuned for more information on the specific ideas and proposals that came out of these community meetings, but in the meantime, I’d like to extend an extra special thanks to: Bridgeside Books in Waterbury village for hosting meetings and not kicking us out when they ran long; Waterbury Public Library for helping to get extra copies of the book for people to read; the administrators from Harwood Union High School, Crossett Brook Middle School and Thatcher Brook Primary School who participated in meetings and emails, helped facilitate alternate meeting locations, and who bring their energy to our kids’ education every day; school board members from Waterbury-Duxbury and Harwood who participated in meetings and related emails; and community members who participated in meetings and related emails and were enthusiastic about supporting continuous improvement and change in our schools.

I know there are many more outside of these specific book discussion groups who are interested in supporting positive change in our schools and not stopping at “good enough.” I look forward to the ongoing conversation.

Maureen McCracken

Waterbury