Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley at the MASC MASS Keynote

blogging from the Wednesday night Keynote address at the MASC/MASS Joint Conference in Hyannis, where Commissioner Riley is keynoting

"Personal relationships matter. Kids are always watching."
Have done nearly every job in public education...really orient myself first as a parent
often talks about his daughter, who has special needs but has had amazing teachers
His daughter has demanded equity, so he'll speak tonight about his son
"after about question 17, I would start making things up" when his son was three
grass is green because the leprechauns come every night and paint it
"that went on and on until I started to get in trouble with my wife and the day care providers"
"no matter how smart kids are, they need to be taught"
"no matter how bright people are, people are still capable of making mistakes"
Twenty-five years of education reform, "we've done good things, we've done some not-so-good-things"
have left many kids behind"we have to do better by them"
"need to put down our partisan swords, come back under the tent, and make some plans for the next twenty-five years"
pendulum has swung a bit far
focus on classroom instruction
"kids learn through play, yet we beat that out of them by second grade"
"high school...we send them from box to box and have them do worksheets"
"I believe in Massachusetts exceptionalism in a deep way: we have the Red Sox, the Patriots, the Celtics, the Bruins and the teachers of Massachusetts"
"change happens and change is coming...how do we get our kids there"
"we need to delve deeper on supporting kids' mental health needs"
"I think it's time that we started talking about the reality: the school funding system is broken"
was superintendent of a district that was shorted between $8 and $10M a year
"in the past, commissioners have not taken on an advocacy role: I am not going to be one of those commissioners"

And the Commissioner closes with "Three Letters from Teddy" by Elizabeth Silance Ballard (as he often does)