Remembering Mayor Menino

Mayor Menino asked me to join his Administration in 1998‎. I loved my job in the Clinton Administration, but the Mayor, Superintendent Payzant and my family called me back to Massachusetts. The Mayor had outlined a bold vision: "Every child in every neighborhood will have access to after school learning and enrichment programs." While there were a patch work of programs across the city in 1998 most were small and many students were on their own between 1:30 and 6:00 in the afternoon. The Mayor committed to changing that...and he did. He asked Chris Gabrieli to chair our city-wide task force and for the last 15+ years we have not only seen a doubling of programs but a new model emerge with many students in Boston in highly successful expanded-time schools. Many people are cynical about politics and politicians. That is one of the many, many reasons Mayor Menino leaves a unique legacy. He was committed to public service; to making a difference for all Bostonians--not to bolster his resume to climb to a higher public office or for financial gain. I have been around politics my entire career and I can say that Mayor Menino is one of the great city leaders of our time.  This is a sad day, but his legacy to improve education for all of Boston's students lives on.