Views & Reviews - Marblehead Current

29 Mar

EDITORIAL: New path for old fire station

Kris Olson0 CommentsCurrent Editorials, Opinion, Views & Reviews

By mid-April, Marblehead Finance Committee members are expected to have reviewed and analyzed all the 2023 warrant articles with financial implications and devised their recommendations for Town Meeting. But there will be little mystery with Article 40, which requests an override of Proposition 2 1/2 to restore the Franklin Street fire station, which needs $2.3 million in exterior and restoration work, according to a conditions assessment funded through a Massachusetts Historic Preservation Grant and published in February. The article’s main proponent, Marblehead Fire Chief Jason…

29 Mar

FROM THE VAULT: The story behind the Lecraw watch

Kris Olson0 CommentsOpinion, Views & Reviews

In the early morning hours of June 25, 1877, panic seized Marblehead. A fire that started in the barn behind the Marblehead Hotel on Pleasant Street quickly spread up the street, consuming buildings all along Pleasant, School, Sewall and Bassett streets. Cinders flew through the air, threatening to set even more of the town ablaze. This watch, presented to Thomas J. Lecraw, was a token of appreciation from the Unitarian Society of Marblehead. COURTESY PHOTO / MARBLEHEAD MUSEUM At the Unitarian Church on Mugford Street,…

24 Mar

SUPERINTENDENT UPDATE: Decisions on MHS principal, assistant superintendent near

Kris Olson0 CommentsMarblehead Public Schools, Opinion, Views & Reviews

Good people of Marblehead Public Schools: March is a long month. There are no holidays; there are no vacations. It is neither winter nor spring. On Nantucket, March is not-so-affectionately known as “hate month.” There are a variety of reasons for this, but suffice it to say, when Nantucket Nectars makes a trivia cap about it, it is a fact of island life. Unfortunately, it seems the plague of March is creeping into Marblehead. At a leadership meeting this week, MHS Principal Dan Bauer was…

22 Mar

EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY: Grow old along with me

Kris Olson0 CommentsOpinion, Views & Reviews, Virginia Buckingham

We snore. Our eyesight is getting worse. We both gained weight during the pandemic. We walk slower. We’re easily distracted. Our joints hurt. We don’t like spending too much time alone. And, oh, do we love our afternoon naps on the couch. Our cockapoo April and I are aging together. How I wish she would continue to “grow old along with me” as the Robert Browning poem and John Lennon song entreat. I picked up April in New Hampshire during a nor’easter not unlike the…

22 Mar

SUSTAINABLE MARBLEHEAD: Green Home Tours to showcase energy-efficient technologies

Kris Olson0 CommentsOpinion, Views & Reviews

Concerns over our changing climate and rising energy bills have Marblehead residents considering changes to how they heat and power their homes. As a coastal community, many of us are worried about climate change and how that could impact us and our children. We want to do our part to fight against the potentially devastating effects that rising global temperatures might bring. To help Marbleheaders learn about home energy efficiency, Sustainable Marblehead is organizing a Green Homes Tour on April 8 from 10 a.m. to…

22 Mar

’HEADERS HISTORY: Set to song, Mason’s poem soothed Civil War soldiers

Kris Olson0 CommentsOpinion, Views & Reviews

Caroline Briggs Mason was born in Marblehead in 1823, the daughter of physician Dr. Calvin Briggs and Rebecca Briggs. In the 1830s, Caroline’s father sent her and her sisters to The Bradford Academy, a boarding school in Haverhill. Shortly after graduating from the Bradford Academy, all three sisters ran a private school for girls in Marblehead. Caroline Briggs Mason Poems Caroline's poem "Do They Miss Me at Home?" was set to music by composer Sidney Martin Grannis in the 1850s and became very popular with…

22 Mar

COLUMN: Sparks that light my fire

Kris Olson0 CommentsOpinion, Views & Reviews

Just a sampling of odds and ends of shorter stuff I've been sorting through as I've been thinking about another memoir of my happy-go-very-lucky life. thoughts People ask me where I grew up. Nowhere ... yet. I'd rather be over the hill than under it. Guns don't kill people: Animals with guns kill people. Egocentric after sex: "Was it good for me?" If your horse has bad breath when you are talking to it, maybe you are at the wrong end of the horse. Success…

18 Mar

SUPERINTENDENT’S UPDATE: Addressing hate in school sports — and beyond

Kris Olson0 CommentsMarblehead Public Schools, Opinion, Views & Reviews

Good people of Marblehead Public Schools: Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh! Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Last week, I shared one of the core values from our Strategic Plan for Success (PfS), personal growth. Another of our articulated core values — and arguably the most important — is student achievement. At our next School Committee meeting, I will update the committee on iReady and how we are using student achievement data to support teaching and learning and to inform instruction. Students at Glover, Brown, Village and…

11 Mar

SUPERINTENDENT’S UPDATE: Ski team exemplifies one of district’s core values

Kris Olson0 CommentsMarblehead Public Schools, Opinion, Views & Reviews

Good people of Marblehead: In the district strategic plan, “The Plan for Success,” one of our articulated core values is personal growth. Specifically, we state, “We will provide students with opportunities to grow socially, emotionally, physically and academically, and to be respectful, contributing members of society.” On March 1, our alpine ski team exceeded expectations when it came to modeling exemplary personal growth. At the championship at Berkshire East, they were named the state champions, only to have that changed as the result of a…

08 Mar

EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY: Of lions, lambs and other March madness

Kris Olson0 CommentsOpinion, Views & Reviews

March is the longest month. Yes, there are six other months with 31 days in them, but do any of them feel as long as March? Like a child feels anticipating Christmas or the last day of school, April takes forever to arrive. And the month named for the Roman god Mars, the god of war, is a trickster to boot. It teases with more light and then a little more. It taunts with snowfalls and ice storms. It tweaks with warmth, calling to the…