LONG-TIME observers of the Boston City Council know that members of that august body are usually happiest when pursuing pothole repairs or extending salutations to possible inhabitants of Mars’ second moon.
But Councilor John Connolly has a novel idea: The council could actually play an important role in city affairs by helping make Boston’s schools more responsive to family needs.
Michelle Novelli of Roslindale has long been an advocate for individuals with autism and the families that support them as both a parent of a child on the autism spectrum and as a member as a member of the Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SPED PAC).
THE LEGISLATURE is considering a bill entitled An Act Relative to Insurance Coverage for Autism. This will require insurers to provide the coverage necessary for individuals to be screened and treated for Autism Spectrum Disorders. As chair of the Boston City Council’s Committee on Education, a former teacher, and a parent, I care deeply about the education of all of our students and I make no exception for the 11,520 Boston Public School students with special needs, of which more than 500 are diagnosed with ASDs.
By City Councilor John Connolly
Every year, thousands of people participate in the annual Corrib Classic 5k Race, and even more join for the post-run celebration. more »
At-large City Councilor John Connolly sets his sights on creating multi-million-dollar environmental academy
Little girls and boys frolic on swing sets whittled from recycled beech wood. Teenagers harvest organic rutabagas and stew them with locally farmed carrots in Earth-friendly kitchens. Classmates teach one another about conscious living. Folks develop new technologies to help make the landscape lovelier. Solar panels abound. more »
Connolly, Murphy are top vote-getters; Arroyo, Pressley best rest of the pack
Boston voters yesterday elected two new city councilors at large and returned two incumbents to power in a race crowded with candidates seeking to define themselves as future leaders of the city.
Councilors at Large John R. Connolly and Stephen J. Murphy topped the ticket, with newcomers Felix G. Arroyo and Ayanna S. Pressley leading the rest of the field.
Connolly claimed 51,308 votes, finishing 346 ahead of Murphy, as both received votes from nearly half of the 111,067 voters who went to the polls. Arroyo scored votes from nearly 41 percent of the electorate, and Pressley received votes from about 38 percent.
Councilor aced preliminary, and many see him primed for higher office
If any candidate could be excused for easing back on the accelerator before Election Day, it would be Boston Councilor at Large John R. Connolly.
Connolly won more votes in the September preliminary than anyone else in the City Council race. He has raised – and spent – three times more money than his closest rival in the eight-way race for four at-large seats.
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CAPTION: At-Large City Councilor John Connolly listens to a group of Boston residents during a hearing at the Copley BPL on July 28.
On Tuesday, July 28, At-Large City Councilor John R. Connolly joined more than 60 people from the Back Bay, Bay Village, Beacon Hill, Dorchester, the Fenway, Mission Hill and the South End at the Copley Branch of Boston Public Library for the third City Council hearing of the Special Committee on a Livable Boston.
Connolly, who chairs the committee and is a first-term city councilor, divided residents into six discussion groups, where facilitators fostered discussion about the definition of livability in Boston and residents’ major concerns. A brainstorming session for solutions followed.
CAPTION: Councilor Connolly at Boston’s 2009 Pride Parade. 
The Boston City Council unanimously passed a resolution on July 29 in support of Boston’s bid as host city for the 2014 Gay Games.
“The goals of the Games are to promote the spirit of inclusion and participation and the pursuit of personal growth through a sporting event,” At-Large City Councilor John Connolly, author of the resolution, said in a statement today.
“Boston would be proud to host the games, we are a city rich in diversity and athletics – and I believe that we will be the perfect place for such a great event.”
CAPTION: City Councilors Maureen Feeney, John Connolly, and Chuck Turner led the June 1 truancy hearing held in the Christopher A. Iannella Chamber.
For Harley Allen, school and classrooms meant something “meaningless.” The 15-year-old always skipped school and hung out with friends at the Boys & Girls Club. However, after he enrolled in the Alternative Middle School program at the Little House at Federated Dorchester Neighborhood Houses, school has been his second home.
“I used to skip school and made my parents ashamed of me,” said Allen, an eighth grader at Little House. “Now I’m excited about coming to school. I do my homework. I have a 3.5 GPA and [I’m] on my way to my first year in high school in North Carolina. Little House has given me a community where I talk to my parents and my teacher. And that makes me want to go to school.”
Allen was one of two students who testified at a June 1 hearing held by the Boston City Council’s Committee on Education to implement a chronic truancy intervention program focusing on parental accountability and family engagement. The hearing, which was held in the Christopher A. Iannella Chamber, aimed to push Boston Public Schools (BPS) to adopt a parental accountability model for truant students.
The iconic Citgo sign’s distinctive red neon triangle near Fenway will go dark for one hour later this month, along with the cables of the Zakim Bridge, normally illuminated at night.
The two landmarks, along with dozens of other marquee Boston properties, such as the Prudential Center, Hancock Buildings and the Custom House Tower, will turn off all their nonessential lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on March 28, as Boston joins nearly 400 other cities worldwide in observing Earth Hour, Mayor Thomas M. Menino will announce today.
Despite a heavy March snow, a good number of West Roxbury residents, including city councilors John Tobin and John Connolly came out to West on Centre to hear just what a Low-Carbon Diet Group is.
The Smart Energy Party was held Monday night by the community based non-profit organization West Roxbury Saves Energy.
Several West Roxbury households are undertaking a belated New Year’s resolution, vowing to reduce their ecological waistlines in the coming year through an environmentally friendly, low-carbon diet.
Dozens of community members met for a “Smart Energy Party” at West on Centre restaurant last Monday night to learn how to reduce personal energy consumption. West Roxbury Saves Energy, a community group dedicated to helping the residents make informed choices about energy use, organized the event.
Academy would capitalize on Earth-friendly economy
Under a plan envisioned by one city councilor, Boston would build a state-of-the-art environmental studies academy with solar panels and wind turbines that would prepare students for green sector jobs through a curriculum devoted to promoting sustainability.
At-Large City Councilor John Connolly admits that dream is several years away. But he said investing in such an institution as soon as possible is necessary to spur economic growth through green building and also to give Hub students an early opportunity to be part of a booming industry. His hope is that students K to 12 would learn everything from the causes of global warming to how to weatherize their homes.
The green academy proposal is one of several initiatives Councilor John Connolly recently announced as part of a new environmental agenda he hopes to move forward this year.
Connolly wants to organize neighborhood summits for April around Earth Day that would promote ways individuals can reduce their carbon footprints.
As chairman of the City Council’s Committee on Environment and Health, At-Large City Councilor John Connolly last week unveiled what he called an “Aggressive Green Agenda,” for the 2009 legislative session. Included among the proposals are calls for an Environmental Science Academy (ESA) within the Boston Public School system and programs promoting local strategies to combat global climate change.
City Councilor John R. Connolly unveiled an aggressive green agenda Wednesday, Jan. 28, including a proposed Environmental Science Academy (ESA) within Boston Public Schools, a program to teach individuals how to reduce their carbon footprint, a carbon-neutral neighborhood pilot program, and a shared bike program.
At-Large Councillor John Connolly is using the tripod of committees he chairs – Education, Environment and “A Livable Boston” – to support a four-pronged “Green Agenda.” He expects to order City Council hearings for the proposals on Wednesday.
The Boston City Council began its 2009 term on Monday, unanimously electing City Councilor Michael Ross as the new president of the legislative body as his father, a Holocaust survivor, looked on.
One of the first acts of the new legislative session under Ross, whose council district includes Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the Fenway and Mission Hill, was the establishment of a “special committee on a livable Boston,” according to City Councilor-at-Large John Connolly, who will chair the committee.
Councillor Michael Ross’s election to the Council president’s chair on Monday signals yet another yearly council ritual—the backroom battles over committee assignments.
The early winner of this traditionally underground skirmish seems to be at-Large Councillor John Connolly, whose special “Livable Boston” committee was among Ross’s first announcements. Connolly’s committee theme recalls ideas he drove home at backyard barbeques and house parties all over the city during his 2007 campaign.
Parents of truant students usually have to explain themselves to school officials like guidance counselors, principals or headmasters. But if a new law proposed by two Boston city councilors goes into effect, they may well find themselves explaining their child’s absences to someone else — a judge.
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When they call for giving court dates to parents who refuse to deal with their chronically truant children, City Council President Maureen Feeney and at-large councilor John Connolly aren’t just playing to the cheap seats. The consequences of erratic school attendance – high dropout, teen pregnancy, and incarceration rates – are simply too dire to ignore.
At-Large City Councilor, John Connolly was the guest speaker at the Oct. 14 West Roxbury Civic and Improvement Association Meeting.
Connolly gave the supportive crowd of an update on his first term as a city councilor and gave residents an idea what the city council has on its agenda for the coming year.
He started by way of explaining his position as one of four citywide city councilors, but he made it clear that although he represents the whole city, as a West Roxbury homeowner as resident, he was firmly on the side of West Roxbury and its residents. more »
A continued struggle to curtail truancy within Boston Public Schools has city councilors considering if schools should spend less time punishing students and more time looking at those responsible for these hooky-playing kids — their parents.
Legislation filed last week by Councilor At-Large John Connolly and Council President Maureen Feeney could send parents across the city off to court, as the council looks to create a stronger message of parent accountability in the case of excessively absent students. more »
Attacking the longstanding issue of truancy n the city’s schools, the Boston City Council is proposing a new initiative to keep kids in class and on track to graduate.
City Council President Maureen Feeney and At-Large Councilor John Connolly have proposed an ordinance requiring parents of chronically truant students to appear before a judge in court. To support that move, the two are calling for a public hearing to establish a model for reducing truancy in the Boston Public Schools by focusing on parental accountability and family intervention for children with excessive unexcused absences. more »
Frustrated by an epidemic rate of truancy, the City Council is considering whether to hold parents responsible for the school-skipping sins of their children.
At-Large Councilor John Connolly and council President Maureen Feeney are pushing a proposal to haul parents of chronically absent teens and other students into court to answer for their child’s empty desk.
“We need to address this problem, and I think we’ve tried everything else,” Feeney said yesterday. more »
A bill that would send parents of habitually absent students before a judge was floated in front of Boston City Council yesterday, the first step in what some see as a solution to the plague of high school dropouts.
The proposal filed by City Councilor John Connolly and Council President Maureen Feeney draws on a model used in Waterbury, Conn., public schools, which have seen a dramatic drop in absences since instituting the program in January. more »
Armed with folding chairs, Chinese food, strawberry Twizlers and blankets, Dorchester residents camped out in front of the Murphy Community Center last Saturday morning. Sitting around a heater and flat screen TV, they talked about the community, elections, the Patriots, and their kids.
These parents and guardians waited for more than nine hours to register their children in the one-on-one tutorial program of Project D.E.E.P- the Dorchester Educational Enrichment Program. From mid-October to mid-May, each student is assigned one tutor to work with, for 90 minutes each week. The program, which was launched back in 1995, has become one of the neighborhood’s most sought-after resources for extra academic help. more »
I don’t think any of us believes radio talk show host Michael Savage’s claim that he was being a watchdog for the many parents of autistic children when he went on his senseless rant last week. Blaming parents and labeling 99 percent of autistic children as “fatherless brats” is hateful.
