Alex Bowers for Cambridge School Committee
General Observations
I've spent years as a parent participating in my children's schools and as a reporter observing how the district works. Here are some thoughts on how we can make our schools better.
Engaging Our Community
Data & Information
- School Committee Meetings - Dicing Data
- School Committee Orders (Policy Changes)
Subcommittees
Oct. 17, 2025 - School Committee meetings are held roughly every two weeks during the academic year. While the community can offer public comment at the beginning of each committee meeting, it isn’t an effective way for the community to contribute: the three-minute limit is too short, the committee may not acknowledge public comments during discussion, and public comments are not recorded with any detail in the meeting minutes.
I believe that the subcommittees are an ideal place to engage our community. There are currently five standing subcommittees, and an ad hoc* school council subcommittee created to address school council concerns (*ad hoc meaning created only when needed).
Cambridge School Committee Subcommittee Meetings held during the 2024-2025 academic year.
Subcommittee meetings are more flexible than committee meetings. They are chaired or co-chaired by committee members. Meetings are held in a discussion-style format and are open to the community. Attendees can actively participate by proposing topics, brainstorming ideas, and developing plans to address topics issues that confront our community. Plans developed through the subcommittees will have broad community support since they were developed by the community to benefit the community. the decision making is made on the ground, not directed from the.
When subcommittee attendees agree on a proposed plan, the chair(s) can present the plan during a full school committee meeting for discussion and a decision (vote).
I believe that the subcommittees are underutilized; in the last academic year each subcommittee held a maximum of three meetings.
Incoming school committee members should formalize how subcommittees are run, setting committee and community expectations on how often them meet, if they are held in-person or virtually or both, and begin identifying areas of concern, as well as reaching out to the community to encourage participation.
I think that subcommittees are a flexible and effective way for the community to flag concerns and have a direct avenue to effecting change.
In January when the elected members are seated, the subcommittees will be reviewed, renewed, or created, and new chairs appointed.
I encourage everyone to bring concerns to the elected members in December to ensure that a subcommittee is ready to discuss them when the new year begins.
School Councils
Oct. 15, 2025 - I’m an elected member of the CRLS school council.
I would focus on the district’s School Councils to provide an additional way for the community to provide input to the district… How to offer residents an opportunity to raise issues/concerns/ideas as an additional communication tool?
The Commonwealth created school councils as a way for students and families to identify and advocate for the needs of their unique school community.
School councils serve in an advisory role to each principal and are required at every individual school by state law.
They consist of an equal number of caregivers and educator members, are co-chaired by the principal and a caregiver, and are open to the greater community.
The councils provide feedback on its School Improvement Plan (SIP) and each school’s discretionary financial fund known know the SIP budget.
As a member of the working group that revised the School Council Handbook [in XXXX] I’m familiar with the positive contributions that school councils could make.
The council’s concerns are intended to feed into the committee, which has oversight responsibilities for the councils. So you could gather information at the council level and then the committee would analyze the data, debate what to do, and decide on a plan.
Despite recent attempts to strengthen the councils, across the District they are inconsistently managed and undervalued, and I would like to see this change.
I believe that with a thoughtful, innovative, and collaborative school committee we can improve how the community contributes to shaping the decisions that affect them.
I would focus on the district’s School Councils to provide an additional way for the community to provide input to the district… How to offer residents an opportunity to raise issues/concerns/ideas as an additional communication tool?
The Commonwealth created school councils as a way for students and families to identify and advocate for the needs of their unique school community.
School councils serve in an advisory role to each principal and are required at every individual school by state law.
They consist of an equal number of caregivers and educator members, are co-chaired by the principal and a caregiver, and are open to the greater community.
The councils provide feedback on its School Improvement Plan (SIP) and each school’s discretionary financial fund known know the SIP budget.
As a member of the working group that revised the School Council Handbook [in XXXX] I’m familiar with the positive contributions that school councils could make.
The council’s concerns are intended to feed into the committee, which has oversight responsibilities for the councils. So you could gather information at the council level and then the committee would analyze the data, debate what to do, and decide on a plan.
Despite recent attempts to strengthen the councils, across the District they are inconsistently managed and undervalued, and I would like to see this change.
I believe that with a thoughtful, innovative, and collaborative school committee we can improve how the community contributes to shaping the decisions that affect them.
Family Engagement
Oct. 11, 2025 - I believe that my experiences as a parent, a volunteer, and a reporter, will let me draw the community together to expand on our successes – CRLS is like a small college campus – and to address where we fall short – the Achievement Gap begins so early in elementary school that students can’t take full advantage of what the high school has to offer.
Our schools are shaped by School Committee decisions through its three major responsibilities: setting district policies, hiring and evaluating the Superintendent, and approving school funding and the annual budget.
My focus as a committee member would be collaborating with our entire community - families, students, educators, administrators, volunteers, and community groups - to develop and implement fair and equitable district policies.
I would work closely with our diverse and talented school community to ensure our policies provide our students with academic, artistic and athletic opportunities. We need to set high academic expectations, provide the social and emotional supports to help each student thrive, and foster a safe, welcoming, and inclusive school environment.
Family engagement is a key to supporting our students. We need to ensure that families trust that educators and administrators to provide what their child needs when they need it, whether it’s academic enrichment or support, diagnostic testing, IEP and 504 services, or guidance about outside opportunities. The committee can also advocate to support and expand successful initiatives like the Montessori and Immersion programs, or to shut down initiatives that just aren’t working.
There are two structures already in place that I believe can engage our community in the decisions that affect our students – if we have the focus and will to use them.
Our schools are shaped by School Committee decisions through its three major responsibilities: setting district policies, hiring and evaluating the Superintendent, and approving school funding and the annual budget.
My focus as a committee member would be collaborating with our entire community - families, students, educators, administrators, volunteers, and community groups - to develop and implement fair and equitable district policies.
I would work closely with our diverse and talented school community to ensure our policies provide our students with academic, artistic and athletic opportunities. We need to set high academic expectations, provide the social and emotional supports to help each student thrive, and foster a safe, welcoming, and inclusive school environment.
Family engagement is a key to supporting our students. We need to ensure that families trust that educators and administrators to provide what their child needs when they need it, whether it’s academic enrichment or support, diagnostic testing, IEP and 504 services, or guidance about outside opportunities. The committee can also advocate to support and expand successful initiatives like the Montessori and Immersion programs, or to shut down initiatives that just aren’t working.
There are two structures already in place that I believe can engage our community in the decisions that affect our students – if we have the focus and will to use them.
Family Engagement - More Opportunities
- Oct. 13, 2025 - Engaging Families is also being done via many other avenues in our city.
- Family Engagement is a key to supporting our students. We need to ensure that families trust that educators and administrators provide what their child needs when they need it, whether it’s academic support, diagnostic testing, IEP and 504 services, or guidance about outside opportunities. It can also advocate to support and expand successful programs like the Montessori and Immersion programs.
- Here's my initial list for what Family Engagement will look like if I’m elected to the Cambridge School Committee:
- Karen Mapp Family Engagement program rollout per Superintendent's presentation at a school committee
- Independent website for school committee materials including consent agendas, special reports, and tracking the effectiveness of special programs (both practically and financially)
- Office Hours to held by all committee members on a regular basis
- School Visits to be scheduled by all members, including attendance at individual school council meetings
- Invitation to local groups to ask for their insight into policy and program proposals (for instance, the Cambridge Youth Council, upper and high school student governments, school Friends Groups, Cambridge Family of Color Coalition, Cambridge Families of Asian Descent, and many more)
- Afterschool programs (JK-8) that blend activities with academics
- Be inspired by successful school or district programs outside of Cambridge, like the NYC Dream Squad program
- Parent-to-parent mentoring program to help new families understand how the district functions
- Ask educators what skills and approaches they would like to learn and apply in their classrooms, ensuring targeted professional development that works
- Deploy staff including paraprofessionals to classrooms where they’re needed
The Superintendent Search Drama
Sept. 15, 2025 - Yes, drama. While local media covered the Superintendent search, it was The Boston Globe that asked what many of us were thinking: Why was this process so chaotic? Coverage - including our local newspapers - highlighted a very public disagreement among School Committee incumbents over who was responsible for vetting candidates, sparked by a finalist who reportedly lost $750,000 in a crypto scam and sued his bank (Boston Globe: Cambridge superintendent finalist lost $750,000 on a crypto ‘scam,’ then sued his bank).
Then came more headlines after this week’s vote to appoint our interim Superintendent permanently, with tension around who backed the decision (Boston Globe: After drama, Cambridge School Committee picks interim superintendent to stay in role). The decision to offer Interim Superintendent David Murphy was the culmination of 18 months of turmoil. The school committee hired Greer in July 2021, gave a “proficient” grade at her first evaluation in July 2022, and a “needs improvement” grade in July 2023. In the following months rumors haunted Greer: rash hiring decisions at the administrative and principal levels, a heavy reliance on top-down management, a broken commitment to re-introduce Algebra I in 8thgrade, all raising committee concerns to a high level. In May 2024 the committee voted to dismiss Greer effective in August. In June 2024 CPS Chief Operating Officer Murphy was appointed Interim Superintendent while the committee conducted a search for a new superintendent. But despite months of deliberation, it appears that the committee had no plan. Over the next 18 months community members would cite a lack of community involvement, the hiring of a search firm with no hiring experience, an opaque process that included Non-Disclosure Agreements for search participants, the inadequate vetting of candidates, and a call by the Cambridge Educators Association to demand a new search. Ultimately David Murphy has been offered the Superintendent position; with several years experience in Cambridge he has already had his trial by fire and seems ready to move past the drama and get to work. But let’s be clear: No one elects School Committee members to create this kind of spectacle. With the robust resources available in Massachusetts to support a Superintendent search, this process should have been far more professional and transparent.
The cost to our community was high: public perception that the search was bungled, that community input isn’t important, increased tensions between the CEA and the school committee, and mostly importantly a diversion of time and attention from the issues that face our students and families. When you cast your vote, don’t look at just one candidate – look to the cast of characters. We need a school committee that is committed to listening to students, families and educators to ensure that our schools provide the best education and widest opportunities for all our students. And just as importantly, we need committee members that will work well with each other – drama is fine in the movies but it doesn’t belong in our schools.
Then came more headlines after this week’s vote to appoint our interim Superintendent permanently, with tension around who backed the decision (Boston Globe: After drama, Cambridge School Committee picks interim superintendent to stay in role). The decision to offer Interim Superintendent David Murphy was the culmination of 18 months of turmoil. The school committee hired Greer in July 2021, gave a “proficient” grade at her first evaluation in July 2022, and a “needs improvement” grade in July 2023. In the following months rumors haunted Greer: rash hiring decisions at the administrative and principal levels, a heavy reliance on top-down management, a broken commitment to re-introduce Algebra I in 8thgrade, all raising committee concerns to a high level. In May 2024 the committee voted to dismiss Greer effective in August. In June 2024 CPS Chief Operating Officer Murphy was appointed Interim Superintendent while the committee conducted a search for a new superintendent. But despite months of deliberation, it appears that the committee had no plan. Over the next 18 months community members would cite a lack of community involvement, the hiring of a search firm with no hiring experience, an opaque process that included Non-Disclosure Agreements for search participants, the inadequate vetting of candidates, and a call by the Cambridge Educators Association to demand a new search. Ultimately David Murphy has been offered the Superintendent position; with several years experience in Cambridge he has already had his trial by fire and seems ready to move past the drama and get to work. But let’s be clear: No one elects School Committee members to create this kind of spectacle. With the robust resources available in Massachusetts to support a Superintendent search, this process should have been far more professional and transparent.
The cost to our community was high: public perception that the search was bungled, that community input isn’t important, increased tensions between the CEA and the school committee, and mostly importantly a diversion of time and attention from the issues that face our students and families. When you cast your vote, don’t look at just one candidate – look to the cast of characters. We need a school committee that is committed to listening to students, families and educators to ensure that our schools provide the best education and widest opportunities for all our students. And just as importantly, we need committee members that will work well with each other – drama is fine in the movies but it doesn’t belong in our schools.
Why Run for School Committee?
Sept. 30, 2025 - I’d like to give you all a brief overview of my candidacy, my experience and skills, and if elected, how I would view my role as a school committee member.
I have twin daughters who started junior kindergarten at Martin Luther King Jr. elementary school, then one graduated from the Putnam Avenue Upper School and the other from the Community Charter School of Cambridge, and both are now sophomores at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School high school.
As a family we value education, not only mastering material, but understanding how things work, and why things are the way they are, and that we can change things for the better. Our elementary school experience was stellar, providing caring, exceptional teachers and fostering a close-knit caregiver community, and CRLS has the breadth and depth of academic, athletic, and outside activities that rival the offerings of a small college.
But there are areas where the District can do better. Opportunities are available, but not always offered in an equitable way. On a personal level, District policies have impacted our children, ranging from how a child’s IEP is handled, to supporting a child with a drive to master advanced math, to a lack of communication that may have led to missed opportunities.
I want to help make our District more open, accessible, and transparent for everyone.
On Being a Candidate
Regarding my candidacy, I decided to run after more than a decade of involvement with Cambridge schools. I’ve been active with my children’s schools since they entered JK in 2014. I volunteered with Friends groups, chaired book fairs, helped with the Weekend Backpack Program and Food for Free. I’ve been elected to three school councils (currently serving at CRLS). I was on the working group led by Robin Harris to update the School Council Handbook. I authored the 2025 CRLS Student Guidebook. I was the Education reporter at the Cambridge Day newspaper for over five years ( see a selection of my stories). My teaching experience includes schools in Lahore, Pakistan and Changsha, China.
I’m a professional writer and editor and project manager. Technical writing requires attention to minute detail, tailoring material to reader’s needs, and presenting information clearly. Technical editing requires management skills; I was the lead editor on a $4 million contract, managing a team of writers that worked with computer scientists to create 6,500 pages of technical documentation for a complex computer system.
I was the Managing Editor of the Charlestown Patriot-Bridge newspaper for two years, handling all aspects of its weekly print cycle before I became a reporter for Cambridge Day. While technical writing pays the bills, journalism allows me to be curious, asking the most irritating and illuminating question in the world…Why?
On Being a Committee Member (if elected)
As a reporter it all starts with curiosity. Then it’s a patient game of talking with people with different viewpoints, reviewing documentation, parsing data, and pursuing hints, oblique references, and casual omissions until the puzzle pieces come together to reveal a narrative.
This is what I would bring to the school committee – my ability to talk with people with diverse points of view, my experience in managing projects, and my analytical and communication skills.
I have teaching experience, working abroad in local schools, but I am not a trained educator. As a committee member I would work with those with experience or expertise – students, families, educators, administrators, community groups – to strengthen our schools.
Here’s a small sample of general questions I’d love to analyze:
-- How does the District identify pilots and programs that are effective, equitable, and scalable, and that can be integrated into our school system?-- How can the District best serve its diverse student population, with families from many cultures with a wide range of assumptions and expectations, multiple languages, a range of racial and ethnic identification, vastly different access to economic resources, gender expectations and stereotypes?-- What policies – sometimes referred to as procedures and guidelines – should the District put in place to give teachers the flexibility and autonomy to tailor their instruction to the needs of each student in a specific classroom cohort?-- What types of testing do we conduct, and what do we do with the test results? How do we identify what each student needs, from advanced learners to twice exceptional learners to learners who have fallen behind?-- How does the emphasis we put on tests and test results affect our students, including the stress of testing? Do test results alter students’ perception of their abilities? Their self-worth? How do their peers impose or reflect this perception?
On Being Calm and Telling Stories
Taking a step back from my own candidacy and looking at the election as a voter, I think that each candidate’s philosophy is important – not just the issues they feel passionate about, but how they approach the concerns of students, families, educators, and administrators.
I read a piece in The Atlantic this morning about Jane Goodall, who over the course of a 60 year career revolutionized the study of primates and devoted her life to protecting them. This passage caught my attention:
“Though she regularly acknowledged her anger about the many kinds of suffering she witnessed, she relied on her characteristic composure to win her audience to her cause. “I suppose I was born a fighter, but a fighter in a rather different way from getting out there and being aggressive, because I don’t think that works,” she reflected on her podcast in 2020. “You’ve just got to be calm and tell stories, and get people to change from within.”
This is the kind of person I aspire to be, helping our community change from within, so that the changes we make will last.
I have twin daughters who started junior kindergarten at Martin Luther King Jr. elementary school, then one graduated from the Putnam Avenue Upper School and the other from the Community Charter School of Cambridge, and both are now sophomores at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School high school.
As a family we value education, not only mastering material, but understanding how things work, and why things are the way they are, and that we can change things for the better. Our elementary school experience was stellar, providing caring, exceptional teachers and fostering a close-knit caregiver community, and CRLS has the breadth and depth of academic, athletic, and outside activities that rival the offerings of a small college.
But there are areas where the District can do better. Opportunities are available, but not always offered in an equitable way. On a personal level, District policies have impacted our children, ranging from how a child’s IEP is handled, to supporting a child with a drive to master advanced math, to a lack of communication that may have led to missed opportunities.
I want to help make our District more open, accessible, and transparent for everyone.
On Being a Candidate
Regarding my candidacy, I decided to run after more than a decade of involvement with Cambridge schools. I’ve been active with my children’s schools since they entered JK in 2014. I volunteered with Friends groups, chaired book fairs, helped with the Weekend Backpack Program and Food for Free. I’ve been elected to three school councils (currently serving at CRLS). I was on the working group led by Robin Harris to update the School Council Handbook. I authored the 2025 CRLS Student Guidebook. I was the Education reporter at the Cambridge Day newspaper for over five years ( see a selection of my stories). My teaching experience includes schools in Lahore, Pakistan and Changsha, China.
I’m a professional writer and editor and project manager. Technical writing requires attention to minute detail, tailoring material to reader’s needs, and presenting information clearly. Technical editing requires management skills; I was the lead editor on a $4 million contract, managing a team of writers that worked with computer scientists to create 6,500 pages of technical documentation for a complex computer system.
I was the Managing Editor of the Charlestown Patriot-Bridge newspaper for two years, handling all aspects of its weekly print cycle before I became a reporter for Cambridge Day. While technical writing pays the bills, journalism allows me to be curious, asking the most irritating and illuminating question in the world…Why?
On Being a Committee Member (if elected)
As a reporter it all starts with curiosity. Then it’s a patient game of talking with people with different viewpoints, reviewing documentation, parsing data, and pursuing hints, oblique references, and casual omissions until the puzzle pieces come together to reveal a narrative.
This is what I would bring to the school committee – my ability to talk with people with diverse points of view, my experience in managing projects, and my analytical and communication skills.
I have teaching experience, working abroad in local schools, but I am not a trained educator. As a committee member I would work with those with experience or expertise – students, families, educators, administrators, community groups – to strengthen our schools.
Here’s a small sample of general questions I’d love to analyze:
-- How does the District identify pilots and programs that are effective, equitable, and scalable, and that can be integrated into our school system?-- How can the District best serve its diverse student population, with families from many cultures with a wide range of assumptions and expectations, multiple languages, a range of racial and ethnic identification, vastly different access to economic resources, gender expectations and stereotypes?-- What policies – sometimes referred to as procedures and guidelines – should the District put in place to give teachers the flexibility and autonomy to tailor their instruction to the needs of each student in a specific classroom cohort?-- What types of testing do we conduct, and what do we do with the test results? How do we identify what each student needs, from advanced learners to twice exceptional learners to learners who have fallen behind?-- How does the emphasis we put on tests and test results affect our students, including the stress of testing? Do test results alter students’ perception of their abilities? Their self-worth? How do their peers impose or reflect this perception?
On Being Calm and Telling Stories
Taking a step back from my own candidacy and looking at the election as a voter, I think that each candidate’s philosophy is important – not just the issues they feel passionate about, but how they approach the concerns of students, families, educators, and administrators.
I read a piece in The Atlantic this morning about Jane Goodall, who over the course of a 60 year career revolutionized the study of primates and devoted her life to protecting them. This passage caught my attention:
“Though she regularly acknowledged her anger about the many kinds of suffering she witnessed, she relied on her characteristic composure to win her audience to her cause. “I suppose I was born a fighter, but a fighter in a rather different way from getting out there and being aggressive, because I don’t think that works,” she reflected on her podcast in 2020. “You’ve just got to be calm and tell stories, and get people to change from within.”
This is the kind of person I aspire to be, helping our community change from within, so that the changes we make will last.
Book Fairs and Blank Checks
Sept. 6, 2025 - My kids entered Cambridge’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. elementary school as junior kindergarteners in 2014.
At the time we started at MLK, several parents revitalized the school’s Friends group. They registered MLK Friends as a non-profit to raise money to fund teacher initiatives and student activities, and created a strong and welcoming group of parent volunteers.
An annual highlight of the year was the MLK Friends-sponsored Book Fair.
I helped chair the annual book fair for several years. It was always a fun event, bringing together students, families, teachers, and local supporters to celebrate our love of reading. Note that MLK has a diverse student population, and that MLK offers its students two types of Mandarin Chinese: an immersion program, and Ni Hao, a standard language class program.
We brought together three vendors when possible: Scholastic Books for a wide range of English books, China Sprout for Chinese books, and with our school’s Family Liaison, the Frugal Bookstore for additional BIPOC children's books, reflecting the diverse, multilingual, and engaged spirit of MLK.
The students were always excited to preview the books and plan which ones they wanted to take home. The fair brought in many parents and caregivers to volunteer, setting up the fair, helping the younger students choose books, and manning the cash registers. Teachers created book wish lists and made book recommendations for different reading levels and interests.
But what if a child’s family budget didn’t account for buying new books?
MLK Friends created a generous fund to ensure that no student would leave the book fair empty-handed. To avoid any social awkwardness, I created faux bank “checks” for this fund. The checks were distributed to teachers, who knew best which students might need financial help to buy books (this was before online accounts became common). Teachers gave students the checks as needed to pay for the books they wanted when their class visited the book fair. The caregivers at the registers knew that if a child’s armful of books went over the check amount, there was always wiggle-room when it came to the total cost.
This meant that there was no discernible difference among students for the books they could choose or how they paid for them. It was personally gratifying to see all the kids so excited to bring the books they owned home, to read whenever they wanted.
And it's to the credit of the school community for making the book fair an event that connected the community on so many levels.
At the time we started at MLK, several parents revitalized the school’s Friends group. They registered MLK Friends as a non-profit to raise money to fund teacher initiatives and student activities, and created a strong and welcoming group of parent volunteers.
An annual highlight of the year was the MLK Friends-sponsored Book Fair.
I helped chair the annual book fair for several years. It was always a fun event, bringing together students, families, teachers, and local supporters to celebrate our love of reading. Note that MLK has a diverse student population, and that MLK offers its students two types of Mandarin Chinese: an immersion program, and Ni Hao, a standard language class program.
We brought together three vendors when possible: Scholastic Books for a wide range of English books, China Sprout for Chinese books, and with our school’s Family Liaison, the Frugal Bookstore for additional BIPOC children's books, reflecting the diverse, multilingual, and engaged spirit of MLK.
The students were always excited to preview the books and plan which ones they wanted to take home. The fair brought in many parents and caregivers to volunteer, setting up the fair, helping the younger students choose books, and manning the cash registers. Teachers created book wish lists and made book recommendations for different reading levels and interests.
But what if a child’s family budget didn’t account for buying new books?
MLK Friends created a generous fund to ensure that no student would leave the book fair empty-handed. To avoid any social awkwardness, I created faux bank “checks” for this fund. The checks were distributed to teachers, who knew best which students might need financial help to buy books (this was before online accounts became common). Teachers gave students the checks as needed to pay for the books they wanted when their class visited the book fair. The caregivers at the registers knew that if a child’s armful of books went over the check amount, there was always wiggle-room when it came to the total cost.
This meant that there was no discernible difference among students for the books they could choose or how they paid for them. It was personally gratifying to see all the kids so excited to bring the books they owned home, to read whenever they wanted.
And it's to the credit of the school community for making the book fair an event that connected the community on so many levels.
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