State education czar to address Chamber breakfast meeting

By Nicole Martinez - The Daily Item
Wednesday, November 8, 2006

LYNN - State Commissioner of Education David P. Driscoll is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at Thursday's Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting.

Driscoll, along with the Lynn Literacy Task Force and the chamber, will be attending the 7:30 a.m., breakfast meeting at the Porthole restaurant.

"I think it's a great opportunity to have the commissioner come in and talk about important education issues for Lynn," Chamber Executive Director Kevin Donahue said. "It's a good opportunity for our chamber members to get up to speed on education issues in Lynn and around the state."

The visit will also come upon the recent announcement of Driscoll's retirement.
"By all accounts, the commissioner has done a great job in his tenure," Donahue said. "And we're looking for him to say some positive things about what has happened in Lynn over the last few years."

The Lynn Literacy Task Force is composed of community organizations with representation from Lynn Public Schools, the chamber, North Shore Community College and the North Shore Workforce Investment Board. Their goals include promoting and developing an effective literacy center of activities to educate residents, increase workers' skills and advance families to self-sufficiency.

Driscoll joined U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy in September for the second annual Lynn Area Chamber Literacy and Education Breakfast, where members took the opportunity to invite him back to touch upon other educational issues related to Lynn.

"He has a very important message like Kennedy had, and we wanted to give him the opportunity to speak about them," Donahue said. "We're hoping he'll touch on the issues such as early childhood education, adult basic education, MCAS, and some other important things that are happening in the city."

The event is open to public,with tickets costing $20.