April 30, 2007
Mass. Ed. Commissioner Driscoll Visits BMR High School
State Education Chief to Retire in June
BLACKSTONE….Dr. David P. Driscoll, Massachusetts’ Commissioner of Education visited Blackstone-Millville Regional High School during a whirlwind tour of area public schools on Monday. Driscoll, accompanied by State Representative Jennifer M. Callahan (D-18 th Worcester) and Everett B. Campbell, BMR school district superintendent was greeted by BMRHS principal Richard A. Porter. “Any time a leader of Commissioner Driscoll’s stature is interested in what we are doing here at BMR, I am more than willing to showcase our efforts in education and beyond” said Porter.
Commissioner Driscoll was greeted by the award-winning BMR “Chargers Jazz Band” who played Bistro Latino under the direction of Russell Arnold.
Senior class officers lead by class president Mary Ambacher greeted Driscoll as did class advisor and faculty member Lisa Demers. The school’s chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) lead by president Matthew Chamberlin also greeted the Commissioner along with Stefanie Anderson, faculty advisor.
Lead by Porter, Driscoll was lead through part of the BMRHS facility, stopping at the Adobe Photoshop class of Mark Juba where students Brittany Drane and Sarah Brown were giving presentations to their classmates on the assigned project of “self-portraits.” Both junior class members were nonpulsed with the additional observers of the 22 nd Commissioner of Education, the district’s superintendent, assistant superintendent Kathleen A. Montagano, Rep. Callahan and Porter. “This was a good project to show off the program’s capacity and the students’ skills” said Juba. “I wasn’t nervous” said Brown “I’m glad he (Driscoll) was able to see what we’re doing in class” said Brown, 17 of Blackstone.
Next, the group visited the Construction II class of industrial arts instructor Thomas Sullivan. “The Commissioner observed students working on building a model kitchen and looked at the model bath room that students had built last year” said Sullivan. “He was impressed that most of the materials were donated or were paid for with Lampin grant money. Together with Mr. Porter and Mr. Campbell, we discussed how students were fortunate to get this type of construction experience at BMR” Sullivan added.
Blackstone-Millville Regional High School was established in 1970. It consists of students from the towns of Blackstone and Millville, is located at 175 Lincoln Street in Blackstone, Massachusetts and is accredited by the New England Association of Schools & Colleges.
