THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, September 20, 2024 Page 13 AI or Not? An interactive, multigenerational workshop on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2-4 p.m at the Malden Public Library. J oin us for a unique, multigenerational workshop exploring the impact and implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in our daily lives. We will discuss beneficial, real-world applications and how to safeguard against the risks posed by AI-enabled deep fakes, scams and misinformation. Registration is required. Register at https://bit.ly/malden-ai Contact the library if you have questions: 781-324-0218. Clean Water Action to honor MHS student and teacher at annual event M alden High School junior Christina Mui will be given Clean Water Action’s 2024 Youth Leadership Award for her passionate dedication to environmental justice as part of the Spring 2024 class of Clean Water Action’s Youth Action Collaborative. Alongside Christina, Malden High environmental science teacher Kathy Maglio will receive the 2024 Youth Engagement Award. On September 25 the awards will be given at Clean Water Action’s annual Fall Celebration at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation. Massachusetts’ Climate Chief, Melissa Hoffer, will deliver the keynote address. “Christina Mui inspired everyone with her passion for environmental organizing and her belief in the power of her voice to inspire others to take action,” said Clean Water Action’s Youth Engagement Program Manager, Omesa Mokaya. “And Kathy Maglio provided unwavering support and mentorship to the students in our Youth Action Collaborative. These awards honor their leadership in building the program for future students.” Additional 2024 awardees are listed below. Clean Wa~ Op-Ed ~ Statement from Senator Lewis on the MCAS Ballot Question I will be voting in favor of Ballot Question 2 that will end the requirement that a student must achieve a minimum score on the 10th grade MCAS exams in order to receive a Massachusetts high school diploma. I also intend to file legislation in January (at the start of the new legislative session) to implement an alternative, non-test-based, consistent and rigorous statewide graduation standard. Standardized tests like MCAS provide important and useful data about student learning and progress. Regardless of the outcome of Question 2, MCAS will continue to be administered in Massachusetts public schools, including in Grade 10. However, standardized tests are imperfect and cannot measure the full scope of skills, knowledge, and competencies that we want to develop in our young people and are critical for their future success. Standardized tests also pose particular challenges for students with disabilities and students who are not native English speakers. Research has shown that test scores are highly correlated with student demographics, like family income. I believe we can improve and strengthen our public education system for all students, especially disadvantaged students, if we replace the MCAS graduation requirement with a more holistic graduation standard. The legislation I will be filing will require all students (with certain exceptions) to complete MassCore, a recommended set of courses for high school students. MassCore was adopted by the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in 2007 and is currently recommended for all students, but not required. Requiring completion of MassCore in order to receive a high school diploma would strengthen course offerings across all high schools, ensure that all students are receiving a rigorous education, and provide a consistent statewide graduation standard. My legislation will also consider other ways to encourage high-quality student learning experiences, like capstone projects, service learning, vocational/technical education, advanced coursework, and work-based learning. In drafting this legislation, I will be consulting with a wide variety of stakeholders and listening to the voices of students, parents, teachers, and school administrators. Moving away from a graduation requirement based on standardized test scores and replacing it with course requirements and other richer student learning experiences would also align Massachusetts with the vast majority of other states. State Senator Jason Lewis Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Education Beacon Hill Roll Call By Bob Katzen GET A FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO MASSTERLIST – Join more than 22,000 people, from movers and shakers to political junkies and interested citizens, who start their weekday morning with MASSterList—the popular newsletter that chronicles news and informed analysis about what’s going on up on Beacon Hill, in Massachusetts politics, policy, media and influence. The stories are drawn from major news organizations as well as specialized publications. MASSterlist will be e-mailed to you FREE every Monday through Friday morning and will give you a leg up on what’s happening in the blood sport of Bay State politics. For more information and to get your free subscription, go to: https://massterlist.com/subscribe/ THE HOUSE AND SENATE: There were no roll calls in the House or Senate last week. This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call reports on the percentage of times local senators voted with their party’s leadership in the 2024 session through September 13. Beacon Hill Roll Call uses 124 votes from the 2024 Senate session as the basis for this report. This includes all roll calls that were not on local issues. The votes of the 34 Democrats were compared to Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Creem (D-Newton), second-in-command in the Senate. We could not compare the Democrats’ votes to those of Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) because, by tradition, the Senate president rarely votes. Fourteen (41.1 percent) of the 34 Democrats voted with Creem 100 percent of the time. SevenBHRC| SEE PAGE 14 ter Action gives two awards in honor of John O’Connor, a much-beloved activist in the Massachusetts environmental community who died in 2001. John founded, led and supported many environmental health organizations and campaigns, and he is remembered for his love of organizing and his deep appreciation of Clean Water Action’s canvass teams. • John O’Connor Grassroots Leadership Award – Truro Community Kitchen: This nonprofit group fights food insecurity by delivering free meals to Truro residents. It is being honored for preventing thousands of pieces of single-use trash by serving meals in reusable containers as part of Clean Water Action’s ReThink Disposable campaign. • John O’Connor Canvassing Award – Julia Scalera: She is Clean Water Action’s Northampton Field Canvass Director and is being honored for her five years of organizing with Clean Water Action, during which she trained and mentored hundreds of firsttime advocates, creating a legacy of empowered grassroots activists across Massachusetts. • Clean Water Champion – Sofia Owen: She is Senior Attorney and Director of Environmental Justice Legal Services for Alternatives for Community & Environment. She is being honored for fighting for Environmental Justice communities and for steadfast leadership as a Co-Convener of the Massachusetts Environmental Justice Legislative Table. • Legislative Champions – Massachusetts House Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Kate Hogan, State Senator Michael Moore, State Senator Julian Cyr and State Representative Jim Hawkins: Clean Water Action’s three Legislative Champions are being honored for successfully leading the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to ban toxic PFAS in firefighters’ turnout gear in 2024. • Lifetime Achievement Award – Liz Harriman: She is a former Deputy Director of the Toxics Use Reduction Institute and is being honored for 32 years of strategic and effective leadership in reducing the use of toxic chemicals in Massachusetts. For more information about the event, including tickets and sponsorships, please visit cleanwater.org/ma-fall.
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