Have a Blessed & Happy New Year! Ha Vol. 33, No.52 -FREEwww.adv advocatenew .net t Free Every Friday ~ IN APPRECIATION ~ It was always about the kids: retiring School Board leaders Carol Tye and Michael Ferrante talk past, present and future of city’s schools By Barbara Taormina T he Revere School Committee is heading into 2024 with fresh faces and new ideas but without the steady leadership and experience of longtime members Carol Tye and Michael Ferrante, who both retired this year. Tye began her career with Revere Public Schools in 1959 as a 781-286-8500 Friday, December 29, 2023 A Year in Review – Looking Back at 2023 both look forward to seeing a new high school. Tye and Ferrante served on the committee during a time of signifi cant growth in Revere and change in education and schools. "It's like night and day, I can't even explain it," said Ferrante about the diff erence between his fi rst and fi nal years on the committee. Tye said there have been changes in education with science and technology taking the spotlight, but changes with students, not so much. "They are still wonderful, chalCAROL TYE MICHAEL FERRANTE student teacher at Garfi eld Middle school and never left. Ferrante followed in the footsteps of his dad, Manny, and left a seat on the City Council to run for the School Committee in 2000. Both Tye and Ferrante are pleased to leave a legacy of fi ve new schools for the city and lenging, interesting and needy," she said. " What's in young hearts and minds has stayed the same over the years." Back in 2000, when Ferrante fi rst ran for a seat on the committee, he had children in city schools. "I wanted to see how things SCHOOL | SEE Page 15 Global Petroleum donates shirts to Police Activities League holiday basketball tournament athletes VICTORY NIGHT: Shown with his wife, Jennifer, and his mother, Lucia Keefe, Mayor-Elect Patrick Keefe, Jr. celebrated his win at a local restaurant on Election Night in November. By Barbara Taormina THANK YOU: Global Lee Burbank Highway Terminal Manager Mike Lally, in center, donated tournament shirts. Shown from left to right: Sgt. Joseph Internicola, Ward 2 City Councillor Ira Novoselsky, Global terminal manager Mike Lally, State Rep. Jeff rey Turco and Police Activities League Director Kris Oldoni. or much of 2023, Revere news was dominated by the municipal election. Former Mayor Brian Arrigo made it clear he wasn’t interested in a third term, and in April he left Revere to take a job as the Commissioner of the Department of Conservation & Recreation (DCR). Ward 4 Councillor and City Council President Patrick Keefe stepped into the role of acting mayor, and the race for the offi ce opened up and engulfed four sitting city councillors, including Keefe. Councillors-at-Large Steven Morabito, Gerry Visconti, Dan Rizzo and Keefe competed in the Preliminary Election, which ended with a two-man race between Keefe and Rizzo. The election divided the city and left four seats open on the City Council, which was changed signifi cantly with Ward 6 Councillor Richard Serino also deciding not to run for another term and Ward 5 Councillor John Powers losing his seat to Angela Guarino-Sawaya. The candidates said the 2023 races were positive and civil, but that didn’t seem to always be the case. Rizzo complained that some of his supporters were harassed by the Keefe camp, and there was a lot of tense back and forth between Keefe and Rizzo during their public debates. Ultimately, Keefe won the offi ce by a 360vote margin and he survived a recount requested by Rizzo. One issue that made the mayoral campaign so contentious was the new high school. Keefe F favored the original plan to build the school at Wonderland. Rizzo was part of a City Council push to study the possibility of building the school on the existing site. Councillors were deeply concerned about the school’s $500,000,000 price tag and help from the Mass. School Building Authority (MSBA), and those concerns were exacerbated when the former owners of Wonderland, CBW Lending LLC, which the city took by eminent domain, announced early in the year that they were suing the city for $100 million. The year ended with the council viewing designs for a four-, fi ve- and six-story high school on the existing site and warnings about potential costly infrastructure repairs that will need to be done. Some residents who favored the Wonderland site for the school are hopeful the new City Council will vote to return to that plan. But the high school wasn’t the only building project that made some news in 2023. The Public Works Department fi nally got a long-awaited new garage on Charger Street. The new facility will have the space for the department to work and store vehicles. In May, the city broke ground for the long-promised Point of Pines Fire Station, which will not only provide emergency services but will also house a community room for voting and meetings for the Point of Pines neigh2023 RACES | SEE Page 19 BASKETBALL | SEE Page 14
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