Dr. Thomas Payzant, Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools since 1995; Assistant Secretary, United States Department of Education (1993-1995)

Thursday, May 11, 2006 at 6:30 p.m.
Old South Meeting House

Dr. Payzant, Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools for the past ten years, takes a hard look at the role of public schools in serving the common good. Is an increasingly negative view of government that has been growing in American society at odds with the expectations for what public schools must accomplish? Are public school districts asked to do too much? Is there an intimate connection between the compelling issues of social justice and the role of public schools, and is this connection more at risk today than any time in the past hundred years? Dr. Payzant will draw upon forty years of working to improve teaching and learning in public education to examine these and other questions.