HOW MANYÖ?  I was very pleased when the editor asked me to write a piece on Carol Love’s time on the Duxbury School Committee.  Certainly her dedication and commitment to the children of this community over the past eleven years should be recognized.  But how could I make people understand how extraordinary her service has been? 

How many School Committee meetings?  Just the regular meetings alone would be in excess of 150.  How many curriculum nights, band concerts, parent meetings on topics such as MCAS, plays, orientations, teacher convocations, retirement parties, and others far too numerous to mention?  There is no way to calculate this.  How many meetings with other town officials on issues including budget, skate board park, use of fields, supporting the town library project, and coffee hours on the school facility project?  There is no way to know.  How many hours spent on the phone with concerned parents and citizens on a myriad of issues regarding the schools and our students?  And all of this while there was still supper to be made, her own children to be helped with homework, and a successful business to run.  There is no way to tell. 

And for Carol just the usual school committee duties were not enough.  She was on the budget and negotiations subcommittees and was chairman of the School Committee for five years.  So add on  many more meetings with the superintendent, town manager, finance and fiscal advisory committees and the teachers’ association.  How many occasions at which she represented the Committee at dedications, Duxbury Education Foundation events, functions sponsored by the Interfaith Council and the AFS and the Partridge Academy and many more worthy organizations which support our students?

How many difficult issues did she help us to address, always listening patiently, offering her guidance, and her passion for education and opportunities for all?   How many hours did she spend doing her homework and preparing herself to make an informed decision?  How many times was she subjected to criticism for her entirely volunteer efforts because, after all, no one can please everyone all of the time?

School Committee service is an extraordinary commitment of time and effort and energy and caring.  Some might think it a thankless job but it is never that.  Carol Love has done the work as well as any and better than most.  Her reward was positively touching the lives of an average of 3,000 students a year, 33,000 in her career. Carol’s reward was not fame or glory or financial reward, but the improvement of educational opportunity for the children of Duxbury.  Any one of us would be very proud of such a contribution and we owe her a great debt. 

ñ Eileen Williams, School Superintendent