More high school coverage

Today's Lowell Sun has a rundown of last night's special Town Meeting. Joe Wilkie of the Friends of a New Dracut High School warned against complacency in the lead-up to Monday's vote:

Joe Wilkie, chairman of Friends of a New Dracut High School, knows only his supporters showed up to the Special Town Meeting and the opposition stayed home. He's worried about that silent opposition, the residents who question the need to temporarily raise taxes during tough economic times to cover the renovation project.

His group's answer is 75 volunteers already committed to running a grass-roots Election Day get-out-the-vote effort with phone calls, text messages and signs, and Wilkie is already busy recruiting more.

"We hope to energize parents. We hope to energize people who haven't been involved in the process before," said Wilkie outside the high school after the vote. He passed out reusable blue bags from Friends of a New Dracut High School urging residents to "Vote Yes" in Monday's election.

There was certainly a lot of excitement last night. The Sun's description of the meeting as more of a pep rally is true. I was in the overflow room and almost every single person in there was in their 30's or 40's (i.e. parents). I just hope going forward, these folks stay engaged in town politics. We always need new blood and a better, more engaged civil society in town.