Lobbying at age 8, She asks legislators for Metco funding

[Ian David]

March 23, 2007

Third-grader Melissa Solomon bounds out of bed when her alarm rings at 5:30 a.m., ready for the hourlong ride on a big, yellow bus from her Dorchester home to her elementary school in Lexington.

Melissa, one of 3,285 students enrolled in the program run by the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, visited the State House yesterday as part of an annual effort to lobby the Legislature for more money to run the 40-year-old voluntary school desegregation program.

The program buses black, Hispanic, and Asian students in Boston and Springfield to suburban schools.

Melissa, 8, has been a Metco student since the first grade at Lexington's Maria Hastings Elementary School.

She wrote a letter to Governor Deval Patrick as part of an essay contest.

<snip>

"I greet my Spanish, Korean, Chinese and Armenian friends," she wrote. "I am not afraid to approach anyone who looks different from me and start a conversation."

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/03/23/lobbying_at_age_8/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+City%2FRegion+News

[fasttense]

1. Melissa Solomon is an admirable girl.

In rural areas, hour long bus rides are the rule and not the exception. I never understood why parents got all upset over their children being bussed because of desegregation. When I was a child and lived in rural PA, we had an hour, sometimes an hour and half, bus ride. It allowed me to catch up on my homework.

Sounds like Melissa has the right stuff. I hope she gets to continue at her school.

[Marrah_G]

2. Growing up Metco kids were the only black faces in my school.

I think in my freshman year a black family finally moved into town. I remember those kids being very smart and very driven. It just sucks they had to travel so far for a good education. I think for my town they were a great addition, they shattered stereotypes especially with the younger people, creating a generation with less fear of other races.