Richard Gilman
George Citron and Barbara Starrett
Richard Gilman, a Tucsonan who became publisher of the Boston Globe and today advocates for a better education for all kids, will address the SaddleBrooke Freethinkers Club on Sunday, January 22, 2017 at the HOA 2 MountainView Ballroom at 10:00 a.m. Coffee social starts at 9:30 a.m.
His topic will be Public Education is a Public Trust.
Arizona has responded to the crisis in education by ever expanding the limits of school choice under the guise of “parents know best.” But with such choices already rampant, Gilman questions whether expanding them even further is really the best use of taxpayer money.
Gilman grew up in Tucson, graduated from the University of Arizona and started a 35-year newspaper career as a reporter and an editor of the Arizona Daily Star. After earning an MBA from Harvard, he worked his way through a variety of management positions to become senior vice president of operations of The New York Times and then in 1999 was named publisher of the Boston Globe. The Globe won three Pulitzer Prizes under his leadership, including the coveted gold medal for Public Service for the paper’s investigation into the cover-up of widespread sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in the Boston Archdiocese. The reporting of that story was just made into the movie Spotlight, which this year won the Academy Award for best picture. In retirement, Gilman has studied public policy in Arizona from a data-driven perspective and in recent years he has turned all of his attention to education. His website, Bringing Up Arizona, advocates for a better education for all children.
No matter how one looks at the numbers, Gilman has found too many kids in Arizona are struggling to learn. He draws upon the experience of educators, his own examination of schools that are and aren’t succeeding and insights derived from a mountain of data to advocate for kids through website reports, speeches and behind-the-scenes campaigning.
SaddleBrooke Freethinkers provides a forum for the responsible search for truth and meaning in understanding the universe and in understanding and solving human problems by applying science and reason. The SaddleBrooke community is cordially invited to attend Freethinkers meetings at 10:00 a.m. usually on the fourth Sunday of each month October through April. Attendees are encouraged to arrive by 9:30 a.m. for pre-meeting coffee and fellowship. While attendance is free, we ask for a $2 donation to defray costs.
Information about SaddleBrooke Freethinkers, upcoming presentations and programs, is at www.sbfreethinkers.wordpress.com. For questions or to be added to the email list, please send your contact information to: [email protected].
Freethinkers encourage attendees to bring nonperishable foods items and cash donations to the meetings to support the Tri-Community Food Bank.