More than 125 participants attended “Growing Up in Somerville,” the Somerville Family Learning Collaborative’s first night of health, wellness and parenting workshops for caregivers of Somerville children, birth to high school age. Families representing Somerville’s diverse community came together to share in learning about raising healthy children. The evening began with opening remarks from Somerville Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper, who highlighted the importance of focusing on the whole child.

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

Dear Somervillians,

I would like to start a conversation regarding what I consider an issue in our beloved city: the significant amount of trash along the commuter rail line in East Somerville in a particular spot by the intersection of Walnut and Gilman Streets. I am not just talking about small pieces of plastic (which people should appropriately dispose anyway): I am talking about large pieces of furniture and similar items (hard to miss if you run or walk on Walnut St.).

By Josie Grove

While State Senator Patricia Jehlen contends that most elderly caregivers are doing good work, special efforts ought to be made to weed out and punish the bad ones.

There were over 7,000 confirmed cases of elder abuse in 2015, according to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs. The count includes physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, neglect by a caregiver, self-neglect, and financial exploitation. If abuse is reported, the EOEA investigates the report, and protective services can intervene.

~Photos by Claudia Ferro

The Duhamel Education Initiative’s 20th Annual Pancake Breakfast to support Somerville Public Schools took place on Saturday, April 2 at the First Church Congregational in Somerville.

Veteran educator brings nearly 2 decades of public school leadership experience

Alexander Mathews, a veteran public school leader in Boston, will be joining the Somerville Public Schools as the next Principal of the, announced Superintendent Mary Skipper.  Mr. Mathews is in his fifth year as Principal of the Boston Public School’s Sarah Greenwood K-8 School in Dorchester, and assumes the Argenziano School leadership position beginning in July 2016. Mr. Mathews succeeds Barbara O’Brien who announced her retirement earlier this year after six years as Principal of the Argenziano School and 45 years of employment with the Somerville Public Schools.

By Sal Ghamo

The Cambridge Health Alliance and the Somerville Police Department are both developing programs that will potentially lead to more effective drug addiction recovery methods.

It doesn’t matter if you come from a wealthy family or a poverty stricken one, anyone can be a victim of the detrimental effects that drugs have when abused. The increase in addiction and the long lasting effects of opioid abuse is just as evident in colleges as it is in prisons.

By Haley ED Houseman

Rachel Estapa’s More to Love Yoga classes are bringing body acceptance awareness to the realm of personal fitness and health.

To the uninitiated, yoga can seem the purview only of fitness gurus twisting themselves into pretzels, or pushing up into handstands. While yoga classes fall across a wide spectrum of practice, from quiet mediation to more intense and sweaty bikram, classes and their teachers are usually one size fits all. Rachel Estapa is on a mission to bring the benefits of yoga to all kind of bodies. Her classes, called More to Love Yoga, are geared toward an audience that doesn’t feature in the considerations of most yoga classes, where practitioners can be intimidatingly flexible and fit.

Odd/even parking started last week on April Fool’s Day, and will go through to December 31. Those Traffic and Parking people will be walking around handing out tickets, so watch the signs on the various streets for the day your street is earmarked for street cleaning.

The Somerville Democratic City Committee’s Reorganization Meeting and Caucus took place on Sunday, April 3 at Somerville High School.

By Joseph Hannigan

This past Sunday, the Somerville Democratic City Committee’s Reorganization Meeting and Caucus was held at Somerville High School. Approximately 100 Democratic Party members were in attendance, representing all seven wards in Somerville.

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Every spring and fall, I make a point to go through my spice and dry goods cabinet looking for soon to be expired items, rearrange products and take inventory. A couple of weeks ago I found a pannetone leftover from Christmas. Not wanting to waste it, I came up with this great recipe that can be used for part of your brunch menu. I like to serve this bread pudding with crème anglaise. You can make your own crème anglaise, but I found it much easier to purchase my favorite vanilla ice cream and let it melt down. That sure beats purchasing all the ingredients and having to cook down the cream, eggs, sugar and vanilla extract.