Johan Lindborg is new to the School Committee ballot this year, but his interest in Lexington Public Schools dates back many years. He and his wife chose to move to the area in 2011 after their research showed the SAT scores at Lexington High School were the best in the state.
“Every parent thinks schools are important for our kids, but I have two kids and my youngest son has Down Syndrome, which is a challenge in itself. So I wanted verification that there were excellent schools and help for him in whatever way we would need.”
Originally from Sweden, Lindborg notes that whether in Sweden or the US, parental engagement in schools is paramount to see the best results with kids. This brings him to the two key points for his candidacy: transparency and focus on academic performance.
“In terms of transparency, my goal is that if a parent asks ‘What does the curriculum look like? What material are you using to teach the kids?’ they would just type up an email and send it to you. Everything’s electronic nowadays.”
“The second one is academic performance, which is one reason we picked the Lexington school system. We want to have an excellent education here! And there are, I think, strides to be made. If you look, for instance, at the recent debate on learning to read, you see that over the years 15 percent of kids in Lexington schools are not reading to grade level. If that’s the same year after year, I think we need to challenge that and see what we can do differently.”
Lindborg was one of the many Lexington residents who attended the public School Committee meeting on Serious Talks in August 2023. Unhappy with what he describes as “college course” content and “20 hours” of time said to be allotted to the Serious Talks curriculum, he was motivated to get involved. During the meeting, he says “The school administration said point blank: ‘We will not tell you what we tell the kids.’ I find that unacceptable.”
One of the School Committee’s key responsibilities is to help set policy, while the superintendent implements the curriculum with the teaching staff. But Lindborg wonders, “Is the current school committee asking the right questions?”
From refining what he calls the middle school “meeting expectations” grading system to being more open with who can take honors or AP classes, Lindborg has specific suggestions for improvement. “Not everyone is going to be a Nobel Prize Laureate, but you can still make them successful. There should be flexibility depending on the ability and the desire of each student. And if you have a successful student you have a happy student.”
More broadly, he noted the need to identify underperforming subgroups of students, understand the causes, and implement plans to address their challenges at the local level.
As a parent of a special needs child, he highlights issues such as separating special needs children when they reach the high school level, which he believes is detrimental. He adds that his son is “a little bit of a local celebrity” and when they walk together downtown, classmates often come up to say hi or share that they were his son’s reading buddy. He believes his son has benefited from learning in the general education setting and wants to continue that inclusion on a case-by-case basis. “I know from my own son that certain subjects, he can be included, and then there are certain subjects he cannot be. But the overall goal at least should be to try to have inclusion as much as you can.”
With a marketing background in the pharmaceutical industry specializing in neurological diseases, he has brought his personal experience to bear by launching an online coffee company, T21Coffee, with his family, which donates $1 per sold item to Down Syndrome organizations and promotes “inclusivity through the employment of individuals with Down Syndrome whenever possible.”
Lindborg sees Lexington as a “pro-education” town. He wants to see the Lexington education system “get back to basics and focus on academic performance and put our resources there.”
Learn more at https://www.lindborg-for-school-committee.com/
I have 3 grandsons in the Lexington school system. They are doing well. I support what you are saying.
Thank you Johan for running. It is important to have a diversity of thought on our school committee – keeping balance, listening to parents and maintaining open communication. It has been very disappointing to see how the town has shut down discussions on Serious Talks.