My Turn: More kudos for Mostue

(Editor’s note: see also this appreciation of Mostue by Lincoln’s Nancy Marshall.)

By Radha Raman Gargeya

You all know Patty Mostue. Around here, service in cause of public education has another name: it is Patty Mostue. She was a Lincoln Public Schools School Committee member for six years. Now, she is completing 15 years as a Lincoln-Sudbury Regional School Committee member. As a former L-S School Committee member, this is what I know of Patty.

At School Committee meetings, her comments and questions are incisive, offer information, and are effortlessly yet precisely crafted. Everyone leaves the discussion well-informed and full of thought. She has a deft sense of humor. When I grow up, I want to be Patty Mostue.

Patty led the committee at L-S as chair and vice chair over many years. She led us and taught us by the power of example. Most of the time, she let her work speak. She prepared the most thorough L-S performance report. It is unrivaled and still the only one of its kind at L-S. She studied, with the help of various administrators, the incoming students from Sudbury and Lincoln, how they performed at L-S, and how they were placed upon high school graduation.

She was on the Negotiations Subcommittee several times. She gathered the contracts of comparable school districts, researched them, analyzed them, and presented her findings to the rest of the subcommittee. Her work was invaluable. She served on the Policy Subcommittee, Evaluation Subcommittee, and Safety Review Subcommittee amongst many others.

No document ever written by any one for the school escaped Patty’s insistence on clarity of thought, expression, and, of course, grammar. Some of us have the scars to show. It made us better the next time we wrote or spoke.

Patty is a strong supporter of the METCO educational program for students from Boston. She is a great champion of students with special needs. She is respected in Sudbury, Boston, and of course, in Lincoln and at Lincoln-Sudbury High School.

These are but a few examples of many such efforts by Patty — the hallmarks being hard work, thorough preparation, and excellent presentation. Through her example, she trained many other School Committee members — not in a formal way, but by kindling the desire to be better at what one does.

So, the question to ask is why? Why does Patty work so hard and so effectively? The answer is simple: her love and care that our children learn at great public schools that are a bit better tomorrow than they are today.

For her gift of love for education, I am very thankful. I trust the communities of Boston, Sudbury, and Lincoln are grateful. Patty would say that the students need not thank her — just be good students, good people, and good citizens.

Radha Raman Gargeya of Sudbury was a member of the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional School Committee from 2007–2019.

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