This past year's average standardized test scores show a marked improvement on almost all levels.

"The attitude seems to have changed a bit," says Colin Riley, a public relations representative from B.U.

"The criticism has reduced sharply," he says. This is due in part to the appointment of Diane Lam as the first Latino Superintendant in the state. In addition, B.U. points repeatedly to the work of Marta Rosa, who was the first Hispanic member of the community to be elected to the school commitee.

Persistent Criticism

But Donald Menzie, former president of the Chelsea Teacher's Union, paints a very different picture of B.U.'s influence on the public school system.

"The morale of the teachers is quite low," he says, because of the manner in which the teachers were dismissed at the beginning of the summer before being rehired before the school year.

"This was a very unusual way of doing business," he says.

Menzie says that, overall, B.U.'s management of the school system has had a destabilizing effect on the community. This is due in part to the manner in which the contract negotiations process was handled by B.U. Teachers are living in uncertainty, he says.

As for the various programs the university has begun, Menzie says he doesn't believe they are making a difference.

"I know that this is a minority opinion but I'm down here on the ground," he says. "I see an awful lot more confusion."

"They have quite a public relations department."

Menzie points to the drastic changes that the high school has undergone recently to illustrate his point. B.U. has changed the basic structure of the program three times in the past two years.

"The very fact that we have gone through this many changes in these few months is destabilizing," he says. The university has a poor track record with programs it has touted highly.

"I'd like to know how it works out when it's done right," says Menzie of B.U.'s experiment in educational reform. "But I find it distressing that every school which wants to reform must buck democracy."

Ironically, Chelsea is no longer a democratic city in every sense of the word. The city has been transformed into a receivership, under the helm of one state appointed manager-Carlin-until further notice.