The biggest hit at the mayor’s coffee hour at a Charlestown playground Wednesday morning wasn’t Martin J. Walsh himself but the guest he brought with him: incoming Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius, making her first public appearance since being appointed a week ago.
For more than an hour, the former Minnesota education commissioner chatted up the crowd, making introductions and diving into one of the most contentious school issues confronting this booming neighborhood: extremely long pre-K waiting lists. Not that she had much choice but to comment as she faced a small group of inquisitive mothers whose children’s educational futures were in limbo and wanted a quick resolution — one of whom had a petition in hand.