(Editor’s note: Antia is Lincoln’s representative on the Minuteman School Committee.)
To the editor:
I want to thank the 200 or so people that took the time to come to the Special Town Meeting last Tuesday evening. This was a huge commitment and possibly an imposition, but know that is was appreciated.
That does not necessarily mean I am happy with the results (see “Lincoln withdraws from Minuteman school district,” Feb. 27, 2016). Those of us who were at the meeting know I am concerned the children of Lincoln will soon be shut out of vocational/technical education. With virtually all the newly built voc/tech schools over capacity and enrollment rising at the other local vocational schools, we are going to be hard-pressed to find a seat for our children.
Most of us have heard Barack Obama tout the benefits of vocational/technical education, and some of us heard that in addition to the $45 million that Minuteman will receive from the MSBA for their new school, Gov. Baker has committed a $500,000 grant to the school which will be used to help launch the new advanced manufacturing and metal fabrication program.
This school is going to be a high school showcase for Massachusetts, right here in Lincoln. And in an effort to save approximately $33,000 a year, we voted to withdraw from the school district. I understand $33,000 is a lot of money. I also understand it is 0.09% of Lincoln’s proposed FY17 $35,126,576 budget. I am not alone in finding this to be outrageously short-sighted.
Sincerely,
Sharon Antia
165 S. Great Rd.
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I had a few observations from the Town Meeting:
1) Wow, we have some very eloquent kids. Some of the kids speaking in defense of staying in the Minuteman Agreement spoke with such intelligence and conviction that it was hard not to think back to when I was their age and feel a little lacking.
2) In my opinion, the supporters of staying within Minuteman should have highlighted the reasons why Dover, also a small town with a smaller Minuteman student population than ours, chose to stay in the agreement. If I’m accurately reading the reasons behind their vote, based on what I could find on the web, then Dover residents felt that their proportional representation would not be diluted by the new agreement. The supporters of withdrawal hammered home that our representation would be watered down to the point of insignificance whereas it seems like Dover felt differently. Why?
3) One of the documents, provided during the meeting, showed comparisons between local Technical Highs Schools that our kids could conceivably apply to in the future (yes, I understand that they would have no preference for selection). In looking at the list of comparable Technical High School it really looked like the other schools, especially Nashoba, were as strong if not stronger than than Minuteman. For example, Nashoba seemed to have a higher state accreditation, lower per student costs, less suspensions per year (is 10% per year at Minuteman really acceptable?!). Please correct me if I did I misinterpret the numbers or if there is a demographic reason behind those numbers that weren’t explained during the meeting.
4) What pushed me to vote for withdrawal was that as towns dropped out that then we would be potentially on the hook for extra costs if student enrollment continued to decline. Yes, there are no guarantees in life but it seemed that like might be a potential black hole in future town finances, beyond the extra costs we currently would need to budget for, in order to stay in the agreement.
Thank you to all the persons that worked on both side of this. These are never easy decisions. I definitely feel for the superintendent who has/had 17 unique constituencies, plus student and staff, to satisfy.
I agree completely with Sharon Antia and Eleanor Fitzgerald that the vote for withdrawal from Minuteman is outrageously short-sighted.
I attended the meeting and heard much support for the school so I was surprised at how much our elected officials (in one of the five wealthiest towns in the Commonwealth) stressed wanting to save such a relatively small amount of money with regard to Minuteman while they are actively supporting a $50+ million dollar elementary school upcoming. I am ashamed and appalled at this vote in light of how much we really need to support more such facilities, not less. I am sad because this school will be located in Lincoln and not too far down the road Lincoln students may not ultimately be able to attend as the waiting lists grow.
I had to leave the meeting at 9:15 (though, sadly, I could tell how the vote would go) but when I called Town Hall the next morning to find out the vote I was told the vote was “unanimous” for withdrawal. In my opinion 200 in attendance hardly represents the town of Lincoln and clearly there were many who voted not to withdraw. I wish this could have been on a secret ballot.
Minute Man High School was still quite new when my sons were teenagers. They did not opt to attend, but one of their close friends did and did very well there. He went on to MIT from which he graduated and also got advanced degrees. We attended the meeting and voted against withdrawal. It does seems short sighted and like a door of opportunity being closed for some of our town’s children.