Letter to the editor: support conservation and option L3

To the editor:

The recent flurry of activity has flooded my inbox with schools-related information and commentary. Committees, individual residents, and town leaders have made notable and at times insightful observations on what is a path forward that will best serve the educational needs of future generations.

All of that is fine. But in the pursuit of a schools plan to carry to the next level of development, we seem to have become mired down in a discussion of “guiding principles” related to “educational programs” and “community.” I would have thought that an underlying value long held by the town—conservation of man-made and natural resources—would have found its way into the dialogue. Instead we dwell on vague notions of “optimizing connections” and “campus feel.”

Conservation has taken many forms in Lincoln. We have protected expanses of beautiful and sensitive landscapes from development. Colonial-era homes and their grounds have been protected and given new purpose; mid-century Modernist homes are being preserved and increasingly purchased by young families; and public buildings like Center School and Bemis Hall have been transformed, not through replacement but rather through carefully crafted renovations.

The Lincoln School campus should not be an exception. Rather than hauling half the existing school to landfills, we should instead be focused on the plans that transform existing valuable structures to meet educational goals. Years of deferred improvements have taken their toll and that has been unfortunate. When we walk though the Smith/Brooks building, we should stop pointing out all the problems—we’ve been doing that for a long time. Instead we should be focused on how an investment of possibly $90+ million can yield a revitalized and humanely scaled school that embraces a central campus green unlike any other public school system in Massachusetts.

I support SBC plan L3. The plan fulfills our town’s need for a quality educational environment while conserving the remarkable campus setting that has served us well for generations.

Sincerely,

Ken Bassett
37 Page Rd., Lincoln