To the editor:
As engaged community members, we have attended and participated in many of the School Building Committee meetings, town surveys, and open workshops held over the past two years in Lincoln. We invested our time in this process because we understood that a new school is likely the most significant capital project that Lincoln will consider for the next several decades; because we feel the best education for our children is a priority that binds us together as a community; and because we recognized both the potential opportunity and the long-term benefit to the town of a design that would be appropriate, innovative, and sustainable.
We appreciated having a “seat at the table” and that citizen concerns, questions, and differing opinions that came up in meetings over the past two years were acknowledged thoughtfully and diligently considered by the SBC throughout the process. It was a thorough, transparent, and inclusive process. Overall, we feel this was time well spent and has resulted in a design worthy of our children, our teachers, and of Lincoln.
Given the importance of this school to our community and the positive message it will send to our students and teachers, we will be voting YES for the new school building on December 1 and 3. We believe the school design reflects the core values as articulated by the town at the beginning of the process and will provide a superior learning environment.
We are particularly excited that the new school will incorporate a net zero energy design. As we learned and hope you consider, the benefits of the net zero school building to everyone in Lincoln are multiple. The net zero design requires less energy, lowers operating costs, and provides increase building resiliency in a changing climate. Powered by renewable solar energy, the new school will have a reduced carbon footprint, helping Lincoln meet our 2030 energy bylaw. Finally, the overall design will positively impact student performance, enhance learning opportunities, and demonstrate Lincoln’s commitment to educational innovation to our teachers and staff.
We encourage you to consider all these benefits and hope you will join us in voting to support the School Building Committee’s design.
Sincerely,
Sheila Dennis and Tom Henry
28 Weston Rd., Lincoln
Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.