(Editor’s note: Nancy Marshall is a former L-S School Committee member.)
To the editor:
I write this letter today as a private citizen. This year’s race for Lincoln-Sudbury Regional School Committee is contested, with three candidates, including Cara Endyke-Doran, the current chair, running for one of the two open positions. Lincoln’s vote for Cara this year is extremely critical in ensuring a balance of views on the committee, long-lens institutional perspective in School Committee deliberations, and a focus on how Lincoln and Sudbury can best support our regional high school. Please mark your calendars to attend the upcoming candidates’ forum here in Lincoln in the newly renovated Donaldson Auditorium at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16 and remember to vote on Monday, March 28 in the Reed (Brooks) gym at Lincoln School.
I am formally endorsing Cara Endyke-Doran for re-election to the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional School Committee. Cara has worked in the international public health sector for many years; she has a dual master’s degree in public health and nursing. She is also the parent of four children, two of whom have graduated from L-S and two who are/will be students there.
Cara has leaned into both her professional credentials and her own parenting experiences throughout the Covid pandemic. Her calm and attentive leadership has shepherded the LSSC and the district through these last two years with grounded information and clear communication to constituents. Cara’s hard work and commitment have helped L-S to continue educating our high schoolers, to support more acute social and emotional needs arising from the pandemic, and to keep students and staff as protected from the virus as possible. Cara led the Covid-19 Testing Subcommittee at the onset of the pandemic during her very first year on the committee. Through her strong advocacy, L-S was one of the first schools in the state to offer Covid-19 testing to all its students and staff.
The L-S School Committee has accomplished a great deal over the past three years, hiring an excellent Director of Finance and Operations in Kirsteen Patterson, reviewing and revising the complete School Committee policy manual, and considering new and amended L-S curricula in an increasingly global and mindful context. This year, the School Committee successfully negotiated a new three-year collective bargaining agreement that considers what is fair in the context of annual budgeting alongside the talents of our terrific L-S faculty and staff. In this late/post-Covid environment, where teachers and school administrators across the U.S. are leaving their jobs permanently in droves, striking a relational and equitable balance and reinforcing the quality of teaching and commitment of time to our students is vital.
And there is always more to do. Cara’s continued, committed leadership, given her initiative and accrued understanding of process and knowledge of School Committee governance, will be an asset for both towns.
Cara is committed to Lincoln-Sudbury and has ensured the committee is operating in the best interest of our students, staff, parents, and broader communities. She has respectfully listened and taken into account the sometimes widely differing perspectives from the three communities of Lincoln, Sudbury, and Boston, as well as our commonalities, in shaping how we understand and appreciate L-S day-to-day.
Sincerely,
Nancy Marshall
Beaver Pond Road
“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.
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