The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

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Scholarship Committee candidates sought

The School Committee is seeking an appointee to serve for a renewable three-year term on the the Lincoln Scholarship Committee (LSC), a town committee consisting of three residents (two appointed by the town moderator and one by the School Committee).

The LSC’s responsibilities focus on funding needs-based scholarships and administering five awards that are funded through endowments administered by the town, two of which are thanks to the Ogden Codman Trust. Some specific tasks of the committee include:

  • Mailing a town-wide appeal each spring to seek donations;
  • Announcing the awards and scholarship opportunities through local press outlets and to all Lincoln-resident students enrolled at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School and Minuteman Regional Technical High School;
  • Interviewing students who apply for scholarships;
  • Ensuring all funds are disbursed to students before the fall.

Meetings are clustered in the late winter and spring and require approximately 30 hours of dedicated work per year. One member serves as liaison to the Codman Trust, one member is responsible for liaising with the town treasurer, and one member is responsible for composing and distributing the annual appeal letter. For fall 2014, the committee will also be liaising with the L-S Scholarship Committee and attending both the financial aid and college fair events at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School to provide more information to Lincoln-resident families about the scholarship opportunities. For more information about the position, please contact Carolyn Dwyer or Nancy Marshall, trustees for the Lincoln Scholarship Committee.

If interested in serving on the committee, please submit a letter of interest to Jennifer Glass, chair of the Lincoln School Committee, at schoolcomm@lincnet.org. Submissions are due by October 17. Interviews with the School Committee will be held on October 23.

Letter to the editor: Sander resigns from School Committee

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Dear Lincoln community,

I write reluctantly to announce that I am stepping down from the Lincoln School Committee. I have been asked to take a leadership position with the Cambridge Quaker Meeting in which I grew up and am still active, and I feel called to fully engage my responsibilities there. Were I to try to do both, I would probably risk being excommunicated by my family, who have always been extremely tolerant about the extensive time I’ve already been spending in community meetings.

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Letter to the editor: Exploring the need for a community center in Lincoln

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Editor’s note: for background information about the community center, see the Lincoln Squirrel, July 31, 2014.

To the editor:

In May, the Board of Selectmen appointed the Community Center Study Committee (CCSC) to evaluate the concept of a new community center for Lincoln. Their charge requires that we evaluate options for the long and short-term facilities needs of the Parks & Recreation Department and Council on Aging. That evaluation will include what succeeds and what fails with respect to their current locations. Many towns recognize the value of a facility serving both populations and as a central gathering place for all residents. Our goal is to make this evaluative process comprehensive, open and transparent.

On Wednesday, October 8 from 6-9 p.m., we will hold a town-wide planning charrette at Hartwell School Pod B. Everyone is encouraged to attend and participate. Refreshments will be served. You can attend for the entire evening or come and go as you please. We are seeking residents’ views on what form a community center might take in Lincoln and where it should be located.

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More on election (and a correction)

correction-smAccording to the Boston Globe’s town-by-town map of the September 10 primary results, Lincoln was one of only five mainland towns east of Worcester where the majority voted for Don Berwick for governor. The other four were Concord, Carlisle, Upton and Wellfleet. The only other towns east of Worcester that went for Berwick were West Tisbury, Chilmar, Aquinnah (all on Martha’s Vineyard), and the densely populated town of Gosnold, which comprises the Elizabeth Islands including Cuttyhunk. Berwick won 40 percent of the Gosnold vote, while 30 percent each went for Coakley and Grossman. That’s four, three and three votes respectively.

In the Lincoln Squirrel story about the September 10 primary election, several figures in the state-wide percentage column were transposed. The errors have been fixed in the original post.

School officials set meetings for public input

schoolThe School Building Advisory Committee (SBAC) will have a public forum on Tuesday, Sept. 16 to share preliminary cost estimates for the renovation options for the Lincoln School. The meeting will take place from 7-9 p.m. in the Smith gym.

The current SBAC began meeting in May and hired Dore & Whittier Architects in July to to develop repair and renovation options for the school. The moves were made in the wake of the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s refusal in December 2013 to consider a new application from the town to help fund a comprehensive project.

The SBAC’s schedule of upcoming meetings through January 2015 includes several other public forums:

  • October 16 – Presentation of alternative concepts
  • November 15 – State of the Town meeting
  • December 2 – Evaluation of alternatives
  • January 13 – Presentation of final report

The SBAC also plans joint meetings with other town boards and commissions on September 30 and November 5.

Letter to the editor: Vote for Conroy and Healey

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To the editor:

At the Democratic Nominating Convention in June, delegates from Lincoln and other neighbor towns cast an overwhelming majority of votes for Tom Conroy for state treasurer and for Maura Healey for attorney general. Now it’s the voters’ turn on September 9.

Conroy and Healey are running separately, but they share some common traits. Both are by far the most professionally qualified and experienced candidates for their respective offices. The Boston Globe and several other local newspapers have endorsed both Conroy and Healey. A Boston Globe editorial on September 1 says of Conroy that he is “…the candidate who is best prepared to perform the treasurer’s duties—and is most interested in doing so.” Another Globe editorial that day says of Healey that her “…clearer focus on the core responsibilities of the office, coupled with her evident tenacity and discerning legal mind, make her the superior choice.”

Healey, already a proven leader in the attorney general’s office, has also been a prosecutor and a civil rights attorney. She is the only candidate who is an experienced law enforcement professional. Visit her website at www.maurahealey.com to learn more. Conroy is the only candidate with unmatched education and experience in economics and finance in both the public and private sectors, and the legislature. Visit his website at www.tomconroy.org to learn more.

Please join me in voting for Tom Conroy for treasurer and Maura Healey for attorney general on at the primary election on September 9.

Sincerely,

Gary Davis, Lincoln Democratic Town Committee
20R Indian Camp Lane

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, 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.