My Turn

We write to endorse Kim Rajdev for election to the Lincoln School Committee.

Since moving to Lincoln five years ago with her husband and two young girls (now entering third grade and kindergarten), Kim has taken an active role in supporting the Lincoln schools. She has volunteered as a room parent in K-4 and served as a legal advisor to Lincoln Nursery School as part of the parent cooperative. Consequently, she is familiar with the challenges and issues of the Lincoln school system.

We believe that it is valuable to have Kim, an engaged parent who has the interest, experience, and professional background to contribute to the governance of Lincoln’s schools. As an engineer and lawyer, she will bring both analytical and consensus-building skills to complement those of other members of the committee.

Kim’s open, respectful style invites dialogue on important issues such as the implementation of LPS Anti-Racism, Inclusion, Diversity, Equity (AIDE) policy. She is clearly focused on enabling a school environment that encourages curiosity and high academic engagement along with a welcoming and inclusive approach to student life. As part of the Lincoln School Committee, she will be attentive to these opportunities and challenges.

Town elections are Monday, March 28. Please join us in voting for Kim Rajdev for a position on the Lincoln School Committee.

Sincerely,

“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 Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Fellow residents,

I’m writing to endorse Jim Hutchinson for Select Board, and I urge you to vote for him in the town election on March 28 (the Monday after Town Meeting).

This is an easy endorsement to write: I’ve worked with Jim closely for a number of years on Lincoln’s Finance Committee and other town projects, and I’m constantly impressed with his expertise and understanding of financial and management issues in our town. Residents may not fully understand how much he’s led and contributed, from a revised OPEB “level-budgeting” policy at FinCom, to playing a key role reviewing and negotiating our complex solar power purchase agreements for our new school building, to learning the municipal water business (probably more than he bargained for!) and getting operations there back on track.

When Jim was talking to me about joining FinCom, he said (paraphrasing), “If you want to understand how a town really works, follow the finances.” While there’s much more to the Select Board than just business and finance stuff, I have a hard time imagining someone with a better perspective and instinct on Lincoln’s opportunities, challenges, issues, and constraints than Jim. He’s been a model for volunteering, analytical thinking, active listening, problem-solving, dry humor, and “giving back.” We’re all lucky to have him.

After I wrote this, a few other residents that feel the same way about Jim asked to add their names below. We all urge you to vote for Jim in the March 28 Select Board election.

Sincerely,

Andy Payne
83 Tower Rd.

“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.

Dear fellow Lincolnites,

I am running for the position of trustee of the Lincoln Library. Although the race is uncontested, I ask for your support.

As a trustee, I support the library’s vision to be “recognized as one of the town’s premier intellectual and cultural centers, serving as a focus for lifelong learning and literacy.” I know firsthand the important link libraries play in nurturing a community’s social, informational, cultural, and intellectual life. After retiring from educational publishing, I launched an encore writing career for young readers. I have given many books and writing workshops at public and school libraries as an author.

I served on the Friends of the Lincoln Library for six years, including one year as chair. And I represent Lincoln on the Massachusetts Special Commission of the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution.

I look forward to supporting civic Lincoln as a library trustee by working collaboratively with other trustees, library staff, town departments, and organizations to manage our iconic New England library building and grounds that anchor Lincoln’s Historical District. Thank you in advance for your support.

Sincerely,

Ray Shepard
37 Beaver Pond Rd., Lincoln

“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.

(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.

To the editor:

It is with great pleasure that I recommend Maura Carty for the position of L-S Regional School Committee member for the Lincoln-Sudbury school system.

I met Maura when our daughters played together for the Lincoln-Sudbury High School girls’ varsity hockey team. This is when I first came to greatly admire her as a person, as well as her unrelenting commitment to volunteering.

Over the time I have known Maura, I have been amazed at her ability to bring people together to work toward a common goal. I continue to witness firsthand her commitment to others through her countless hours volunteering as a team parent. Her hard work and dedication to our girls and their families creates a strong unity and cohesiveness within the group. Our experiences with Maura have shown us that she is an excellent leader who listens and fully considers options before making informed and thoughtful decisions. 

Maura is passionate about our children, our community, and the Lincoln-Sudbury school system. I was thrilled to hear of Maura’s candidacy for this position because she is a person who cares deeply about the quality of education for our children and is someone who will advocate fairly and in the best interest of the students, families, teachers, and administrators in our district.

With her positive energy and enthusiasm, Maura always strives to make a difference and inspires others to make a difference. Her work ethic, along with her organizational, and interpersonal skills, demonstrates that she would make an excellent choice for School Committee member.

I hope this letter will help you get to know my friend Maura Carty better, and that you will give strong consideration to her as I encourage the entire community to join me in support of her candidacy for School Committee. 

Sincerely,

Paula F. Angelini, DPM
14 Old Winter St., Lincoln

“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.

Dear Fellow Lincolnites,

I’m writing to ask for your support for my re-election to the Planning Board.

I first joined the board in 2013 as an associate member and became a full member later that year. The zoning, site plan review, and land use planning and processes for which the Planning Board is responsible can seem intimidating and complex. My initial goals as a board member was to make licensing and permitting friendlier to applicants and neighbors by making them clear, consistent, and transparent. The Planning Board has made great progress in this regard. Working with our excellent town planning staff, we developed a set of guidelines and regulations for site plan review that increased transparency for both the applicant and neighbors while reducing the amount of time required to navigate the process.

Over the past eight years on the board, I have worked with my colleagues to ensure that Lincoln’s zoning and land use policies are clear to all residents, fair to all applicants, and reflect Lincoln’s values and the will of the town.

As I gained experience, my goals expanded to engaging the town in the long-term planning needed to respond effectively to the challenges of the 21st century. As chair for the last six years, I have led public discussions for several major developments: the Minuteman School, the new Lincoln School, and Oriole Landing, a 60-unit, mixed-income housing development. My objectives were to ensure that Lincoln’s requirements were met and its values respected, and that neighboring property owners were given a voice and protected from negative impacts to the extent permitted by law.

Ultimately, the rules around land use and the processes for important land use decisions are made not by the Planning Board but by town meeting through approval of zoning bylaws and other regulations. Beyond its permitting responsibilities, the role of the board is to look forward and engage the town in conversations around the challenges that arise from the changing needs within Lincoln as well as Lincoln’s part in the region. I believe it is not only necessary but part of Lincoln’s ethos to engage residents in a robust discussion of the pros and cons of possible responses and then to prepare bylaw proposals for consideration and approval by town meeting. I look forward to continuing to listen as we together seek to protect what we all love about Lincoln and position the town for success in the future.

Thank you,

Margaret Olson
(I appear on the ballot by my full name: Setha Margaret Olson)

“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.