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

news

Opinions and debate reach a crescendo as school vote nears

Years of study and planning—along with weeks and months of vigorous debate and opinions in the form of LincolnTalk posts, roadside signs, mailings, and websites—will culminate in votes on funding the Lincoln School project this Saturday, Dec. 1 and Monday, Dec. 3.

Roadside campaign signs saying “Vote Yes: Our Town, Our School, Our Kids” have been distributed around town by the Friends of the Lincoln School Project (FLSP), which is not affiliated with the School Building Committee or other town officials. Other signs and car magnets urging a “yes” vote have been distributed by the Lincoln School Foundation.

Hans Bitter and Bryce Wells are the two official members of the FLSP per legal requirements for a Ballot Question Committee, though about two dozen residents have donated time and/or money, they said in an email to the Lincoln Squirrel. While most of the volunteers have children at the Lincoln School, though most of those kids will have moved onto high school by the time the project is completed, they added.

The organization has spent about $3,000 on the yard signs and mailings, and any leftover cash will be donated to the Lincoln PTO, they said.

“Our focus was to make sure people knew that there was an important vote and to rally those who support the project. The yard signs and the mailing were physical embodiments of that focus, but the outreach was person to person—phone calls, emails, conversations in parking lots, Donelan’s, soccer fields, and more,” Bitter and Wells said. “Our group is also very concerned about the potential financial hardship some of our neighbors will face and so we are exploring other creative options to assist those in need.”

Arguments and information fly

Hundreds of emails about the school project and its impact on taxpayers have been exchanged on LincolnTalk, with passionate arguments both in favor of and against the project. Resident Philip Greenspun, who was a frequent poster until he was put on moderation status by moderators from LincolnTalk earlier this year, created a website called the Lincoln School Improvement Committee, which claims about a dozen members and dissects public documents to argue against the need for the project.

One post on the site argues that “mental gymnastics [are] required to support the Lincoln School Building projects” while another says the project is akin to a religion for which “facts and logic are not persuasive… If we rename the ‘School Building Committee’ the ‘Church of School Building’ and re-title the members as ‘Temple Priests,’ will the whole debate then make sense?”

Dozens of other residents, including Finance Committee member Andy Payne and SBC Vice Chair Kim Bodnar, have written lengthy posts on LincolnTalk and the SBC website blog answering questions and arguing that the project is crucial to the Lincoln School and the town as a whole and cannot be delayed further.

Meanwhile, a working group has been looking at programs employed by other area towns to help soften the impact of major property tax increases on seniors with limited means. If voters approve the school funding, property taxes are expected to rise by 17.2 percent to 19.4 percent, though not all of that in the first year. Determining factors will include the interest rate at the time of actual bonding, and the details of the timing and amounts of bonds as determined by the Finance Committee. The working group consists of Town Administrator Tim Higgins, Selectman Jennifer Glass, FinCom member Gina Halsted, and Carolyn Bottum, director of the Lincoln Council on Aging.

There is but a single question to be voted on at Saturday’s Special Town Meeting and Monday’s ballot vote: whether to appropriate $88.5 million for the project. For the borrowing to go forward, two-thirds of voters must vote “yes” at Town Meeting on Saturday and a simple majority must do the same at the ballot vote on Monday. If either vote fails to meet the threshold, the town can schedule another vote of that type in an attempt to win approval, since the sequence of votes doesn’t matter.

On Monday, polls will be open in the Smith gym from 7:30 a.m.–8 p.m.

Town Meeting details

Officials have posted this web page with links to the documents and slides that will be used at Town Meeting. Direct links are below:

Special Town Meeting slides:

Child care

  • For children under the age of 5, the Lincoln Family Association (LFA) will host a drop-in playgroup event for kids and parents (no drop-offs) in Hartwell Pod A from 10 a.m.–2 p.m. There will be toys and nut-free snacks. The cost per child is $5, payable in cash at the door. Parents will be notified when the vote is about to happens so they can get back to the auditorium or gym in time. Click here to register your child.
  • Registration for child care for children older than 5 at LEAP has closed.

Arrival and seating

  • All Lincoln residents wishing to vote must sign in starting at 8 a.m. outside the Brooks auditorium. You may leave and return after singing in and getting your hand stamped.
  • There will be overflow seating and a video link in the Reed Gym. Residents in the gym may vote when the time comes, but they must go to the auditorium if they wish to speak before the vote.

Order of the meeting

  • The meeting opens at 9 a.m. with presentations by chairs of the School Building, Finance, Capital Planning, and Green Energy Committees. Representatives of the School Committee and the Board of Selectmen will then speak briefly (see links to slides above).
  • Discussion and debate are expected to begin at around 10:30 and could last two hours or more.
  • Anyone in the Reed Gym who wishes to speak must come to one of the microphones in the Brooks Auditorium.
  • Town Moderator Sarah Cannon Holden asks residents to keep comments and questions to no more than two minutes, and to let others have a chance to speak before coming to the microphone a second time.

Voting

  • Before any vote, there will be a 10-minute break to ensure that people are seated and the volunteers who do the counting are in place, after which the doors to the gym and auditorium will close, and no one will be allowed to enter or leave until the counts are completed.
  • At the start of the voting, everyone must be seated, and non-voters will be asked to sit in specific areas of the halls.
  • All voting will be done by a standing count.

A note to readers on email deliveries of the Squirrel

Dear readers,

As many of you know, the automated daily email feed with Lincoln Squirrel stories has not been working recently—perhaps due to tightened spam/security controls somewhere along the line. I think I’ve fixed it, but please let me know if you still don’t get an email at 7:00 tomorrow morning. Also, please check your Spam folders—a test email recently went to Spam on my computer, which hadn’t happened before.

In the meantime, please go to the Lincoln Squirrel home page and scroll back to find any stories you may have missed—or contact me directly if there’s something specific you’re looking for. My apologies for the glitch. 

Alice Waugh
Editor, The Lincoln Squirrel
617-710-5542 (m) ~ 781-259-0526 (h)
lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com

Letter to the editor: Lincoln architects support school project

To the editor:

The undersigned Lincoln residents support the plan for revitalizing our K-8 schools. As members of the design community, we believe the process for choosing a path forward has been inclusive, has afforded multiple opportunities for comment and input, and has brought us as a community to an important decision about investing in our collective future.

The plans before us reflect a well-considered pathway that capitalizes on our existing facilities by the incorporation of new educational spaces that are essential to support forward looking methods of instruction. At the same time, the plans build upon our schools as a broad community resource, including a central commons that serves not only educational purposes but also as a meeting place for community activities.

We urge your support for our schools at the important votes on December 1 and 3. There remains significant effort ahead to complete the schools project and we plan to support the schools with our votes and our participation going forward.

Sincerely,

Douglas Adams
Gary Anderson
Ken Bassett
Ken Hurd
Judith Lawler
Mary Helen Lorenz
Brooks Mostue
David O’Neil
Dana Robbat
Peter Sugar

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.

Letter to the editor: a “yes” vote is the wise choice educationally

To the editor:

The Lincoln School Foundation urges residents to vote YES at Special Town Meeting on December 1st and at the ballot on December 3.

In just two weeks, we as a town are being offered the unique opportunity to transform our school in a way that expands educational opportunities for the children of our community.

The new school building, meticulously designed by the School Building Committee with unprecedented community involvement, is a transformative renovation of the Lincoln School. Movable walls. Shared hubs. A learning commons. Exterior gathering spaces. A climate-controlled environment. Safer routes for bikers and walkers. And a building that gets its energy entirely from the sun.

The teachers and students of Lincoln School can use these transformed and new spaces in ways that improve the educational experience for all. The enhanced building will facilitate and enable more team teaching, differentiated instruction, project-based learning, and group work. These educational practices are not optional, frivolous, or excessive. They are absolutely required in order to deliver a high-quality education to children now and in the future—an education that develops the essential skills for success in tomorrow’s workforce: critical thinking, collaboration and creativity.

Lincoln School teachers are already working to foster these skills in Lincoln’s children. But the current building inhibits their efforts. It is difficult if not impossible for an entire grade to gather together without planning much in advance. Spontaneous, flexible groupings of students are limited by the walls that separate classrooms.

We have seen, within our own district at Hanscom, how a forward-looking investment in a school building can allow teaching teams to do more to reach each child in new and innovative ways, and we are so excited to see what more can be accomplished at the Lincoln School as teachers there are given the same opportunity to envision what new spaces will mean for their teaching.

Everything we wrote in our June letter to the editor remains true: “A commitment to excellence in education and innovative practices is a collective enterprise that is deeply embedded in the values of this community.”

We value education in Lincoln. And a YES vote on December 1 and 3 is a vote for education.

Sincerely,

The Trustees of the Lincoln School Foundation

Cathie Bitter, Chair
Ginger Reiner, Treasurer
Liz Wilkinson, Secretary
Becky Bermont
Juliana Delahunty
Alison Donnelly
Lis Herbert
Jen Holleran
Peter Hussey
Tareef Kawaf
Caroline Nordstrom
Elaine Papoulias
Tricia Thornton-Wells

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.

Corrections

Due to a math error by the Lincoln Squirrel, the tax increase and debt stabilization fund figures given in a November 12 article headlined “Borrowing plans for school project outlined” were incorrect. Borrowing $88.5 million at an interest rate of 4–5% will result in property tax increases of $2,415–$2,717 (not $560–$700 as originally stated).

However, this full increase will not appear in the first year of repayment, because the Finance Committee may divide the borrowing into two or more separate bond issues or tranches. Thus,  the $2,415–$2,717 increase would not be in year one but might take two to four years before it reaches that level of increase. Then this higher level would remain in effect for the life of the 30-year bonds.

On December 1 (Special Town Meeting) and December 3 (election), residents will be asked to approve the total bond amount of $88.5 million, but it will be up to the Finance Committee at a later date  as to how the debt will be financed in terms of tranching.

The debt stabilization fund currently stands at $5.5 million, not $5.2 million as originally stated. This means that if $4.4 million of that is used on the school project, there will be roughly $1.1 million left for future needs. 

The original article has been updated to reflect these corrections.

Borrowing plans for school project outlined

(Editor’s note: this post was updated on November 13 to correct errors in the tax increase range and the debt stabilization amount.)

Lincoln residents will be asked if they approve borrowing $88.5 million for the school project, which will cost a total of $93.9 million. This will result in a property tax increase of somewhere between 17.2 percent and 19.4 percent, depending on the bond interest rate (assuming it is in the 4–5 percent range). 

The Finance Committee unanimously recommended that the town pay for the project with an $88.5 million bond issue plus $1 million in free cash and $4.4 million from the debt stabilization fund. That fund currently stands at $5.5 million after voters approved adding $772,000 at the Annual Town Meeting earlier this year.

For a tax bill of $14,008 on a property valued at $998,400 (the 2019 median figures), the tax increase would translate to roughly $2,415–$2,717 (see table below). However, this full increase will not appear in the first year of repayment, because the Finance Committee may divide the borrowing into two or more separate bond issues or tranches. Thus,  the $2,415–$2,717 increase would not be in year one but might take two to four years before it reaches that level of increase. Then this higher level would remain in effect for the life of the 30-year bonds.

On December 1 (Special Town Meeting) and December 3 (election), residents will be asked to approve the total bond amount of $88.5 million, but it will be up to the Finance Committee at a later date  as to how the debt will be financed in terms of tranching.

After its vote on the funding recommendations, the Finance Committee released the following statement:

“On June 9th, the town decisively supported a school project that embodied educational values and sustainability through a renovated school project. We believe:

  • The SBC has faithfully executed on this charge designing a project staying within the $93.9 million budget,
  • The town can finance it and should be able to maintain our AAA bond rating,

and thus FinCom supports this project.”

A table showing the range of possible tax increases due to borrowing for the school project (click to enlarge).

Lincoln’s 2018 election results

(Editor’s note: This incorporates a correction on November 8 to fix an error in the Question 1 numbers.)

Lincoln voters voted to reelect Gov. Charlie Baker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Katherine Clark, mirroring the rest of the state and Congressional district.

By large margins, Lincoln also voted to approve two ballot measures: one that advocates a Constitutional amendment regarding corporate personhood and political spending, and one that upholds a bill prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity in public places. The town also voted by an even wider margin against a proposal to establish patient assignment limits for hospital nurses.

Lincoln’s voting precincts (click to enlarge)

Early voting continues to increase in popularity, with 40% of Lincoln ballots being cast before Election Day (1,395 out of 3,491 total ballots).

Below are Lincoln’s results for the major races and the three ballot questions (excluding blanks, third-party and write-in votes). The totals in this table were calculated by the Lincoln Squirrel from numbers in the full election results posted by the Town Clerk’s office, so any errors are the Squirrel’s. Click here for the full Massachusetts results.

Precinct 1Precinct 2TOTALS
GOVERNORBaker & Polito (R)1,6989872,685
Gonzalez & Palfrey (D)367286563
U.S. SENATORWarren (D)1,1527911,943
Diehl (R)9645181,482
U.S. REPRESENTATIVEClark (D)1,1581,7472,788
Hugo (R)198348614
QUESTION 1 (establish nurse/patient ratios?)Yes476331807
No1,5879692,556
QUESTION 2 (advocate Constitutional change re. corporate spending and personhood?)Yes1,7071,0482,755
No363257620
QUESTION 3 (uphold transgender rights?)Yes1,7771,0482,825
No321259580

Vintage library door gets a facelift

The carved oak front door to the Lincoln Public Library has been restored to its 19th-century glory. Over the decades, the sun had stripped the finish from the wood, and a recently installed plexiglass storm door did not add to its visual appeal. “It was really in very poor shape,” said library trustee Peter Sugar.

A restoration painter stripped the wood, replaced some of the moldings and refinished everything, so now the door looks much as it did more than 125 years ago. The library, designed by noted Boston architect William G. Preston, was built using a $27,000 donation from Lincoln resident George Grosvenor Tarbell.

GearTicks teach robotics at Girl Scout event

The GearTicks at WPI for the “Geek is Glam” event: Howie Tsang, Ben Morris, Prerna Karmacharya, Andreas Muzila, Erin Crisafi, Amelia Pillar, and Kevin Ji (click to enlarge).

By Prerna Karmacharya

The GearTicks, a local robotics team based in Lincoln, demonstrated their vacuum pump and helped the Girl Scouts build prosthetic hands and drive LEGO Segways at the Girl Scout “Geek is Glam” event on October 13 at WPI in Worcester.

At the event, the Lincoln GearTicks interacted with girls in grades 4–8, teaching them about how robotics is fun and getting them interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).

Prerna Karmacharya shows a 3D-printed prosthetic hand to a Girl Scout.

The GearTicks also take part in a competition called FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) for middle and high school students, where they design, build, and program robots to compete in a challenge once a year. Teams all over the globe compete in this competition. FTC also encourages community outreach.

Last year for FTC, the GearTicks designed a vacuum pump as part of their design for their robot and built the pump from parts they made on their 3D printer. The team also spent lots of time perfecting the custom vacuum pump and enjoy sharing knowledge about it with others.

The GearTicks also 3D-printed prosthetic hands as part of the e-NABLE prosthetic hand project. Through building the hands, they are able to give back to the community using their knowledge, and share their skills with others.

The Girl Scouts came in four groups of about 100 kids in each group. Overall there were about 440 Girl Scouts there. Other exhibitors were iRobot and Bose, along with other groups including a few FRC teams.

Lincoln GearTicks team members Amelia Pillar, Erin Crisafi, Howie Tsang, and Andreas Muzila get ready for the Girl Scouts event. 

One of the Girl Scouts worked with GearTick members Prerna and Amelia to build the prosthetic hands. It turned out that this Girl Scout’s foster sister had a prosthetic hand that was also from e-NABLE.

“It overjoyed me to learn about someone who had benefited from these hands,” Prerna said.

The GearTicks hope that they can keep helping the community. They really enjoyed teaching the Girl Scouts about science and engineering, as well as getting them more interested in STEM. The team strives to use their STEM skills to help their local community.