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

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Kids’ triathlon this weekend

Kids ages 5-14 are invited to join the 15th annual Lincoln Kids Triathlon on Saturday June 16 at 8:30 a.m. at Codman Pool. For details on the swim/run/bike lengths for different ages as well as registration information, go to the Lincoln Rec website, click the blue “Register Now” button, and then select the Lincoln Kids Triathlon and the appropriate age group. The $30 fee includes a T-shirt, a finisher’s medal, and lots of memories. Race-day registration is $40. The Parks and Recreation Department also needs volunteers on the morning of the race; if you can help out, call 781-259-0784.

Phone scammers out in force

The Middlesex Sheriff’s Office (MSO) is warning residents of a new round of scam calls threatening citizens with arrest for failing to appear for jury and/or grand jury service. On these calls, scammers pose as members of the MSO or court staff. They falsely inform residents that they have missed jury duty and are subject to arrest unless they pay a fine. Frequently, the scammers will ask that residents pay this fine by purchasing a pre-paid debit or gift card and providing the scammer with the card’s code. One area resident who believed the scammers’ threats were real lost more than $1,500.

Anyone who receives calls of this type should contact local police and/or the MSO Digital Forensics Unit at 978-932-3292.  They may also file a complaint online with the Federal Communications Commission using their Consumer Complaint Center.

Nature backpacks available from library

Four new nature backpacks designed by the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust (LLCT), are now available to check out from the Children’s Department at the Lincoln Public Library. The backpacks (one each on birding, trackers, insects and trees) contain guides, books, maps and tools to assist with exploration and are perfect for family walks, hikes, and adventures in the backyard. Each backpack can be checked out for a two-week period. This special collection is co-sponsored by the LLCT, the Audubon Shop at Drumlin Farm, and the Friends of the Lincoln Public Library, Inc.

Summer music series at Drumlin

The Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary will host its second Summer Music Series featuring local bluegrass, folk and rock bands. This community event is co-sponsored by Whole Foods Market and invites people from across the state to celebrate local music, local food, and local action, in an effort to provide a hopeful future for the planet.

In addition to live music and farm-fresh food, the concerts will feature climate-related activities for kids and adults to learn how they can make a difference in their own communities. All ages are welcome and concert goers are encouraged to bring a picnic dinner for this outdoor music event. Farm-fresh snacks and beverages will be for sale (no alcohol allowed on the property).

All shows are from 6–8 p.m. (lawn opens at 5:30). Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors 65+ and children ages 2–12, and free for children under 2. Click here to purchase.

  • June 22 — Sweet Wednesday (rain date: June 24)
  • July 20 — Lula Wiles (rain date: July 21)
  • August 3 — Labor in Vain (rain date: August 5)
  • August 24 — Say Darling (no rain date)

School option L3 wins the day

School option L3 (click to enlarge)

After almost a year of meetings, community forums, architectural work, and spirited debate, Lincoln residents voted to move forward with school concept L3 at a Special Town Meeting on June 9.

Consulting architects SMMA will now produce a schematic design with detailed specifications and an updated cost estimate. The current estimate for Option L3 is $93.9 million, including solar panels and other “net zero” energy use features. A two-thirds majority is required at a Special Town Meeting on December 1 to approve bonding for the project. There will also be a December 3 town-wide ballot that must win a simple majority for the project to advance.

On the first vote, which was conducted using paper ballots and voting machines (a first for a Town Meeting), 632 voters in the Brooks Auditorium and nearby gym weeded down the initial five options to three, with Option L3 gaining a majority already:

Number of votesPercentage
Option R274.3%
Option L1101.6%
Option L28513.4%
Option L335456.0%
Option C15625.7%

Option L3 won a substantial majority in the second round of voting:

  • Option L3 – 74%
  • Option C – 17%
  • Option L2 – 9%

Before turning to the school issue, the Community Center Preliminary Planning and Design Committee presented two possible design ideas for a community center on the Hartwell side of campus and asked residents to complete survey forms on which they preferred. That feedback will be part of the group’s final report to the Board of Selectmen in coming weeks.

The meeting opened with presentations about the five school options and their costs, the tax impacts of borrowing varying amounts, the conditions and repair work needed at the school, and a history of school project planning and construction since 1994, as well as recommendations from the Board of Selectmen, Capital Planning Committee, and Finance Committee (see links below).

Background:

  • A roundup of past Lincoln Squirrel stories and letters to the editor on the school project (updated June 10, 2018)

Town Meeting presentations:

The two community center options (click to enlarge)

Over the past year, the School Building Committee looked at 39 different school options before settling on five to present for the June 9 vote. A sixth option was rejected earlier as being beyond the town’s normal borrowing limit.

Much of the discussion before the votes centered on the educational benefits of hub spaces that would allow teachers to work with student of different sizes and more easily collaborate on teaching within a grade, vs. whether such spaces were worth the added cost.

Dozens of residents stood in line at microphones to ask questions and make a case for their choices before the votes. A sampling of those remarks:

  • “I’m a huge proponent of Options L3 and C… but L3 is probably a compromise,” said Jen Holleran, member of a Lincoln educators group.
  • Option L3 would put Lincoln “in the middle of the pack for residential tax rate,” said Ginger Reiner. “What we are experiencing as a giant leap in taxes is just recalibrating to bring us more in line with our neighbors. We’ve enjoyed lower than average taxes by essentially borrowing against our future selves; we’ve artificially suppressed our taxes and it’s time to pay that debt… Option L3 is the perfect intersection of the town’s values.”
  • “Our kids are doing all right,” said Carolyn Montie, noting the top-tier colleges that many Lincoln School graduates have attended. “All options are viable… but putting those resources to direct services to students would result in a better outcome.”
  • “Every dollar put into the school made real estate prices rise by $1.50” compared to similar towns that didn’t do a major school project, said Ben Shiller, assistant professor of economics at Brandeis University, citing academic research. “The selfish decision is actually to choose one of the more expensive options.”
  • Lincoln’s master plan doesn’t mention an upgraded school but does call for continued investment in affordable housing, open space and conservation, and economic development, said Sharon Antia. “Where will we find the dollars for our stated priorities?”
  • Children today “have information at their fingertips—they don’t need to cram it all into their heads” in a traditional classroom setting, said D.J. Mitchell. “We need to [develop] collaborators, tinkerers, and problem solvers. Sometimes this requires larger spaces, multi-age groupings, teachers working across disciplines, quiet reflection and loud collaboration… we need to transform educational spaces for the 21st
    century.”
  • “We have a responsibility to honor the historical legacy of the Smith School, which was groundbreaking in its day,” said Christopher Boit. Option L2 “honors our commitment to net zero as well as a full kitchen and [the option of] collaboration at mealtimes… the difference in my education was not the buildings, it was the teachers.”
  • The hub spaces in Options L3 and C mean that children taken aside for individual or small-group instruction for any reason “are not stigmatized by being pulled into hallways,” said Cathy Bitter.
  • “We’re going to end up taking people out of this community because this is going to impact their taxes a lot,” said Daniela Caride. “In Lincoln, you go anywhere and you see three generations of people living here. [Other area towns] are generally bedroom communities. Do we want to be this kind of community? I’m still looking for an option here. We should be mindful of our neighbors who may get into trouble with all this cost.”
  • The tax increase from L2 to either L3 or C “sounds like a pretty good bargain,” said Cheryl Gray.
  • The increase between the higher-end options which is in the vicinity of $200-300 annually “is just one less trip to Donelan’s,” said Chris Gill.
  • “Some people are concerned that the price is still not optimal for what we’re getting, so I hope do some serious value engineering” between now and December,” said Steve Massaquoi.
  • “Given the total dollar amounts we’re talking about, I’m not that concerned” about the relative difference in tax hikes between the top two or three options, said Allen Vander Meulen. “But which of the plans do the teachers prefer?”
  • At the most basic level, consistent classroom temperature and lighting are the top priorities for teachers, Superintendent of Schools Becky McFall said in answer to Vander Meulen’s question. But since the new Hanscom Middle School opened, “they’re seeing the collaboration possibilities… the flexible grouping of students and targeted instruction… for either more intervention or more challenges.”
  • The presence of hubs in a school “affects our ability to attract good teachers big-time,” said Bob Shudy. Without hubs, many of the best young teachers “wouldn’t even consider” applying to work at the Lincoln School.
  • Option L2 “contains the reasonable minimum for facilities and teachers. I find the notion of adding hubs or flex spaces to be speculative,” said Adam Greenberg. “Education is changing much more rapidly than any snapshot you choose to pick today.”
  • Saying she hoped to persuade fans of both Option L2 and C to agree on L3, Lis Herbert said that L2’s concept of having only single flex spaces for Smith and Brooks is “deficient and doesn’t rise to the occasion” but that Option C reflects “a uniquely American desire for shiny, efficient new things. We often forget about what we have and what we can adapt to suit our needs… we literally pull up stakes and go west.”
  • “A difference of $10 million between L2 and L3 is significant,” said Diana Abrashkin. “There’s so much that could be done with $10 million in terms of teacher salaries, or more amenities in the actual buildings. The difference is the teachers, not the shape of the classrooms.”
  • Option L3 has a better distribution of hub spaces, while Option C has “a perfectly good gym moved from present location,” said Graham Atkinson.

New check-in procedure for Town Meeting

Election officers greeting residents arriving for the Special Town Meeting on June 9 will be using electronic Poll Pads to check in voters as they did for early voters in the 2016 election. Voters will not have to join a line according to the first letter of their last name but instead may go to any election officer at the check-in table.

The Poll Pad tablets will allow inspectors to check in a voter by manually entering the voter’s name, or by scanning the bar code on the back of his or her driver’s license. The Poll Pad matches the name and date of birth of the person on the voter list with the same information encoded on the license, but does not capture or store that information.

Once you’re verified as a registered voter, the checker will stamp your hand with a V and then give you a ballot and a Sharpie pen. 

Check in begins at 8:15 a.m. Check in early, then go for a walk or get a cup of coffee, but come back for a prompt 9:30 start.

Letter from the moderator #3: rules for Saturday’s Special Town Meeting

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of pieces by Town Moderator Sarah Cannon Holden about preparations and procedures for the Special Town Meeting on June 9. The other letters appear here and here.

To the editor:

By now you should have received your Special Town Meeting Warrant with the two aBy now you should have received your Special Town Meeting Warrant with the two articles to be considered on June 9th. There is very important background information. Please read it carefully so you can come as prepared as possible for the discussion and voting on Saturday. It contains the meeting’s agenda as well as overview of what we will need as we delve further into the issues, choices and considerations before us. Also included in the mailing is an explanation of the voting process. Read it carefully and bring it with you to the meeting. Please note that while there will be a presentation and update regarding the community center, there will not be a vote.

Now let’s get into the rules of the meeting.

There will be presentations be several boards and committees. Discussion, questions and answers, votes and more votes will follow. The procedural rules and voting procedures will, hopefully, be the containers to hold it all together. Many will want to speak, so everyone must limit their time at the microphones to two minutes. Twenty-five people at two minutes each takes close to one hour, despite what the mathematical calculation tells you. I suspect that more than 25 people will want to speak.

General meeting rules

Motion to Amend—If you wish to amend something, you must first fill out the Amendment Form found on the table at the center of the auditorium and present it to town counsel, who will be seated on the stage with the moderator.

  • Once the wording has been settled upon, you may go to the line for the microphone, state you name and address, and make your amendment.
  • The motion requires a second.
  • We will then have discussion of the amendment and vote on it. I will ask for a voice vote. It requires a simple majority to pass.
  • If it passes, then we will discuss the main motion as amended; if it does not pass, we will go back to the main motion.

Move the question—If you wish to ask the meeting to go directly to a vote on the main motion, you must go to a microphone, state your name, and move the question.

  • The motion requires a second.
  • You may not speak or ask a question before you make the motion.
  • Such a motion is not debatable.
  • I will ask for a voice vote. It requires a two-thirds vote to pass.
  • Results of votes in both the gym and the auditorium will be calculated. If it passes we will go directly to a vote on the main motion.

The moderator has the discretion to deny the motion to move the question if she feels that there has not been sufficient discussion. For example, if someone were to rise after 10 minutes of discussion, the moderator is likely to find that this is too soon for such a motion.

Point of order—If you wish to challenge some perceived procedural error, you may rise without being recognized by the moderator and announce a “point of order.”

  • Give your name and street address.
  • State your point.
  • The moderator will consider your point and rule on it.

On Wednesday, I will send out the voting guidelines for the votes we will be taking on June 9.

Reminder: You may check in starting at 8:15 a.m. We will start the meeting promptly at 9:30.

Sincerely,

Sarah Cannon Holden, town moderator
Weston Road.

Committees recommend school options L3 and C; selectmen also include L2

The School Committee, School Building Committee and Board of Selectmen recommended that voters approve school project Option L3 or Option C at the June 9 Special Town Meeting, while selectmen also included Option L2.

Options R, L1 and L2 do not provide the hubs for grades 3–8 that educators have deemed crucial for effective and flexible teaching and learning today, although L2 offers two “flex spaces.” Cost estimates put the L-shaped Option L3 at $93.9 million and Option C, the compact design, at $97 million.

More information:

    • Drawings of the six school options along with costs and tax impacts for each
    • A chart comparing the features and costs of the options
    • The Finance Committee’s updated tax impact projections and comparisons to other area towns

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In a paper poll at its meeting on May 30, concepts L3 and C were recommended by all 16 SBC members and liaisons in attendance (plus member Peter Sugar, who submitted a written response due to his planned absence). Five of the 16 additionally voted for concept L2 as a third recommendation, and one member/liaison voted to recommend all five concepts.

There was little discussion of the reasons for members’ choices except to say that they reflected the guiding principles they adopted last fall after receiving input from the public, other town officials and educators. SBC members had the option of including written comments on their ballots, but those comments were not made public.

Selectmen reject two of the concepts

The Board of Selectmen recommended against Option R as not meeting the town’s needs. “The repair-only option does not seem to me to meet the core mission of what we need to accomplish as a town with this school project,” Selectman James Craig said at the board’s May 21 meeting. “I think we’re well beyond just a repair option, and this does not meet our educational values or our environmental values. I just can’t support the expenditure of $49 million to get us to a spot in time where we’re just treading water.”

Selectmen Jennifer Glass and James Dwyer agreed. “There is nil academic value [in the repair-only option]. I don’t think it’s a good use of money because it doesn’t give you the [return on investment] you want,” Dwyer said.

Option L1 “does not, in our judgment, provide sufficient long-term educational, environmental or financial value,” members said in a May 23 statement. “We believe that the remaining school building concepts (L2, L3 and C) are all reasonable and viable plans that will support, to differing degrees, the long-range needs of our school and community.”

Selectmen also strongly supported the Finance Committee’s recommendation to stay within the town’s statutory debt limit and worried about the substantial tax increase that residents will see.

“I worry about how this tax burden is going to change our community—who sticks around and who leaves,” Dwyer said. “Do we become a ‘graduate and evacuate’ like some of our other towns, where they move in for schools that are awesome and then they leave? The community deteriorates and people are not here for the right reasons. They’re not here for Lincoln values; they’re just here to cash in and cash out on the schools.”

The town’s debt stabilization fund may provide some cushioning, and there are some tax relief programs available to qualifying residents, “but we should look to see if there are any other ways to soften what’s going to be a dramatic tax impact, whatever options gets voted on,” Craig said.

“We want to assure the town that the board is mindful of the magnitude of the financial investment the town is considering,” selectmen said in their joint statement. “Each individual will need to consider and answer the questions of personal affordability and up-front cost vs. long-term value.”

Other committees weigh in

“Options R and L1 do not provide value for money,” the School Committee said in a short May 24 statement. “Options L3 and C are critical for providing 21st-century education, and the School Committee is most excited about the educational value from Option C.”

Earlier last month, the Capital Planning Committee also recommended either Option L3 or C, as did the Lincoln School Foundation this week. The Finance Committee stopped short of advocating any particular option, though members recommended against Option FPC (which is no longer on the table) because it would require borrowing more than the town is allowed to under state statute without a special exemption.

Three new sculptures at deCordova

The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum is installing three new outdoor sculptures by artists Saul Melman, Nari Ward, and Josephine Halvorson during May and June.

Melman’s Best of All Possible Worlds is an interactive display of eight translucent casts of doors arranged in the footprint of the artist’s apartment—a ghostly exploration of personal, lived space. Ward’s three concrete casts of goat-shaped lawn ornaments are adorned with a variety of urban debris, commenting on the irony of using human-made materials to improve the natural landscape.

Finally, Halvorson’s Measure (Tree), a hand-painted life-size replica of a fallen tree found near her western Massachusetts studio, was created by the artist to aid viewers in gauging their relationship to the environment.

“Though their works are quite different in appearance, they all heighten our awareness of reality through methods of replication or casting,” said Sarah Montross, associate curator at deCordova. “Each sculpture is a representation of an actual object that has been altered in playful and profound ways: opaque doors are made clear; lively goats are burdened with found materials like discarded shoes; a tree trunk is revealed to be a flat wooden plank.”

Saul Melman, Best of All Possible Worlds, 2012, thermoplastic, paint, wood, and steel, 660″ x 240″ x 128″. Installation view, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Conn., courtesy of the artist.

DeCordova’s rotation of Sculpture Park loans and commissions will continue throughout the summer with upcoming projects by Nancy Winship Milliken, Cat Mazza, and Andy Graydon.

Best of All Possible Worlds consists of eight vacuum-molded casts of doors, arranged in the exact configuration of the artist’s Brooklyn apartment. The vacuum-cast process creates translucent replicas of the original doors. Traces of paint and small pieces of wood cling to the surface of some of the doors, suggesting their past lives and situating them between the material and immaterial, past and present.

Viewers can walk around the doorways in Best of All Possible Worlds to experience the ghostly echoes of Melman’s lived space. By emphasizing thresholds between interior and exterior, the installation alludes to personal secrets and past experiences that linger in domestic spaces—making a serendipitous connection to deCordova’s own history as a former residence (the opulent home of founders Julian and Elizabeth de Cordova). Melman sited the installation along an east-west axis to activate the doors with the maximum amount of light, particularly during sunrise and sunset.

Josephine Halvorson, Measure, 2016, acrylic on wood, 24′ x 24″ x 5″, courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York. Photo by Jerry L. Thompson © Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, N.Y.

This work is part of deCordova’s PLATFORM series of one-person commissioned projects by early- and mid-career artists from New England, national, and international art communities that engage with deCordova’s unique landscape.

For his three-part project (Firehose with Libation II, G.O.A.T.; Shoe tips with Libation, G.O.A.T.; and Social Media II, G.O.A.T. [2017]), Ward created a series of concrete casts of goat­ shaped lawn ornaments. He festooned each of his G.O.AT. sculptures with urban debris such as electrical wire, fire hoses, and old sneakers, attaching the found materials to lengths of rebar extending from the animal’s back. The artist notes that in his birth country, Jamaica, houses are often left with exposed rebar on their roofs to allow for future generations to build additional floors. While Ward incorporates this symbol of growth and possibility into his sculptures, there is also a sense of weight indicated by the objects the animals carry.

Nari Ward, Firehose with Libation II, G.O.A.T., 2017, concrete, sand, fiberglass, red, white and charcoal pigment, rebar, fire hose, eggshell and varnish, 32″ x 10″ x 71.5″, courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong. Photo: Sara Morgan.

Measure (Tree), to be installed in early June, is a hand-painted replica of a fallen tree the artist discovered near her studio in western Massachusetts. Working on a 24-foot plank of wood, she painted each side to resemble the tree’s characteristics—on one side, daubs of paint convey the bark’s texture while on the other, an illusionistic spray-painted red arrow runs the length of the tree—are fully translating every detail onto the surface of her wooden “canvas.”

School project updates: construction phasing, Town Meeting child care

A new overview of the six school options (click to enlarge).

Some updates on the June 9 Special Town Meeting on the school project:

A new view of the options

The image at right shows the five design concepts showing their estimated price tags and the incremental educational and physical features of each.

Construction phasing

If one of the “L” concepts is chosen, construction will take place in two 18-month phases. In the first phase, half the children will move into temporary classrooms while renovation occurs in one part of the building,. In the second phase, they will trade with the the other half of the student body while the rest of the building is renovated.
 
If Option C is chosen, only grades 4–8 will be in temporary classrooms while the Brooks portion of the school is worked on, and grades K-3 will remain in Smith. The project will take place over 24 months, with another eight to nine months for demolition of 73,000 square feet and construction of the second smaller gym in the Smith portion.

Understanding hubs

Watch this video of Hanscom Middle School faculty talking about the impact of grade-level hubs (or breakout spaces, as they’re called at Hanscom) and the difference they’ve made for teaching and learning in the building that opened in 2016.

Child care available during meeting

LEAP has generously offered to provide child care to the community on Saturday, June 9 so parents can attend the Special Town Meeting on the school building design vote that begins at 9:30 a.m. The LEAP coverage will be from 9 a.m.–3 p.m. The cost per child is $20, payable in cash on June 9. Children must be at least kindergarten age. Parents need to pack a lunch for their children; LEAP will provide snacks.

Please fill out this online registration form with your child’s name, age, and parent contact information as well as any allergies. LEAP has maximum capacity for 100 children and will fill up on a first-come, first-served basis, so please register in advance. LEAP will publish a schedule of the day’s activities ahead of time.Questions? Email leap0615@gmail.com.

Last public meetings before the vote

  • The last School Building Committee meeting before June 9 will be on Wednesday, May 30 at 7 p.m. in the Hartwell multipurpose room.
  • There will be community forums on Thursday, May 24 at 11 a.m. at The Commons and Friday, June 1 at 8:15 a.m in the Lincoln School story room.

Voter registration

The deadline to register to vote at the Special Town Meeting is Wednesday, May 30. Check your registration status here. Register online or in person in the Town Clerk’s office from 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Memorial Day observance planned

Sgt. Julie Sutherland

The Veterans of Lincoln, Mass. (VOLMA) and the Parks and Recreation Department invite residents to the town’s Memorial Day observances.

  • 9:45 a.m. — Assemble at Bemis Hall to march with Lincoln’s veterans down Bedford Road to the library lawn.
  • 10 a.m. — Join VOLMA on the library lawn to honor and celebrate the lives of those lost in battle, as well as our active and retired service men and women.

The guest speaker is Sgt. Julie Sutherland of the Massachusetts Army National Guard. The ceremony will be led by Captain Thomas Risser with traditional highlights including an invocation, the playing of “Taps” and the laying of a memorial wreath.

The Lincoln Police and Fire Departments will provide a cookout for all attendees immediately following the ceremony. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held inside Bemis Hall.

Sutherland is a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear non-commissioned officer with the 1st Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team of the Massachusetts Army National Guard. She enlisted in the guard in August 2013 and was named the Delta Company 2/39 Infantry Regiment Soldier Leader of the Cycle at the close of her basic combat training.

In 2016, Sutherland, a Millbury resident, was named the 1166th Transportation Company Soldier of the Year, the 164th Transportation Battalion Soldier of the Year, and the 151st Regional Support Group Soldier of the Year. She competed at the Massachusetts Best Warrior Competition in 2016 as the only female competing at the soldier level.

She holds an undergraduate degree in environmental science from Clark University and is working towards a masters’ degree in security studies/homeland defense concentration from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Her awards and decorations include the Army Service Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Army Achievement Medal (4th Award), German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge in Silver, and the NCO Professional Development Ribbon.

Letter from the moderator #1: checking in at the June 9 Town Meeting

To the editor,

I know that many of us have spent many hours planning for and learning about the issues we will be discussing at the Special Town Meeting on June 9. My hope is that in the next several weeks (hopefully on Monday mornings) I can explain some of the procedures we will follow at the meeting. For those not familiar with Town Meeting, I am hopeful that this information will be useful. Please share this information with others and, by all means, discuss the issues and the procedures between and among yourselves.  

Today is the day to review the checking-in process for June 9:

  • Come to the lobby of the Donaldson Auditorium in the Brooks School on Ballfield Road. Parking is always tight so walking, biking or carpooling is encouraged.  
  • Please arrive between 9:00 and 9:15 to check in so you’ll be ready when the gavel falls at 9:30. 
  • Check in with the tellers if you are a registered voter and be sure to get your hand stamped. See below if you are not a registered voter.
  • Collect various documents on the tables inside the auditorium offered by the town boards and committees.  
  • If need be, there will be overflow space in the Reed Gym.
  • Find your seat and get comfortable. We have a full day ahead of us.

You have until Wednesday, May 30 to register to vote at the June 9 meeting. If you are not a registered voter, you may attend the meeting, but you must ask for permission from the meeting to speak and may not vote. You must sit at the side of the auditorium.

If you have any questions, please send them my way and I will do my best to provide answers.

Sincerely,

Sarah Cannon Holden, Lincoln town moderator
Weston Road
sarahcannonholden@gmail.com

Drumlin preschool and director Canelli honored

Left to right: Mass Audubon Director of Education Kris Scopinich, Drumlin Farm Community Preschool Lead Teacher Rina Zampieron, Preschool Director and awardee Jill Canelli; Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary Director Renata Pomponi; and State Energy and Environmental Affairs Sec. Matthew A. Beaton. (Mass Audubon/Kelly Moffett photo)

Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary’s nature preschool and its director, Jill Canelli, have been honored with a Secretary’s Award for Excellence, which recognizes schools and teachers from throughout Massachusetts for their outstanding efforts to improve energy and environmental education.

The awards were presented by the office of State Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew A. Beaton in the rotunda of the Massachusetts State House on May 14.

Nature-based education is a fundamental element of Mass Audubon’s mission, and the Drumlin Farm Community Preschool is only one of the conservation organization’s state-licensed preschools, located at four of its wildlife sanctuaries. Another eight sanctuaries across the Commonwealth offer weekly nature preschool programs.

Canelli, an environmental educator for more than two decades, served as the founding director of the Drumlin Farm Community Preschool in 2007 before relocating with her family to Atlanta and continuing her work in environmental education. In 2014, she returned to Drumlin Farm and the preschool, and was especially happy to be part of the celebration surrounding its 10th anniversary in the spring of 2017.

Mass Audubon President Gary Clayton said the preschool and its director are very deserving award recipients. “We are honored to see this recognition of Jill Canelli’s exemplary work in raising the next generation of nature heroes at the Drumlin Farm Community Preschool, which reinforces Mass Audubon’s stature as a premier model for nature preschools statewide and beyond,” he said.

This is the third straight year that Mass Audubon, the state’s largest nature conservation nonprofit, has been honored by the Secretary’s Award for Excellence program. Last year, the organization was cited for its collaboration with the Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust in that city. In 2016, it was selected for the All Persons Trails Guidelines Project which, modeled on Mass Audubon’s own accessibility initiatives, provides guidance and support materials for like-minded organizations nationwide.