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

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Lincoln Democrats hear from state candidates in 3rd District

By Barbara Slayter

More than a dozen Lincoln Democrats attended the annual breakfast of the 3rd MAD (Middlesex Area Democrats) on May 12 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Waltham to hear from candidates for the upcoming September 4 primary and the midterm elections in November.

Participants gave an enthusiastic welcome to State Sen. Mike Barrett, who has been battling leukemia. “Democrats have a personal challenge and responsibility for addressing Trumpism,” Barrett declared. “Our work is cut out; it is not going to be easy; let’s get to it!”

The two Democratic candidates for governor, Jay Gonzales and Bob Massie, both emphasized their immigrant roots, strong support for a single-payer health care system and welcoming safe communities, and concerns about renewable energy, climate change, and a range of other progressive issues. Gonzales, who worked with former Gov. Deval Patrick, asserted that Gov. Charlie Baker is bad about standing up to hate and discrimination, while Massie proclaimed that if Democrats can win in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Alabama, surely they can win in Massachusetts.

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Cambridge-born political humorist Jimmy Tingle and Quentin Palfrey, a lawyer and policy maker from Southborough and Weston, are vying to be the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor. Tingle spoke movingly about the opioid crisis and the faltering public transportation system in Massachusetts, which lacks a high-speed train between Boston and Springfield or a link between North Station and South Station. Palfrey emphasized his long-term commitment to the fight against poverty and inequality through his work in the Poverty Lab at MIT, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, and in President Obama’s White House and Commerce Department.

All four candidates stressed that Democrats in Massachusetts must take back not only the corner office in the State House but also the leadership of our country. Massachusetts has been a leader in progressive change, and under Baker, the state is failing in this role and needs to re-assume its progressive mantle for leadership and change, they said.

Candidates for Governor’s Council Marilyn Devaney (candidate from Waltham who has served on the council for nearly 20 years) and Nick Carter (a lawyer from Newton) addressed the guests, as did Donna Patalano, a candidate for Middlesex County District Attorney. Patalano, who is challenging incumbent Marian Ryan, is focusing her candidacy on the need for reforms within the criminal justice system, which she says is characterized by gross disparities along racial lines.

Other speakers at the breakfast included Democratic candidates for the 14th and 15th Massachusetts House districts in Middlesex County to replace Cory Atkins and Jay Kaufman, respectively, and Secretary of State Bill Galvin, who offered information on scheduling and procedures for voting in Massachusetts, including early online voting, automatic registration, and same-day voter registration. Guests also heard from Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim, who is running against Galvin for secretary of state.

News acorns

Reed Wentworth to speak at LLCT

The annual meeting of the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust with a keynote address by Rand Wentworth, author of Finding Hope: The Future of Land Conservation in America, takes place on Monday, May 14 from 7–9 p.m. at St. Anne’s in-the-Fields church. LLCT members and friends are invited. Come learn how communities around the country are accelerating environmental protection in spite of federal rollbacks. Wentworth is the Louis Bacon Senior Fellow in Environmental Leadership at Harvard University and president emeritus of the Land Trust Alliance in Washington, D.C.

Hydrant flushing may affect tap water

The Lincoln Water Department will be flushing fire hydrants as part of its program to improve water quality starting Monday, May 14. Flushing will take place during the day from 8 a.m.–3 p.m. on weekdays. If tap water is used during flushing, it could be discolored and contain sediment. This discoloration only affects the appearance of the water; it does not affect the taste or water quality.

If you encounter discolored water, shut the water off and wait several minutes. After waiting, check the clarity by running cold water only for a few minutes, allowing new water to work its way into your pipes. In some cases, there may be slight discoloration for a few hours. The water may also have a milky appearance due to tiny air bubbles; they will dissipate over time and are not harmful.

Avoid washing laundry during scheduled flushing times. Wait until the water runs clear at the tap, then wash a load of dark clothes first. Flush your hot water tank by running the hot water tap for a few minutes after the cold water clears; hot water tanks can hold discolored water for some time after the cold water runs clear. Customers may also notice a more pronounced chlorine taste or odor in the water during springtime flushing. This will dissipate when water is left in an open container in the refrigerator. For additional information, call 781-259-8997.

Club Codman this weekend

Club Codman, the spring fundraising night for Codman Community Farms, kicks off on Saturday, May 19 at 8:30 p.m. in the Codman Barn with live music from DADDA. Sport the great fashions of the past and dance to music from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and beyond. No costumes necessary, but there will be much respect for the biggest hair and most polyester. Tickets are $45 for CCF members and $60 for non-members and are available online. This event sells out every year, so buy your tickets now. 

Film about borderlands trip at First Parish

The First Parish in Lincoln will show a short documentary film about a trip its members took to the Arizona borderlands on Tuesday, May 22 at 7 p.m. in the Stearns Room.  This film was produced by Lincoln resident Janet Boynton after the November 2016 trip. The film will be followed by a welcoming town and diversity discussion, co-facilitated by First Parish Ministerial Intern Terry Cumming and Peter Pease of the Lincoln Welcoming, Safe Town Committee of Lincoln.

Last community forum before school vote is May 15

There’s one more community workshop and two school tours before the milestone vote to decide which school project scheme the town should pursue.

The public forum on the six current concepts will be on Tuesday, May 15 from 7–9:30 p.m. in the Reed Gym. This session will focus mostly on audience Q&A with the School Building Committee (SBC) and other officials, and attendees will also be asked to informally rank the concepts in order of preference.

At the forum, SBC members will walk attendees through the process they used to generate and then narrow down the concepts from 12 at the start to the current six.

Last week, the committee considered two additional school design options. One of them had been in the mix before and one was a concept that the SBC requested from the consulting architects at a set price point of $85 million. However, “after discussion, it was determined that neither one of them brought anything incremental when compared to what we already had,” SBC Chair Chris Fasciano said.

The Board of Selectmen has yet to issue a recommendation on the options, though members are hoping to provide some guidance without being “overly directive,” Selectman Jennifer Glass said at the board’s May 7 meeting. The Finance Committee also debated the matter last week but decided not to recommend any of the options over the others, though they may yet recommend a dollar amount to keep in reserve when the town votes on bonding.

At its May 16 meeting, the SBC will finalize the concepts to be presented on June 9. Members will discuss on May 30 how they would rank the six options and why.

The June 9 Town Meeting will feature two votes: one using the voting machines and the second being a stand-and-count vote. In the first vote, registered voters will be asked to choose one of the six school options and possibly also what factors were most important in their decision. The votes will then be tabulated by machine, and the two options receiving the most votes will be presented for the final standing vote.

The SBC is hosting tours of the new Hanscom Middle School and the Lincoln School on Monday, May 21, where school officials will point out the educational benefits of various design attributes in both buildings. Anyone interested in the Hanscom tour must email Janice Gross at jgross@lincnet.org by noon on Monday, May 14, as all Hanscom Air Force Base visitors must provide in advance their full legal name as shown on their driver’s license and date of birth.

Visitors on May 21 must travel to the base with the group by bus, which will leave the Hartwell lot at 9:30 a.m. and return by noon, with lunch provided in the multipurpose room. A tour of the Lincoln School follows at 12:45 p.m. Anyone who just wants to tour the Lincoln School should email Gross and meet at the Smith office by 12:45 p.m.

The last mile (Lincoln Through the Lens)

Fran Doyle (center) is thrilled with the completion of a new Lincoln Road sidewalk between the Ryan Estates, where she lives, and the Cambridge Trust Co. building, making it much safer for her and others to walk to the mall and other South Lincoln locations. The sidewalk is one of several planned roadway improvement projects in town. With her are (left to right) DPW Superintendent Chris Bibbo, traffic consultant John Vancor, and DPW Foreman Steve McDonald.

Lincoln Kitchen shuts its doors; ingredients for a successful business debated

Lincoln Kitchen shortly before its opening in early 2017.

Just 15 months after it opened, Lincoln Kitchen shut its doors last week, leaving Lincoln once again without a restaurant.

Asked why it closed, co-owner and Lincoln resident Jim White said simply, “It didn’t work. Perhaps I should have known better, because there were plenty of people who turned down an opportunity to put a restaurant in that space. The difficulty with it, now that I know a little bit more, is there is just isn’t enough population density and the location is out of the way. Maybe we’re wrong and didn’t know what we’re doing… I live in town and I’d love to see something succeed there.”

Lincoln Kitchen opened in February 2017, nine months after the closure of AKA Bistro. In summer 2016, White and his daughter, co-owner Elizabeth Akehurst-Moore, signed leases for that building as well as the former Whistle Stop Cafe property nearby. Trail’s End Cafe opened in the latter location in October 2016 but closed in February 2018. White said he was negotiating a termination agreement on the Lincoln Kitchen lease with the Rural Land Foundation, which owns both properties.

In 2016, Lincoln resident Richard Card made an offer for the AKA Bistro space, but the RLF went with White instead. Card had proposed a business called Blazes, a combination bookstore, restaurant, coffee shop, and cocktail bar that would also host music performances (a website for the proposal is still live).

Card said this week that he planned to reach out again to the RLF but was also seriously considering a different site in town that he declined to specify. The biggest issue with that site is the septic system, he said.

“I was disappointed in the first [AKA Bistro] situation and I don’t want to lead people on when we’re not far enough down the line to have any kind of concrete commitment,” Card said. “I thought we had a situation with the RLF and it didn’t work out, which was disappointing to me and a lot of other people. One of the reasons given to me was that they went with Lincoln Kitchen  because they had a track record and [the RLF] couldn’t afford failure. Potential restaurateurs are going to think twice about going in there, as am I.”

If Blazes does open somewhere in Lincoln, Card hopes that a more “community-based” business with events like music and poetry readings will draw enough customers to succeed. “The idea is to spark a conversation, not just go in and out,” he said. “It’s a struggle because it’s a small community, but it’s not just commercial—it’s who we are to each other.”

In the wake of Lincoln Kitchen’s closing, numerous ideas for the site have been floated on LincolnTalk, but White warned that even a small food-related business must comply with Board of Health regulations, including licensed servers. “It’s not as easy to set up as some people might think it is,” he said.

The bigger obstacle, he added, was “people wanting to see a viable commercial district conflicting with why we all moved to Lincoln in the first place: peace and quiet and open space.” To have staying power, any restaurant in Lincoln “is going to have to be subsidized in some way, either by the town, if that’s legal, or by a wealthy individual.”

L-S School Committee disputes lawsuit allegations

The Lincoln-Sudbury Regional School Committee released a statement on May 7 denying charges in a recent lawsuit that the high school discriminated against the victim of an alleged sexual assault on campus in 2013.

A former student identified only as “Jane Roe” filed suit last month, charging L-S with failure to train and supervise response to sexual assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and discrimination on the basis of gender in violation of Title IX. In addition to the school, the suit names Superintendent/Principal Bella Wong, Director of Special Education and Director of Student Services Aida Ramos, and East House Housemaster/Associate Principal Leslie Patterson as defendants.

According to the lawsuit, after Jane was sexually assaulted by two boys during a football game, the school did not adequately protect her from coming into contact with the boys at the school and did not provide her with sufficient educational and counseling resources. Jane later went to a therapeutic school and eventually graduated from Lawrence Academy, the suit says.

“These allegations were fully investigated at the time by the Sudbury Police and School District officials. Upon learning of the incident, School District personnel immediately provided the female student with the support and assistance necessary to pursue her studies in a safe and harassment-free environment. Appropriate measures were also taken against the alleged assailants,” the School Committee’s statement reads.

“Any allegations that the school district dragged its feet, was unresponsive to the student, or somehow tried to sweep the incident under the rug, are entirely false. Due to the nature of the incident and ages of all involved, the school district was obliged to maintain strict confidentiality.”

The statement includes a link to a 2017 letter from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, which investigated the district’s response to the incident and said it found “insufficient evidence to support the complainants’ allegation” that “the school discriminated against the student by failing to respond promptly and appropriately.”

“The Superintendent-Principal and her administrative team have kept the School Committee apprised of the matters related to the incident and subsequent proceedings at all times,” the School Committee wrote, adding that it “stands behind its policies and unequivocally supports the administrators named in the lawsuit.”

Property sales in March

Indian Camp Lane — RBGC LLC to Matthew and Pascale Berkowitz for $477,000 (March 30)

44R Indian Camp Lane (affordable unit) — Gaurav Patel to Yogesh Dayma for $166,630 (March 29)

140 Lincoln Rd. — David Palmer to George and Elizabeth Creighton for $470,000 (March 29)

64 Davison Drive — Richard D. Ponn Trust to Philip and Kristen Nickson for $1,365,000 (March 20)

5 Morningside Lane — Fred Torossian to George and Sophia Kampoures for $1,020,000 (March 9)

50 Lincoln Rd. — Matthew von Wahlde to Adam and Caitlin Hogue for $785,000 (March 9)

 

School, community center groups respond to Finance Committee questions

The current Ballfield Road campus.

Committees for the two campus projects have submitted answers to a series of questions from the Finance Committee in advance of two April 30 meetings on project costs.

A multi-board meeting on the campus projects begins at 6 p.m. in the Hartwell B pod, followed by a joint meeting of the FinCom and the Capital Planning Committee from 7:30–9 p.m. A Special Town Meeting on the projects will take place on June 9.

In their answers to the FinCom, both the school and community center committees recommended against building a school project and a community center at the same time, citing the different projects scopes and timelines, construction durations, and problems in using the campus while two projects were under construction simultaneously.

The Community Center Planning and Preliminary Design Committee (CCPPDC) noted that contractors who are able to build a 160,000-square-foot square foot project such as the school do not typically compete for 23,000-square-foot buildings, and “it is likely that using the general contractor and subcontractors that typically handle the bigger, more complex projects for the smaller community center will actually add cost to the community center.”

The School Building Committee offered some FAQs about cost estimates on its website on April 29. Earlier, the SBC responded to a list of questions from the FinCom on:

  • Factors driving the cost per square foot of the various concepts
  • Enrollment projections
  • Space and cost numbers for comparable projects in other towns
  • Incremental costs of specific features such as a new or renovated Smith gym, renovated auditorium, and hubs for grades 3-8
  • Construction cost inflation and escalation
  • Comparisons to revant data form the Massachusetts School Building Authority
  • Operation and maintenance costs (also asked by the CapComm)
  • What’s included in “soft costs”

The CCPPDC was asked to supply figures and assumptions used for capacity planning for the community center design, and to explain why Bemis Hall can’t be renovated for the Council on Aging. The group’s answers are here, with more information on their research here (click on the “Finance Committee information for April 30” tab in the middle of the page).

In a discussion of the square footage sought for the community center, the CCPPDC noted that even newer community centers in other towns have proved to be too small. “The one town our size that offers a senior facility larger than the senior component of the community center says that they are already short on space,” the committee wrote. “Almost all towns we spoke with, including those with quite new facilities, said that they built too small and now need more space. We do not want to make the same mistakes as other towns by assuming that their facilities are adequate for their population when they are not, especially when these mistakes cost towns more in the long run when additions need to be built.”

Lincoln-Sudbury walkout planned after alleged sexual assault of student in 2013

In the wake of a sexual assault lawsuit recently filed against Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, some students have planned a walkout for 9:30 a.m. on Monday, April 29.

L-S Superintendent/Principal Bella Wong noted in an email to the L-S community on Sunday night that the walkout is permitted by school policy. However, non-L-S individuals who aren’t already at the school for a specific school-related purpose will be excluded from campus during the event.

The school as well as Wong, Director of Special Education and Director of Student Services Aida Ramos, and East House Housemaster/Associate Principal Leslie Patterson were sued  on April 24 by a former student who claims the school discriminated against her and inflicted emotional distress after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by two other students in 2013.

Allegations in the lawsuit include the following (the plaintiff is referred to as“Jane Roe” and the two boys are not named):

  • During a football game at the high school on November 1, 2013, Jane was lured to an adjacent field by the boys, who assaulted her on the bleachers of the field adjacent to the football field and in an unlocked storage shed near the bleachers. “Although Jane tried to resist, the perpetrators forced Jane to perform oral sex and penetrated her with their fingers.”
  • In text messages to Jane afterwards, “both perpetrators admit to having acted improperly and [begged] for Jane’s forgiveness and silence.” One of them told her he was terrified of going to “juvie” and losing his girlfriend if the incident became public. He tried to persuade Jane to keep silent by indicating that he was crying, to which Jane said that she’d “been crying ever since I left u guys,” and continued, “I resisted… I tried to run away… you both raped me.” In a separate text exchange with the other boy, Jane confronted him for attempting to justify his actions to another classmate by saying he was ‘drunk and high’.”
  • Six days after the incident, Jane reported it to L-S clinical counselor Sue Leichtman, who notified Patterson and Jane’s mother, a Lincoln-Sudbury teacher. Jane also showed screenshots of the text messages between her and the boys. Sudbury police subsequently began investigating. Jane’s parents obtained Harassment Prevention Orders from Middlesex County Juvenile Court to prohibit the boys from interacting with her.
  • Though Jane returned to school on November 12, she was unable to attend classes because the boys were allowed to remain in school and shared classes with her. Patterson therefore had her sit in the East House common area for most of the day. “She was not assigned work to complete and had little to no interaction with teachers, counselors or other Lincoln-Sudbury personnel. She spent her days sitting alone, listening to her iPod” while a steady stream of students, including the boys, passed through the area to check their mailboxes.
  • Wong told Jane’s parents that the school could not give them information about any investigation or discipline, citing privacy concerns because “the perpetrators were allegedly special education students, as was Jane.”
  • L-S did not provide Jane with any counseling or therapy services. She began seeing a therapist at her family’s expense.
  • On November 20, Patterson told Jane’s parents that L-S was finally allowed by the police to conduct its own investigation of Jane’s allegations, but that the school was not allowed to talk to the perpetrators and had no authority to punish or remove them from the school.
  • Because the school could not adequately support Jane or keep her apart at all times from the boys, it suggested she enroll in a therapeutic school, EDCO Collaborative School (then in Watertown). The district denied the Roes’ request for Jane to attend a different equivalent public or private school closer to home; also, her EDCO education was inferior because she had to drop her double enrollment in math, did not receive a wellness credit, and could no continue as a two-season athlete. When Jane’s special education liaison sent her a recommendation for private schools, she was reprimanded by Ramos.
  • In March 2014, Jane was admitted to Anna Jacques Hospital for a week after telling her therapist she felt suicidal.
  • L-S launched the BEACON program in the fall of 2014 for students who had either formerly been outplaced due to depression and anxiety or to avoid such outplacement, but Jane’s parents were told she did not qualify.
  • In the fall of 2014, Jane’s parents enrolled her at Lawrence Academy at their expense. She graduated from that school in 2017.
  • In October 2015, the district told the Roes that its investigation of Jane’s allegations was inconclusive. However, in August 2017 after both boys had graduated, Jane’s mother received another letter from Ramos and South House Housemaster Peter Elenbaas claiming that the 2015 letter had incorrectly reported the school’s findings. “In that August 2017 letter, Lincoln-Sudbury for the first time admitted and acknowledged that its investigation had found ‘that there was sufficient evidence that an interaction of an egregious nature did occur on the evening of November 1st, and that the boys’ conduct substantially violated one of the core values of L-S’.”
  • Lincoln-Sudbury “deliberately failed to accurately report the results of its investigation prior to August of 2017 because the perpetrators remained students at the school and defendants did not want to contend with adverse publicity or parental complaints about the presence of known perpetrators of ‘physical assault and inappropriate sexual behavior’ within the school.”

The lawsuit charges L-S with failure to train and supervise response to sexual assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and discrimination on the basis of gender in violation of Title IX.

While noting that she could not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit that had been reported by various media outlets, Wong addressed the issue of sexual assault in two emails to the L-S community on April 27. In the first, she urged any student who had experienced unwanted verbal or physical sexual contact to notify someone at the school.

“The second you disclose to a trusted adult at L-S you will receive immediate attention and support,” Wong said. “You can tell ANY adult in this building and they will know what to do to make sure you get the help that you need.”

In the second email, Wong outlined the school’s measures to prevent sexual assault and support victims, including education around boundaries and consent, peer leaders trained through the Mentors in Violence Prevention program, self-defense classes and security cameras.

When an allegation of sexual assault occurs, “the police are provided the first opportunity to fully interview the affected parties in order to ascertain criminality,” Wong said. “We are able to interview the students more fully once the police have had their opportunity to interview. School discipline can only occur after these interviews are held. At the close of any incident of sexual assault, we also conduct a separate Title IX investigation to ensure that the civil rights of the student involved have been adequately protected.”

“We rely on every member of our community to help each of our students reach their fullest potential and to keep them safe. We cannot stress enough the importance of their learning about how to best maintain their own personal safety, and to reach out when in need of support,” Wong said.