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

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News acorns

School/community workshops, Planning Board meeting postponed

Due to the impending snowstorm, the School Building Committee (SBC) and the Community Center Committee (CCPPDC) joint workshops scheduled for 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 13 are cancelled and will be rescheduled. The continuation of the Planning Board’s Oriole Landing public hearing  has also been rescheduled from March 13 to Tuesday, March 20 at 7 p.m. in Town Hall.

The School Building Committee scheduled for Monday, March 12 at 7 p.m. in the Hartwell multi-purpose room is still on. Bill Maclay, founder of Maclay architects, will present his sustainability analysis on the school building concepts. The meeting is open to the public and public attendance is strongly encouraged.

“Shrek The Musical Jr.” this week at Lincoln School

The Lincoln School’s middle school students present “Shrek The Musical Jr.” based on the Oscar-winning movie and the hit Broadway musical in three shows this week. The comic story follows the green ogre Shrek and his loyal companion Donkey as they set off to rescue the Princess Fiona from a fire-breathing lovesick dragon in an adventure that’s all about embracing the differences in others and being proud to be your true self.

Performances are Wednesday, March 14 at 3 p.m., and Thursday and Friday, March 15 and 16 at 7 p.m. in the Donaldson Auditorium. Tickets will be available at the door ($10 for adults, $5 for students and seniors). The cast and crew of 85 students is led by drama teacher Kristin Hall (director and producer), music teacher Blake Siskavich (musical director), and fifth-grade teacher Maurisa Davis (dance director). Another 50 parents, faculty and staff have worked behind the scenes to create the elaborate sets, props and costumes that make up “Shrek the Musical Jr.’s” fairy tale world.

Wi-Fi will be available at Town Meeting

At this year’s Annual Town Meeting on March 24, there will be public guest Wi-Fi for the first time. This is being offered on a best-effort basis. Due to the large number of anticipated users, bandwidth will be limited and will not be suitable for activities such as video streaming or large file downloads. Technical support for connecting to or using the guest Wi-Fi during the meeting will not be available.

The Lincoln Public Schools and the town of Lincoln are not responsible for the security of any information communicated through the Town Meeting guest Wi-Fi network, or the content accessed through this public guest Wi-Fi network. All users of the Town Meeting guest Wi-Fi network agree to refrain from any use that is illegal or in violation of Lincoln Public Schools policies, including but not limited to any communications that are harassing, bullying, discriminatory or threatening; violations of copyright laws; any use involving materials that are obscene, pornographic, sexually explicit or sexually suggestive; any use for disseminating or propagating malicious software; sending mass-marketing or spam messages; any malicious use, damage or disruption of the district’s network and technology resources; misuse of computer passwords or accounts; or any attempt to access content blocked by the district’s content filter.

Letter to the editor: endorsement for Hullinger for LSSC

To the editor:

I confidently endorse Siobhan Hullinger as the write-in candidate opening for the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional District School Committee in the upcoming election on Monday, March 26.

Ms. Hullinger is a long-time Sudbury resident who is well respected in the community. I have most admired Mrs. Hullinger’s selfless volunteer work having served alongside her as a board member on the Lincoln-Sudbury Scholarship Fund, Inc. Dollars for Scholars (LSSF).

Through my involvement with LSSF and having built a strong working relationship with Ms. Hullinger over the years, I have gained tremendous respect and admiration for her strong work ethic, resourcefulness, and dedication to supporting L-S students in their pursuit of academic excellence, through the LSSF encouraging students’ future success as they moved on to college, and promoting the L-S core values of “fostering caring and cooperating relationships, respecting human differences, pursuing academic excellence and cultivating community.”

As an L-S School Committee member, Ms. Hullinger will put many hours into:

    • Advocating for the interests of the community
    • Promoting a working relationship that is honest and transparent
    • Ensuring an optimistic future for taxpayers, families, students, faculty, staff and school administration.

With proud enthusiasm, I support Siobhan Hullinger as the write-in candidate opening for the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional District School Committee.

Sincerely,

Andrew Nyemekye
731 Concord St., Framingham

(Editor’s note: Nyemekye was the METCO specialist at L-S from 2010-16 and is an LSSF Dollars for Scholars committee member.)

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: Hullinger seeks write-in votes for LSSC

To the editor,

My name is Siobhan Hullinger and I am pleased to announce my candidacy for the write-in candidate opening for the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional District School Committee (LSSC) in the upcoming election on Monday, March 26.

I respectfully ask for your vote because as a 27-year resident with three children who have attended and are attending L-S, I am grateful for and understand the importance to our children and town of L-S’s national reputation among colleges and universities, and the diversity of its academic and extracurricular offerings.

I have spent 27 years in Sudbury devoted to efforts to support our community and schools.   My volunteer efforts include board memberships with HOPEsudbury, the Lincoln-Sudbury Scholarship Fund, and the LSPO as well as L-S School Council member, Sudbury eown election officer, CERT volunteer, parent coordinator for the Kicks for Cancer Soccer Tournament, youth sports age group coordinator, and a participant in the Sudbury Listening Project.

My civic involvement is at the core of who I am and aligns with L-S’s core values of “fostering caring and cooperating relationships, respecting human differences, pursuing academic excellence and cultivating community.” As a longtime participant in local town issues, I understand the essential importance to continually take a fresh look at how we operate our local town organizations, including L-S. Among the key issues I would pursue are:

  • Build a stronger collaboration between L-S, Sudbury, Lincoln, and the METCO program to facilitate open, collaborative, and thoughtful discussions that will improve coordination of academic and social transitions into our high school, identify areas of operating redundancies and inefficiencies, and support reasonable class sizes.
  • Review safety measures to ensure they align with current trends and research while preserving the benefits of an open campus.
  • Enact a policy of periodic reviews of the Regional Agreement, originally enacted in 1954, to ensure it provides an effective and equitable framework reflecting the current and future public education conditions and needs for L-S to thrive.
  • Pursue the start time recommendations of the separate L-S/Sudbury Public Schools (SPS) subcommittees. We must put in the hard work to see whether adjusting our schedule is feasible and tackle obstacles that hinder student growth. Unlike past efforts, we must tackle this task collaboratively with L-S, SPS, and the METCO program.
  • Our music and arts programs currently find themselves under threat of elimination or reduction. We should instead see a growing commitment to these programs which have been proven to boost academic and social/emotional outcomes.

LSSC needs to proactively consider whether the current leadership structure of separate superintendents and administrations from SPS is the most desirable for attracting top-tier leadership at both L-S and SPS for the long term.

I will work tirelessly to represent the interests of taxpayers, families, students, faculty, staff and administration to enhance, support and foster open and constructive dialogue among our partners in education. Please contact me with any thoughts and/or questions at sioforls@gmail.com. I humbly ask for your support by writing in “Siobhan Hullinger” under L-S School Committee on March 26. 

Sincerely,

Siobhan Hullinger
55 Washington Drive, Sudbury

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: Joachim runs as write-in candidate for L-S panel

(Editor’s note: L-S School Committee Gerald Quirk of Sudbury had planned to run for reelection but subsequently withdrew his name after the deadline for others to get on the ballot had passed.)

To the editor:

I am happy to announce that I am running as a write-in candidate for Lincoln-Sudbury Regional District Committee. I welcome your support on Monday, March 26.

I know first-hand the unique qualities of L-S as I myself am an L-S graduate. I have had children enrolled at L-S since 2010. Two have graduated, and my youngest is currently a junior. I understand L-S: its breadth of classes, its emphasis on learning, and its focus on building student independence.

After L-S, I went to Columbia College and Harvard Law School. I served on the Sudbury School Committee for six years, including one year as chair and two as vice chair. I will bring my knowledge of L-S, my legal training, and my School Committee experience to the L-S School Committee.

If elected, I will put students first. I will listen to and consider all perspectives before making decisions. I will collaborate with staff, parents from Boston, Lincoln, and Sudbury, and students to ensure that L-S is providing the best education possible to all students. We must ensure that students feel safe and welcome at L-S, that they are offered a broad array of classes in core subjects and the arts, and are challenged to learn and grow in each of these classes, and that they are well-prepared for their chosen path upon graduation.

I believe we need to explore options for further collaboration and sharing between L-S and the Lincoln and Sudbury public schools. Such work can only be done with interest and participation from members of both the Lincoln and Sudbury communities. We have a shared goal of ensuring that L-S provides an excellent learning experience for our students in a supportive environment, and we must partner to move forward. My six years on the Sudbury School Committee will be valuable in these discussions.

I believe that we need to continue exploring school start times for our teens. There are logistical challenges to implementing a later start time, but given the overwhelming evidence of improvements to student health, well-being, and academic performance, we must continue to focus on this issue. Finally, L-S must review its safety protocols to ensure that they address the current environment and follow best practices.

I look forward to meeting you and discussing L-S in the coming weeks and ask you to write my name on the Lincoln and Sudbury ballots on Monday, March 26.

Sincerely,

Ellen Winer Joachim
6 Craig Lane, Sudbury

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.

News acorns

PTO hosts candidate forum

The Lincoln School PTO will host a town election and candidate forum on Friday, March 2 in the Hartwell multipurpose room. The PTO will have a general business meeting at 8:15 a.m., and the candidate forum, including a question and answer session, will run from 8:30–9:30 a.m.

“Beauty and the Beast” with ballet

The Lincoln Public Library will host a reading of Beauty and the Beast geared to young children, accompanied by dancers from the Commonwealth Ballet Company acting out some of the parts in colorful costumes on Saturday, March 3 at 11 a.m. Free and open to all ages.

Session looks at “green” features of school options

How “green” are the proposed Lincoln School project concepts? Find out at the School Building Committee (SBC) meeting on Wednesday, March 7 at 7 p.m. in the Hartwell multipurpose room. Bill Maclay, founder of Maclay Architects, and Martine Dion, principal architect and director of sustainable design at SMMA, will present the results of Maclay Architects’ energy performance analysis of each of the five project concepts presented at the January 23 community workshops. The analysis includes options for differing levels of building envelope energy performance, mechanical systems optimization, construction cost estimates, energy modeling for both annual consumption and building enclosure-related energy usage, and 20-year capital and operating costs and cash flow estimates.

Eighth-grade parents’ night at L-S

Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School will host Eighth-grade Parents’ Night on Thursday, March 8 from 7–8:30 p.m. in the L-S auditorium. The agenda includes an overview of the ninth-grade curriculum and an outline of the scheduling process, followed by an opportunity to visit faculty members to ask questions about course selection and curriculum. Eighth-graders will have received the Program of Studies earlier that week. The snow date will be Tuesday, March 13 from  7–8:30 p.m.

Letter to the editor: support Kasper for L-S school committee

To the editor,

I write in support of Carole Kasper, who is running for a three-year term on the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School (L-S) School Committee. Carole has significant experience serving our community, she is a listener and a facilitator, and she is committed to our schools and our families. Please join me and vote for Carole at the polls on Monday, March 26.

I first got to know Carole other through her leadership of the Lincoln PTO. Carole worked with her team to revamp the organizational structure of the PTO and to reach out more broadly to families, residents, and community businesses for their support. After her tenure on the PTO, she worked with Middle School Principal Sharon Hobbs to strengthen the support for students and families as children transition from the middle school to the high school. To that end, she co-hosted a second annual gathering of “veteran” parents and current middle school parents to talk about the social transition from Lincoln to L-S. She is skilled at identifying a need and doing what it takes to organize a response and create a solution.

In 2015, Carole raised her hand to be part of the Campus Master Planning Committee for the Lincoln School campus, and served as its chair. The work of that committee was foundational for the current school and community center projects, and it further connected her to the community. Carole will draw on her strong connections with current, past, and future L-S families to inform her decision making as a member of the L-S School Committee.

Carole values the independent and innovative spirit of L-S, and will bring both enthusiastic support and a keen analytical eye to the work of the School Committee. She will listen, problem solve, and work hard on behalf of the Lincoln, Sudbury, and Boston communities who together make L-S a unique place.

On her behalf, thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Glass
11 Stonehedge Road

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.

Forums planned for Town Meeting and election issues

Oriole Landing update on Tuesday

Residents are invited to hear reports from town officials, boards, and committees on the proposed Oriole Landing mixed-income housing development on Tuesday, Feb. 27 from 7–9 p.n. in Town Hall. Hosted by the Housing Options Working Group. There will be ample time for questions, discussion, answers, and suggestions in preparation for the Planning Board public hearing on March 6 and the Town Meeting vote on March 24.

Kasper to appear at three events

Lincoln’s Carole Kasper is running for the seat being vacated by Nancy Marshall on the Lincoln-Sudbury RHS School Committee. There are three public events upcoming in Lincoln at which citizens will have an opportunity to meet Kasper, learn about her involvement with various Lincoln institutions, and get a sense of her views and goals for L-S. Coffee and light refreshments will be served. The election is Monday, March 26; the polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

  • Friday, March 9 — Lincoln Woods Community Room, 9:30–11 a.m.
  • Wednesday, March 14—Lincoln Library Tarbell Room, 9:30–11 a.m., and Bemis Hall, 1:30 to 3:00 p.m.

Green Energy Committee sessions on Town Meeting articles

At Town Meeting, there will be several articles and citizens’ petitions related to the environment and sustainability. In one article, the Green Energy Committee (GEC) will be asking residents to consider supporting a Lincoln “Community Choice Aggregation” program. Aggregation programs can provide advantages for price, price stability, and renewable energy content that is included in our electricity purchases. A “yea” vote would start the process involving about a year of planning, bid solicitation, and staff review. Pending the Board of Selectmen’s approval, the town would sign a formal contract with an electricity supplier on behalf of the town.

To learn more about this and the other “green” initiatives that will be voted on at Town Meeting, come to the Green Energy Committee Forum on Wednesday, March 14 from 7:30–9 p.m. in Hartwell Pod B. On the agenda:

  • “Community Choice Aggregation,” sponsored by GEC
  • “The Regulation of Sale and Use of Bottled Water,” sponsored by the Lincoln-Sudbury Environmental Club
  • “The Regulation of Sale and Use of Bottled Water — Alternative,” sponsored by Jim White, owner of Trail’s End and Lincoln Kitchen
  • “Protecting Consumers of Gas and Electricity from Paying for Leaked & Unaccounted-for Gas,” sponsored by Mothers Out Front

The forum is a chance to meet and talk with sponsoring groups and others engaged in sustaining the environment. Immediately before the forum from 6:30–7:30 p.m. in the Hartwell parking lot, residents can meet owners of electric vehicles, ask questions and learn more.

Letter to the editor: more input on school planning is vital

To the editor:

I am motivated to write this letter as a result of recent discussions about the school project. Following the January 23 public forum, the outreach committee conducted a survey which brought in 156 responses. While this is a good number related to the number of attendees, it is not a large enough number to give one confidence as to the eventual outcome of the effort put in by the School Committee, the School Building Committee, and the committee working on the community center.

The projects are progressing apace, but the resultant budget will cause a significant increase to our taxes. We are talking of options for the school ranging from $70–$90 million. When adding the community center’s $12–15 million, the resulting amount approaches $100 million. Thus, I believe it is critical that as many of you as are able and are interested should attend our discussions to ensure that the end result will truly reflect the wishes of our community and thus not fail at the ballot box.

Our meetings are well publicized on the School Building Committee website: lincolnsbc.org. We look forward to seeing you at our next meetings.

Sincerely,

Peter Sugar (School Building Committee member)
133 Chestnut Circle

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.

Community center planners mull input including a Smith site

A group of Lincoln design professionals wrote a memo to campus planners urging that they consider locating the community center on the current Smith school site rather than on the Hartwell side of campus, but the reaction among community center planners was lukewarm last week.

At its February 14 meeting, the Community Center Preliminary Planning and Design Committee reviewed feedback collected on the initial set of six concepts for a community center. Most popular with residents at the community workshops on January 30 were Schemes 2, 3A, and 3B. The latter two options call for retaining and renovating all three Hartwell pods, but 3B put some of the parking between the main Hartwell building and Lincoln Road where the Strat’s Place playground used to be. Residents and the CCPPDC liked the building shape and location of Scheme 3B and the parking in Scheme 3A, so architect Maryann Thompson will include an illustration with that combination in the next round of designs she’ll present at the March 13 CCPPDC meeting.

The CCPPDC also decided that, regardless of which option is selected, there will not be parking on the Strat’s Place site, and any pods not folded into the community center will be renovated (work that would have to include new windows and bathrooms as well as fire code and handicapped accessibility upgrades). However, that renovation work could be done separately from the community center construction.

“We’re waiting to see what the school [which owns the pods] is going to do with these buildings,” CCPPDC Vice Chair Margit Griffith said. “The community is not necessarily aware of who owns them and who has the right and the budget” to demolish or renovate them.

The Smith idea

The February 12 memo addressed to both the CCPPDC and the School Building Committee addressed several issues with the school and community center proposals. Among its recommendations: putting the community center on the space currently occupied by the old Smith building. That space would be freed up if the town chooses for school option B6, which concentrates the building on the north side of the ballfield. The authors note that there is community interest in preserving the 1953 Smith gym, which has historically appealing wooden rafters and floors as well as a stage.

Sketches of two concepts for a community center on the Smith side of the campus (click to enlarge).

In response to the memo, Thompson presented two options for a west-wide community center, one with 35,400 square feet and the other with 28,600 square feet. A 19,000-square-foot building would be sufficient to meet the needs of the Council on Aging and the Parks and Recreation Department, according to 2014 estimates.

Both plans would be more expensive than any of the east-side proposals due to higher construction and renovation costs associated with the larger footprints, though Thompson did not have exact cost estimates as of last week. Reusing some of the Smith building is also less than ideal for seniors because of the long hallway they would have to traverse. The gym’s acoustical properties also make it problematic for use by seniors, Council on Aging Director Carolyn Bottum noted. Furthermore, despite the larger total footprint, the rest of the community center might actually be a bit squeezed since the gym takes up so much of the space, Thompson added.

“Programmatically this doesn’t work well, according to the earlier community center study committee,” resident Sara Mattes commented. “To spend more money on rehabbing something that doesn’t meet programs needs and requires additional parking, paving over what was going to be green space, seems to be a bit of an anathema.”

“If it was cheaper [than the Hartwell options], then maybe the town would say it’s worth suffering some of the challenges that go along with it, but learning that it’s at least as expensive and maybe more, as well as more expensive on the operating side—I don’t know how we could justify it to the town,” CCPPDC member Tim Christenfeld said.

Of the Smith building, resident Owen Beenhouwer (also an architect) said, “I think it’s a candidate for coming down. I think we need to be building for the future and not just keeping the past half alive.”

Thompson acknowledged that “you would never get a gym like that now” with its wooden rafters and natural light. “I don’t think it should get torn down, but I don’t know what to do with it.”

The memo authors urged the school and community center planners to hold a joint charrette as soon as possible to better coordinate campus planning and discuss possible ways to keep the Smith gym.

The memo was written by Doug Adams, Gary Anderson, Ken Bassett, Lucretia Giese, Ken Hurd, Judith Lawler, Brooks Mostue, David O’Neil, Steven Perlmutter, Dana Robbat, and Peter Sugar. Adams, Bassett, Perlmutter, and Sugar were members of the School Building Advisory Committee that was formed after the 2012 defeat of the school plan that had been accepted for funding by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). Giese and Robbat are among the founders of Friends of Modern Architecture/Lincoln.

Adams and Bassett were also members of the “Fireside Seven,” a group of Lincoln architects and designers who developed an L-shaped design alternative after the 2012 vote in hopes of retaining MSBA funding. That alternative was rejected by the agency as being too different from what it had approved originally.

News acorns

Democratic town caucus times given

A previous news item about the March 3 date of the Lincoln Democrats’ caucus omitted the time. Registration for the caucus begins at 9:30 a.m. and the event begins at 10 a.m.

Jazz concert on Wednesday

The CJALL jazz concert with Jimmy Mazzy & The Last Minute Men originally planned for February 7  was rescheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 14 at Bemis Hall. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the concert starts at 8 p.m. Sponsored by Manson Solomon and The Friends of the Lincoln Public Library. CJALL played old-time New Orleans jazz classics at the Colonial Inn in Concord for 30 years. Accompanying Jimmy are Moshe Feldman and Carol Moeller as well as trombone, sax, cornet, clarinet and vocalists.

Learn about natural burial on Feb. 21

“What (In) Earth Is A Green Burial?” is the title of a talk by Candace Currie on Wednesday, Feb. 21 from 7–8:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Public Library’s Tarbell Room. Going back to burial traditions prior to the Civil War, all burials were natural or “green” burials. Come learn about re-establishing these traditions. And yes, natural burials are legal in Massachusetts, but few cemeteries in the state are performing them. Find out why and how you can change the rules for your cemetery or create a new burial ground that conserves open space. Currie is director of planning and cemetery development for Mount Auburn Cemetery and director of Green Burial Massachusetts, Inc.

Series on domestic violence continues at First Parish

“Hidden in Plain Sight: Domestic Violence Awareness” continues at the First Parish in Lincoln on Wednesday, Feb. 21 and Wednesday, March 17 from 7–8:30 p.m. in the Parish House (14 Bedford Rd.). This series, which began on January 23, is designed to raise awareness of domestic violence and abuse in Lincoln and the surrounding communities. Ministerial Intern Terry Cummings will lead the program, along with Lauren Montanaro, community engagement specialist with REACH Beyond Domestic Violence.

At the February 21 session, participants will assess different situations and learn about the type of skills needed to respond to the situations appropriately. For those interested in becoming a domestic violence volunteer, this class will provide a preview of an aspect of the training program offered by REACH and similar organizations.

On March 27, First Parish will host a vigil to honor and remember survivors of domestic violence and abuse, as well as those who support people in need of help to cope with their situations. The vigil will include prayer, shared reflections, music and song. The meetings are open to all and are free of charge. To register, please contact Terry at terry@fplincoln.org.

Composting event on Feb. 24

The Lincoln Public Library will host “Composting with Adam Janauskas” on Saturday, Feb. 24 from 2–4 p.m. Janauskas of City Compost will help attendees learn about what to include in a compost pile, the factors that go into making a healthy compost, and what’s required for a good home composting system.

Introduction to music at L-S

Parents of eighth-graders in Sudbury and Lincoln are invited to visit Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School on Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium lobby to learn more about the L-S Music Department. Meet the music faculty, tour the music spaces and learn more about music offerings at the high school. Parents of students in chorus, band or orchestra, those who sing or study outside of school, or who just loves music are welcome. For more information or questions, email lsfriendsofmusic@gmail.com or visit www.lsfom.org.