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

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Lincoln School kids select two area nonprofits for grants

Lincoln School students with representatives of Youth in Philanthropy. Left to right: board member Laurie Cote, Director of Programs and Marketing Jackie Walker, and students Emilie Auger, Esther Adetoye, Amelia Pillar, Zaynab Azzouz, Sarah Lammert, Sonya Carson, Andreas Muzila, and Will Levy (click to enlarge).

Ten seventh- and eighth-graders from the Lincoln School involved with Youth in Philanthropy (YIP) presented $5,000 grants to Save a Dog and Lucy’s Love Bus after learning about several area nonprofits.

YIP is a program offered by the Foundation for MetroWest designed for middle and high school students interested in learning more about running a nonprofit, how donations are used, and what needs exist in their communities through a hands-on experience. For 15 weeks, the students (helped by social studies teacher Keith Johnson) learned about philanthropy, researched local nonprofits, reviewed their grant applications, conducted site visits to three nonprofits, and voted on the final grant recipients.

Although the students chose the nonprofits themselves, the money was actually donated by Lincoln’s Ogden Codman Trust, which funded a three-year program for students who live and/or learn in Lincoln. High school students who participate in YIP raise money themselves (Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School as well as schools in Concord, Wellesley, Hopkinton, and Natick have chapters). Since YIP’s inception, 1,100 area students have raised more than $1 million for the causes they’ve chosen. YIP also runs a four-day Summer Institute for Youth Leadership in Framingham in late June for middle and high school students.

For nearly 20 years, the Sudbury-based Save A Dog has rescued and re-homed abandoned dogs. “What we really liked about it is that it’s not just a kennel situation. They had a foster program as well, so people could see what [the dogs] were like,” said eight-grader Sonya Carson.

“This will greatly enhance our summer program for teens and allow us to keep the current teen coordinator as well as bring in an additional helper, who started at Save a Dog several years ago as a freshman volunteer,” said Shirley Moore, president and founder. “These teens will inspire others to continue volunteering in this program, providing enrichment for shelter dogs, and helping us find permanent homes for abandoned animals. We want to thank the Foundation for MetroWest and the Youth in Philanthropy students at the Lincoln School for allowing us this tremendous opportunity to enrich the lives of both young people and homeless dogs.”

Lucy’s Love Bus works to deliver comfort and quality of life to pediatric cancer patients by providing funds for free integrative therapies. It’s named for Lucy Grogan, who died of complications from leukemia at age 12. During her illness, friends and family raised money to help pay for therapies such as massage, acupuncture, art therapy, and therapeutic horseback riding. She dreamed of starting a program that would provide free integrative therapies to all children with cancer to help manage the side effects and late effects of traditional cancer treatment.

“It’s an honor to have been chosen by the Youth in Philanthropy students at the Lincoln School to receive this gift. I would like to thank them for their vision and generosity that will allow Lucy’s Love Bus to provide gentle integrative therapies to children who are coping with cancer in our region,” said Beecher Grogan, executive director and founder.

In addition to the grant giving ceremony at The Lincoln School, students involved in YIP programs at schools and communities across MetroWest are also making a positive impact on the region. Read more about the YIP program and their efforts here.

“It showed us you don’t have to be an adult to help; you can make a big difference even in middle school,” one of the students said.

News acorns

Parent discussion on life at L-S for incoming freshmen

All Lincoln parents of eighth-graders (regardless of where they’re enrolled) who will be going to Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in the fall are invited to “Life at L-S” on Thursday, May 4 from 7–8:30 p.m. Lincoln School parent alums will offer information and support for the transition to L-S life. Because orientation to L-S so far has focused almost exclusively on academics, this session will touch on other aspects of L-S life such as sports, clubs and activities, social life, time management, and Boston family experiences. The event will be facilitated by Lincoln residents Nancy Marshall (member of the L-S School Committee) and Carole Kasper, parent volunteer and former PTO chair, as well as middle school Principal Sharon Hobbs.

Jewelry trunk show at Old Town Hall Exchange

The Old Town Hall Exchange is hosting a jewelry trunk show on Saturday, May 6 from 1–5 p.m. Enjoy browsing local artisans’ work on the weekend before Mother’s Day. Lincoln artists include Ji Hwang Jewelry, Shing Jewels, and L. Alexandra Designs, with other local jewelers Susan Warren Jewelry and CB Miller Metals. The Exchange will be also open for business with cards, stationery, soaps, candles, pottery, and more.

Historical Society hosts event

The Lincoln Historical Society invites residents to “Our Unhappy Connection: The ‘Lost Letters’ of Abigail Adams and Her Brother, Captain William Smith”—a fictional exchange based on history on Sunday, May 7 at 2 p.m. in Bemis Hall. Special guests the Lincoln Minute Men will salute their captains past and present.

Page Turners at next LOMA night

The Page Turners (Carolyn Kendrick and Jake Howard) are the featured performer at the next LOMA (Lincoln Open-Mike Acoustic) night on Monday, May 8 at the Lincoln Public Library. The event runs from 7-10 p.m., and the Page Turners will perform a half-hour set starting around 8:30. Their rustic vocal harmonies are complemented instrumentally by Carolyn’s fiddle and Jake’s mandolin and guitar. LOMA is a monthly event. Admission is free and refreshments are provided.Performers can sign up at the event or email Rich Eilbert at loma3re@gmail.com for a slot. There is a sound system with mikes and instrumental pickups suitable for individuals or small groups.

L-S invites singers to join Vivaldi performance

The L-S Concert Choir invites residents who enjoy singing to participate in their annual Community Sing on May 11, where they will perform Vivaldi’s Gloria for their May concert. The choir’s tradition for its May concert  is to learn and perform a longer work for choir and orchestra and to invite L-S staff, choir alumni and community members to sing the piece with them. The time commitment is minimal: dress rehearsal is Monday, May 8 from 7–8:30 p.m. and the concert is on Thursday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m. There are audio practice files online for each part (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), as well as scores available to borrow. Anyone interested may contact L-S Choral Director Mike Bunting (Michael_Bunting@lsrhs.net or 781-259-9527, ext 2210).

Annual forum on school priorities on Thursday

The Lincoln School Committee and administration invite parents, faculty, and community members to provide input into developing the school district’s 2017-18 strategic priorities at the third annual Strategic Priorities Community Forum on Thursday, April 27 from 7–9 p.m. in the Hartwell Multipurpose Room.

The meeting will feature an overview of of the school district vision and strategic plan; faculty presentations of current classroom practices that represent the district’s priorities; and community conversation about hopes, expectations, and priorities for the district to consider for the coming year.

Developing the annual District Strategic Plan involves gathering of input from stakeholder groups, a review of the district’s progress toward achieving current goals, and discussion of appropriate next steps in order to move forward toward achieving the district’s vision for education in the Lincoln Public Schools. The district’s current strategic priorities are focused on the delivery of curriculum and instruction that engages students at high levels and supports the academic, creative, social, and emotional development of all students.

LSF bee celebrates 10 years of spelling acumen

Third-grade winners: The Word Wizards: Henry Hussey, Rahul Rani, and Alex Zipes. Adults, left to right: Principal Kristen St. James; and teachers Scot Dexter, Jen Mastrullo, and Debbie Carpenito. (More photos below; click to enlarge)

The Lincoln School Foundation (LSF) celebrated a decade of student spelling prowess and a new contest format at the annual town-wide spelling bee on April 2.

In keeping with the LSF’s mission to bring innovative ideas into our schools, last year’s fifth-graders piloted a new style of spelling bee competition. Every team was given the same word to spell out on a whiteboard, and double elimination ensured that one extraordinarily hard word didn’t wipe out the whole group unfairly. Thanks to the overwhelmingly positive response, the pilot format was improved and fully implemented for all grades this year.

Similar to last year, the double elimination rule remained and all teams in a heat received the same words, but whiteboards were traded in for laptops, and teams’ final answers were projected on screens, making it easier for the audience to see. A judge then asked one team member to spell the word out loud for the audience to hear.

“The LSF folks who have run the bee over the years have been really responsive to the feedback they’ve received from the judges and pronouncers. It’s become a great community event,” said Brooks School Principal Sharon Hobbs.

“The students were well prepared and it was a terrific addition to have each team spell and display every word. We are so fortunate to have LSF as a partner, not only for this amazingly well-organized event, but in their ability to contribute so positively to the school community by funding grants to further teaching and learning,” said Smith School Principal Sarah Collmer.

Third-grade teams kicked off the day with four heats of competition, the winners of which went on to the championship round. The Word Wizards with teammates Henry Hussey, Rahul Rani, Alex Zipes won the championship round with the word diligently.

Three heats of fourth-grade teams competed to make it to the championship round. Under the team name Gold Troph-Bees, Polly Zimmerman, Bella Chen, Brooklynn Masso won the final round with the word avocado.

Bee Dazzled, the winning sixth-grade team. Left to right: Principal Erich Ledebuhr; Lincoln Public Library children’s librarian Debbie Leopold; teacher Becca Fasciano, and spellers Allie Schwartz, Lily Huang, and Francesca Liu.

Fifth-grade winners The Cocoa Crew. Left to right: Principal Erich Ledebuhr; Lincoln Public Library children’s librarian Debbie Leopold, Principal Sharon Hobbs, and spellers Mina Tanner, Mackenzie White and Rori Page.

The Gold Troph-Bees, who won the fourth-grade competition. Front row, left to right: Polly Zimmerman, Bella Chen, and Brooklynn Masso. Back row, left to right: Principal Sarah Collmer, Officer Ian Spencer, and Lincoln Parks and Recreation Director Dan Pereira.

Two heats of fifth grade teams competed with The Cocoa Crew, Mina Tanner, Mackenzie White and Rori Page Cramer winning by spelling the final word linguist.

For the sixth grade, it was Allie Schwartz, Lily Huang, and Francesca Liu as team Bee Dazzled, who ended the bee by correctly spelling the word doldrums. This was the team’s fourth consecutive bee.

The event saw the usual great support from school faculty and the community. Many thanks to the pronouncers: Superintendent Becky McFall, Assistant Superintendent Patricia Kinsella, Principals Kristen St. James, Collmer, Hobbs, and Erich Ledebuhr; and the judges: teachers Jennifer Mastrullo, Debbie Carpenito, Scot Dexter, and Becca Fasciano, Officer Ian Spencer from Lincoln Police Department, Lincoln Parks and Recreation Director Dan Pereira, Lincoln Public Library Children’s Librarian Debbie Leopold, and Director of the Lincoln Extended-day Acivities Program (LEAP) Katie Hawkins.

The LSF also thanks Lincoln School Director of Technology Rob Ford, James Suttie, and the LPS audio/visual staff for helping to implement the new format seamlessly.

L ocal businesses that sponsored the bee included Coppe and Sears Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics in Lexington, ARTSmart New England, MD+A, Budget Printing in Concord, Boston Sports Clubs, Doherty’s Garage, Donelan’s Supermarkets, Sky Salon, Exoprise, Hanscom Air Force Base Commissary, The Toy Shop of Concord, Party City, Beehive Art, and Something Special.

The LSF spelling bee is also an opportunity for Lincoln School and Hanscom Middle School (HMS) students to come together. “The thing I like the most about the spelling bee is that is brings students from both our campuses together at an event that is academically oriented and that helps to support our district,” said HMS Principal Erich Ledebuhr.

“The LSF Spelling Bee is a wonderful event that brings students and families from Lincoln, Boston, and Hanscom together for fun with a purpose, supporting the great work of the Lincoln School Foundation. LSF grants lead to innovative and engaging learning experiences for our students,” McFall said.

LSF is a nonprofit organization, and donations from the Lincoln community provide seed money that allow teachers to bring new and innovative tools and techniques to the classroom. Funded projects in 2016-17 included a station-based model for social studies instruction at HMS; support for the creation of curriculum and resources to help encourage the use of yoga, mindfulness, and relaxation by both the students and faculty in the Smith School; funding to host Urban Improv for both HMS and Brooks middle school students and teachers; and maker spaces at two schools.

Minuteman’s Bouquillon fires up the grill near and far

Superintendent Edward A. Bouquillon stands in front of his BBQ smoker, flanked by Culinary Arts students Natalia Gorman of Belmont (left) and Allison Sanzio of Stow (right). Behind them are Chris LeBlanc of Watertown, Christian Ciaramaglia of Everett, and Taryn O’Connor of Bolton. 

By Steven C. Sharek
Director of Outreach and Development, Minuteman High School

On weekdays, he serves as the top administrator at an award-winning regional high school. On weekends, he puts on an apron and hat and becomes an award-winning barbecue chef.

It’s probably safe to say that Dr. Edward A. Bouquillon, superintendent of Minuteman High School, is unique among the ranks of area school superintendents, sharing passions for both vocational-technical education and barbecue cooking.  Several times a year, those passions overlap.

That’s when you can smell smoked beef brisket in the air at Minuteman High School and on the superintendent’s clothes. That’s when Dr. Bouquillon—known simply as “Dr. B” to the students at Minuteman—teaches meat cutting, authentic barbecue preparation, and the use of barbecue sauce, brines, injects, and rubs to students in the Culinary Arts program at Minuteman.

Welcome to what’s known as “Dr. B’s BBQ Institute.”

“I like to share what a BBQ judge would look for,” he says, wearing a barbecue chef’s jacket and trademark hat.

Dr. B. knows what judges look for because he’s cooked at BBQ competitions and has been a judge himself. He’s gone to BBQ competitions all over the country and has won trophies, ribbons, and certificates. He’s a member of the Northeast Barbecue Society (which runs BBQ grilling classes at the Maynard Rod and Gun Club), the Kansas City Barbecue Society, and the Memphis Barbecue Network.

During the first week in April, Bouquillon led a team of Minuteman Culinary Arts students in preparing nearly 300 pounds of beef brisket and 15 racks of ribs for an authentic barbecue buffet to be served in the school’s student-run restaurant. Under his direction, they added specific amounts of honey, rub, and spices to the ribs and pork butts. During the cook, they sprayed the meat with apple juice. The ribs would be on the smoker for four hours and the pork butt for eight, Bouquillon estimated.

Beef brisket prepared the day before was slow-cooked for 16 hours on Bouquillon’s personal smoker, a black, barrel-shaped, six-foot-long metal tank fueled by apple wood and lump charcoal. The smoker operates at surprisingly low heat—220 degrees for most meats. “It’s authentic,” he says. “No electricity, no propane. It’s real and it takes time, attention, and skills I want my kids to learn.”

In addition to this special annual event—probably the seventh or eighth, he guesses—the superintendent also oversees “Dr. B.’s BBQ Break” once every semester. The event recognizes the class with the highest attendance rate of the quarter and rewards the students with a free barbecue meal cooked by Culinary Arts students under his supervision.

How did Bouquillon acquire this flair for barbecue? He explains it this way: 35 years ago when he was a student and friends had an event, he was always asked to help with the food, so he started roasting pigs in cinder block pits. After earning a B.S. in animal sciences and a master’s in animal industries, he taught in an agricultural high school and then became a school administrator. About 10 years ago, he started entering barbecue competitions at Minuteman, and appreciates the family atmosphere prevalent in the BBQ culture.

Bouquillon hopes to break ground on a new high school building by early this summer. But before that happens, he’ll be off to his first barbecue festival of the season in Ridgefield, Conn., on May 6-7 and the Memphis in May International Festival on May 17-20 for the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. He’ll be competing as a member of the Bare Bones BBQ Team in Memphis.

Bouquillon also has his own team, with its own logo, its own T-shirts, and barbecue sauces and base rub. His team is called Big Head Ed BBQ, a self-effacing name he coined to describe his own cranium. He’s proud of the growing popularity of barbecue and efforts to create BBQ cooking competitions just for youngsters, known in the field as “kids’ Q”. He hopes to have his grandchildren competing with the team this summer.

Clarification

In an April 13 story about the formation of a new School Building Committee, the qualifications for potential board members was mischaracterized. The story should have said that the SBC is seeking four or five community members with experience in fields that are relevant to the committee’s work, such as architecture, planning or design, project management, or community engagement. The original story has been updated to reflect this clarification.

School Building Committee charge approved; members sought

The School Committee is officially seeking four or five community members for a new School Building Committee after voting to create the panel and approving its charge on April 12.

The new SBC will work closely with a community center building committee, whose charge will be discussed by selectmen at their April 24 meeting. Voters last month approved funding feasibility studies for both school and community center projects on the Ballfield Road campus.

The School Committee is seeking four or five community members with experience in fields that are relevant to the SBC’s work, such as architecture, planning or design, project management, or community engagement. Potential candidates should email letters of interest, mentioning relevant experience to the SC at schoolcomm@lincnet.org. The deadline for SBC candidate submissions is Monday, April 24, and the SC will appoint members at its April 27 meeting. The new SBC will hold its first meeting the following week.

The SBC’s charge includes hiring an owner’s project manager and design firm, detailing space requirements for the educational program, creating a plan for communications and community input, preparing at least three design solutions with cost estimates for review and vote by Town Meeting, and developing a partial schematic design and specific cost estimate for the preliminary design selected at that Town Meeting.

“The School Committee promises that membership on the SBC will entail long hours, hard work, difficult conversations, no pay, and uncertain rewards. It also offers an opportunity to participate in the creation of a central piece of the community and the future of this town,” the committee wrote. Residents who would like to discuss the responsibilities and expectations of SBC membership are encouraged to email the SC at the same address.

The exact mechanisms for how the two building committees will work together haven’t been worked out yet, though selectmen discussed the issue at their April 11 meeting with SC members. For example, the groups would have to decide early on whether to hire a design firm with two separate teams (one for the school building and the other for a community center), a single design team, or two separate firms.

With two teams in a single a company, “you have that kind of built-in collaboration in a much easier way,” Selectman James Craig said.

Another suggestion was having one or more residents be members of both groups, “but that seems like a herculean task,” Craig said. Selectman Jonathan Dwyer suggested a “wrapper” group “so the two teams don’t have their silos and it’s more like one team with a single mission.”

“As much as you all may try, without some codified organizational structure to overcome it, the notion of collaboration when the rubber hits the road and dollar signs start flying around is going to get really tough,” former Selectman Sara Mattes said in the meeting’s open forum. “To me, in past experience, liaisons alone don’t do it. Maybe this will be magical and there’s enough good will to carry it forward, but we have some tough slogging ahead and some really important big-ticket projects ahead of us.”

Mattes suggested a five-person executive committee with a member from each of the building committees plus one each from the Board of Selectmen, School Committee, and either Finance Committee or Capital Planning Committee. Such a group could assure various constituencies such as the Green Energy Committee that “they’ve got another sounding board and sort of a mediator in the process,” she said.

Whatever the firm or firms are hired for the two projects will be required to solicit and incorporate substantial public input all along the way.“Whatever you think is normal outreach, double it and be creative,” said Selectman and recent SC chair Jennifer Glass.

News acorns

Volunteer at Minute Man National historic Park this Saturday

Volunteer at the Battle Road Demonstration at Parker’s Revenge at Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord, Lincoln and Lexington on Saturday, April 15. Learn about the opening events of the American Revolution and assist with event logistics during  the morning shift (9 a.m. to noon) or the afternoon shift (noon to 3 p.m.). Also learn about the recent archaeological discovery on the Parker’s Revenge battle site and the park’s plan to restore the battlefield landscape, and watch the Battle Road demonstration at 2 p.m. To volunteer, email margie_coffin_brown@nps.gov.

Dinner benefits women and children in South Asia

St. Anne’s-in-the-Fields Church is holding its semi-annual Lincoln Child Haven Dinner on Saturday, April 22 at 6 p.m. to raise funds for Child Haven International, which supports, educates and employs formerly destitute women and children in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Tibet. The evening also features a silent auction and craft table with crafts from South Asia. Tickets are $35 per person and are available from Chris Damon (781-879-5870, christinehdamon@gmail.com) or pay via credit card on this Child Haven page.

Learn about raising healthy bees

Beekeepers can learn how to keep bees healthy and raise their own queens with Charlotte Trim at Lindentree Farm (10 Old Concord Rd.) on Saturday, April 22 from 2-4:30 p.m. and Saturday, May 20 from 3-5:30 p.m. There will be a hands-on demonstration in the field, weather permitting (bring your suits). Cost for both sessions is $120. Pre-registration for $30 is required. Email charlotte.trim44@gmail.com or lindentreecsa@gmail.com.

Portrait tour at Codman Estate

One of the portraits at the Codman Estate.

“Painters and Personalities: Portraits at the Codman Estate” will be held on Saturday, April 22 from 1-3 p.m. at the estate (34 Codman Rd.). From high-end works by John Singleton Copley and Gilbert Stuart to other pictures by the once-famous on down to humble family snapshots, the Codman portrait collection reveals over 200 years of changing styles. A specialty tour will take a fresh, focused look at this collection, including the rarely seen. Hear the real stories of the people behind these pictures, subjects and artists both. Space is limited and registration is required; tickets are $15 for Historic New England members and $20 for non-members. Call 617-994-6690 or buy online.

Donate bikes to Bikes Not Bombs

Do you have unused bicycles or biking accessories kicking around in your garage? Wondering what to do with them? Bring them to the Lincoln bike drive on Sunday, April 23 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Hartwell lot on Ballfield Road. The Lincoln Recycling Committee partners with Bikes Not Bombs (BNB), which ships about 4,800 donated bikes from Massachusetts to economic development projects (micro-enterprise bike businesses, sustainable technology projects, and youth training programs) in Ghana, Tanzania, Guatemala, and Nevis Island every year. The remaining collected bikes are used in the BNB’s Jamaica Plain location for the youth Earn-a-Bike programs, and others are repaired by teenage mechanics in vocational training programs. Please note that BNB requests a $10 donation per bike to defray storage, processing, and shipping costs. The organization can provide a signed, dated receipt for the cash donation and the value of each donated bicycle. For information, contact Laure Berland (lauraberland@comcast.net) or Bernadette Quirk (quirkx4@msn.com).

Job fair at Minuteman

Minuteman High School will host its annual Career and Job Fair on Wednesday, April 26 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event is open to all students, alumni, employers, and the general public. For more information, contact Joseph Pitta, Minuteman’s Coordinator of Workforce and Economic Development, at 781-861- 6500, ext. 7361 or jpitta@minuteman.org. Employers wishing to set up a booth must register on the Career and Job Fair website. Students and employers can learn more by visiting the online Minuteman job board.

Talk on climate change impact

Ellen Mecray

What will be the impact of global warming on our regional environment? What can we do to delay the process of global warming? The Lincoln Public Library presents “Global Warming” with Ellen Mecray, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s regional climate services director for NOAA’s eastern region, on Thursday, April 27. Due to a scheduling issue, attendees are asked to arrive at 6:45 p.m. so the program can begin promptly at 7 p.m. Mecray helps bring NOAA’s climate information to other federal agencies as well as state and local entities. She has also been an oceanographer with the U.S. Geological Survey.

Wong’s contract extended at L-S

Bella Wong

The Lincoln-Sudbury Regional School Committee unanimously approved an extension of Superintendent/Principal Bella Wong’s contract through June 30, 2020.

“The School Committee is grateful for Bella’s many contributions to Lincoln-Sudbury over the four years in which she has served as Superintendent/Principal,” Elena Kleifges, chair of the committee, said in a press release. “Her compelling vision for 21st-century education and the promotion of equity and excellence for all students have become part of the fabric of the high school, and the towns of Lincoln and Sudbury have been the beneficiaries of Bella’s strong financial and operational management during a challenging period. We look forward to her continued contributions over the next three years.”

Wong has served as superintendent/principal of the district since July 1, 2013 (and as acting superintendent/principal before that), and she also was a science teacher and department coordinator at L-S from 1991 to 1998.
Wong told the Lincoln Squirrel that managing our budget over the past few years to maximize benefit to students has been the biggest challenge during her current tenure. “We were able to manage fixed costs like healthcare and utilities in order to be able to sustain current staffing and add a few new programs and/or improvements,” she said. “Our staff is really great at staying abreast of opportunities to keep the curriculum fresh, relevant and challenging for themselves to teach and for students to learn. One of the best achievements is being able to support those endeavors through summer workshops and additional professional development we can offer. I feel we are more conscious of what we each are doing in the effort to coordinate our efforts and promote collaboration across all departments toward creating best options for all students.”
How to prepare students for “a rapidly changing world environment” will be a key issue going forward, she said. “How do we find the right balance of skill development and content knowledge across all disciplines in four years? More critically, how do we instill a positive growth mindset in all of our students—a ‘can do ‘ attitude that will help them overcome any challenge they will face in time to come?” she said.

Prior to her current position, she was assistant superintendent and later superintendent of the Wellesley Public Schools. She has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard University, did graduate study in molecular biology at Stanford University, earned a law degree at the University of California—Davis, and has a master’s degree in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Voters give the go-ahead to school project and community center planning

(Editor’s note: Additional stories about the March 25 Annual Town Meeting will be published this week.)

Lincoln will move ahead with feasibility studies for both a locally funded school project and a community center as a result of votes at Saturday’s Annual Town Meeting.

Residents voted unanimously to release $750,000 that was put aside in 2015 for a new feasibility study that will lead to another town-wide vote a year from now on a specific project to pursue. The money was originally allocated for a project that specifically would have included state funding; in the wake of repeated denials from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, Saturday’s vote means the money can now be used for a project funded solely by the town.

As a result of the vote, residents passed over another warrant article that asked whether Lincoln should apply once again for MSBA funding. School officials have said that the chances of Lincoln getting invited into the funding pipeline again were extremely slim because the Lincoln School is not structurally unsafe or severely overcrowded.

“There seems to be a growing sense of community readiness to move forward,” School Committee Chair Jennifer Glass said. “This will also provide clarity for other decisions in town” such as the community center.

Glass and Finance Committee Chair Peyton Marshall reviewed information they presented at multi-board meetings on January 30 and March 8 about why a major school project is needed, how much it might cost, and the tax implications of various levels of borrowing to pay for it. Consultants Dore and Whittier said in 2014 that basic repairs and required code upgrades for safety and handicapped accessibility will cost at least $30 million.

“That’s a lot of money, but there really is no ‘do nothing’ option,” Glass said; that level of spending would result in a building that’s “safe, accessible, has better air and light, no leaks and comfortable temperatures” but has no other improvements. Depending on what additional options are chosen such as educational upgrades, cafeterias and site work pr even an entirely new school, the project could cost up to $68 million.

“The point of the feasibility study is to narrow [cost estimates] down to some number that we bring to the town, and the town votes on which one of these project concepts to we develop into a real project” at a vote in spring 2018. After that, detailed plans and costs will be finalized and the project will come up for a bonding vote perhaps as soon as Fall 2018, Glass said.

Asked by a resident whether the town could simply reuse the 2012 feasibility study, Glass said, “I recommend not doing that.” That study resulted in a plan that failed to win a two-thirds bonding majority in 2012 for various reasons, including cost and the layout of the new school building and campus. This time around, residents will have a chance to choose form one of two or three design concepts before the funding is put to a vote.

The silver lining of the 2012 defeat is that “we’ve learned some things since then—how to be even more creative with spaces in the building and a sense of how the campus maintains a feeling that everyone is happy with,” Glass said.

Community center vote

With only a handful of “nay” votes, residents also voted to spend $150,000 for a feasibility study for a community center to house the Council on Aging and the Parks and Recreation Department as well as other town groups. A 2015 report by the Community Center Study Committee and its consultant said that a two-story, 22,000-square-foot facility on the Hartwell side of the school campus would cost about $13 million.

The $150,000 appropriation must also win a simple majority at the March 27 town election to move forward.

The feasibility study would result in a conceptual site plan and an updated cost estimate, but there is no timeline for when construction might start. However, the school and community center building committees and architects would work closely together to coordinate planning for the two projects as much as possible. This collaboration would ensure that a community center “can be added to the campus at the right time and in the right location and configuration,” and its construction would “follow at a time that is fiscally responsible,” Selectman James Craig said.

Asked if the two building committees would join to hire a single architect, “the answer is a big maybe,” Glass said. Such a firm would need to have expertise in both types of projects “and they’d have to be a good fit for our endearing and occasionally idiosyncratic town. “If two different firms are used, town and school officials can make collaboration between those firms “a foundational requirement for getting hired,” she said.

Several residents recommended combining the feasibility studies as well as using a single architectural firm. Staff members at a school and community center provide many of the same teaching and counseling functions, said Doug Swain. “Their educational and quality-of-life goals for people in the town of Lincoln are exactly the same and their building needs are almost identical.”

A completely shared space isn’t possible because of state regulations designed to limit access to school children by non-school staff.

Resident Ken Hurd, an architect, said he supports both projects but was not in favor of developing separate schematic drawings for the school and community center. In talking to other architects and engineers, “most of them think this is a bad idea to have two teams working in parallel in trying to master-plan a [campus] site,” he said.

“We really need to hire one architect with two teams in its firm, as well as a good land architect. This is a site and campus planning exercise as well,” said resident Owen Beenhouwer, also an architect. Any firm that’s qualified to design a school “will have more than ample experience in dealing with a smaller building as well.”

“Nothing is off the table in terms of the firm” to be hired, Craig said. “The goal is to have these [projects] be in concert with each other.”

Moving forward, planning for the community center will include refining the exact needs of the COA and PRD in terms of their programming and space usage, as well as considering future uses for Bemis Hall.

Cost implications

Right now, Lincoln is in a good borrowing position compared to other area towns in terms of property tax rate growth and its debt-to-operating-budget, Marshall said. The town could borrow up to $80 million to pay for school and community center projects without endangering its AAA bond rating, he said.

Assuming a 30-year bond at an interest rate of 5 percent and the current median property value of $972,200, the maximum annual average tax increase during the repayment period would range from $929 (for a $30 million bond) to $2,478 ($80 million). The median taxpayer would see a hike of $275-$310 per year for every $10 million the town borrowed, according to page 11 of his handout. The median property tax bill in fiscal 2018 is $13,613.