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

Letter from the moderator #2: general procedures for June 9 meeting

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

To the editor:

Today is the day to review some general procedural rules related to presentations and speaking. I will open the meeting with some general introductory comments and the following information and rules.

  • The boards making presentations have agreed with me on time limits. I will do my best to hold them to it.
  • After the boards and committees have made their presentations, the meeting will be opened up for questions and comments.
  • If you are in the Reed Gym where there is overflow seating, you will have to come to the main auditorium to speak. There is a live feed to the gym but not from the gym. An assistant moderator will be in the gym.
  • When you rise to speak, please go to one of the two microphones in the middle of the auditorium where you may stand in line. If your point is made by someone ahead of you, I urge you to resist making it again!
  • If getting to the microphone is difficult (not just inconvenient), someone will bring you a roving microphone. Please have your thoughts organized so that you can be succinct. At the start, I will permit no more than two minutes at most per comment. We need time for everyone who wants to speak. At some point I may reduce the time to one minute.
  • When it is your turn to speak, please state your name and street address.
  • Members of the boards and committees may or may not respond to you specifically. That is left to their judgment.
  • We all should make the effort to listen to the speakers ahead of us so we can decide if we actually have something further to offer to the discussion.
Reminders:
  • Check-in begins at 8:15 a.m. The meeting will begin at 9:30 and we will be entering into the presentations immediately. Please be in your seats by 9:30 so you are not disruptive to others in the hall.
  • You have until Wednesday, May 30 to register to vote at this meeting.

Sincerely,

Sarah Cannon Holden, Town Moderator
Weston Rd.

Letter to the editor: invest in the future with option L3 or C

To the editor:

When my family and I moved to the area in 2012, we had not heard of Lincoln. During our lengthy home search, one town stood out for its natural beauty and open-minded people. That town was Lincoln. What started as a home search in many towns quickly became focused to Lincoln and we have now been living here happily for five years.

Our first impressions have only been strengthened. I have gotten to know the town more intimately, as our children have attended school and I have attended every town meeting and (almost) all special meetings. I have been struck by the discourse of the people: regardless of point of view, I have found our discussions thoughtful, and perhaps more importantly, to be coming from a deep love of our town.

The argument that I have heard most often made in these forums is that Lincoln is a special and unique place and we want to keep it so. Depending on the context, the person has referenced our progressive history, manifest in our town recognizing a woman’s right to vote decades before our nation, our town recognizing the architectural beauty in modern design by becoming the home of some of the greatest architects of the 20th century, or our town protecting our environment decades before this was commonplace. In all these cases, Lincolnites saw into the future and took courageous steps against conventional wisdom—in short when we as a town have been at our best, we have been ahead of our time.

I see our school discussion through this prism—my hope is that we continue to strive to be a unique and special place. To me this means that we must strive to create an educational experience for our children that is second to none. I believe that the C or L3 design would be best the way to achieve that, while still being affordable for the town. (I do not mean to presume that it is affordable for all, however.)

I also believe that how we engage with our neighbors is important. It is imperative that we engage in thoughtful and respectful conversation. I worry that we may be beginning to get frustrated with one another—I hope we can all take a step back and remember to be respectful to one another and also allow our opinions to change and be informed by data rather than hearsay or pre-conceptions. For example, it has been valuable to me to hear what educators in town say, rather than relying on my gut or my experience as a student many years ago.

Lastly, I hope as we go to the vote on June 9 that we all keep in the forefront of our minds not the day-to-day frustrations of this long school building discussion, but rather, that we are the current generation of Lincolnites that will pass the torch some day. It is our duty to continue to make this town a forward-thinking, progressive place, willing to invest in its future and remain ahead of its time.

Sincerely,

Hans Bitter
245 Tower Rd., Lincoln

Council on Aging activities in June

Lincoln Trad Jazz Band
June 1 at 12:30 p.m.
Dance if you wanna dance, sing if you wanna sing, the regulars know what tomorrow will bring… the Lincoln Traditional Jazz Band! Come to Bemis Hall on Friday, June 1 when the band returns for another sell-out lunchtime concert from 12:30–1:30. And it’s not just because it’s free—it’s because it’s fun! So take a welcome break from all that weeding and mowing, straighten up and sit up and enjoy. Or sing. Or dance if you can’t resist the urge.

Lincoln Academy with Bijoy Misra: India’s discovery of humanity
June 4 at 12:30 p.m.
Come to Bemis Hall on Monday, June 4 at 12:30 to hear Bijoy Misra discuss “India’s Discovery of Humanity.” What is humanity? What is that special endowment that the humans have that distinguishes them from other creatures? Philosophical reflections on topics like this engaged the Indian scholars around 900BC when they happened to ponder on the cosmology of the universe.  Massive wars and major conflicts had already happened resulting in huge loss of life and long periods of unrest. We will examine the philosophical speculations that have flourished to build humanity as a rational discovery. Humanity is not grandiose, but it is joyful internal peace. The COA provides beverages and dessert. The lectures last about an hour, including a question and answer period. Participants are welcome to stay after the program to continue their discussion. All ages welcome.

Mindfulness walks in nature
June 5 at 1 p.m.
PLACE: TBD
Spring can be a very special time to connect with nature through walking in a mindful way. Join naturalist John Calabria for a walk in one of Lincoln’s most beautiful places on Tuesday, June 5 beginning at 1 p.m. Where the walks will take place is to be determined. Unplug, disconnect from the world for a while and let your senses come alive in nature. These are co-sponsored by the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust and the Lincoln Council on Aging. For more information, including locations of the walks, go to lincolnconservation.org.

You’ve been selected…
June 6 at 2 p.m.
…to drop by and visit with a member of the Board of Selectmen. Bring your ideas, feedback, questions, or favorite Lincoln anecdote. Whether you stop by for a minute or stay for the hour, the selectmen hope to see you from 2–3 p.m. on Wednesday, June 6 at Bemis Hall.

Piano concert with Abla Shocair
June 8 at 2:15 p.m.
All ages are invited to a piano concert with Abla Shocair at Bemis Hall on Friday, June 8 at 2:15 p.m. The program will include “Four Impromptus” by Schubert, “Torre Bermeja (Serenata)” and “Leyenda” by I. Albeniz, “La Campanella” by Paganini/Liszt transcribed, and “Mephisto Valzer” by Liszt. The audience will also enjoy performances of an “Old Fashioned Waltz” “Lavender’s Blue,” and “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” by Abla’s grandson Zaineddeen Kawaf, and Beethoven’s “Für Elise” by her grandson Nooreddeen Kawaf. Abla, originally from Jordan, is a civil engineer who started playing piano at age 4.

Free elder law clinic
June 11 at 3 p.m.
Got a question about issues such as estate planning, MassHealth, protecting assets for a loved one with a serious disability, guardianship, conservatorship, or probate? The COA is pleased to provide a monthly legal clinic with elder law attorney and Lincoln resident Sasha Golden on Monday, June 11 from 3–4 p.m. at Bemis Hall. There is no charge for the 30-minute consultation, but please sign up by calling the COA at 781-259-8811.

Free wellness clinic for all ages
June 12 at 10 a.m.
PLACE: Lincoln Woods
Meet with a nurse at 50 Wells Rd. in Lincoln Woods on Tuesday, June 12 from 10 a.m. to noon. Blood pressure, nutrition and fitness, medication management, chronic disease management, resources, and more. Funded by the Ogden Codman Trust and provided by Emerson Hospital Home Care.

Playreading: “Summer and Smoke”
June 12 at 11 a.m.
Free your inner thespian! Sally Kindleberger leads a group in reading Tennessee Williams’ romantic drama “Summer and Smoke” on Tuesdays, June 12 and 19 at 11 a.m. at Bemis Hall. Sally will bring copies.

Staying in touch
June 12 at 2 p.m.
You are invited to join this informal group which focuses their monthly discussion on social, cultural, and technological issues of the day. Please join them the second Tuesday of each month at 2 p.m. at Bemis Hall. All are welcome and encouraged to bring topics that interest them.

Surviving… and thriving through life’s challenges
June 13 at 9:30 a.m.
No matter what you have encountered in life, you can learn and apply the scientifically-proven tenets of Positive Psychology to become more resilient and happier. Come to Bemis Hall at 9:30 on Wednesday, June 13 to learn practical strategies, share practices, build connections and support each other. Facilitated by Alyson Lee, social worker, life coach, certified and licensed facilitator of Positive Psychology. Funded by the Friends of the COA.

June 13 at 10 a.m.
Cooking for one: a new way of cooking and eating
Cooking for one can be both a challenge and an opportunity to try new foods and ways of cooking. How do you cook without wasting food? How can you eat all those leftovers? How do you downsize recipes? Whether you have lived alone for a long time or it’s a new experience for you, come to Bemis Hall on Wednesday, June 13 at 10 a.m. when Karen Halloran of CareOne in Concord will provide a demonstration of how to cook efficiently and deliciously for one and then give tips on using healthy and alternative food choices. Please sign up by calling the COA at 781-259-8811 so they know how many to expect.

Public safety cookout
June 15 at 11 a.m.
Join Public Safety on Friday, June 15 at 11 a.m. for a cookout at the Pierce House. You’ll start off by finding out more about current trends in frauds and scams and how to avoid being a victim, home safety from both police and fire perspectives, and services offered by Public Safety. At noon, Public Safety will cook up hamburgers, hot dogs, and veggie burgers with all the fixin’s. Because the event will be under the tent, the cookout will happen rain or shine. Please sign up by June 8 by calling the COA at 781-259-8811.

Newcomers coffee
June 20 at 1 p.m.
Are you new to Lincoln or the COA? Come on down to Bemis Hall on Wednesday, June 20 at 1 p.m. for coffee and conversation with staff from the COA and others who are new. You’ll have a chance to get to know some people, become familiar with the COA and its programs and services, and ask some questions about Lincoln and all it offers. This will be a fun, informal time to enjoy being with others and make some new acquaintances. Please call the COA at 781-259-8811 to let them know you are coming!

Celebrate summer at a strawberry ice cream social
June 21 at 12 p.m.
Celebrate this special time of year at the annual strawberry ice cream social at Bemis Hall on Thursday, June 21 at noon. The Social is sponsored by the COA and the Friends of the COA. Bring a bag lunch at noon or just come for dessert. Make your own ice cream sundae with luscious ice cream topped with strawberries, chocolate, and more, then share conversation with friends old and new. Please RSVP to the COA by calling 781-259-8811 (tell them when you call if you will need a ride).

FDR’s America: World War II
June 21 and 28 at 7 p.m.
PLACE: Library
The Friends of the Lincoln COA and the Friends of the Lincoln Public Library invite you to a free series about FDR’s America: The Great Depression and World War II given by Gary Hylander, PhD, of Framingham State University and Boston University. Sessions on Thursday, June 21 and 28 from 7 to 8 p.m. at the library will focus on World War II, including the beginning of the war in Europe and how the U.S. was plunged into the war in 1941 with Pearl Harbor. All ages are welcome, and you do not need to have come to earlier sessions to attend these two.

What to do when it’s time to retire from driving
June 22 at 10 a.m.
If you’re wondering if it might be time to stop driving or are concerned about someone else’s driving, come to Bemis Hall on Friday, June 22 at 10 a.m. when Michelle Ellicks of the Mass. Registry of Motor Vehicles will host an interactive discussion highlighting older driver issues. Topics include reporting procedures, relicensing requirements, liability, older driver assessment, the importance of obtaining a Massachusetts ID card when retiring from driving, functional impairments, and the effects of medications. You’ll learn about the warning signs of unsafe driving, RMV policies and procedures, and best practices to use when talking with older drivers about their driving. Information on disability plates and placards, the application process, eligibility, as well as a list of do’s and don’ts is also provided.

Preventing, diagnosing, and treating tick-borne diseases
June 22 at 1 p.m.
Get the latest information on ticks, how to prevent tick-borne diseases, and what to do if you have a tick bite when Lincoln School nurse and Town Nurse Maureen Richichi, RN, comes to Bemis Hall on Friday, June 22, at 1 p.m. She will discuss the appearance and life cycle of ticks, habitats and activity seasons of ticks, risky times to be bitten and risky activities, tick borne diseases and their symptoms, how tick borne diseases are diagnosed and treated, personal protection—how to do tick checks, safely remove ticks, safely repel ticks, and personal advocacy with your doctors. This program will be of interest and is open to all ages. Bring your questions and concerns.

Fruitlands Museum Hudson River School exhibit with lunch
June 25 at 9:30 a.m.
PLACE: Mall parking lot
Come with the COA on a trip to the Fruitlands Museum and Café on Monday, June 25. You’ll have a guided tour through the exhibition “A New View: Landscapes from the Permanent Collection.” The walls on the South Gallery will be resplendent with a salon-style display of the largest grouping in decades of landscape paintings from the museum’s permanent collection. Featuring more than 50 paintings from Hudson River School painters including Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Cole, and Frederic Church, the 19th-century oil paintings will transport visitors to 1947, when museum founder Clara Endicott Sears first presented them to the public. Expect to be standing and walking. Space is limited. The bus will leave Donelan’s parking lot at 9:30 a.m. and return by 2:30 p.m. The non-refundable cost of the trip is $35, which includes lunch in the Fruitlands Café. To reserve a space, send your check payable to FLCOA/Trips to Donna Rizzo, 22 Blackburnian Rd., Lincoln, MA 01773. Be sure to include your phone and email. Your reservation is complete when Donna receives your check. Questions? Contact her at 781-257-5050 or email her at donna@ecacbed.com.

Fireside chat: Town Meeting—is the current format still the best option?
June 27 at 10 a.m.
Town Meeting has served our community well for over 250 years. Is the current format still our best option? Are there tweaks we can make, small or large, that would allow it to be more inclusive without sacrificing its integrity and purpose? Join Town Moderator Sarah Cannon Holden at 10 a.m. on June 27 as we mull over this long-standing tradition. Fireside chats are held the fourth Wednesday of the month in the Community Room at Lincoln Woods.

Letter to the editor: vote for school option L3

Editor’s note: This letter originally appeared in LincolnTalk in response to a comment about the environmental impact of demolition.

To the editor:

As you may or may not know, since last fall, a community of local architects has been meeting on an ad hoc basis and have regularly attended the SBC meetings and their public forums. Over the course of this process, we have tried to share our combined expertise with suggestions to the SBC and their design team to create not only a financially viable project but to do so with a bonafide respect for our Lincoln heritage.

We have a gem of an actual campus for our students, and it is truly unique for a public school setting. It fits with Lincoln’s legacy of preserving land in its natural state, and it is an extraordinary experiential lesson for our children on a daily basis: namely, that this community values our open space to the degree that our buildings quietly inhabit the land rather than the opposite—a condition that is unfortunately so prevalent in our current culture.

For what it’s worth, nearly all of this group of local professionals with worldwide experience favor a version of the L3 scheme—partly because we believe we should first and foremost fulfill the educational mission as best we can, partly because we believe the L3 scheme can be achieved with less wasteful square footage and therefore less cost than as shown, and finally because we think we as a town would be making a terrible mistake in abandoning our unique campus layout.

Most of us also believe that demolishing so much of the existing structures and spending $95 million for an “Anywhere, USA” type school is NOT environmentally responsible. Among our concerns is that doing so will lead to locating parking lots closer to the building such that they (with solar panel arrays above) will become a defining feature of a once beautiful campus. Along these lines, I personally believe the SBC has not had the best advice or has been deaf to suggestions about the many negative site implications engendered by the compact C scheme as shown.

Lastly, I personally believe the SBC is not fully attuned to how many people may balk at a $95 million price tag for the compact scheme when they figure out just how much their taxes will increase. The increase will be large no matter which way we vote, but I think folks should understand that there could be a “less large” alternative with a refined L3 scheme, and the benefit is that L3 both fulfills the educational mission and preserves the campus setting.

Please vote for the L3 scheme on June 9th!

Ken Hurd
21 Lexington Rd., Lincoln

Three new sculptures at deCordova

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

School project updates: construction phasing, Town Meeting child care

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

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

A new view of the options

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

Construction phasing

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

Understanding hubs

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

Child care available during meeting

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

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

Last public meetings before the vote

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

Voter registration

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

Memorial Day observance planned

Sgt. Julie Sutherland

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To the editor,

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

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

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

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

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

Sincerely,

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

Letter to the editor: school option C is best for sustainability

To the editor,

Mothers Out Front is a nonprofit organization with chapters around the United States committed to preserving a livable planet for future generations. Our Lincoln chapter has closely followed the School Building Committee process over the past year. We applaud the committee on their diligence in considering the educational goals for the project as well as critical planning for sustainability in design and operation of the school. These two values were cited as the two most important values in a survey of the Lincoln community at the beginning of the planning process.

The process is reaching an important milestone with the June 9 meeting, where the committee will ask the town to endorse a general building design for further development by the architects. Mothers Out Front sees this as a watershed moment which will influence the success of our school, our educators, and our students for the next 50 years. It is also an exciting opportunity for Lincoln to express its commitment to a stable and safe climate future, a commitment which has never been more critical.

We believe the design known as “Compact C” best meets Lincoln’s dual goals of a flexible, high-quality, and innovative school campus which can also operate on a net zero basis for energy consumption. “Net zero” refers to a building (home, school, or commercial) where the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is roughly equivalent to the amount of renewable energy created on the building and its site. A net zero building eliminates the need to burn fossil fuels and thus eliminates carbon emissions (or purchase of energy generated in another state at unknown expense, freeing the town from future concerns of fluctuating energy prices).

The net zero goal is achieved through design features including compact design, improved insulation, a tight building envelope, natural light, and heating and cooling with highly efficient ventilation systems. Like Mass. Audubon’s new net zero education center, net zero at the Lincoln school would be achieved through the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the building and adjacent to the building, to produce the energy for the school. The Lincoln campus has the space needed on roofs, parking lots, and adjacent lands (if needed) to accommodate the school’s energy needs. This plan would also be compliant with Article 40, the town’s Facilities Energy Performance Standard passed in 2011.   

The Compact C design has many advantages for the students, teachers, and campus as a whole, and is the preferred design by the majority of educators. The Compact C design eliminates wasted space in hallways and allows for more time in the classroom or time spent on educational activities versus navigating long hallways. The Compact C building footprint also allows for an additional playing field, which benefits the whole community. Compact C includes the most desirable educational spaces, including hub spaces for grades 3–8. And a compact building improves energy efficiency by reducing the ratio of building envelope to internal volume, an important feature to consider over the next 30 years of operations.

A very strong and compelling second choice is the L3 option. It includes the hub spaces and other important educational amenities, and can also include the net zero/solar panels design. The disadvantages of L3 are the loss of the additional playing field, longer transition times for students navigating the building, and a less energy-efficient design. 

While we believe the advantages of the net zero design are compelling from the point of view of reducing future catastrophic impacts from climate change, there are sound economic arguments as well. The energy markets of the future defy easy predictions in terms of cost escalation and volatility. A robust solar installation on the campus locks in stable, predictable energy costs for the next 30 years. Consider that the school spends approximately $220,000 currently on annual utility bills that cannot be spent for the core educational mission. Over the next 30 years, this expense will total at least $6.6 million. If a net zero design is built, the town will begin recovering the cost of the net zero elements on the first day the school is operational.

With the vote on June 9, we believe the town of Lincoln has an exciting opportunity to achieve 21st-century educational and sustainability goals with the design of the new school building. We feel that Compact C (our first choice) and L3 (our second choice) with net zero both advance the town’s educational goals and our town’s vision for a fossil-fuel free future. Please join us on June 9 to vote for a state-of-the-art teaching and learning environment for the next generation of Lincoln students. 

Sincerely,

Mothers Out Front Lincoln — Lincoln (Trish O’Hagan, Emily Haslett, Staci Montori, Robyn Bostrom, and Sheila Dennis

Drumlin preschool and director Canelli honored

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

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

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

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

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

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

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