To the editor:

I am announcing my candidacy for the Lincoln-Sudbury School Committee (LSSC) and looking forward to earning your vote on Election Day (Monday, March 26).

As an L-S School Committee member, I would prioritize the support and enhancement of the many strengths of our dynamic 21st-century high school, including rigorous college-prep academics, educated and experienced faculty, thoughtful core values that guide decision making, and responsible management of budgets and resources in supporting a school environment that encourages well-rounded students who value learning, leading, initiating, serving, and developing both their intellectual and social-emotional potentials. As a current L-S parent, I have seen first-hand the significant positive impacts that these factors have on the daily lives of our students.

There are always ways to improve, and I would prioritize these as well. A climate of inclusion and social safety for all students should be a key focus area within a school culture committed to the core values of fostering caring and cooperative relationships, respecting human differences, and cultivating community. Facilitating smoother eighth-to ninth-grade transitions for all students should also be highlighted, as well as a continued emphasis on reasonable class sizes. Increasing awareness of the L-S Four-year Plan, guidance for a college planning process that entails student initiative and follow-up, would also serve students and families more fully. And further, our Lincoln and Sudbury communities need to continue together in a spirit of relationship building, open communication, creative collaboration, and shared commitment to excellent pubic education for all of our L-S students.

I have been an active volunteer in our local community. Most recently, I contributed as a member of the LSSC School Start-time Sub-Committee (Spring 2017), initiated and led the First Parish in Lincoln Intergenerational Women’s Group (2014-17), led the town-wide Lincoln Campus Master Planning Committee as chair (2015-16), and led the Lincoln School K-8 PTO as chair/president (2011-14).

Professionally, I spent many career years as a management consultant, trainer, facilitator, and educator, serving in various roles on college campuses and within firms before founding my own national consulting company that specialized in strengthening organizational performance and building workplace communities. My professional experiences spanned both private and public sectors, and included collaborations at every level of government from federal to local.

My educational background includes a B.A. in communication science and an M.Ed. in organization development with a specialty in multiculturalism. I have designed and taught undergraduate semester courses, and have professionally fostered on-campus student communities on two major college campuses.

My husband and I have two teenage sons. Our 10th-grader loves his life at L-S, while our eighth-grader will graduate from the Lincoln School this June and then begin ninth grade at L-S this fall. Our family is invested in L-S and its future, and it would be an honor to represent Lincoln, Sudbury, and Boston families in maintaining and increasing the excellence of our beloved high school.

Thank you for your consideration on Election Day!

Carole Kasper
140 Concord Road, Lincoln
kasperlssc@gmail.com

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.

To the editor:

I write to announce that I will not seek reelection to the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional School Committee this March. In 2009, I was elected with the support of both towns and it has been an honor from start to finish.

We have a high school treasured by the communities of Lincoln, Sudbury, and Boston. Our teachers and staff are creative, dedicated and deeply committed to educating and preparing our children for the 21st century. The core values of the district —fostering caring and cooperative relationships, respecting human differences, pursuing academic excellence, and cultivating community—are all behaviors to be mirrored in our own lives, our conversations at the dinner table, and in our actions.

I am grateful for the responsiveness of our towns’ Boards of Selectmen, the proactive counsel of our Finance Committee liaisons, the relatively new relationships we have begun with both towns in advocating our capital needs and forecasts, and of course of our voters. This has been process and relational work I have thoroughly enjoyed.

I am indebted to many members of the committee with whom I have had the great pleasure of serving. I have learned a great deal and, while we found ourselves sometimes agreeing to disagree, our committee has always focused on our charge as elected officials, namely,;’ what is in the best interest of our students within the fiscal guidance we are given. Working well together and listening to each other is critical given our tasks.

Finally, to those inside the building who do so much to clear the snowy sidewalks and open the building, who have it optimally at the ready to allow education to happen; to those who work to teach, to challenge and engage and to be present for their students, who create unique, dynamic, relevant curriculum; to those who allow our students to take risks and grow, and who support those who are struggling inside and outside the classroom, I will miss you the most. While we have four children who gleaned so much from their education and are now on unique paths as young adults, my service was far from being just about them. For me it was about the Lincoln-Sudbury community—the faculty, the administration and staff, the families, our towns, and, first and foremost, all of our students.

Thank you.

Nancy Marshall
2 Beaver Pond Rd.

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.