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

Minuteman school district down to 10 towns

mm1By Alice Waugh

Boxborough and Weston voted last week to withdraw from the Minuteman High School district, whittling the final number of member towns from 16 to 10. The other towns that voted to withdraw are Lincoln, which voted on February 23; Carlisle, Sudbury and Wayland.

All 16 towns approved Minuteman’s revised regional agreement, which will take effect on July 1, 2017. As of that date, Lincoln and the other towns that withdrew will no longer have a seat on the Minuteman School Committee, but they are also not liable for debt service on the new school building (except for per-student fees they may pay as out-of-district towns).

“I’m sad to see some towns leave because the access that students have to high-quality career and technical education will be different going forward,” Minuteman Superintendent-Director Ed Bouquillon said. “On the other hand, I’m proud and pleased that after six years of attempting to revise the regional agreement, it’s a new day,” pending final approval from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, he added.

Minuteman is seeing a one-year increase of 22 percent in applications for 2016-17 from the 16 original member towns, Bouquillon said on Monday. The school had projected an increase of 8-9 percent, “which no one at town meetings believed,” he said. Future enrollment projections will depend on how many students are accepted and enrolled as of October 1, 2016, he added.

Some Lincoln residents at the February 23 Special Town Meeting expressed concern that Minuteman could reach its capacity some time after the new building opens. If that happens, applicants from Lincoln and the other towns that recently opted out will no longer have preference in admission over applicants from in-district towns.

Other towns such as Watertown and Everett have expressed interest in joining the Minuteman district, Bouquillon noted at the Special Town Meeting. However, if they did so, it wouldn’t have an immediate impact on overall enrollment because those towns already send students to the school as out-of-district students, he said.

Minuteman also announced on Monday that it had received a $500,000 state grant to launch a new Advanced Manufacturing and Metal Fabrication program. The money will be used to purchase 10 industry-standard machines and 15 ancillary training simulators including five mini mills, four CNC (computer numerical controlled) tool room lathes and one CNC lathe with Y axis.

The school will be ordering and installing equipment and designing the new program over the next several months and hopes to have initial course offerings in the fall. Advanced Manufacturing will be part of the new school’s Engineering, Construction and Trades Academy.

 

Letter to the editor: Sanders is on the ‘right side’ of questions

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To the editor:

In the lively and much appreciated discussion in the Squirrel on the Democratic candidates, I have seen people I respect supporting Hillary Clinton. While it would be historic to elect a woman president, I am concerned more about the rest of the history that will some day be written about the next four or eight years.

As a country, we are approaching turning points in several critical areas. Will we continue policies that generate income inequality and financial instability? Will we keep on pouring resources into being the world’s top cop? Will we come to grips with how we treat “those people,” be they black Americans or brown immigrants? Will we throw people out of the lifeboat of our heath care and safety net systems in order to keep them financially afloat?

From my perspective, Mr. Sanders is on the right side on all of these questions. He would take on the banks and question corporate-oriented trade agreements. He would show restraint in sending our troops into the world’s hot spots. He has been dedicated to civil rights his entire adult life. He would pursue rational, tested policies to assure effective and efficient health care.

Ms. Clinton, not so much. She is cozy with Wall Street, which is indebted to her husband for helping repeal the Glass-Steagall Act. Mr. Clinton also brought us corporate-friendly free trade with NAFTA, and Ms. Clinton was for the pending TPP trade agreement until grassroots opposition caused her to pause. As a senator, Ms. Clinton voted to invade Iraq, and as Secretary of State convinced President Obama to intervene in Libya. Despite her apparent popularity with African-Americans, her record on civil rights is checkered. On health and welfare issues, she speaks Washington-speak and favors policies that are yielding a slow-motion train wreck.

Pragmatic folks say the hill facing Mr. Sanders is just too steep. Well, as they say, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Or, perhaps more apropos to our locale, every revolution starts with a single shot. We did that once.  I’m for doing it again.

Sincerely,

Gary Taylor
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.

Letter to the editor: Minuteman withdrawal ‘outrageously short-sighted’

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(Editor’s note: Antia is Lincoln’s representative on the Minuteman School Committee.)

To the editor:

I want to thank the 200 or so people that took the time to come to the Special Town Meeting last Tuesday evening. This was a huge commitment and possibly an imposition, but know that is was appreciated.

That does not necessarily mean I am happy with the results (see “Lincoln withdraws from Minuteman school district,” Feb. 27, 2016). Those of us who were at the meeting know I am concerned the children of Lincoln will soon be shut out of vocational/technical education. With virtually all the newly built voc/tech schools over capacity and enrollment rising at the other local vocational schools, we are going to be hard-pressed to find a seat for our children.

Most of us have heard Barack Obama tout the benefits of vocational/technical education, and some of us heard that in addition to the $45 million that Minuteman will receive from the MSBA for their new school, Gov. Baker has committed a $500,000 grant to the school which will be used to help launch the new advanced manufacturing and metal fabrication program.

This school is going to be a high school showcase for Massachusetts, right here in Lincoln. And in an effort to save approximately $33,000 a year, we voted to withdraw from the school district. I understand $33,000 is a lot of money. I also understand it is 0.09% of Lincoln’s proposed FY17 $35,126,576 budget. I am not alone in finding this to be outrageously short-sighted.

Sincerely,

Sharon Antia
165 S. Great 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.

Letter to the editor: gender, résumé not central to candidate support

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To the editor,

With all due respect for those who share a passion for and commitment to electoral politics, I must express my disappointment with any who would assume my support for any candidate would be dictated by gender or even a lengthy résumé (see comment to the February 24 letter to the editor). My support and enthusiasm is reserved for those that I believe to hold true to a north star, both in word and deed, and a candidate of unimpeachable character, regardless of race, color, creed, sexual orientation or gender.

A number of years ago, many of us rallied behind a candidate with little or no political experience on the national stage. But that candidate’s life choices reflected core values of a person dedicated to social and economic justice. The fact that this candidate might be the first president who was a person of color was also exciting, but not the determining factor for my support. That candidate was inspirational and aspirational and offered a vision of transformation that won my heart. That candidate, lacking experience and a lengthy résumé, was Barack Obama.

Now, we need to elect a candidate with a similar vision, and the capacity to excite and engage a new generation of voters who will help us elect a more collaborative Congress.

I find unimpeachable character, wisdom to see the catastrophic folly of the Iraq War, and the inspirational vision of Barack Obama in Bernie Sanders.

Sincerely,

Sara Mattes
71 Conant 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.

Corrections to budget article

correction-smThe February 23 Lincoln Squirrel article originally headlined “Town Meeting warrant includes 3.1% hike for general budget” cited an incorrect figure for the current fiscal year 2016 budget, which is $34,940,266 and not $33,530,580 (the latter is actually the FY 2015 figure). The proposed budget for FY 2017 is $35,126,576, which represents a one-year increase of 0.5 percent, not 3.1 percent. The February 23 article has been updated and retitled “Town Meeting warrant includes modest budget hike” to reflect this correction.

The financial section and warrant for the March 2016 Annual Town Meeting are available here.

Letter to the editor: vote for Hillary Clinton on Tuesday

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To the editor:

This has been a remarkable campaign season. Let us celebrate the energy that flows from frustration with our governance in Washington and demands change. Let us also unite behind the candidate who can best preserve the progress we have made on health care, employment, civil rights, climate change, education, protecting consumers, foreign policy, diplomacy, Social Security, Medicare, women’s rights, equal pay, immigration and reducing the deficit.

There is so much more to be done, and Hillary Clinton is the one to do it. She understands the details of government process and possibility better than any of the candidates. She knows how to achieve positive change in a very difficult environment, and has the skill, sensitivity and strength to get it done.

The stakes could not be higher. The consequences of fear, destructive anger and division are palpable and deeply disturbing, at home and abroad. We are so fortunate to have such an experienced and thoughtful leader ready to be our President in these difficult times.

Please join us in supporting Hillary Clinton next Tuesday, March 1.

Sincerely,

Peter Pease, 40 Huckleberry Hill
Gary Davis, 20R Indian Camp Lane
Peter Georgiou, 126 Lexington Rd.
Jennifer and Andrew Glass, 11 Stonehedge
Sarah and Larry Holden, Weston Rd.
Avram Kalisky, 140 Lincoln Rd.
Rosemary and Jack Kerrebrock, 29 Boyce Farm Rd.
Ilana Newell, 75 Todd Pond Rd.
Al Schmertzler, 142 Chestnut Circle
Brigid and Gerald Sheehan, Giles Rd.
Barbara Slayter, 7 Trapelo 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.

Council on Aging activities in March

bemisMeet with an aide to Congresswoman Clark
March 2 at 1 p.m.
You are invited to Bemis Hall on Wednesday, March 2 at 1 p.m. to meet with Anthony Moreschi, Constituent Service Representative for Congresswoman Katherine Clark. He will be available to assist residents with Social Security, Medicare, and MassHealth/Medicaid. You are also welcome to discuss other matters with him that he may be able to help with.

Wellness clinic for all ages
March 4 at 10 a.m.
All Lincoln residents are invited to meet with a nurse at Lincoln Woods Community Building at 50 Wells Road on Friday, March 4 from 10 a.m. to noon. These clinics are funded by the Ogden Codman Trust and provided by Emerson Hospital Home Care. [Read more…] about Council on Aging activities in March

Lincoln withdraws from Minuteman school district

mm1By Alice Waugh

Lincoln became the fourth town to withdraw from the Minuteman High School district with a vote capping two and a half hours of discussion at a Special Town Meeting Tuesday night.

More than 200 people filled Brooks auditorium and part of the lecture hall for the February 23 meeting, where residents were asked to vote on whether to withdraw from the district and whether to approve the district’s new regional agreement. The final vote on withdrawal was a voice vote with roughly two dozen residents voting nay.

As of Wednesday morning, 10 of the 16 towns in the district had voted to approve the revised regional agreement. Carlisle, Sudbury and Wayland voted earlier this month to approve the agreement and withdraw. Boxborough and Weston, both of whom have expressed interest in withdrawing, had Special Town Meetings scheduled for Wednesday night.

Vocational Education Options Working Group (VEOWG) member and Selectman Peter Braun summarized the data that the group gathered about the cost of sending Lincoln students to Minuteman vs. any of three other area vocational-technical schools. Changes to the Minuteman regional agreement would increase Lincoln’s share of costs for a new school building while also reducing the weight of Lincoln’s vote on the Minuteman School Committee, he said.

The FinCom, the Board of Selectmen and the Capital Planning Committee all unanimously recommended that Lincoln withdraw from the Minuteman district.

The bottom line: “It’s less expensive to send Lincoln students [to Minuteman] out of district than as a member, and even less expensive to send them to other nearby schools on an out-of-district basis,” said VEOWG and Finance Committee member Laura Sander, referring to a chart showing comparative costs.

“The Minuteman budget is not trivial to Lincoln,” said FinCom chair Peyton Marshall. Because member towns are responsible for the building debt regardless of how many towns remain in the district or the school’s total enrollment, “a significant financial risk is eliminated by withdrawing,” he added. Furthermore, continued declines in Minuteman’s enrollment (both in-district and out-of-district) are a distinct possibility, Marshall said.

But Minuteman Superintendent/Director Edward Bouquillon said the school’s enrollment has been declining because as an expensive building project loomed, the Minuteman School Committee voted for a smaller school, “and we were tasked with gradually and humanely… reducing the size of the school,” he said.

Although several towns with small enrollments are leaving the district, larger cities and towns such as Watertown and Everett have expressed interest in joining, Bouquillon said. Member towns have priority in slots for their students at Minuteman, and while the school currently has some space for more out-of-district students, “that capacity is not a certainty in the future,” he said.

“Once a physically attractive, modern new building with state-of-the-art equipment and labs opens, enrollment will increase from both member and non-member towns—of that there can be very little doubt,” said Kemon Taschioglou, a former Minuteman School Committee member from Lincoln. “Minuteman will fill to capacity and it will need to impose an enrollment waiting list as most of the high-quality vocational-technical schools in the state do. Demand will exceed supply.”

If there are fewer spaces than applicants for Minuteman, out-of-district applicants are ranked based on recommendations and an interview as well as academic, attendance, and disciplinary record, Bouquillon said.

Taschioglou acknowledged that the town’s costs for sending students to Minuteman as a member town will go up, “and yet I am willing to pay this even more to support and participate in the governance of another excellent town institution,” he said.

Several Minuteman students and alumni also spoke in favor of Lincoln staying in the district. If future students have to travel farther to another technical high school, “the possibility isn’t as readily there,” said Jack Neuhaus. “By removing ourselves from Minuteman, we’re unintentionally giving the message that we value traditional education over vocational-technical education.”

If Lincoln was not a member of the Minuteman district, any vocational school would be welcome to make a presentation to Lincoln School eighth-graders, perhaps at a vocational education night in Lincoln, Superintendent of Schools Becky McFall said.

The Planning Board will require a site plan review because the new school will be built on Lincoln land, but Minuteman can be exempted by state law from many zoning restrictions, “so your expectation as to what the Planning Board can expect to accomplish with that should be appropriately limited, and this decision won’t change anything about that process one way or another,” said Planning Board Chair Margaret Olson.

If the new school decides it needs a dedicated on-site police officer, Lincoln would seek reimbursement for that expense, Braun said.

Earlier articles:

Letter to the editor: Sanders ‘walks the Lincoln talk’

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To the editor,

For many years, Lincolnites have taken to the floor of Town Meeting to seek support for citizens’ petitions to support a nuclear weapons freeze, arms control, and a variety of equal and human rights initiatives. We have endorsed petitions to oppose the war in Iraq, the Keystone pipeline, and the intrusion of big money into politics and to overturn Citizens United. We have advocated for campaign finance reform and many other issues.

Now, all who have advocated for these issues on the floor of Town Meeting and beyond have an opportunity to vote for a candidate who has been with us on these and many other issues since the beginning of his career. He has fought for civil rights in the streets of Chicago since the mid-sixties. He has campaigned for our issues on the floors of Congress since 1985. His core values have not wavered and have been reflected in his personal and political life. He has walked the talk. He has never taken money from large corporate or financial concerns for either his political campaigns, or for his own personal gain.

As my mother said, “Actions speak louder than words.” His actions have consistently matched his words. Now Lincolnites can also match their words with deeds. We have an opportunity, as Democrats and Independents, in the upcoming Presidential primary election on March 1 to vote for a candidate who truly walks the Lincoln talk—Bernie Sanders!

Sincerely,

Sara Mattes
71 Conant 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.