To the editor:
Tonight, the Vocational Education Options Working Group will be holding a public forum to discuss their findings and offer the opportunity to ask questions about Lincoln’s vocational education options in advance of the upcoming Special Town Meeting. I encourage you to attend the meeting and learn about the various options and their implications.
[Read more…] about Letter to the editor: CapComm recommends Minuteman withdrawal
To the editor,
In early December, a letter was published in the Lincoln Squirrel highly critical of Sen. Michael Barrett’s legislative bill S1747–An Act Combating Climate Change. The goal of this bill is to reduce the use of fossil fuels understood by the vast majority of citizens and scientists around the world to be a primary cause of climate change.
By coincidence, a week after this critical letter was published, 195 countries from around the world met at the Paris Climate Change Conference and unanimously adopted an agreement that documents the role of fossil fuel emissions from human use as the primary cause of climate change. With the bill as proposed by Sen. Barrett, Massachusetts will join a few other states and countries in a leadership role promoting real steps to reduce the use of fossil fuels, the guiding principle of the Paris Accord.
For the first time, enlightened representatives from around the entire world have agreed, and have committed to specific steps and goals to lower greenhouse gas emissions as the primary means of reducing the dramatic effects of climate change. The world has already witnessed rising sea levels, increasing global temperatures, loss of polar and glacier ice, severe droughts, flooding, more destructive storms, as well as food and water shortages.
A world committed to reduced and ultimately eliminated use of fossil fuels will also find a more sustainable economic future in development of renewable energy sources and innovative production means. Legislation like Sen. Barrett’s bill is a first step that must be taken if the goals of the Paris Accord are to be achieved.
Sincerely,
Gary Davis
20R Indian Camp Lane
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 Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.
By Alice Waugh
Town officials offered a preview Monday night of vocational-technical costs and options for Lincoln students in advance of a February 11 public forum at 7 p.m in the Hartwell multipurpose room and a Special Town Meeting later this month.
On February 23, Lincoln voters will be asked if the town should withdraw from the Minuteman school district. If the answer is no, they will then be asked to approve the amended Minuteman High School regional agreement. Selectman Peter Braun, a member of the Vocational Education Options Working Group (VEOWG), said last week that it would make sense for Lincoln to withdraw, in his opinion.
Earlier in the process of hammering out a new regional agreement, “we had never even conceived of withdrawing” from the district, largely because the new Minuteman school building will be on Lincoln land and the current agreement requires the school to be located within a member town. But as Lincoln’s dissatisfaction with the new agreement’s cost formulas became an issue, the Minuteman School Committee offered Lincoln (along with six other towns) an expedited withdrawal option, along with removing the school location requirement.
If Lincoln votes to withdraw, it can leave the district without incurring a member town’s share of the debt for the new building—assuming the agreement is also approved by the district’s other 15 towns. It would also forfeit representation on the Minuteman School Committee but would pay less overall for vocational-technical education.
The VEOWG gathered cost estimates for various scenarios such as staying in the Minuteman district, leaving but still sending students to Minuteman as an out-of-district town, or sending them to any of three other technical schools in the area (all of which have been recently renovated). They also compiled information on curriculum and career data for all four schools, as well as an FAQ with background on the issue and what factors to consider before voting.
“It’s been an eye-opening experience. We had absolutely no clue about what withdrawal would look like, or what other schools would look like, or the cost comparisons,” Braun said.
Selectmen noted that Lincoln has always been in favor of a new Minuteman building and would have paid its share of the cost under the current agreement. However, Braun noted at Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting that under the new agreement, which takes into account both enrollment and each town’s “wealth factor” as determined by the state, Lincoln’s debt obligation would double and its voting weight would be reduced from the current 6.25 percent (each of the 16 towns gets one vote) to less than 4 percent.
Assuming Lincoln sent five students to Minuteman in fiscal year 2020, the cost would be almost twice as much per student ($55,911 vs. $29,503) if Lincoln were a member of the Minuteman school district than if it were not. The cost for sending those five students to one of three other schools instead would range from about $21,000 to $24,000 per student.
If Lincoln does withdraw from the Minuteman district (which would take effect July 1, 2017), “a future committee will have a year and half to focus in some preferential way on another school or Minuteman” for Lincoln students, Braun said. However, the choice will always rest with students, who are free to go anywhere as long as a school has capacity.
“Not being a member of a district creates the ultimate flexibility,” Braun said.
Based on site visits and discussions with Assabet Valley Regional Technical School in Marlborough and Nashoba Valley Technical High School in Westford “clearly have capacity… and indicated they would welcome having us,” Braun said. The working group has not yet been able to meet with officials from Keefe Regional Technical School in Framingham due to inclement weather, but members included cost information for all five schools in their cost estimate chart.
The VEOWG did not gather information on Shawsheen Valley Technical High School in Bedford because that school does not take out-of-district students, Braun said.
As an out-of-district town, Lincoln would not be guaranteed slots for its students at Minuteman. The new building will have a capacity of 628 students. The current enrollment is 673, but that number will decline if towns withdraw from the district. The school may also see fewer out-of-district students from Boston and Waltham. Boston has improved its vocational-technical facilities and Waltham’s planned new or renovated high school is expected to include voc-tech programs, according to the working group’s FAQ document.
At the selectmen’s meeting, resident and former Selectman Sara Mattes asked if withdrawing from the Minuteman district would amount to “treating vocational-technical kids differently than our other kids… is this not a version of school choice?”
“This has nothing to do with the school choice you’re talking about, with reciprocity between districts,” Braun responded. Many Massachusetts towns are not a member of a vocational-technical school district, “and it’s very common for towns to have multiple choices available for their [vocational-technical] kids. I’m comfortable with the sense that this is not an unusual situation we would be putting our kids in.” About 41 percent of Minuteman’s students this year are from non-district towns.
Based on questions and discussion at Thursday’s public forum, the FAQ document may be revised before the Special Town Meeting, Braun said.
By Alice Waugh
Hundreds of Lincoln residents shivered through extended power outages resulting from the February 5 snowstorm, but many of them shared updates, advice and even offers of hospitality online, even as another snowstorm approached.
[Read more…] about Lincolnites share news and advice during blackout
The Codman Community Farms board welcomed the new family running the farm: Jen Hashley (front row center), her husband Peter Lowy to her left, and their son Abraham. Also in attendance at the Pierce House welcome was Ellen Raja (front row left). Second row, left to right: David Alperovitz Erica Mason, and DJ Mitchell. Third row: Chandler Fritz and Julia Craig. Fourth row: Toni Gersh (with her son behind her) and Chris Fasciano.
Here is a list of property sales in Lincoln in November and December 2015. The Lincoln Squirrel will publish this list approximately once a month going forward.
Dear Squirrel readers,
Clearly a lot of people in Lincoln (including yours truly, who is writing on her laptop at Panera) are still without power. Some Lincolnites have posted about this on LincolnTalk, but I’d like to hear from as many folks as possible so I can write a story.
If you still have no power —or if you lost power but got it back after a few hours—please email lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com and tell me your story. Be sure to include your street address and whether you’re aware of any downed power lines near hour house. Also tell us which utility you use (we have Eversource but I don’t know if every home in Lincoln does as well). For extra credit, tell us about your longest power outage before this.
Thanks, and stay warm!
Alice Waugh
Editor, The Lincoln Squirrel
www.lincolnsquirrel.com
781-259-0526 (h) ~ 617-710-5542 (m)
lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com
Before Friday’s snowstorm, cows and geese relax in the field on Old Sudbury Road with the storied Pillar House in the background. Editor’s note: the house was built in Newton as a private residence in 1828 and later became the Pillar House restaurant from 1951-2001. After the restaurant closed, Chris Brown and his family won the rights to the Pillar House in 2003 after the state seized the property at the junction of Rtes. 128 and 16 by eminent domain and sold it for $1 on the condition that it be dismantled and reassembled elsewhere. It’s now a private residence once again for Brown and his family. See Boston.com’s photo gallery about the building’s move and its earlier history. (Photo: Harold McAleer)
By Alice Waugh
A cost-estimate comparison by the Vocational Education Options Working Group (VEOWG) shows that Lincoln would pay considerably more to send students to Minuteman High School than to any of three other area technical schools, even if Lincoln withdraws from the Minuteman school district.
According to an analysis for fiscal year 2020 by the VEOWG (see below), if Lincoln were to send five students to Minuteman in fiscal year 2020, the cost would be almost twice as much per student ($55,911 vs. $29,503) if Lincoln were a member of the Minuteman school district than if it were not. The cost for sending those five students to one of three other schools instead—Assabet Valley Regional Technical School in Marlborough, Nashoba Valley Technical High School in Westford, and Keefe Regional Technical School in Framingham—would range from about $21,000 to $24,000 per student.
The working group has also published a list of frequently asked questions summarizing the issues for Lincoln as well as a comparison of the academics and other features for Minuteman and the three other technical schools.
The VEOWG will host a public forum on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. in the Hartwell multipurpose room to discuss the future of vocational, career, and technical high school options for Lincoln’s students. The forum is 12 days before the February 23 Special Town Meeting where residents will vote on a revised regional agreement for the Minuteman school district and also on whether to withdraw from the district.
All 16 towns in the district are voting at Special Town Meetings on the new regional agreement. Boxborough, Carlisle, Dover, Sudbury, Wayland, and Weston are also voting on whether to withdraw, potentially reducing the Minuteman district from 16 towns to 10.
Cost estimates for fiscal year 2020 compiled by the Vocational Education Options Working Group that assumes five technical school students from Lincoln.
If Lincoln withdraws from the district, it would not have representati0n on the Minuteman School Committee, and it would also have to pay non-member tuition of about $19,000 per student plus an $8,000-per-student share of capital costs. The town also would not be able to vote on the debt for the new building—nor would it be liable for repaying that debt, aside from the $8,000-per-student fee for any Lincoln students who attend Minuteman.
As a member of the Minuteman district, Lincoln would have to pay $24,000 per student toward the building cost as well as more than $29,000 in member tuition for each student.
“If our [VEOWG] committee was asked to say what we recommend, it would be unanimous” to advocate withdrawal from the Minuteman district, Braun said. He added that he was speaking for himself and could not speak for other town officials including the Board of Selectmen, which will hear the working group’s analysis on Monday, Feb. 8.
VEOWG members have been visiting the other technical schools, “and what we’ve seen so far is very gratifying [in that] that we have really worthy alternatives” to Minuteman, Braun said.
A condensed version of the VEOWG data as it appears in the group’s FAQ document (click to enlarge).
To the editor:
Amidst all the information being distributed regarding the upcoming votes that Lincoln will take regarding Minuteman High School, the Lincoln Vocational Education Options Working Group (VEOWG) wants to ensure that accurate and consistent data is provided to the public. To that end, the VEOWG has reviewed Sharon Antia’s recent letter and the accompanying charts provided by Minuteman that projected Lincoln’s per-student cost for fiscal year 2020 (FY20) under the revised regional agreement. We have also inquired with Minuteman to clarify its methodology for its calculation, particularly its use of seven students as the applicable “HS Enrollment” used to divide into Lincoln’s total projected cost for FY20.
Minuteman has informed us that it used seven students because that is Lincoln’s estimated four-year average enrollment for FY16-19 (including the actual enrollment for FY16 and an estimated five students in each of the other three fiscal years). We disagree with Minuteman’s methodology and have so informed them. In order to provide an accurate per-student cost estimate for a particular year, the only accurate and consistent methodology is to divide the total cost chargeable to Lincoln for that year by the actual number of students enrolled that year. Since the estimated enrollment for Lincoln is five students in each of FYs 2017, 2018, and 2019, the only reasonable estimate for FY20 is also five students. We also confirmed with Minuteman that five students is the appropriate assumption for FY20.
Dividing five into the total projected FY20 cost of nearly $280,000 yields an estimated FY20 per-student cost of nearly $56,000. This is the number that the VEOWG will use to describe Lincoln’s potential cost of remaining a member, in comparison to the projected per-student FY20 cost on an out-of-district basis at Minuteman and the other vocational/technical schools we are considering.
We hope to see you at the upcoming public forum (February 11) and Special Town Meeting (February 23).
Sincerely,
Selectman Peter Braun on behalf of the Lincoln Vocational Education Options Working Group
Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, 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.