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.
To the editor:
I am the proud parent of two Minuteman Vocational High School graduates. Both of my children were and are extremely well prepared for the workforce and for admission to any competitive college.
I am a long-term Lincoln resident (I grew up there and attended Lincoln schools from the Lincoln Nursery School through Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School), raised my children in Lincoln, and just relocated to Arlington.
Minuteman is an extremely valuable and often overlooked and underutilized treasure. This school is an asset in many ways to the surrounding towns and fills an essential need in our educational system.
The students at Minuteman spend one week in their shop learning the trade and following strict work ethics and trade rules. The other week is spent in academics with a strong preparation for competitive college admissions and practical life skills. If you visit the school you will notice that the students at Minuteman have clear common purpose and exude confidence. There is structure to the day, no tolerance for bullying, no cliques like at the public school.
We will always need skilled welders, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, automobile mechanics, well prepared childcare providers, hairdressers, medical assistants, robotics and biotechnology experts, and so many more kinds of skilled workers that the technical-vocational high schools train. We need the alternative educational venue that Minuteman provides for those many many individuals who are hands-on learners. Many highly intelligent and talented students are not “typical learners” and do not thrive in the rigid, sedentary academic environments that the current traditional and regional high schools require.
At Minuteman, many a parent is grateful for their child’s happiness, productivity and bright future that Minuteman provides. My family well knows the positive difference this kind of education provides, as both of my children transferred to Minuteman as sophomores; my son spent his freshman year at a traditional private school and my daughter went to L-S her freshman year.
My son graduated in 2012 in electrical wiring. He has been working full time since graduation as an apprentice for a small electrical wiring company in Arlington. During the three years at Minuteman, my son played three seasons on the high-quality varsity sports teams. He was captain of the lacrosse, football and wrestling teams. He was able to develop his leadership skills and was a highly respected member and leader of the student body in addition to his achievements and leadership in the Lincoln Boy Scouts.
My daughter graduated in 2013 with not one but two welding certifications. She has been working since graduation as a welder through the Carpenters and Pipe Fitters Unions. At age 20 she makes $35 per hour, has full benefits and confidence. She can attend Wentworth Institute of Technology to become a mechanical engineer or building construction manager at half tuition. She was recently working on the MBTA Green Line extension in Cambridge and has worked on other high-profile job sites. During her three years at Minuteman, she played on the basketball and lacrosse teams and was a manager for the football team in addition to her outside involvement in dance troupes.
My daughter believes some of her friends who were not allowed to attend Minuteman “would be confident young ladies now if they had gone to Minuteman.” I know several parents of recent high school graduates whom have openly expressed regret that they did not allow their kids to attend Minuteman.
I urge Lincoln and all towns to fully support the new Minuteman High School building project. The current building is outdated and is desperately in need of a complete renovation. Among many items, Minuteman needs a large multipurpose assembly hall large enough to hold school graduations. This would also benefit the communities and promote school pride. For my children’s graduations we had to drive all the way up to a venue in Lowell, as the current Minuteman building has no assembly hall!
We should all be proud of this resource and continue our investment in this critical educational system.
Sincerely,
Deborah Page
10 West St., Arlington
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.
Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of letters about Minuteman Regional Vocational School District from Sharon Antia, Lincoln’s representative on the Minuteman School Committee. The previous letters were published on January 4, January 14, and January 24. She invites readers with questions to email her at Sharon.antia@gmail.com.
To the editor:
On February 23, Lincoln will hold a Special Town Meeting at which we will be asked to vote on two things: whether to approve the amended Minuteman school district’s regional agreement, and whether to withdraw from the Minuteman school district.
Massachusetts evaluates a town’s ability to pay for public education based on property values and personal income (“wealth factors”). Using this information, the state determines the fair and equitable distribution of state funds for education by subsidizing schools serving communities with low wealth factors at a higher rate than schools serving towns such as Lincoln where wealth is determined to be high. This matter is determined by the state and is not something that can be controlled at the local level.
[Read more…] about Letter to the editor: Minuteman in dollars and cents
“The Truth About the L-S Party Scene”The students of SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) and their advisors present an annual Community Connections night on “The Truth About the L-S Party Scene” on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the L-S cafeteria. SADD students have assembled a panel of LSRHS students to give honest and candid responses to questions regarding what L-S teens are doing at parties. The evening will be set up with students in one room and parents in the other, and a voice-altering microphone will enable parents and student to remain anonymous to one another. The evening will feature a mutual education for both parents and students as to what’s really going on out there and what parents are wondering about.
The Lincoln Public Library presents a series of children’s events with the theme of “animal antics” during school vacation week.
Ms. G clambered aboard her stump in 2013 as she prepared to make her prediction. (Photo: Alice Waugh)
Ms. G, the Massachusetts State Groundhog residing at Drumlin Farm, saw her shadow this morning, meaning there will be six more weeks of winter—though if it’s anything like this week, no one will mind except the skiers.
Ms. G began her Groundhog Day meteorology career at Drumlin in 2008. Organizers began collecting signatures (mostly from underage voters) in 2010 to get the state legislature to designate Ms. G as the official state groundhog. State Rep. Alice Peisch filed a bill in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 2013 and after winding its way through the legislative process, the bill was signed by Gov. Deval Patrick in July 2014.
Ironically, Ms. G’s public prognostication was snowed out a year ago, but she did a private forecast for her naturalist handler and predicted an early spring. Despite the record snow last February, she was right.
This year also marks the debut of a children’s book about the groundhog’s political odyssey—Ms. G’s Shadowy Road to Fame by meteorologist Mish Michaels, Ms. G’s campaign manager. The new Ms. G website also features a history of the rodent’s forecasts (with an accuracy rate reportedly double that of the more famous Punxsutawny Phil) and her story in video form.