To the editor:

I am writing to announce my candidacy for reelection to the Lincoln-Sudbury School Committee and hope to earn your vote on Monday, March 30.

Our accomplishments over the past three years are noteworthy. We have recruited and retained an exceptional educator and savvy administrator to lead the district as Superintendent-Principal, and the high school’s administrative leadership team has been revitalized with stellar additions in Finance, Student Services, Curriculum and Athletics. Thanks to the support of the citizens of Lincoln and Sudbury, we have substantially upgraded our IT infrastructure. We have undertaken innovative projects that have significantly reduced our energy costs and positioned the high school as a leader in the green energy movement. We have implemented a number of innovative programs designed to benefit students with language-based learning disabilities and other learning challenges, obtaining grant funding to launch these programs wherever possible.

We have made shrewd decisions with respect to health insurance that resulted in reductions in the district’s healthcare costs in each of the last two years and yielded a substantial reduction in the district’s OPEB liability. Finally, we negotiated a fiscally conservative teacher contract that has enabled us to begin restoring staff at a time when our enrollment has substantially increased. Meanwhile, our students continue to thrive in the classroom, on the field, on the stage and in the studio, as well as in college, the military and the workplace after they graduate. We all should be proud, and grateful, for the exceptional work being performed at Lincoln-Sudbury.

While we have accomplished a great deal, a number of significant challenges remain. The high school’s enrollment remains at record highs, and Sudbury must adopt a regular practice of funding our schools in a manner commensurate with shifting enrollment in order to serve our students appropriately. We need to support efforts to establish programs that will prepare our students to thrive (indeed, to be leaders) in a rapidly changing, technologically focused, and increasingly global environment. We need to nurture programs to support students who need additional help, and to make every effort to keep students whose needs can be served at Lincoln-Sudbury in the district. Finally, we need to support our exceptional educators who are singularly focused on delivering a rigorous and purposeful education for our students.  I look forward to addressing these challenges, and diligently serving both of our partner communities, if reelected.

Thank you for your support.

Gerald E. Quirk
20 Scotts Wood Drive, Sudbury

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Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to news@lincolnsquirrel.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:

In 2009, I campaigned for the Lincoln-Sudbury School Committee with the phrase “March 30 Matters.” Six years later, it still does.

I have been honored to serve the families in Lincoln, Sudbury and Boston and appreciate the support and feedback constituents have given to me.  Lincoln-Sudbury remains a strong asset to our towns; the opportunities afforded our students are broad and challenging. I, along with my LSSC colleagues, hope and strive to encourage our towns to know our high school and to support our students, the quality of their education, and the necessary and appropriate services to ensure student success.

The work of educating the whole child never ends. Educators at L-S and the School Committee can always do more. We continue to educate ourselves, seek information, implement change, and educate those who support our institution as to how and why we choose certain paths. Given the finite resources we are provided by Lincoln, Sudbury and the state to fund education at L-S, we need to continue to explain the choices we make in each year’s educational program.

As a committee, we draw on different areas of expertise and broad personal and political backgrounds. The composition of our committee ensures we have healthy conversations and that we hear and understand each other before voting. We can agree to disagree, with respect for each other’s contributions to our discussions.

We have strengthened our relationships with both towns, increased budget transparency, and worked with both towns to plan for capital needs with our now 10-year old building. We have a strong administration in place and a new teacher evaluation process underway, the result of a collaborative conversation with our faculty and administration. We completed a lengthy collective bargaining process two years ago with our Teachers’ Association that contributed critically to our wherewithal to avoid substantial layoffs in a time of significant increases in enrollment. With Mother Nature’s cooperation, we are moving forward in our construction of a solar parking canopy that holds promise as a model for other educational institutions, increasing our clean energy reliance while reducing our overall utility expense.

Teaching, learning and our students’ wherewithal to grow and become strong self-advocates, scholars, leaders, athletes, and positive contributors to a bigger world are still the core of why I am committed to continuing for another term on the School Committee.

I would be grateful for your vote on Monday, March 30.

Nancy Marshall
Beaver Pond Road, Lincoln

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Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to news@lincolnsquirrel.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.