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

Letter to the editor: McFall presents preliminary school budget

letter

To the editor:

The fiscal year 2016 (FY16) preliminary budget for the Lincoln Public Schools has been developed and will be presented to the School Committee on November 6, 2014. The process of developing the school budget began in August when the administrative team and I began an examination of each budget line item within the context of the District Strategic Plan. The process will continue through January 22, when the School Committee will vote on the budget that will be presented for a vote at the March 28, 2015 Town Meeting. I encourage parents and faculty to attend the School Committee meetings throughout the budget process and to provide input during the public comment portion of the meeting.

There are several key considerations in developing the budget:

  • The budget must be aligned with the School Committee guidelines that were finalized in September.
  • The Lincoln School budget is based on guidance from the Lincoln Finance Committee. For FY16, FinCom established a 2.5 percent budget guideline. This provides a 2.5 percent increase over the FY15 appropriated budget.
  • The Hanscom budget is developed based on projected enrollment bands agreed upon in the Federal contract. For the past several years, the budget has been built assuming enrollment at the “Band 3” level of 550-599 students.
  • Both budgets are developed with the intent of providing a level services budget (this year’s services at next year’s cost) and presenting possible improvement initiatives for consideration.
  • A major component of the budget is predicting the number of sections needed according to class size policy. On the Hanscom campus, class sizes are determined by Federal guidelines. On the Lincoln campus, class sizes are governed by the Class Size Policy.

The FY16 level service budget we will present on November 6 exceeds the 2.5 percent budget guideline established by the Lincoln Finance Committee. I will present the preliminary budget and explain the resulting “gap” between the budget guideline and the costs of providing a level service budget. At the School Committee meetings on November 20 and December 4, we will present options for reducing the budget in order to meet the FinCom guideline. This will require creating a list of gap-closing measures and providing information about those reductions and the impact they will have on the educational program.

At this time, I want to make you aware that our enrollment projections for the Lincoln School indicate that our current four sections of Grade 3 can be accommodated in three sections of Grade 4 in 2015-2016 and still meet the requirements of the class size policy. The total number of class sections in the Lincoln School would remain the same as the current year.

As the process unfolds and budget decisions are made with the School Committee, I will do my best to provide information to the community.

Sincerely,

Rebecca McFall, Ed.D.
Superintendent, Lincoln Public Schools

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

Jet Aviation approval confirmed by DEP, but residents fight on

Jet_Plane(Editors note: This version incorporates corrections made on November 7 to the DEP conference date and Angela Kearney’s title.)

By Alice Waugh

The Jet Aviation expansion proposed for Hanscom Field was OK’d by the state earlier this month, but a group of residents immediately asked for a hearing in a further attempt to block the project.

[Read more…] about Jet Aviation approval confirmed by DEP, but residents fight on

Service on December 6 for Crawley Cooper

cooper

Crawley Cooper

A memorial service will be held on December 6 at 11 a.m. at the First Parish Church in Lincoln for Crawley Cooper, who died on October 25 at the age of 81. A retired architect, he served on several First Parish and Town of Lincoln committees, including as chair of the Planning Board.

Cooper’s full obituary from Dee Funeral Home includes links to share memories and send flowers. Contributions in his memory may be sent to the First Parish Church in Lincoln or to the Friends of the Lincoln Council on Aging, 16 Bedford Road, Lincoln, MA 01773.

 

Obituaries – 11/4/14

candle2Here are links to obituaries of some Lincoln residents who have died in recent months.

Clifford “Red” Bradley, 96 (May 21) — carpenter and member of St. Joseph’s Church

Richard B. Campobasso, 67 (October 13) — worked for Lincoln’s Department of Public Works for 42 years

Margaret Domenichella, 76 (July 31) — licensed practical nurse in Lincoln and Concord

Alan Donaldson, 68 (August 4) — Lincoln Fire Department firefighter for 30 years

Marjorie Holland, 79 (September 25) — member of St. Anne’s, Cemetery Commission

Karl “Uno” Ingard, 93 (August 21) — MIT faculty members in physics and aeronautics/astronautics for 41 years

William A. King, 82 (August 28) — vice president and general counsel to Thomas Cook Travel USA

Charles Newcombe Jr., 74 (October 22) — owned Lincoln Roofing and Carpentry Co.

 

Corrections

  • correction-smToday’s letter to the editor about the Community Center Study Committee contained a broken link for the online survey, which has now been fixed in the letter. Here is the direct link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CCSCSURVEY.
  • A News Acorn item about babysitting during the November 15 State of the Town meeting listed incorrect hours for babysitting availability. Babysitting is now offered from 8:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the meeting that’s scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to noon. Contact Linda Hammett Ory at LHamme@aol.com by November 9 to make arrangements.

Letter to the editor: get involved in community center discussion

letter

To the editor:

Join the community center conversation! The town is evaluating options to address the facility needs of the Council on Aging, the Parks and Recreation Department and various community organizations that use town space. A variety of solutions are being considered—from adapting existing buildings to new construction and from multiple, discrete projects to one large multifaceted solution—and we’re interested in your opinion. There are a number of ways to get involved:

  1. Visit the Community Center Study Committee website at https://lincolntown.org/index.aspx?nid=569 and take some time to learn about the issues being considered. Our webpage has everything you need to know, including a summary of the topic, a timeline of the public process up to this point, links to town reports and video presentations of our public meetings. It’s an easy way to catch up on the conversation.
  2. Complete our survey! After you’ve caught up, provide some feedback in this brief three-question survey, which closes on Sunday, Nov. 9.
  3. Attend our upcoming public meetings:
  • Friday, Nov. 7 at 8:15 a.m. during the Lincoln PTO meeting
  • Saturday, Nov. 15 at 9 a.m. at the State of the Town meeting

Both meetings will be held in the Brooks School auditorium in conjunction with the School Building Advisory Committee. We will both be providing an update of our work and soliciting feedback. (Babysitting is available for State of the Town meeting; contact Linda Hammet-Ory at lhamme@aol.com.)

We hope you’ll take the time to participate in our process. Your input is critical to our work!

Sincerely,

Dan Pereira
Community Center Study Committee
Director, Parks and Recreation Department

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

News acorns – 11/3/14

acornCorrection

A November 2 Q&A with state representative candidate Sharon Antia was missing a link to a document about Waltham parking regulations that she created for a Waltham resident. The document can be found here.

Several school-related meetings this week

The School Building Advisory Committee will meet twice this week. Its regular meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. It will meet with representatives of other town boards and commissions on Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. Both meetings take place in the Hartwell multipurpose room and are open to the public.

On Thursday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m., the School Committee will present a preliminary school budget for fiscal 2016. That meeting is also in the Hartwell multipurpose room.

Lincoln Democrats meet on Saturday

The Lincoln Democratic Town Committee will meet on Saturday, Nov. 8 from 1-3 p.m. in Bemis Hall. The public is invited and welcome. the agenda will include discussion of the 2014 election results, a review of 2014, plans for 2015, and elections of committee chair, co-chair, secretary and treasurer. Light refreshments will be served. Parking is available at the First Parish Church across the street. RSVPs appreciated; please email garyddavis04@gmail.com.

Babysitting available during State of the Town meeting

Lincoln’s eighth-grade Girl Scouts are offering babysitting in Hartwell Pod B during the November 15 State of the Town Meeting from 8:45 a.m. to 1 p.m., but they need a minimum of five families to pre-register in order to make it happen. The deadline for planning purposes is Sunday, Nov. 9. Walk-ins will still be welcome, but we need a minimum to hold the event.

Please email Linda Hammett Ory at LHamme@aol.com and let her know how many children, their ages, and what hours they need supervision. If the babysitting event is cancelled due to low numbers, we will let people know by November 10. Babysitting is offered at no charge, but donations are welcome to support the eighth-grade Cadettes’ service trip to Puerto Rico and their work with the Waltham family homeless shelter.

Evening of a capella with Aka Bistro food benefits LEAP

The a capella groups Harvard VoiceLab and Accent of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School will perform at an event to benefit LEAP (the Lincoln Extended-Day Activities Program) on Friday, Dec. 5 from 7-10 p.m. in Bemis Hall. There will be a cash bar, food provided by Aka Bistro, and a silent auction. Tickets ($20 in advance, $25 at the door) are available at LEAP and the Whistlestop Cafe. Babysitting is available at LEAP during the event. For more information, call LEAP at 781-259-0615.

Muster field boardwalk project delayed

walkingPlans to upgrade a wetlands trail behind the school campus have been delayed while a civil/environmental engineering firm surveys the area and determines the best foundation plan for the boardwalk.

Lincoln Public Schools science teachers Terry Green and Mairead Curtis have been working with town officials to upgrade the trail, which is partly on school property and runs north from the Smith playground to the town muster field at the intersection of Sandy Pond and Baker Bridge Roads. When the project is done, the boardwalk will be ADA-compliant, and there will also be an area that will serve as a outdoor “classroom” space where groups can gather to learn about the wetlands, Green said.

Recently, however, a landscape architect found that the subsoil was deeper than expected for the type of pilings intended for use for the boardwalk foundation, so GZA Environmental, Inc. will survey the area this winter and make further recommendations so officials can come up with a revised construction timeline.

At Town Meeting in March 2014, residents approved spending $137,355 from the Community Preservation Act fund for the wetlands trail and observation platform. The budget includes another $1,275 from the Lincoln Cultural Council and $7,875 last year from Lincoln School Foundation for design work.