Lincoln School Committee receives draft four-year strategic plan with literacy overhaul

LINCOLN -- September 5, 2024, Lincoln draft strategic plan promises K-8 literacy overhaul and aggressive reading benchmarks. Superintendent Perry presented a four-year plan built from 10 parent, six student and 31 staff listening sessions, calling for a substantially revised or new K-5 literacy curriculum in 2025-26, the only major budget hit in an otherwise "generally budget neutral" plan. A companion district improvement plan goal sets that of K-2 students not reading at benchmark in the fall, at least half will reach benchmark and 80 percent of the remainder will make a year's growth, measured via DIBELS on the new mClass platform. Director of Finance and Operations Angela Wang, in her first meeting, presented an FY26 capital ask of roughly $195,000, down from $793,000, after deferring two Hartwell curtain-wall phases and asbestos abatement to FY27 and FY28 to accommodate Parks and Rec and LEAP occupancy. Member Kenneth Lepage reported that Hanscom's share of town administrative costs, historically $71,000, could rise to "closer to $300,000" under a draft percent-of-budget calculation. A vote on the strategic plan is expected Sept. 19.