Lincoln School Committee weighs class-size policy as $260,000 budget gap looms

LINCOLN -- November 11, 2014, Lincoln School Committee hears parent pushback as fourth-grade consolidation collides with $260,000 budget gap. Superintendent Becky McFaul told residents Thursday the Nov. 17 budget session for the Finance Committee will require items "that no one wants to touch," with the rising fourth grade projected to drop from three sections to two and class sizes jumping into the mid-20s, what parents and members described as roughly a 35 percent increase. Kim Bodner of Fox Run warned the change could "fracture" a cohort intact since kindergarten: "People are going to leave. It's not going to take much." Adding a fourth section would widen the gap to about $350,000. Members approved warrants totaling $826,129.86 and discussed feedback methods for the Nov. 12 State of the Town meeting on the Lincoln School facilities project, the successor to the 2012 effort.