No hidden money for raises. Vote NO OVERRIDE. Teach 5 classes and REDUCE class size by 20 %. The public votes NO CONFIDENCE in the numbers.

Sorry, the credibility is completely lost at LS. Teacher union rep says he got a $200 raise instead of $3,000 raise. Hundreds of thousands of dollars hidden in postage meters, yet we can build a $5,000 lacrosse wall. Teachers teaching 4 classes per day instead of 5. Sorry folks, the taxpayers are onto you. The gig is up. No more overrides until drastic changes are made. Oh yeah, why do we have two superintendents in Sudbury? What a well run town.

Also, when is Lincoln going to pay the shortfall they have over the past decade? They have been paying too little and it is about time Sudbury got that money back.

Can someone please explain the FY16 $800,000 replacement of the artificial turf fields?
If I recall the selling feature of making the approximate one million dollar investment into these fields was a decrease in costs when considering natural grass upkeep. If they need to be completely replaced every 10 years I am very confused regarding their value.

The Patch covered this story better than the Town Crier. Perhaps it time our children learn a big lessen from the entire town and that is to do with less. The teachers and staff can set the first example. Although for them, it really wouldn't be less. Please take a look at the rich class offerings at the link below. Classes such as BADMINTON and ROCK-CLIMBING?. French Cinema was mentioned by someone else. Why just French Cinema? If we can not be politically correct and offer AMERICAN Cinema, Russian Cinema, Spanish or Italian Cinema are we in danger of being sued? You really have to ask yourself who will really be suffering if some of these classes are dropped.

http://www.lsrhs.net/sites/info/files/2012/04/ProgramofStudies2012-2013.pdf

You got to love the "Improv & Performance course" or the "yoga" or the "Metal Arts II". Why is it when it is budget time all we hear about is cutting math, language and Science and the fluff courses are always off the table for cutting?

pmotw and Sudburytoo, I think you both hit on a major issue. The electives that are offered and taxpayer supported are insane when coupled with decreases in core AP courses, for example.
Personally, I wish we could do a top down review of curriculum at L-S and spend the resources and money on the core curriculum first. If there are students who wish to explore arcane electives so be it, but they should have to fund the courses themselves, similar to the way students have to pay for athletics.
I am not against electives, but question them when they take away from funding for core public school courses

I completely agree, I don't have a problem with electives, as long as they don't take away from core courses. How is it that Boston Magazine says that there are only 5 AP classes? Is this true? Most top public schools have in the teens.

Here we go again....here's the annual school committee meeting where they tell us that the sky is falling. Please start listening to the taxpayers...we want to pay for a great school, but we won't pay for nonsense. LSRHS needs to make real changes, not just keep cutting or threatening to cut more teachers and/or increase class size. Make real changes, and then we will listen. I know that I'm not even up for a discussion about increased budgets until the number of school administrators are cut. Prioritize combining the administrators for LSRHS and SPS (no matter what Lincoln says, we don't care anymore) and then we can talk about an increased budget for more teachers....not tech specialists or office staff, but real teachers teaching things like more AP classes.

I'd like to thank everyone here for framing the conversation. You can beat the drum for cutting more electives, whine about the lack of AP courses, figure that it is more efficient to have teachers carry 5 sections. Then you can have a discussion with all of the property owners in town and see if people would really like to dumb down the school even more, offer less, put more focus on the core academics, and make it more like any other high school. I'd be curious to see how many in the town would be happy to see the school erode further away from what it was at its best and become some thing it never has been. An average high school.

Thank you for all of your ideas and for framing the discussion for the town.

well said? Eliminating things like "French Cinema" and providing AP courses in core courses would make LS an average school? What do you base that comment on?

Plenty of blame to go around, but condemning people who simply question where resources are allocated is small minded.

Tech,
Please explain to all of us, how teachers teaching 5 classes per day instead of 4 is detrimental at all to the education at LS? I would love to hear your explanation.

Looks like it is time to take the hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the postage meter so we can pay the teachers to only teach 4 classes per day.

I'm not sure where you are coming from Tch-yr-kids, do you mean average High Schools like Weston, A-B, or Wellesley? (Which have 15, 16, and 17 AP courses respectively). I have talked to my neighbors and we would like to have high schools like these. A great school teaches core fundamentals and makes sure that those core fundamentals are not compromised when adding on electives. Every strong building is built on a strong foundation.

Anyone can take an AP test, they are like an SAT test. It's just that an AP class is taught at a college level and would in theory better prepare a student for the AP material. The AP class also allows for an advanced atmosphere where the students have usually applied to get into the class and not only want to be there, but are looking forward to the additional work. It provides a great learning atmosphere for all of the students.

LS has now dropped to #16. Ritchie used to quote and brag about the rating. The ironic thing is many of the high schools with higher ratings have the teachers teaching five classes per day instead of four.

This is the annual budget chicken game played by LS. It is time to get your house in order because the taxpayers are not going to support the LS country club any longer.

AP classes require teachers to "teach to the test" which for them is like taking cod liver oil (see MCAS). it's much more interesting to design a creative and fun syllabus and has the added benefit of them not having to answer to or be evaluated by anyone.

maybe that's why L-S has low # of AP classes. just a theory.

let's be clear, AP curriculum & performance is the gold standard for high achieving high schools and students (ask any college admissions office). L-S can't be a great high school without a greater emphasis on AP offerings.

Siobhan,
Have her talk with her counselor. They will look at what classes she has taken and advise her on which tests to take. They are graded on a scale and schools tell you what you need for credit. Most give credit for kids scoring 1 – 3. The cost for the test is minimal. We are finding that LS kids are viewed very favorably by college administrators and have been told they are well prepared for college level work.

"Just so that we all can get an understanding of how LS works, can you please explain what the teachers, and students for that matter, do when the teachers are not scheduled to teach a class?"

In the space allotted there is no way that I could adequately answer this question, but I will try. Teachers plan lessons, set up labs, studios and/or classrooms, gather the materials and resources needed by students, xerox, grade, catch up on email from parents, meet with other teachers to plan curriculum or lessons, meet with students who need extra help, follow up with discipline, work on committees. There's much more to that list. Students use their free time to go to the library, extra help, see their counselors. They do not have much free time except for seniors.

Planning time: If you give a business presentation, how much time do you spend preparing for that in relation to the event? If teachers are in the classroom more and preparing less, do you think the quality of instruction would go up or go down?

Some of you have a different definition of what makes a school 'excellent' or 'average'. My opinion is that it has little to do with AP courses, and more to do with servicing 1500+ students who have a multitude of legitimate needs going beyond getting into the top colleges.

The taxpayers have a choice. Some feel that less money and more efficiency would fix everything. Some don't agree. A great conversation has been framed, but this is not the best place for it.

All of my AP class were great and I never felt I was "taught to a test". They were taught at a college level with the students being more responsible for their own learning. Then again, I went to a top high school with over two dozen AP classes.

Check out this article on why AP exams are a scam.
http://m.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/ap-classes-are-a-scam/263456/

I think if the demand is there, than maybe it needs to be a user free system. Just as a thought, when I taught high school in another part of the country, in order to offer more AP classes, at least two of the subject areas held class on Saturday mornings for 3 hours. It's been a while, but I think it may have been every other week. A teacher's stipend was paid for through a fee charged to the students. I also taught in another district where AP classes were taught 2 days a week during a "zero" hour that started on weekdays at 6:45 a.m. Again, the teacher's stipend was covered through a fee.

I meant "user FEE" system. Sorry.