UPDATED, Sept. 13: These letters support a yes vote in the Tuesday, Sept. 20, special election (noon to 8 p.m.). They were written by Dr. Edward A. Bouquillon, Minuteman superintendent; state Rep. Jay Kaufman, Arlington School Committee member Paul Schlichtman and John Donato, a lifelong Arlington resident who also teaches at Minuteman, and were submitted Sept. 9:
Globe raps Belmont’s ‘local-control fetish’
Superintendent Bouquillon makes his appeal
On Tuesday, Sept. 20, voters in the Minuteman District will go to the polls in a special election to determine the fate of the Minuteman High School building project. I urge my fellow citizens living in the towns of Acton, Arlington, Belmont, Bolton, Boxborough, Carlisle, Concord, Dover, Lancaster, Lexington, Lincoln, Needham, Sudbury, Stow, Wayland and Weston to join me in casting a vote on that day between noon and 8 p.m. (If you won’t be in town Sept. 20, contact your town clerk’s office about getting an absentee ballot.)
As superintendent of the Minuteman District, I have been involved in this project since its inception. Working with the Minuteman School Building Committee, Minuteman School Committee, member towns and the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), I believe we have jointly designed a project that all of us can be proud of.
For me, a new Minuteman High School:
* Supports the continuation of high-quality career and vocational-technical education for our students that will improve the region’s local workforce and enhance our economic;
* Provides a safe, modern facility specifically designed to provide 21st century career and technical education along with relevant and rigorous academics;
* Addresses long-standing structural, mechanical, and handicap accessibility issues that limit its educational effectiveness for all students;
* Safeguards the commitment of $44 million from the MSBA to keep down costs to local taxpayers;
* Enables Minuteman to charge out-of-district towns a capital fee to cover their portion of the costs of a new building;
* Retains Minuteman’s regional accreditation by the New England Association of Schools & Colleges;
* Avoids “Plan B,” a scenario that would require member towns to spend more than $100 million on repairs to the existing building without any financial assistance from the MSBA;
* Demonstrates a strong and unified commitment that may compel new cities or towns to join the District to provide access for their students; and
* Represents the most affordable option for local taxpayers
To learn more about the project or to view a list of polling places in your town, please visit the Minuteman website at www.minuteman.org.
State Rep Kaufman calls Minuteman ‘a gem’
Schlichtman: Let’s bring the high school into the 21st century
Earlier this year, Arlington provided two overwhelming votes of support for new Minuteman Regional High School. Our Town Meeting supported the project with a 165-31 vote, and Arlington voters supported a debt exclusion to pay for the project in June, 6,193-3,470.
Our approval came after the district revised the regional agreement to provide weighted voting and improved governance for Minuteman. Six tiny towns are leaving the district, so the district will go forward with 10 towns with a significant stake in the school.
There is no question that the current Minuteman building is obsolete. It was designed to focus on the careers of the 1970s, back in the days when a car was strictly mechanical and a computer was a large, tube-filled device that you programmed with punch cards. We need a vocational school that is capable of educating students for careers in a technologically-rich world of self-driving cars and powerful computers in our hands.
There is still one barrier to receiving state funding and proceeding with the building project, a districtwide referendum on Tuesday, Sept. 20. A YES vote will ratify our previous votes to move this project forward. Arlington is the largest town in the district, so a strong turnout will magnify our voice for our children who choose a vocational-technical education at Minuteman.
State law restricts voting hours to eight hours, from noon to 8 p.m. If those hours are inconvenient, you can obtain an absentee ballot from the town clerks’ office.
Teacher urges yes vote on Arlington’s other public high school
Teacher John Donato addresses the citizens of Arlington:
On Tuesday, Sept. 20, there will be a special Minuteman district election to approve our town of Arlington’s Minuteman High School Building Project. This past spring our Town Meeting members voted yes to endorse this same project, our selectmen unanimously voted, 5-0, yes for this same project and in June, the citizens of Arlington voted yes on three important issues One was funding to rebuild Minuteman High School.
I am asking that you vote “yes,” one last time, to support Arlington’s Minuteman Vocational Career & Technical High School new building project.
Why are we voting again in a districtwide election? Because we needed 100 percent of the 16 member district towns to vote yes at last spring’s Town Meeting.
The voting towns approved the project by huge majorities. Only Belmont rejected the project and therefore forced the Minuteman district to incur the expense of the Sept. 20 vote. This election needs 51 percent of the total district votes to register a yes vote. If that happens, Minuteman will be able to proceed with the project to which you previously said yes.
The following are the facts for you to consider. A rebuilt school:
• Allows construction of a safe, modern facility designed to provide 21st-century career and technical education and robust academics;
• Allows Minuteman to address long-standing structural, mechanical, and accessibility issues that plague its aging building and limit its educational effectiveness;
• Safeguards a $44 million state grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority that will be used to keep down costs to local taxpayers;
• Allows the Minuteman District to take advantage of new state regulations requiring out-of-district towns that send students to Minuteman to contribute to the capital costs of a new building;
• Avoids “Plan B,” a nightmare scenario that would require member towns to spend more than $100 million on badly needed repairs to the existing building without any financial assistance from the MSBA;
• Represents the most affordable option for Arlington taxpayers;
• Offers the most educationally beneficial option for future Arlington students;
• Retains Minuteman’s regional accreditation by the New England Association of Schools & Colleges; and
• Demonstrates unity in the district that may encourage new cities or towns to join the District which may reduce Arlington’s projected costs.
Please vote YES on Sept. 20 between noon and 8 p.m. Please vote yes for Arlington’s other Public High School choice, Minuteman Career & Technical Vocational High School.
The first and fourth letters were published Friday, Sept. 9, 2016. The second and third were added Sept. 13.
Anyone who wishes to provide another viewpoint is welcome to submit a letter here >>‘
