Dear Lincoln Public Schools Families,

As we head into the April vacation week, I had a collection of information to share with you about road work, the state’s new MCAS family portal, voting for LPS’s Terrific Tray entry, and an upcoming speaker sponsored by SEPAC.

For Lincoln School families, on the Monday that we return to school from vacation (April 27th) the slip-lane entrance from Lincoln Road onto Ballfield Road will be closed (the slip-lane is the curved additional entrance lane coming from the north). The closure is scheduled to last for three weeks, through Friday, May 15th.

There will still be the normal two lanes of traffic on Ballfield Road, but the closure of the slip lane could lead to some increased delays in the morning, especially for cars making the left-hand turn onto Ballfield Road from the south, and cars turning left onto Lincoln Road as they exit the campus. Once the Community Center project is finished, the Town is looking at the possibility of road work on the Lincoln campus over the next several years, and needs to collect information about possible traffic patterns if the slip-lane were to be eliminated. Thank you for your patience while the slip-lane is temporarily closed.

The Town also recently sent out information about ongoing roadwork connected to water mains and Bedford Road drainage. Please see the Town’s website for information, which will be regularly updated.

 

On Monday, students in grades 4-8 brought home an invitation from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to try out the new MCAS Family Portal (https://mcasfamilyportal.emetric.net/), which provides online access to students’ past individual MCAS results. The MCAS Family Portal is expected to be launched statewide this summer, and Hanscom School and Lincoln School families are among a small group selected to try the system out before this release.

DESE’s new portal will provide families with direct access to their student’s full MCAS assessment results each year. DESE anticipates that this portal will replace the paper individual MCAS reports they have previously sent to families. Currently, the portal contains past MCAS results for 2023-2025 only. This spring’s MCAS results will not be released in the portal until this fall. 

After you register and log in to your account, please consider providing feedback about your experience at: https://www.lincnet.org/MCASPortalFeedback. Feedback is being collected anonymously and will be provided directly to DESE to inform the state-wide rollout of the MCAS Family Portal later this year. And if you have any immediate questions, please feel free to reach out to Rob Ford at rford@lincnet.org.

Back in September LPS was recognized by DESE as having the Terrific Tray of the month for a delicious & locally inspired Turkey Ramen Bowl. We are now hoping it will win the best tray of the year! To cast a vote for Lincoln’s Terrific Tray, go to the voting website and cast your vote by May 8th. The winning tray will be recognized at the Healthy Kids, Healthy Programs Summit and our district will be highlighted for their focus on healthy, local food in our school meals. To learn more about the Terrific Trays competition, and read about which local farms were featured in LPS students’ school meals, visit www.massfarmtoschool.org/terrific-trays/.

 

Finally, SEPAC is sponsoring Sarah Ward, an internationally recognized expert in executive functioning, to come to Lincoln and speak the evening of April 28th. Please see the attached flyer for more details.

 

Thank you, and have a wonderful week next week!

Parry Graham

Superintendent