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An in-depth look at how the current economic climate has affected the Lexington Public School system.Members of the Lexington High School Central America Service Trip Club will be traveling to Golfito, Costa Rica, in February to do community service and environmental projects in an impoverished region. In early February, 14 students will spend three days on the edge of the rain forest in the small Costa Rican town of Golfito. The area is said to have become impoverished recently, due to disease-infected banana crops – the town's main source of income. The club will first fly to San Jose, then take a bus to Golfito. From there, the group will take a ferry to a reserve set up by the Costa …
The Lexington School Committee voted to recommend expanding the scope of renovation plans for the Bridge and Bowman elementary schools, bumping the projected total cost by $5.2 million. "For $5.2 million more, we could make changes in the school that would make expository and positive visual changes to the schools," said School Superintendent Paul Ash at the Tuesday, Nov. 30 committee meeting. Discussion centered around whether the school committee would commit to with the more expensive, expanded scope designs for repairs, costing a projected $19.4 million, or, as Ash called it, the "meat …
This month, school officials revised a 10-year facility master plan outlining needed school renovation and replacement projects from 2010 through 2019, reshuffling some projects based on recent events, and estimating that about $118 to $139 million will need to be spent in the coming decade. "Given some recent information that we become aware of regarding the high school and Estabrook, the 10-year plan needs to be adjusted," Superintendent Paul Ash said at the Oct. 19 School Committee meeting. An estimated $30.9 million project to replace Estabrook Elementary School has been moved forward in…
While cities and towns across the state and nation started the school year this fall after facing tough school budget cuts for fiscal 2011, the Lexington Public Schools began the year in better shape than some of its neighbors. A fiscal 2011 level-services public schools budget was approved by Town Meeting in April, as part of the town's operating budget. School officials recommended a budget of $68.9 million – a $1.9 million, or 2.9 percent, increase over the fiscal 2010 budget of $66.9 million. In his presentation to Town Meeting on April 12, Superintendent Paul Ash outlined how improved …
