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Five Things To Do This Weekend: March 2 to 4

A look at what's going on this weekend in and around Lexington.

It’s Thursday, and you’ve got no idea what you’ll do this weekend. Lexington Patch is coming to the rescue. We’ve got the best bets for your done-work-outta-here time. Check our picks for the activities you'll want to take part in this weekend in Lexington and beyond. 1. Ghost Army of WWII - 1-Day Exhibit Where/When: Lexington Depot, 13 Depot Square; 12 to 5 p.m., Saturday, March 3 Why Go: View original wartime artworks by Ghost Army soldiers (pictured), wartime artifacts, photos, and video from an in-progress documentary film, seven years in the making. WWII re-enactors will also be on hand. It's a benefit for Lexington resident Rick Beyer's independent film honoring the brave and creative men of The Ghost Army. Pricing: $5 2. Estabrook …

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UPDATED: Lexington Voters Say 'Yes for Our Schools' (PHOTOS)

A pair of ballot questions seeking more than $60 million for elementary school building projects passed overwhelmingly during a special election held Tuesday, Jan. 24.

The preliminary results are in and they indicate resounding support for the debt exclusion questions seeking funding for repairs to the Bridge and Bowman elementary schools and rebuilding Estabrook Elementary. Lexington voters yesterday were asked to finance through debt exclusion overrides a pair of school building projects totalling about $60 million and the 27 percent or so who turned out solidly responded to the "Yes for Our Schools" rallying call of the campaign supporting the projects. Voter participation was significantly lower than expected, with turnout topping 30 percent in only percincts 2, 4 and 7. The polling places for those precincts were at the Bowman, Bridge and Estabrook schools, respectively. The first question, to fund…

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POLL: How Will You Vote in Jan. 24's Three-School Special Election

Do you support plans to rebuild Estabrook Elementary and renovate the Bridge and Bowman schools? Take our poll or let us know in the comments section below.

On Tuesday, Jan. 24, the voters of Lexington will be asked to finance through a debt exclusion a pair of school building projects that would spend tens of millions of dollars to rebuild one elementary school and renovate two others. Two questions will be on the ballot. One seeks funding to rebuild Estabrook Elementary School, a project already an aggressive schedule as the town sticks to the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s timeline following the discovery and subsequent remediation of polychlorinated byphenyl (PCB) at the school last summer and fall. The project is currently in the schematic design phase and will likely result in a three-story school with an approximately $40 million price tag. The other will ask for $21 million-…

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LWV Forum Covers School Projects Before Debt Exclusion Vote

At Cary Memorial Library last Friday, a panel of four explained why the town is planning to rebuild Estabrook Elementary and renovate the Bridge and Bowman schools at a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters, which has endorsed both projects.

Saying she had two things on her mind: money and children, Selectwoman Deb Mauger explained why she, and the Board of Selectmen, voted to put debt exclusion requests to rebuild Estabrook Elementary and renovate the Bridge and Bowman elementary schools before the voters in a Jan. 24 special election.  Maguer said that, while she’s a retiree thinking about things like taxes and credit card bills accrued over the holidays, she’s also a Lexington resident thinking about local children and their education. Mauger must have known her audience. She was speaking at the Lexington League of Women Voters’ First Friday Forum last week at Cary Memorial Library. The League, which has endorsed both debt exclusion requests, promoted the informational …

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Patch Facts

Five Things You Need to Know Today: Jan. 6

LWV forum takes up debt exclusion talk, a bookfair benefiting high school singers and more today in and around Lexington.

1. Debt Exclusion Talk at League Forum: It's just weeks now until the town is asked to finance projects renovate the Bridge and Bowman elementary schools and rebuild Estabrook Elemetary in the Jan. 24 debt exclusion votes. But it's not to late to get brought up to speed on the questions at hand. At 9:15 a.m. this morning, head to Cary Memorial Library for the League of Women Voters' First Friday Forum. 2. Bookfair for the LHS Choral Group: Looking for a new read? The Lexington High School Choral Group holds its annual bookfair starting at 7 p.m. tonight at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 98 Middlesex Tpke, Burlington. 3. Today in High School Sports: Lots of high school athletic action today, with basketball against reading and boys varsity …

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A First Look at Recommended FY13 School Budgets

The $76.3 million recommended budget, presented Tuesday, Jan. 3 by Superintendent Paul Ash, would include some program improvements over level services and still kick back some available funds for the capital budget.

Superintendent of Schools Paul Ash on Tuesday presented his fiscal 2013 level services and recommended budgets for the Lexington Public Schools, both of which came in below available funding. It was, Ash said, the first time he’s done that in 15 years of presenting budgets to school committees. This was also the first time Ash has seen special education tuition costs decrease, the superintendent said. Ash’s FY13 level services budget — which meets special education legal requirements, funds contractual requirements and adjusts instructional expense budgets only for inflation — came in at $75,765,721, a 3.58 percent increase over the FY12 budget. But his recommended budget for fiscal 2013, which adds in program improvements such as a …

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LWV Forums to Take on Elementary School Debt Exclusion Votes

As Lexington prepares for a Jan. 24 special election with debt exclusion requests to finance the renovation of the Bridge and Bowman elementary schools and the rebuilding of Estabrook Elementary, the League of Women Voters will help inform the voters.

The following information was submitted by the League of Women Voters of Lexington. League Forum:  Yes For Our Schools On Jan. 24 Lexington’s citizens will be asked to vote on a debt exclusion for the renovation of the Bowman and Bridge schools and replacement of Estabrook School. The League of Women Voters of Lexington’s First Friday Forum on Jan. 6 is an opportunity for the community to learn more about the projects – the necessity and the costs. Panelists will include Selectwoman Deb Mauger, Bill Hurley of Capital Expenditures, Director of Public Facilities Pat Goddard and Deborah Rourke, a parent, life-long resident of Lexington and member of the “Yes for Our Schools” committee. [Both projects must pass at both Town Meeting and the …

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