Making Music: LHS to Host One Festival, Compete in Another

Lexington High vocal music will host the Boston Area Youth in Harmony Festival this Saturday, while the LHS jazz combo will compete in Berklee College of Music’s 45th High School Jazz Festival.

This Saturday will be a busy one for many of the musically inclined from Lexington High. Vocals will be the main attraction here in Lexington, while jazz will be the genre of choice this Saturday in Boston, according to a pair of press releases. Boston Area Youth in Harmony Festival LHS vocal music will host the Boston Area Youth in Harmony Festival this Saturday, March 2, culminating with a concert performance at 7:30 p.m. featuring Vocal Revolution (formerly the Sounds of Concord), as well as two award-winning barbershop/pop style groups, Downtown Crossing and Foreign Exchange.   According to a press release introducing the festival, the Boston Area Youth in Harmony Festival affords area high school students the opportunity to attend …

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LHS Girls Hoops Squad Ramping Up for MIAA Tournament Run

The No. 6 seed Lexington High team hosts No. 11 Boston Latin at 7 p.m. this Wednesday, Feb. 27 in the MIAA North Division 1 Tournament.

  Great thing about goals is there’s always a next one. By many accounts, the Lexington High girls varsity basketball team’s 2012-2013 campaign has been a successful one: They’ve overcome a spot of adversity, doubled last year’s win total and achieved their goal of hosting a game in the MIAA North Division 1 Tournament. Now, after a 15-5 season, coach Steve Solly’s senior-led squad is preparing to host Boston Latin at 7 p.m. this Wednesday, Feb. 27 at LHS, and setting their sights on the next goal – advancing to the quarterfinals.  “The girls came into the season with the goal of earning a home game,” said Solly. “I’m sure the goals have changed now.” That’s not to say the No. 6-seed Minutemen are looking past No. 11 Boston Latin. In fact…

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Lexington Man Behind AD Ouster Petition Explains His Position

John Igoe, the man who initiated an online petition calling for the immediate removal of Lexington’s athletic director, told Patch he won't necessarily push for her ouster.

After news broke that Lexington’s athletic director admitted to doctoring an email and suggesting a lawsuit would be imminent if the Middlesex League did not change its basketball schedule, there was outage among some in the Lexington community. One resident, John Igoe, a father whose children are all in or out of college, started a petition calling for, among other things, the immediate termination of Naomi Martin, the athletic director at Lexington High. By creating the petition, Igoe said his intention was to establish a position more than it was to actively mount an opposition. “It’s all about accountability, ethics and the violation of a code of conduct that we can explain to our children,” Igoe said. “For this particular issue, I was…

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Petition Seeks Ouster of Lexington AD Over Email Imbroglio

A Change(.org) gonna come?

  An online petition is calling for, among other things, the dismissal of Lexington’s athletic director, who admitted last week to doctoring an email that immediately preceded the Middlesex League’s Title IX-driven decision to abandon its doubleheader basketball schedule. Last week, Naomi Martin, the athletic director at Lexington High, was given a week of unpaid leave after it came to light that she had fabricated information attributed to a Lexington parent in a November email to athletic directors across the Middlesex League. On Jan. 19, Superintendent of Schools Paul Ash sent an email to that same audience attempting to “correct the record” and calling Martin’s actions “unacceptable.” Earlier this week, a petition hit the interwebs …

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LHS Girls Hockey 'Pink the Rink' is Next Saturday

The goal of the game is to increase awareness and help support the Susan G. Komen organization to raise money to fight against breast cancer disease.

More On the Title IX/Hoops Schedule Situation

A Lexington parent caught most of the blame, but it was a now-suspended AD’s doctored emails that spurred the Middlesex League’s Title IX-driven decision to discontinue its doubleheader scheduling format for boys and girls basketball.

  The story went something like this: A Lexington parent was threatening to sue, so the Middlesex League deep-sixed its doubleheader scheduling format, which had been in place since the mid-1990s. That was the yarn spun at the start of the 2012-2013 basketball season. It was fodder for players, parents, fans and bystanders alike, and got picked up by multiple local media outlets, including Patch. Most likely, it was reported that way because that’s how the coaches and athletic directors told it to reporters and editors. And most likely that’s how they told the story because that’s how they heard it themselves. Except only that’s not how it went down. It’s true that Lexington resident Kathryn Robb is at the bottom of it. For two years Robb …

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Lexington AD Martin Suspended Over Doctored Email

A school department spokesperson confirmed today, Jan. 23, Naomi Martin will be suspended without pay, beginning tomorrow for fabricating information in an email to Middlesex League athletic directors.

Lexington Athletic Director Naomi Martin has been suspended without pay for one week after admitting she doctored portions of an email from a parent, which she included in her own communication with Middlesex League athletic directors. The suspension begins tomorrow, Jan. 24, as the Globe has reported and a spokesperson for the Lexington Public Schools confirmed. In the group email, sent on Nov. 15, Martin requests permission from her colleagues to allow Lexington to play a single-gender basketball schedule in order to bring the program into compliance with Title IX. She also states in the email that a Lexington parent had informed school officials threatened a lawsuit and was “prepared to file her complaint against the entire Middlesex …

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TypicalLexingtonParent

12:27 pm on Sunday, February 17, 2013

Hilary, this is true. However, it usually is a very bad sign if a freshman is starting on varsity. Esp. in the contact sports   more ›

About the High School Hoops Scheduling Situation

Shortly before the basketball season began, the Middlesex League changed its schedule so that boys and girls teams play at opposite venues. Previously, the boys and girls varsity teams played doubleheaders at the same site.

Looks like Lexington had a hand in igniting another revolution, only this one has to do with high school basketball.   Shortly before the basketball season began, the Middlesex League changed its schedule so that boys and girls teams play at opposite venues. Previously, the boys and girls varsity teams played doubleheaders at the same site. It’s been reported that the last-minute schedule swapping was prompted when a Lexington parent threatened to sue over noncompliance with Title IX. But Kathryn Robb, the woman who triggered the change, claims she’s been beating the gender equity drum for more than a year – and never threatened legal action. Passed in 1972, Title IX requires gender equity for boys and girls in all educational programs …

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Diana Glass

3:47 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013

Hi, John... I appreciate your calm response! I don't know anything about her at all, as my child does her sport outside of school. However, I have felt the same way about the superintendent, so perhaps it is an issue of overall educational leadership in town.   more ›

UPDATE: Officials Respond to LHS Gun-to-School 'Rumor'

Social media posting raised concern; investigation turned up no credible threat, officials said.

There were increased police patrols and presence around Lexington High School today, Dec. 21, following alleged threats that a student would bring a gun to school, according to a Lexington Police Department spokesman. The investigation into the alleged threat is ongoing, Lt. John Mazerall said Friday. Meanwhile, Associate Principal Adam Goldberg said Friday was more or less a normal day at LHS, but deferred additional comment to Superintendent of Schools Paul Ash.  Ash also said it seems things are going smoothly at LHS on this final school day before winter vacation. The superintendent's office has not received calls today about the issue, and there is no indication the events of last night had any impact on attendance today, he said. …

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Mass. Not in Top 10 for Graduation Rate, Lexington Above State Average

Massachusetts had an adjusted graduation rate of 83 percent for the 2010-2011 school year. How did Lexington's schools compare?

Massachusetts didn't make the top 10 high school graduation rates in the nation, according to preliminary data released by the U.S. Department of Education on Monday, but Lexington's schools a higher graduation rate than the state average. The graduation rates released Monday are for the 2010-2011 school year—the first year for which all states used a common, adjusted four-year cohort graduation rate, according to a U.S. Department of Education press release. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) spokesman JC Considine told Patch in an email that Massachusetts has been computing cohort graduation rates since 2006, which are available on the DESE website. According to the preliminary state-reported data, for …

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