Post-Tragedy: A School Slowly Heals (& Other News)

The resilient spirit of L-S has been demonstrated in a number of ways and in typically striking fashion over these past two, difficult months since the January 19 murder. The girls' track team took the state title, and, for the first time in the school's history, the girl's basketball team became state champs. (After the victory in Worcester, a town fire truck conveyed the team from the Hudson line to the school where an enthusiastic crowd welcomed back the conquering heroes). On the academic side, our National Ocean Sciences Bowl Team and Speech and Debate Teams are headed into national competitions. The school literary magazine came out with a blockbuster issue, and our actors turned in courageous performances in two edgy, provocative plays.

Lincoln-Sudbury is a school on the mend. If you were to visit the school tomorrow, you would find a sense of normalcy that is at once reassuring and disquieting. Reassuring because the atmosphere in the school is a testament to the resilient spirit noted above. Disquieting because beneath that sense of normalcy is the memory of a collective trauma. Moreover, as you know, healing doesn't happen in a straight line. Just when you think life has returned to normal, a story will appear with disturbing--or disturbingly misleading--facts, and suddenly you are thrown back a day or week in your recovery. Ground gained is lost. But overall, progress is being made.

Just a few last notes on the aftermath of the tragedy:

The allegedly perpetrator has now been indicted by a Grand Jury on charges of 1st degree murder. The judge accepted the defense motion that he be sent to a facility with psychiatric services. More recently, a a court-appointed psychologist determined that the accused is competent to stand trial, though his lawyer plans to appeal the ruling.

Dr. Ritchie met with the entire student body in special assemblies to discuss how students should respond if they hear a fellow student say something that sounds peculiar or alarming;

The Globe continues to print misleading articles, attempting to support its thesis that the school failed to act in a timely way on information that would have prevented the tragedy. The complexity of the situation may (or may not) come out at the trial. Unfortunately, the school administration is not able, for legal reasons, to respond to Globe insinuations.

A very consequential school committee election will take place March 26, and two of the four candidates who are running advocate changing the culture of the school significantly in order, they believe, to enhance security for students. A group of students helped organize against them and are encouraging all eligible seniors to vote. They say that they want to preserve the culture of of L-S, and that they feel safe.

Finally, thank you. alumni, for your concern, good wishes, and for all those photographs and letters! You can never know how important these expressions of support were to us, and how much they helped us get through. Both the photos and the letters are now on-line on the alumni page. The originals will be placed into the school archives, and the photos will also become part of a permanent display in the school.

In other news, two veteran teachers retired in January. Paula Wolfe, our jewelry teacher extraordinaire, and Fred Walker, AV head and Dyad adviser, have moved on to the next phases in their lives. Both were very dedicated and served the school in many ways (Paula helped start the foreign exchange program and Fred helped create the greatest yearbook ever). We wish them the best. Veteran language teacher Rich Berger will be retiring this June.

Take the time to check out some new features on the alumni page (See links for them below: the new L-S History & Culture Page, "Looking for Someone?," and "Class Notes").

Finally a pitch: We have used the money collected at the 1994 Great Gathering of Alumni (just before the old building was torn down) to create and expand this web site and to help preserve the old murals. The money is almost gone. Please consider donating some money to the alumni association ($5 to $50 or more!). We would appreciate that. It would help us to continue to maintain and improve the web site and services to alumni. Just make checks payable to "Lincoln-Sudbury," and send them to me at the school (390 Lincoln Rd., Sudbury MA 01776). Thanks for considering this pitch! Unless dramatic new developments occur, this will be the final Alumni Newsletter of the school year. Spring is here, and it's time to go outside and take a look around.

Have a great summer too!

Thank you so much,

Bill Schechter
bill_schechter@lsrhs.net

Election postscript: The town elections are and results are now in. The override passed its first hurdle. And by a very wide margin, the voters of the two towns elected to the school committee the two candidates viewed as supporters of the distinctive L-S school culture, and advocates of a more deliberative process for determining what changes, if any, are needed at L-S.

FORUM/ THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER
http://www.lsrhs.net/alumni/forumnewspaper.php

THE NEW LS HISTORY/ CULTURE PAGE
http://www.lsrhs.net/publications/HistoryCulture/

WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTiBLE CONTRIBUTION TO THE
LS & COMMUNITY TRACK & FIELD PROJECT? PLEASE CHECK OUT THIS LINK:
http://www.brainshark.com/brainshark/vu/view.asp?pi=639383526

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