DAWN E. MCKENNA

DAWN E. MCKENNA

Name: Dawn McKenna
Office Sought: Select Board
e-mail address: dawn [at] dawnmckenna.org
phone number: 781-254-5999

Community Activities: 

  • Town Meeting Member for 30 years;
  • Former Member and/or Chair:
    • Select Board;
    • Tourism Committee;
    • Space Needs/Building Assessment Committee;
    • Hastings Reopening Task Force;
    • Bridge PTA;
    • Town Celebrations Committee;
    • Town Meeting Members Association;
    • Fund for Lexington;
    • Cary Library Executive Committee;
    • Policy Manual Committee;
    • Historical Commission;
    • Town Celebrations Committee;
    • Commission on Suburban Responsibility;
    • Business Roundtable;
    • Center Committee;
    • Personnel Advisory Board.

The largest building project in Lexington is the proposed new Lexington High School. The School Building Committee, after holding many public meetings, supports the “Bloom” design to be built on the adjacent playing fields. A group of citizens has put forth an alternate plan which would be build on the grounds of the current school and leave the playing fields intact.
Which plan do you support and why?

I believe we need a brand new high school that meets the needs of our students, families, staff, and the broader community. As part of the leadership that embarked on the 9 school renewal project, I understand the long-term plan was to address the high school following the elementary and middle schools. LHS is long overdue for replacement and I will support a proposal to rebuild it as a single project within the current project timeline. With that said, the School Building Committee (SBC) faces tough challenges with this project. The proposed building will likely cost in the neighborhood of $700 million. Residents can expect their taxes to increase up to 10-14% to meet project costs.

As I walk through our neighborhoods and talk to voters, I consistently hear that residents are struggling to meet the ever rising costs of living in Lexington. Over the last 10 years, our town’s budget has increased from $199 million to a recommended FY2026 budget of $311 million. With this high school project, it will be increasingly difficult for our seniors and working families to meet these financial challenges.

Along with the costs, the consequences of passing the Article 34 zoning by-laws are making any sort of population modeling for the new high school complicated. Currently, Lexington is facing the very real possibility of raising taxes on residents to build a school that will be overcrowded before the shovel goes in the ground. This is a problem.

Over the last two years, I have attended many meetings of the SBC and heard members of the committee state publicly the idea of putting forward a project that will get 50% +1 of the vote. I believe that is the wrong approach. The new LHS is supposed to meet our needs for the next 75 years. We owe residents a project that gets more than the bare minimum level of support. And, if the Town has to come back to the voters for more money to modify or expand the high school in the years following its opening, that would signal a massive failure in our long term planning.

Projects like the ones that I have been involved with - the DPW headquarters, the fire station, and the visitors center - did the necessary work to engage the community in a meaningful way to ensure these buildings met our needs and earned broad-based support. The result was
projects that became some of the pillars of our town. As a member of the Select Board, I will encourage the SBC to take that same approach with the high school; to do the work to build broad-based support in our town; and deliver a school that meets our needs within the current project timeline.