Name: Vineeta Kumar
Office Sought: Select Board
e-mail address: vineetaforlexington [at] gmail.com
phone number: 408-394-5320
Community Activities:
- Town Meeting Member: 3 terms, Precinct 3 (2017-2022), Precinct 9 (current term after redistricting)
- Chair, Town Meeting Members Association (TMMA), 2021-23
- Appointed to 2 Town Manager Search Committees
- Core team member of Article 8 – Dismantle Systemic Racism (passed by unanimous vote at Town Meeting in STM 2022)
- LHS PTO President
- Lexington Education Foundation (LEF) Board Member
- Former IGIG President -(Indians Getting Involved Group)
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 support the School Building Committee’s selection of the “Bloom” plan,which includes building on the current playing fields in the Center. As a parent of a child who graduated from LHS in 2021, I have no doubt that a new high school is needed. It was in need of replacement while my son was at LHS, and the urgency has only increased. I have followed SBC’s proceedings and attended many community information sessions. While the final design may not have been my choice in every aspect, I respect that a diligent and thoughtful process, guided by professional expertise, and with consideration of all stakeholder inputs and concerns, has been followed. The SBC is made up of community members from all walks of life, and students have been a key voice at every step. Our community-wide approach to planning has included forums and learning sessions over a period of nearly 2 years. Now that the Bloom plan, compliant to MSBA requirements, has been chosen, we must move forward with next steps in the process. Delaying and second guessing at this stage will jeopardize the state’s approval and funding contribution and increase the ultimate cost to the Town.
While it is commendable that a set of citizens put forth an alternative plan, which is a reflection of community engagement in Lexington, their phased plan approach called Thrive, had some inherent issues. The key one in my opinion being that while the plan’s objective was to keep the cost low, the estimated cost assuming standard inflation for phase 2, was $668M, which is higher than the Bloom plan. This 2-phase plan would not be compliant with the Ed plan requirements until the completion of the second phase. Therefore, MSBA would most likely not participate in this plan, resulting in a loss of the $100M grant.
In addition to the high cost and the inherent unpredictability of the total cost for phase 2, the cost of disruption to our children over the proposed 6-year period is immeasurable. Not to mention the fact that this plan has not gone through the rigor that large Capital project plans should go through and including it now will put us back in the line with MSBA, resulting in a potential delay of n number of years, potentially lose MSBA funding and if adopted, our children would have to put up with an extended period of time. We need to be swift in addressing this issue and Thrive is not the solution at this time.
Playing fields are an important part of our Town’s infrastructure, vital to students and the community. Taking some of them offline for construction staging in either plan will be an imposition, but a temporary one.
That said, I do not take the high cost of Bloom lightly, and if elected, I will work with my colleagues on the Select Board to maintain guardrails and scrutinize every cost element going forward, while staying compliant and without sacrificing the educational excellence which is the pride of our town. The need for an educationally sound learning environment for our children, suited to the 21st century, is paramount, therefore I support the Bloom plan.
