Town Meeting Recap: Night 1

The Kirshner Auditorium at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School fielded relatively strong attendance early on during the first night of Sudbury's Annual Town Meeting. But as the night wore on in a room that was uncomfortably warm, the attendance steadily declined. Once it became clear that the hall wouldn't get to the Atkinson Pool article (Article…

ByKevin LaHaiseMay 6, 20250Comments

Contemporary minimalist meeting room with modern furniture and gray blinds.

News

The Meeting Before the Town Meeting

Before residents were settled into the Kirshner Auditorium for Annual Town Meeting, the Select Board was in a conference room on the administrative side of the building for one more Select Board meeting before Town Meeting. Here's what they discussed: Article 34 - Atkinson Pool Vice Chair Dan Carty moved to support…

ByKevin LaHaiseMay 6, 20250Comments

Features

25 Years of Citizen Petitions

Sudbury has three Citizen Petitions on the Annual Town Meeting Warrant this year. It's fairly typical for there to be at least one Citizen Petition on the warrant. Upon review, there have only been five Annual Town Meetings without a Citizen Petition on the warrant since 2000. To conduct the analysis, Sudbury Weekly…

ByKevin LaHaiseMay 4, 20250Comments

A person swimming in a clear blue outdoor pool with lane dividers.

News

Atkinson Pool Article Comes Into Focus

Article 34 at Sudbury’s Annual Town meeting calls for additional funding for a renovation and repair of the Atkinson Pool. The initial draft of the article had a placeholder number of $429,000. That would be added to the prior budget of $2,350,000. (Other articles in recent years have been approved for different components of the…

ByKevin LaHaiseMay 4, 20250Comments

News

Sheehan Just Keeps Settling Contracts Like An Absolute Boss

This fiscal year Sudbury Town Manager Andy Sheehan has been tasked with negotiating union contracts while the financial forecast for the Town shows difficult years ahead. Yet he has steadily settled contracts without drama. As previously reported, Sheehan has reached agreements with the Supervisory Association, the DPW Union, Sudbury Police Sergeants and Sudbury Police Lieutenants. …

ByKevin LaHaiseMay 4, 20250Comments

News

MCRT Diamond Junction Takes Shape

Sudbury’s portion of the Mass Central Rail Trail (MCRT) will be paved in the coming months, and grading work appears to be moving along swiftly. But one of the more unique features of the trail is already taking shape. The intersection of the MCRT and the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail in Sudbury is often…

ByKevin LaHaiseMay 4, 20250Comments

News

Petition to Cut CPA Surcharge Broadly Opposed By Town Committees

Article 54 at Sudbury’s Annual Town Meeting is a citizen petition to cut the Community Preservation Act surcharge from 3% to 1.5%. The petitioner presented to the Finance Committee in April, after which the committee voted not to support approval of the article. Since then, a number of committees have voted to oppose the article. None of…

ByKevin LaHaiseMay 4, 20250Comments

A shopping cart with dollar bills next to a stack of textbooks on a light background.

Features News

Analyzing School Spending in Sudbury

A recent report issued by the Town of Sudbury presented school spending in a manner that many residents don’t typically think of school spending. While “per pupil cost” is a common method of analyzing school spending, and the report included that (page 83), the report also laid out Sudbury’s “net school spending.” The Massachusetts…

ByKevin LaHaiseMay 3, 20250Comments

High-quality image of water being poured into a glass, illustrating hydration and purity.

News

Contested Race for Sudbury Water District Commissioner

The Sudbury Water District's annual election is on Tuesday, May 20, and this year it features a contested race for a commissioner seat. Robert Sheldon is running for re-election, and he is being challenged by Robert Crane. SWD-2025-Specimen-BallotDownload There are three other races on the ballot. Craig Blake is running unopposed for re-election…

ByKevin LaHaiseApril 29, 20250Comments

$Chalkboard with a humorous incorrect math equation, ideal for educational settings.$

News

SPS Talks Student Benchmarking, Math Curriculum

The April 14 meeting of the Sudbury Public Schools (SPS) School Committee featured an exhaustive presentation on academic benchmarking. The presentation focused on social and emotional learning, mathematics, and English language arts. The actionable portion was mathematics. The administration proposed a change to the grade seven math curriculum following the benchmarking presentation. Grade seven at Ephraim…

ByKevin LaHaiseApril 26, 20250Comments

Kevin LaHaise

Best Choice for Creatives