LWN061021

JUNE 10, 2021
WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 3
Lynnfield High graduates 171
GRADUATION
FROM PAGE 1
It’s because of what the Class
of 2021 has gone through that
Zhang spent the time during
his speech not giving his classmates
advice but congratulating
them on what they’d done to
make it there.
“That’s why I have no advice
to give, you’ve already done it
yourself,” Zhang said. “You’ve
each survived your own obstacles
and, despite it all, have
forged your own path. I have
no advice, because everything
you’ve achieved is because
of the decisions that you have
made. These decisions have
changed us and led us to who
we are today.”
At the time of their graduation,
the Class of 2021 had
accomplished plenty. It wasn’t
always easy for them, especially
with the school’s switch
from remote to hybrid learning
several times throughout their
senior year before finally finishing
with in-person learning.
“You couldn’t have created
a more difficult scenario,”
Principal Robert Cleary said.
“But through it all, this class
has taken it in stride. They
stayed focused on what they
needed to get done and they did
it. They worked hard, they persevered
and they were resilient.
These are the life lessons that
matter far more than anything
you see in a textbook. These
are the skills that will separate
them from those who graduated
before them.”
Student Council President
Ava O’Brien expanded on some
of those accomplishments,
which she hopes will just be
a starting point for the rest of
their lives.
“Senior year, we applied to
colleges all while attending
Lynnfield High graduate Yvonne Chen walks back to her seat after receiving her diploma.
class over Zoom, something we
never thought would happen,”
O’Brien said. “Despite that,
our senior class managed to get
into amazing universities and
programs all over the country.
We truly overcame all that we
were faced with in high school
through persistence and determination.
That is how I know
the Class of 2021 will succeed
tremendously in life.”
As the Class of 2021 goes
on to accomplish more in
their lives, they’ll always be
linked by the bonds they made
throughout their time in the
Lynnfield Public Schools, said
Class President Kiera Burns.
“This is a huge step that we
won’t take alone,” Burns said.
“Today we are surrounded
by not only our families and
teachers but the other 171
people in our class who we have
spent the majority of our lives
with up until this point.
PHOTO | SPENSER HASAK
“We may not be together like
this from now on, but we will
never be alone. We are a part of
something bigger. We are the
Class of 2021 — the class who
graduated and made post-grad
plans despite a pandemic. The
class that was resilient.”
Town Meeting time is 10 am Saturday
MEETING
FROM PAGE 1
The meeting will be held
on Saturday, June 12, 10 a.m.
at the high school athletic
field in conformity with the
Commonwealth’s COVID-19
guidelines for outdoor events.
The meeting will be moved
into the gym if it rains.
Of the 19 articles on the
warrant, No. 13 and 15 appear
to be the biggest, Crawford
said.
No. 13 concerns the extra
classrooms that will be built
at the Huckleberry Hill and
Summer Street schools, and
15 concerns a proposal to upgrade
equipment in the schools
through Trane Heating and
Cooling Systems.
The school article would involve
approximately $1.75 million,
Crawford said, which is in
addition to the money approved
last year in the budget.
“The town approved the
building project, but we didn’t
know how much it would cost,”
he said.
Much of the money involved
reflects work that has to be done
at the Summer Street School.
“In the area where they want
to put the addition, we found
long-standing drainage issues
on the existing property and the
adjacent one,” said Crawford.
“The right thing to do is fix it.”
The increase also involves
the rise in material costs due
to shortages brought on by the
COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have to have a larger
contingency to offset those cost
increases,” he said. “One other
thing is that you have additional
safety measures, particularly at
the Summer Street School.”
Crawford said the 15th article
“is an interesting one.
“The Trane company makes
some of the finest equipment
on the commercial side, HVAC
(heating, ventilation and air
conditioning) things. We can
pay for it out of the money we
save by having more efficient
equipment.
“In the schools we did over
20 years ago, a lot of that equipment
is end-of-life,” Crawford
said. “I’ve always been of the
opinion that you need up-todate
equipment of that nature.
It would be a nice thing for the
town to have.”
Crawford cautioned that just
because the issues on this warrant
— minus the tree bylaw
— aren’t eye-popping, they are
nevertheless important.
“The budget is obvious,” he
said “It’s the biggest thing we
do.”
Also to be decided are new
fee schedules.
“Some fees we can change,
and some we can’t,” he said.
“We have to have town approval.
In some fees, we are far
below what every other town
charges. The new fees put us in
the middle.”
A senior tax reduction proposal
is also on the warrant, as
is recodification of the Storm
Water Management Plan and
the acceptance of Zapaj Lane as
a town street.