Lexington Organizations — Page 4 — Lexington Times Magazine

Sister City Fundraiser – French A Faire!

Lexingtonians turned out to attend the fifth annual A French A Faire at the Lexington Depot building. Featuring French entertainment, wine, cheese, pâté, bread, chocolate and other tastings, French A Faire celebrates Lexington’s sister city relationship with Antony France.
The Tourism Committee is the official sponsor of the event as a part of LASCA (Lexington-Antony Sister City Association). This year Dawn McKenna and Kerry Brandin of the Tourism committee appointed Maureen Poole and Sandra Gasbarro to chair French A Faire. With about twelve volunteers, they pulled together another successful celebration!A French A Faire features a lively auction called by Paul O’Shaughnessy. This year the proceeds from the auction will be directed toward the completion of Antony Park on Massachusetts Avenue.The auction theme was “A Date with…” and featured special hosted experiences donated by Peter Kelley, The Liberty Ride, French Consul Fabien Fieschi, Heather Campion and Dan Fenn, Trisha Perez Kennealy, Brenda Nishimura, Paul O’Shaughnessy and Bill Poole, Tony Galaitsis, Chef Raymond Ost of Sandrine’s Bistro, and artist Dominique Boutaud.Attendees were pleased to greet Fabien Fieschi, the Consul General of France, Swiss Consul Dr. Felix Moesner and Haitian Consul Minister Marjorie Alexandre Brunahe.Lexington’s relationship with Antony, France dates back over 30 years and includes the Minute Men, artist community, school exchanges, and many friendships. Many Lexingtonians have traveled to Antony to enjoy the annual Wine and Cheese Festival there and Antonians have enjoyed Lexington hospitality most recently during the 300th celebration.To learn more about becoming a part of LASCA, visit the Town of Lexington Tourism Committee on the town website.

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Filed Under: Archived Stories, Lexington Organizations, Lexington People

Homeless for the Holidays

By Laurie Atwater

For many families homelessness this holiday season is a fact of life. This past summer, the great recession continued to take a toll on the very poor. Many lost federal and state housing subsidies as well as their jobs.

This past summer, the state of Massachusetts experienced a jump in requests for emergency housing assistance from around 1200 families to over 2000 at the peak of the summer. To meet the need, the state has increased its use of hotels and motels to handle the demand. This, despite the millions that the Patrick administration has directed at homelessness prevention—mostly subsidies in the form of rental vouchers—to help families remain in their housing situations and prevent the cycle of homelessness.

HomeBASE (Building Alternatives to Shelter) is one of the programs administered by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) designed to help those eligible for the state’s Emergency Assistance (EA) stabilize their housing situation. The program offers rental assistance and other housing related assistance and was so popular that the funds for this year (more than $80 million) ran out early. With a shortage of shelter options, families began to once again be placed by the state into hotels and motels in communities all around the Commonwealth. Additionally, HomeBASE is a time-limited (2 year) program and is scheduled to be phased out this June. Many families are beginning to cycle out of the program and are once again without adequate funds for housing. Homeless advocates worry that the numbers of homeless will continue to grow as this program phases out.

Those who find themselves housed in a motel, are forced to accept shelter that can be far away from where they originally lived. This creates major disruption for the children—who often shift schools—and hardship for the parents who may lose their jobs when move too far away. Families land in unfamiliar communities and in locations that are not easy to manage without a car. They become isolated and have no social support.

This practice is also challenging for the towns where the motels are located. By law—the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act of 2001—the communities must take responsibility for moving these children into their schools—often with little or no warning to the district.

The first item in the federal law states:

Each State educational agency shall ensure that each child of a homeless individual and each homeless youth has equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including a public preschool education, as provided to other children and youths.

The community is also responsible for transporting the children to school and in some cases that means transporting them back to their original community. While these transportation costs are shared between the two communities, and ultimately reimbursed by the state, the town must cover the costs until the reimbursement is dispersed.

The state pays a little over $80 a day for a motel room under contract for this purpose. It would be far cheaper to provide rental assistance if affordable units were available, but the statewide shortage of affordable housing continues despite progress with the 40B developments and other programs.

In October the Massachusetts House and Senate approved a supplemental to the budget that includes $13million in additional funding for sheltering in hotels and motels. Lawmakers and advocates alike are frustrated with the seemingly little progress being made against the homelessness issue in the state and promise to seek more long term solutions in FY14.

Case workers from the agencies administering the HomeBASE funds work with homeless families in the motels to help them find a more permanent housing solution. Many families are in need of help with acquiring English language skills to become more employable and general assistance like SNAP funds for food.

In Lexington, the Quality Inn is housing a number of homeless families. The exact number is uncertain, but according to a report prepared for the school committee by Valerie Viscosi, K-12 Director of Guidance and Tessa Riley, K-12 Assistant Director of Guidance, “In Lexington the majority of our current homeless families are living in a local hotel.” The report was presented at the November 19th School Committee meeting by Viscosi who advocated for a .5 Social Worker to handle the “significant amount of case management” involved in dealing with the “families that have joined our community.” Most of the students residing at the Quality Inn are attending Estabrook and they propose that the social worker use that school as home base.

The memorandum states:

As of the date of this memorandum, there are 25 families identified as homeless living in Lexington. Among those families, there are 26 school-aged children. Sixteen of the children attend their “school of origin” in another community, while 10 attend a Lexington Public School. Of those children who are attending the Lexington Public Schools, 7 attend elementary schools, 1 attends middle school, and 2 attend high school. Many of the families also have younger children. There are reportedly 28 children under the age of 5.

Presenting to the school committee Viscosi discussed the complexity of the different family situations, the need for a wide array of services from Free School lunch to health care and educational interventions such as English Language Learner assistance. She also described the difficulty of navigating the state systems and locating the appropriate agencies to deal with regarding the care of the students in their charge. And she noted that these students are truly in the charge of the Lexington Public Schools—by law.

Currently guidance staff has been stretched thin trying to assess each child and develop an appropriate plan for intervention. Having the part-time social worker would alleviate the stress on the schools and help to further develop protocols, procedures and policies moving forward.

These students could be in Lexington anywhere from 6 months to a year. Families must try to create a life for their children within the four walls of a motel room. It is a situation that is almost untenable for these families who cannot prepare healthy meals, get outside or even get to their children’s teacher conferences. Still, it is better than being without shelter in the middle of winter.

Concerned Lexingtonians have begun to rally around the children attending school in Lexington and their families. Church groups and the PTSAs are organizing for action. The Lexington Human Services Department headed by Charlotte Rodgers is stepping up to help.

This story is just beginning to develop in Lexington. Ashley Rooney has been following the issue of homelessness and wanted to hear the story from the perspective of one of the residents at the Quality Inn. What follows is an account of Ashley’s visit with Osamah Salman, his wife Maha and their four children.

Osamah Salman and his wife Maha. and their four children: (from right to left) Muntedar, age 10; third-grade twin daughters, Hawraa and Zahraa, and 2 ½ year old Hasah. The school aged children attend Estabrook School in Lexington.

Hoping for a Better Future

By E. Ashley Rooney

Photo by Peter Lund

My curiosity overwhelmed me! I knew homeless people supported by state social services were living in the Quality Inn in Lexington, but I didn’t see much happening around town to support them. Nor did I see people hanging out around the inn. What was going on? I had heard many stories about the “motel people” in Bedford and the community providing them with healthy food and services, but nowhere in my travels around town did I hear about the motel folks in Lexington.

So I went to the bustling food pantry at the Church of Our Redeemer and met Osamah Salman and his friend Ali Ai, who are from Jordan. The next day, I went to the Quality Inn on Bedford Street to meet Osamah and his wife Maha. They have four children: Muntedar, age 10; third-grade twin daughters, Hawraa and Zahraa, and 2 ½ year old Hasah. The school aged children attend Estabrook School in Lexington.

The six members of Osamah’s family have lived in two small motel rooms for over a year. They cook, sleep, bathe, play, and do their homework in these two rooms; they are not supposed to loiter outside. Every morning, the children go off to school at Estabrook and the parents attend English classes at Middlesex Community College.

When I went to see them, the twin girls waved shyly from their bedroom door. Preschooler Hasah came out smiling happily and followed me into his parents’ room. Pumpkins sat on the window sill and a Unicef box was sitting on the telephone. Leaning against one bed was a bicycle—their only means of transportation other than the bus. Across from the bike stood the motel mini-refrigerator and a small microwave oven—the kitchen.

They all said they wanted out of the motel and into a home. Nine year-old Hawraa said, “We want a kitchen and a room for the family.” Muntedar and Zahraa added that they wanted a back yard. Their parents echoed the need. Their mother said living in the motel was like living in a cage–one they don’t often escape.

In 1989, Osamah and Maha left Southern Iraq because of Saddam Hussein’s oppressive regime. They went to Jordan, where they had their children. Osamah did stonework in the construction industry; Maha was a busy housewife with four children. Although he had a good job there they felt that their future was limited because of their Iraqi background. They were not accepted.

They wanted to live in a democratic country. Osamah said, “We wanted freedom.” On July 5, 2012, they immigrated to America. They began their life here the day after our Independence Day. Osamah quickly realized that with “zero language skills” finding work would be difficult.

Like many of our forebears, they came here for the American dream. Fulfilling that dream has been very challenging, but they persist. The Department of Social Services sent them to a shelter and told them to get a job, but the language barrier proved too difficult—Osamah couldn’t understand the application or respond well to the interviewer. His first priority is to learn English and he is studying hard. I mentioned that they might want a tutor and they lit up.

Meanwhile, Osamah wants to work. He is looking for part-time labor during the college breaks and on weekends. He will shovel snow, build a fireplace or clean a basement … whatever it takes to make his way in this country.

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Filed Under: Archived Stories, Health & Wellnes, Lexington Organizations Tagged With: Homeless, Lexington, Motels

All Things Sustainable

Mark Sandeen, Chair
Sustainable Lexington Committee

Q: I’m planning to install solar power at home and I was wondering if I could use the solar power system to run my home during a power outage.

A: One of the wonderful things about solar power is how well it works with the utility grid. When your solar energy system produces more power than your home currently needs, you can pump that power out to the grid and your utility will give you a credit for the value of that electricity. When your home demands more energy than the solar energy system is generating, you can draw power from the grid to make up the difference.

Unfortunately when the utility power is out, your solar energy system still needs another energy source to act as a backup – a place to send electricity when the system is producing more power than you need and a place to pull extra power from when a cloud passes overhead. Your utility doesn’t want you to do that during a power outage. because it endangers line workers trying to restore power. So all solar installations must disconnect from the grid during a power outage.

One common backup strategy is to add batteries to your solar installation. Unfortunately the price of batteries hasn’t fallen as fast as the price of solar panels. That means a battery backup can easily add 30 – 40% to your overall cost of installation.

Another idea is to combine solar with a backup generator. This makes a lot of sense for buildings – like our schools and municipal buildings – that already have a backup generator installed. Properly designed backup generators disconnect from the grid during a power outage – operating like an island – and supplying all their own power. A well-designed solar energy system can easily integrate with your backup generator, letting the solar panels carry the load when the sun is strong and the backup generator picking up the slack during evening hours. The NY Times has an excellent article about a school that survived Hurricane Sandy by doing just that. http://bit.ly/solarbackup

Q: We’ve all been told that one of the first things we should do to lower our emissions is to replace our incandescent light bulbs. LED lights sound great, but have the costs come down enough to make them a viable alternative?

A: Yes, the price of LED bulbs has been dropping rapidly. LED light bulbs are the longest-lasting and most efficient mass-produced light sources to date. And now, they’re also among the most affordable, with some costing less than $10 per bulb.

They are a much better product than compact fluorescents. They turn on instantly. They are dimmable. They last 25 times longer than an incandescent bulb and 3 times longer than a CFL. They are more durable and contain no mercury. And best of all, they look great, providing warm natural light.

And LED bulbs save a lot of energy — from manufacture to disposal, an LED bulb uses 5 times less energy than an incandescent bulb and about 30% less energy than a CFL.

Plus LEDs can do things no incandescent or compact fluorescent bulb has ever done before. Some LED lights can be controlled over the internet or with your smartphone, allowing you to turn lights on and off remotely. You can set up presets like Home, Away, Night with schedules controlling light bulb groups and dimming levels, all with one touch. No more crawling behind the couch to plug in that timer before you leave on vacation.

Send your sustainability questions to questions@sustainablelexington.org. We look forward to hearing from you.

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Filed Under: All Things Sustainable, Lexington Organizations

Undiscovered Lexington ~ Group Links Conservation Lands for the Community to Enjoy!

These are just a couple of the beautiful spots to explore in Lexington. Just wait for the spring and check out the Citizens of Lexington Conservation Walks here: http://colonialtimesmagazine.com/citizens-of-lexington-spring-conservation-walks/

Click on the image of the map below to link to a PDF of the Pilot Route.

http://www.lexingtonma.gov/committees/ACROSSLexingtonPilotRouteMapOctober_15_2012.pdf

Members of the Greenways Corridor Committee. Front row- Alex Dohan, Eileen Entin, Rick Abrams, Keith Ohmart. Back row- Peggy Enders, Paul Knight, Mike Tabaczynski, Bob Hausselein, Stew Kennedy. Photo by David Tabeling.

By Laurie Atwater

I grew up with woods behind my house and I knew every inch of it! I spent all day having adventures in those woods—walking, reading, exploring, catching frogs and building forts. It held endless fascination for me right through the sixth grade when we moved across town and got new woods and a walking path thanks to the Rails to Trails program. I can’t imagine my life without that experience in nature.

Today I long for the piney woods, the smells of the meadow, the rich soil of my grandfather’s garden and the wind off the lake more than anything. The other day I took my coffee to Minuteman National Park and began a difficult tipsy walk along the crusty snow to the Hartwell Tavern and left to the rock wall bordering the pasture where I sat down for some quiet. One lady laughed asking me if I was out for a walk or a coffee break! I told her it was a therapeutic experience—I needed a dose of nature.

I recently sat with Rick Abrams and Keith Ohmart of the Lexington Greenways Corridor Committee to discuss their new project ACROSS (Accessing Conservation Land, Recreation Areas Open Spaces, Schools and Streets) Lexington. “You know,” Abrams says, “not many kids these days have the opportunity to get lost in nature.” But in Lexington, thanks to the efforts of Rick and the other members of the Lexington Greenways Corridor Committee, Lexingtonians will get to know the many natural resources around town and be able to get out into nature—adults and children alike—with more ease.

Rick mentions several studies conducted at the University of Michigan by professors Rachel and Stephen Kaplan which show that walking in nature, living close to nature and viewing pictures of nature had positive benefits among diverse populations. The couple has theorized that modern life is full of “sustained attention” which is exhausting. Being in nature allows attention to wander and be captured by images of beauty and gives the brain time to recover. It’s called Attention Restoration Therapy (ART) and it occurs only in nature. A walk in the city does not have the same effect.

Recent books by Richard Louv, The Nature Principal and his previous book The Last Child in the Woods—Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder , describe the effect of our plugged-in lifestyle on our “denatured” children. Today’s kids don’t often have the experience that I had growing up, or that early residents of Lexington had before open space gave way to big houses. This lack of nature in our lives—this “nature deprivation deficit” as author Richard Louv calls it, may be just as damaging to our children as Attention Deficit Disorder.

Research at the University of Rochester in 2010 by investigators Netta Weinstein, Andrew Przybylski, and Richard Ryan revealed that time in nature not only recharges our imagination and relaxes our bodies, but it reorients our values. In an article in Scientific American , entitled The Moral Call of the Wild , social psychologist Wesley Shultz discusses this research in conjunction with changing American values and concludes that our ever-increasing distance from nature “could drive large-scale shifts in societal values.” Beyond its mood elevating effects, it seems that nature might also increase our desire to connect with our communities and decrease externalized values like the desire for fame or wealth. “As their results show, Shultz writes, “experiences with strictly built environments lead to life aspirations that are more self-focused.”

LEXINGTON’S OPEN SPACE

This story has two real heroes: the Lexington Conservation Committee and the Lexington Greenways Corridor Committee. One Committee is relatively new and the other has been working since 1963 when according to the Town website “Town Meeting voted to accept the Conservation Act (M.G.L. Chapter 40 51 and s. 8c), which had been passed by the Massachusetts legislature to promote and protect open space in the Commonwealth. The Commission’s responsibilities were expanded to include administration and enforcement of wetlands protection when the Wetlands Protection Act (M.G.L. 131 Section 40) was created.”

This move corresponded with the boom in the development of inner ring suburbs between 1950 and 1960 (fueled by the highway system) and the rapid development of open space that accompanied the expansion into formerly rural cities and towns.

In 1951 Lexington became connected to Route 128 and the population began to swell. Lexington was a farming community rife with fields, meadows, woods and waterways that remained untouched until this rapid flight from the inner cities to the suburbs by a middle class yearning for yards and gardens.

According to Dick Kollen in his great book Lexington- from Liberty’s Birthplace to Progressive Suburb: “While Lexingtonians applauded the benefits of Route 128’s construction…town leaders grew wary that excessive population growth would transform the town’s landscape and character.” (Page 145)

Indeed, the movement began in Lexington to acquire and protect Lexington’s open space for the generations to come and we are all the beneficiaries of this forward-thinking effort that continues today. As large parcels of family farmland come up for sale, the town of Lexington has been there to preserve parts of it for future Lexingtonians to enjoy. This preservation of land will protect Lexington from the over-developed appearance of many of its neighbors.

“Sit here for a while on the stone wall (ever mindful of the poison ivy), and let your gaze and your thughts wander to the Chiesa barn in the far distance. Such peace and solitude on a warm afternoon or evening is a therapeutic interlude and a refreshing restorative … If you tell me that you have better things to do than sit on a lichen-covered stone wall at the edge of a hay field, watching the timothy rippling in the wind, I shall reply that materialism has overtaken and subdued you. Our children’s children shall be poorer without these peaceful acres to enjoy.”
-S. Lawrence Whipple. “Peaceful Acres’ Preservation Urged,” The Lexington Minuteman, May 25, 1985. Excerpted from Lexington Through the Years, S. Lawrence Whipple, Edited by S. Levi Doran.

ACROSS LEXINGTON

Fast forward to today and the next step in this continuum has been undertaken—the committee seeks to increase Lexingtonians’ awareness of these great open spaces and to promote its use for passive recreation and alternate transportation around town. Rick Abrams, Keith Ohmart and Eileen Entin comprise the ACROSS Lexington Task Force of the Greenways Corridor Committee (GCC). They have been charged by the Selectmen with the responsibility to identify existing pathways through conservation land and existing streets in town and to link them into coherent routes for pedestrians or bikers.

“We really have two goals,” Abrams says, “to get people walking in nature and to see this as an alternative form of transportation around town.”

Ohmart points out, “One of the key parts of this is that we are using existing infrastructure—either sidewalks or streets or trails that are already there in our conservation land. There’s very little in the way of new trails that need to be constructed. We’re not out there blazing trails where there was nothing before.”

Initially the committee simply wanted to connect the green spaces in town—playing fields and open spaces like Great Meadow, but they soon expanded their vision. “We realized that there are connections in town from neighborhoods to the town center and to the schools that would encourage people to leave their cars behind,” Ohmart says.

Making Lexington more walkable is the ultimate goal. “If we can get more kids, parents and elders out of their cars, walking to school, walking to the town center—that will make the community more sustainable,” says Abrams.

The Pilot Route was completed on October 15th and is 5.5 miles in length. The route starts in the town center and takes a walker through 4 conservation areas—Lower Vinebrook, Willard’s Woods, Chiesa Farm, and Parker Meadow—ending up back on the Minuteman bikeway.

Since the Pilot Route was opened they have received positive feedback and they want to hear from more Lexingtonians. “We are a committee that wants feedback,” Abrams laughs. The more people that test out the route the more they hear.

The Board of Selectmen have established the Rick Abrams ACROSS Lexington Fund
to support the trail network by creating new directional and interpretive signage, electronic and/or print maps, and web/software development to incorporate current technologies. The mailing address for donations
(Write- Rick Abrams ACROSS Lexington Trust Fund on the memo line of the check) is:
Board of Selectmen
ACROSS Lexington Trust Fund
Town of Lexington
1625 Massachusetts Avenue
Lexington, MA 02420

In the end, the goal of the committee is to link forty miles of streets and open spaces to traverse the entire town in many directions and link us with our center, the schools and other points of interest in Lexington. The Greenway Corridor Committee is hoping to complete the additional work over the next three years.

“The town of Lexington found some money to purchase the signage and some poles,” according to Abrams. But, he stresses, the majority of the small markers are affixed to existing structures—a telephone pole or a tree—and few posts have had to be added. All of the work has been completed by volunteers from the Conservation Stewards and the Greenways Corridor Committee.

THE PILOT ROUTE

An initial group of about thirty enthusiastic walkers initiated inaugurated the route. They broke up in small groups to explore the 5.5 miles of Lexington. “It was amazing,” Abrams says. “All of these people were avid walkers, but they always walked the same old routes. There was constant surprise among the walkers—they never knew these spaces existed in Lexington!” Throughout the walk people were amazed at the amount of time they could go without seeing a house. What we’re doing is helping everyone in town figure it out for themselves following the signage.”

This is really the point of ACROSS Lexington. Many of the spaces are hidden from the street and marked only by a modest trailhead. It is very easy to travel through town and never know about the 1,300 plus acres of town-owned conservation land.

MY ADVENTURE

My adventure on Hathaway Road from left to right-the trailhead facing the street, the trail facing in, the ducks fishing for dinner!

Based on my conversation with Rick and Keith, I went looking for a trailhead on Hathaway Road (off Adams Street) and drove all the way to the end of that dead end street without finding it. As I was turning around, I stopped to ask a boy in his driveway playing if he knew where the trail was. He didn’t even know! Driving out I noticed an opening to my left and there it was—only a few houses from where the boy was playing!

I got out of the car and walked a short distance into the woods. Just a few feet into the woods I came upon a beautiful little stream complete with pairs of ducks fishing for dinner! What fun I had watching their “bottoms up” diving and paddling around! Rick says that just about every neighborhood in Lexington “has one or more of these areas of open space to explore.”

Next up—Chiesa Farm. I am ashamed to say that I have always loved driving by—and I used to love watching the horses—but I hadn’t even noticed that an opening had been established from the street and you can easily walk up over the hill toward the beautiful rock wall and the benches. On my way up the hill I meet Randy Kinard and David Parker with their dogs Parker (a Westie named for Captain John Parker) and Theo that David proudly called a mutt. Both men were used to walking the dogs in this spot and loved to let them go off leash for a little freedom and fun. When I tell them what I was up to, they were highly complementary of the new ACROSS Lexington markers. “You know you’re going to end up somewhere,” Randy says and both guys feel that the guidance will encourage more to venture forth without being afraid of getting lost!

Chiesa Farm is a busy place on a Saturday and soon I am chatting with Jim and his son Luke who were very familiar with the various open spaces around—Lower Vinebrook, Parker Meadow and of course, Chiesa Farm. Both were ruddy from a good walk. Luke went to Diamond Middle School and used to walk through the field on his way home from school. Then there was the goat lady who was out walking with her very small herd of 5 or 6 goats! I make my way through the second gate and am rewarded with a beautiful view of yet another pasture. A little bit of heaven right in Lexington. And, I recall that Larry Whipple wrote of this very spot—he loved it so much.

There are many beautiful places to explore in Lexington and now thanks to ACROSS Lexington you can venture out for a lovely walk that will invigorate and revitalize you, boost your creativity and land you right back in Lexington Center for a bite to eat, or a latte with friends.

Try it and then get in touch with any of the ACROSS Lexington folks—they’d love to hear from you!

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Filed Under: Archived Stories, Lexington Organizations, Lexington People Tagged With: Across Lexington, Conservation Land, Lexington Massachusetts, Rick Abram, Sustainable Lexington

Dinosaurs, the Solar System, and Big, Cushy Chairs

As their children devour books about ancient creatures and the cosmos, Thomas and Amantha Tsaros make a legacy gift to Cary Memorial Library.

Tom and Amantha Tsaros are the newest members of the Maria Hastings Cary Legacy Society, which they joined when they made provisions for Cary Memorial Library in their wills. Photo by Jeri Zeder.

By Jeri Zeder

A low winter sun beams through the kitchen window. Six-year-old Sophia kneels forward in her chair, arranging in neat rows across the table the cards from her dinosaur deck: Ankylosaurus, Triceratops, Velociraptor, on down to T. Rex. Through the doorway, displayed on the living room console table, is a bright ceramic snail sculpted by her brother Alex, age four. It shares top billing with an egg carton festooned to resemble a Stegosaurus.

It’s all evidence that Sophia and Alex can’t get enough of dinosaurs. And like so many parents of imaginative children, Thomas and Amantha Tsaros know exactly how to nourish their insatiable curiosity: with regular visits to Cary Memorial Library.

“Tom takes the children to the Library every Saturday,” says Amantha. “Our little boy—it wouldn’t be Saturday to him if he wasn’t at the Library.” And it’s not just the children. Tom says that using the Library to nurture his children’s interests in dinosaurs, the solar system, and whatever else catches their fancy has increased his own knowledge, too. Amantha remarks, “We’ve lived in Lexington for four-and-a-half years, and I’ve spent more time in the Library than any place else in Lexington.”

Cary Library is so important to the Tsaros’ that, when they updated their wills last year, they decided to designate the Library as a beneficiary. The Tsaros’ are the newest members of the Maria Hastings Cary Legacy Society, established by the Cary Memorial Library Foundation to honor those who make legacy gifts to the Library. “I know that our library is supported by the State and the Town, but I know that our library wouldn’t be what it is today if it wasn’t for individual, voluntary support, both in terms of time and treasure,” says Tom. “So, that’s why we decided to include the Library in our will.”

Alex Tsaros, age 4, and his creation, “Treasure Hunt.” He explains, “It’s a machine that can smell treasure under the sand.” Photo by Jeri Zeder .

Sophia Tsaros, age 6, poses with her latest painting. “It’s my very first rose,” she says. Photo by Jeri Zeder.

THE ENGINEER AND THE PAINTER

Tom, 48, grew up in Concord, New Hampshire, graduated from UMass Lowell, and entered the then-emerging field of energy conservation in the late 1980s. He’s now a business development director with Framingham-based Ameresco, an energy efficiency and renewable energy company, where he develops small power plants. His primary customers are non-profits, municipalities, public housing, and institutions such as Children’s Hospital, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and the Museum of Science. By helping customers save on energy costs, his company makes it possible for them to invest their savings in better energy equipment. “It’s a successful business model that benefits society while making a profit,” Tom says.

Amantha, 44, grew up in nearby Burlington, studied art and painting in New York City, and became in illustrator. Her work appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Esquire magazine, and other prestigious publications. Yet it wasn’t as satisfying as she had hoped it would be. After taking some career detours and returning to the Boston area, Amantha met Tom through a mutual friend at the Boston Sports Club in Lexington—on May 1, 2001, to be exact. A little more than a year later, they were married.

Rose Petal Sorbet, 8x8”, Acrylic on Panel, C 2012, Amantha Tsaros

Rose Petal Sorbet, 8×8”, Acrylic on Panel, C 2012, Amantha Tsaros

Drawn to the convenient location and good schools, the couple settled down in Lexington. Amantha rekindled her love affair with painting when she started doing art projects with her daughter Sophia. She paints regularly now in her home studio. “I get up before the children to paint when it’s still dark out,” she says. She’s been showing her work, including once at Cary Library, built a website (www.amanthatsaros.com), and aspires to exhibit her canvasses in galleries. “My work is actually changing from more landscapes and florals to an abstract approach to paint,” she says. “I’ve always found that one of the things that’s really important when you’re drawing a cat, for example, that you have to capture the ‘catness’ of the cat. In my abstract paintings, I’m trying to get to the ‘subject-ness’ of whatever the thing is.” Her paintings feature lively strokes of color and a playfulness reflected in their titles: “Passionfruit Soup,” “Fudgy Berry,” and “Peanut Butter Shake.” Amantha regularly visits the Library, searching for inspiration. “Sometimes I just go and look at the stacks and find things I wouldn’t have imagined to look for,” she says. “It’s very surprising what is in that library!”

GIVING BACK

Amantha has served on the board of Lexington Open Studios, and LexFUN. She volunteers at her son Alex’s preschool, is an assistant teacher at the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Lexington Center, and is a room parent at Estabrook.

Tom, meanwhile, is a parish board member at St. Nicholas Church, and also serves on the board of directors of Paint Rock Pool, one of Lexington’s neighborhood pools.

Their legacy gift to the Library is a forward-looking gift, and Amantha and Tom each have hopes for the Library’s future. “I think in the future, the human contact portion of the Library will be even more important,” Amantha says. She thinks that digitizing is no substitute for books on shelves. “I think the physicality of the Library and the community part of it should be even more pronounced,” she says.

Tom wants to preserve the Library’s, well, library-ness: “To some extent, the tools in the Library have evolved; the automated check-out, the on-line search. But what’s really nice is that it’s remained kind of the same. The smell, the feel of it. That part I wouldn’t want to change,” he says. “The books are there, the chairs are there, the story times, all the events that go on there—the Library is something that is good like it is.”

Jeri Zeder is a volunteer on the Planned Giving Committee of the Cary Memorial Library Foundation.

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Filed Under: Archived Stories, Lexington Organizations

Lexington CommUNITY’s 20th annual MLK Day Celebration

The crowd marches from the Lexington Battle Green to Cary Hall

By Laurie Atwater

Each year Lexington CommUNITY sponsors a march and program to celebrate Martin Luther King Day. This committee has been working together in Lexington for many years to bring issues of diversity and social justice to the forefront of community discourse. Committee members Claudia Lach, Larry Link, Charles Martin, Brenda Prusak, Yukari Watanabe Scott, Jill Smilow, Sam Zales and Helen Cohen always deliver a provacative and thoughtful presentation to honor this important national figure.

On Sunday, January 20th, Lexington CommUNITY presented its 20th annual community commemoration of Martin Luther King Day. The theme: Diversity in Lexington’s Schools: Looking Back, Looking Forward. Along with community members, the event was attended by Superintendent of Schools Paul Ash, School Committee member Margaret Coppe and Selectman Hank Manz.

According to CommUNITY member Jill Smilow, the committee chose this theme as part of the overarching 300th anniversary in Lexington to celebrate the public schools and the progress that they have made on diversity issues. Smilow, who began working with No Place for Hate years ago, has seen great progress in Lexington over time. From Lexington’s early embrace of the METCO (Metropolitan Council for Education Opportunity) program, to solidarity with same-sex couples and their families in the Lexington schools, Lexington has sought to be a welcoming place for all. Although Smilow acknowledges that there is much work to be done, she said that the CommUNITY committee really wanted to “showcase the fact that there is a lot being done and a lot has been accomplished in the schools.”

METCO Scholar Malik Alfred with his family

Smilow noted that the MLK Day panel was made up of educators who have received the Sharyn Wong-Chan and Sara Harrington Diversity Award. The award is presented each year by Lexington’s Diversity Task Force to educators that embrace and promote cultural diversity in the schools. Smilow credits the Chinese American Association of Lexington (CAAL) for underwriting the award each year which comes with a cash prize. Participating on the Sunday panel were Ann Kim Tenhor, a technology specialist at LPS elementary schools, Lexington High School guidance counselor Melissa Buttaro and former dean William Cole, who is now a social studies teacher at LHS. Also participating in the special program was Malik Alfred, a 2012 METCO Scholar.

THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF DIVERSITY After a performance by the Bowman School fifth grade chorus, conducted by music specialist Martha Rodgers, Assistant Superintendent of LPS Human Resources Bob Harris opened the program. He shared with the audience a fact they may have been surprising—Dr. King actually visited Lexington in 1963 and spoke to a group of Lexington residents.

Harris went on to discuss the changing demographics of the Lexington public schools saying that in the past few decades the percentatge of minority students in the Lexington Public Schools has almost doubled. In 1963 LHS was almost 100% white. Lexington High School is now 62% White, 33% Asian and 5% Black. The increase in diversity has come predominantly from an influx of Asians—Chinese, Indians and Koreans.

Lexington is an affluent suburb that has been inching its way forward from insular to decidedly more inclusive. We’re still predominately white—just not as white as we were 10 years ago.

Each era has seen changes that are peculiar to the times. In our modern era, the largest influx of new residents came post WWII with the development of the highway system and the new found wealth of the working class. Affordable entry level homes in Lexington and surrounding suburbs made it possible for working class families and to escape the city for the green grass of the burbs. At the same time academics moved to Lexington and settled in progressive neighborhoods like Moon Hill, Peacock Farms and Five Fields, and this trend continued bringing with it an increasing focus on education and the schools in town. With these new residents came a measure of economic diversity that was enjoyed in Lexington throughout the sixties and seventies, but little non-Caucasian ethnic diversity

After the Immigration Reform Act of 1965 made is easier for Asians to immigrate to the U.S., the Asian population began slowly to grow in Lexington. The explosion in biotech, sciences and high tech have attracted many Asian immigrants to Boston for its universities and high tech jobs and that has converged with Lexington’s increased focus on excellent schools. Highly educated Asian families come to the Boston area for education and well-compensated work in technology and the sciences. They in turn want to pass on a good education to their children and are attracted to Lexington for its school system. This has led to a pattern of in-migration that is less economically diverse, but more culturally diverse. To address the increasing diversity in the Lexington schools, the district is seeking to increase the ethnic diversity of its staff which is currently 92.7% white.

Bowman School fifth grade chorus, led by music specialist Martha Rodgers

In his remarks Harris pointed to the challenges around hiring teachers with more diverse ethnic backgrounds in the suburbs, saying that “there is a perception among many minority teachers that suburban school districts are entirely white.” He also said that diversity among accredited teachers in Massachusetts is still very low making it difficult to recruit new teachers. Still, the goal is serious and Lexington has chosen to participate in an innovate program to increase their success. That program is called Today’s Students Tomorrow’s Teachers (TSTT). Together with Arlington, Andover and Brookline, Lexington will enroll five students in an intensive mentoring program for prospective teachers. After completing the program at the high school level, students receive a 50% reduction in college tuition to enroll in a program to receive their degree and teaching accreditation. Once students graduate and receive their license, they are eligible for a job in one of the participating districts.

This is just one in a long history of efforts to embrace and celebrate diversity in the Lexington schools. Each of the panelists made a short presentation to the assembled audience and talked about their experiences with diversity issues in life and in the Lexington schools.

Panel members Ann Tenhor, Bill Cole and Melissa Buttaro

ANN KIM TENHOR Ann Kim Tenhor, who is a graduate of Lexington High School and an Instructional Technology Specialist in the Lexington schools, remembered her youth in Lexington in the 70s. She said that she felt that Lexington really celebrated individual differences and that really stuck with her. When she went to college she realized that other students hadn’t had the same experience where they were from. She jokingly said that she was “shocked” to find out that all other schools didn’t host “a multi cultural potluck dinner!” Throughout her career Ann knew that she was always seeking to recreate her Lexington experience where she says “we discuss and share!” In the schools she is proud to create differentiated learning to address the needs of every student. “Everyone has something to share and something to learn,” she said.

BILL COLE Bill Cole, also an LHS grad, was used to being in places where white folks were in the minority. His family moved around a lot before they settled in Lexington in 1968. Cole said that in his 1981 LHS graduating class METCO students were being accepted into top echelon colleges like Brown, Duke and Harvard.

Fast forward to 2007 and Cole was a Dean at LHS when former Diamond teacher Vito LaMura released his report, “The Achievement Gap in the Lexington Public Schools” which was generated in response to evidence that Lexington’s METCO students were performing at lower levels than their classmates.

Following up on one of the numerous observations and recommendations in the report, Superintendent Ash created the Achievement Gap Task Force (which later became the Equity and Excellence Committee) and Dean Cole joined. Cole then helped to organize and run a new mentoring program called METCO Scholars which was modeled on a program he had found in Shaker Heights, Ohio. “We’re currently working with our fourth cohort,” Cole explained to the audience. And while he labels their success as “fairly modest over the years” he also said that “we’re aiming high, but not taking any of the smaller objectives or ripple effects for granted.” All in all Cole said that he feels the METCO Scholars program has really helped METCO students to get “over the hump” in terms of “respective and productive behavior and achieving at a higher level.” Now in the classroom full time Cole is inspired by his students. “I think the Lexington High School Community has incredible diversity of thought,” he said. “I’m incredibly proud of what we are doing in the school.”

MALIK ALFRED METCO Scholar Malik Alfred would make anyone proud. Malik is a second generation METCO student—both his mom and his aunt attended Lexington schools!

Lexington has been part of Alfred’s life since the 2nd grade when he started on the demanding path of a METCO student. He said, “My experience in METCO has been a great one,” but he admitted that it wasn’t easy. Getting up every day at 5AM to catch a bus to Lexington was not easy. “It was challenging coming to Lexington from the Boston Public Schools,” he said. “At that age I knew that it was different—[there were] definitely less people in my class that looked like me.”

Alfred talked about feeling “a little out of place and alone,” but went on to say that as he became more involved in the community “Lexington opened my eyes to…different races and nationalities and lifestyles.”

Alfred also talked about how important it was for him to have the “help and support” of his mother, saying that he was “so blessed and thankful for her.” METCO parents sacrifice tremendously to have their children participate in the program.

Also important to Alfred were his host families over the years and especially Kim Hogan his host “mom” while he was in high school. “She’s honestly the most non-judgmental person,” he said and thanked her and her family for helping him succeed.

Currently Alfred is attending Dean College and studying criminal justice. “I want to make a name for myself in the criminal justice field,” he said. “I have a dream and that’s my dream.”

MELISSA BUTTARO Lexington High School guidance counselor Melissa Buttaro said she “found her niche” when she came to Lexington. After several less than satisfying assignments in other districts, she was invited to interview for a position at the high school and said, “I’ll never forget walking across the quad and seeing a rainbow flag hanging in the window above the main entrance in the old health teacher’s office, “safe zone” stickers were visible, my interview committee was diverse and the questions they asked me included issues of diversity.”

Butarro has been involved in diversity groups everywhere she has worked and is currently GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) adviser at LHS. She reflected on her own awareness of diversity issues by saying, “Being female, I observed discrimination against girls as long as I can remember.”

As a strong advocate for the GLBTQ community at the high school, she has known her share of controversy but is thankful for the “unwavering support and encouragement” that she has received from the district. Buttaro ended her comments by stating: “We are always trying to do more…it is humbling work. I love it!”

Moderator and longtime CommUNITY member Jill Smilow

PROVOCATIVE QUESTIONS In the final moments of the program audience members came to the microphone to ask questions and made several astute observations.

A young Lexingtonian who attends a private high school in Cambridge said that Lexington was a “stark contrast [less diverse] to my community in Cambridge.”

Another audience member who was involved in the fair housing movement in Lexington in the 1960s observed that “We’ve got a lot of Asian families and a lot of Indian families, but I don’t even think there are as many black families [in Lexington] as we had in 1960.”

A gentleman with a daughter of mixed race expressed concern over the “self segregation” that he sees among the high school students. He said that he sees it downtown and in the pictures in the yearbook—Asian students with other Asian students, blacks kids with other black kids and white kids with other white kids. In classes they are together, but they are separate when they socialize. “I was most struck by it walking through the high school cafeteria—Commons I and Commons II,” he said.

The answers to these questions and observations are vexing. How do we make Lexington more attractive for black families? How can we encourage more economic diversity in our community? Are diverse groups just coexisting or are they truly engaging with one another? As the program closed Jill Smilow encouraged people to reach out to someone new. She commented, “The work is not done, but it’s happening. It’s also imperative.”

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Filed Under: Archived Stories, Lexington Organizations, Lexington Schools

The Mass Memories Road Show Comes to Lexington

Get out your favorite photos and make them a part of Lexington’s history. Whether they are stored in an album, in a shoebox in the attic, or on your smartphone, the Mass. Memories Road Show allows individuals to decide what should be recorded in this chapter in Lexington’s history. What will you bring to LHS on March 16th? Polly Kienle, project coordinator, has already heard people share a long list of favourite photo subjects: prom photos, baby pictures, snapshots from book groups, and images from work!

As part of LexCelebrate! Incorporation Weekend, the Mass. Memories Road Show is coming to Lexington thanks to Kienle’s successful application. What is MMRS? Think “Antiques Roadshow” but with a wonderful public history twist… everyone is invited to bring up to three photos that help tell your Lexington story, they will be scanned (you keep your originals) and volunteers will help record your story. Your images and memories are documented as part of the history of our town and the state of Massachusetts.

Kienle confirms that the photos can be “old – new – yours – your family’s – as long as they are meaningful to you. While you are visiting, you can have your own ‘keepsake photo’ taken, and receive advice from professional archivists and historians on dating and caring for family photo collections.”

Kienle invites individuals and community groups across town. She emphasizes that, “Every resident’s personal story is a part of Lexington’s story. MMRS will bring together Lexingtonians of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds in one place at one time. We hope that both the event and the digital archive will make our community stronger.”

Carin Casey, the 300th Anniversary Image Curator, is excited about the event: “Kienle’s idea, to combine MMRS with our town’s 300th, provides a way to connect everyone. It’s a great honor for Lexington to be selected to participate in this grant-sponsored program. She worked hard to put together an application and groups across town enthusiastically sent in support letters.”

Casey, an archivist by profession, observes: “This project gives residents the authority to set down town history. We want to see what is important to each individual. Maybe it is a special day at the Town Pool, or a graduation. MMRS is great complement to the Image Archive: it’s a one-day community event, while the Archive is a long-term virtual project. What unites them is their embrace of the 300th motto, ‘We Are Lexington’.”

“Over the course of the weekend of March 16th and 17th, the town is invited to explore Lexington’s ‘roots and branches,’” says Betty Gau, co-chair of the LexCelebrate! Committee.

“The idea is to uncover the origins of our community, and the ways we have branched out and grown into a vibrant, diverse place since 1713. MMRS is a really active, participatory way to share in this spirit of adventure and inquiry,” Gau continues.

To date, the state-wide project has digitized more than 4,000 photos and stories from across the state, creating an educational resource of primary sources for future generations. This online digital archive is available at: http://bit.ly/TBEfF5.

The MMRS is based in the University Archives & Special Collections Department at the Joseph P. Healey Library, UMass Boston and is co-sponsored by Mass Humanities.

More information on Lexington’s Mass. Memories Road Show and LexCelebrate! Incorporation Weekend can be found at the Lexington 300th Anniversary Celebration website: http://www.lexington300.org.

Questions about participating in Lexington’s Mass. Memories Road Show can be addressed to project coordinator Polly Kienle at polly.lex300@gmail.com.

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Filed Under: Archived Stories, Lexington History, Lexington Organizations, Lexington People

To Serve and Protect

Bruce Cleaver is pinned by his grandfather Tom Will, a 30 year veteran of the Bridgeport, CT police force.

Lexington Welcomes Three New Officers

Bruce Cleaver stood proudly in his blue uniform as his grandfather Tom Will, a 30 year veteran of the Bridgeport, CT police force, pinned the badge Bruce had worked so hard for on his chest during the Lowell Police Academy graduation in November. Bruce grew up in Lexington and is now part of the Lexington Police force. And he’s in good company. Two other new officers with strong Lexington connections graduated on the same day and are now rookie officers here in town. Jeff Chaisson graduated from Minute Man High School and lives in Lexington with his family and Kim Orr is a Lexington native.

That’s no coincidence. Through the Civil Service exam candidates are given residential preference in the selection process. The only group that receives a higher preference is military veterans. So it’s natural, especially in a town like Lexington, to see local faces joining the police force. Chief Mark Corr is a strong supporter of community policing and understands the benefits of having Lexington graduates on the force, “The average student in Lexington has gone on to an Associate’s or Bachelor’s Degree in college. That doesn’t mean you’re going to be a better or worse police officer, but in Lexington which has a highly educated community, having candidates with a college degree is certainly a good match.” And all three of these new officers fit the bill. (see Bios on facing page)

Corr says there’s also a sense of grounding that comes with being known around town. “When you put a badge on a new officer there is the potential of a little bit of superman complex. If somebody is grounded in their own community where somebody can look at you and say, ‘hey, we went to high school together,’ it helps ground people a bit.” It also gives new officers a head start in building good relationships with those they serve and protect. “If you’ve grown up in the community you know the teachers, you went shopping in the stores, it’s a lot easier for the people to be reaching out to the Police Department, and it’s easier for the Police Department to reach out. For me it’s much more fertile ground for building a relationship,” adds Corr.

Chaisson, Cleaver and Corr will get plenty of support and time to build a relationship with both the community and the force. Candidates receive a conditional offer from the town based on results of the Civil Service exam and interviews. But that’s just the beginning. There are background checks and a physical exam. Then they have to successfully complete the 24 week police academy. After graduation they immediately start a 10 – 12 week field training and policy procedure program with the department. They ride along with veteran officers and learn the ins and outs of policing policy in the department. Chaisson, Cleaver and Orr are in the middle of that training now. But it doesn’t end there. “It takes them another two or three years before they are reasonably seasoned. It’s probably five years for an officer to get a sense of the comings and goings and what to expect and to really know what they need to do when, and be very competent in that,” says Corr.

One might say they become part of the Lexington family. And that is just the sentiment Town Manager Carl Valente shared with the new officers and their families at the swearing in ceremony held in late November. “These officers are now part of our family and they’re going to spend a lot of time with us. The Chief and his Command Staff saw a level of integrity, a level of professional commitment, commitment to public service, folks who wanted to continue to learn. Those qualities are not qualities you learn at the academy or going through school. We believe those qualities were learned from you when you raised them. So a large part of the reason they’re here is because of what you’ve done is bringing them to us. So thank you because now we get the benefit of having them here in Lexington. And we hope we have you for a long, long time.”

When you’re around town watch your speed, use your blinkers and cross in the cross walks…but if you do see Officer Chaisson, Cleaver or Orr, take a minute to welcome them to the family.

Officer Kim Orr

New officer Kim Orr with her family.

“Having grown up in town everyone expects me to know all the streets, but I don’t,” admits rooky officer Kim Orr. That’s part of what makes joining the force in Lexington so appealing to her. There’s still plenty to learn. “Everything is so new. Every call you go to you pick up something new. You kind of pick up different things from everyone and design your own way of doing things.”

Kim Orr grew up in Lexington and graduated from Lexington Christian Academy in 2008. During her senior year at LCA she did a three week internship with the Lexington Police Department. She was responsible for the radio log and learned about the department worked. After that she was hooked.

“Before I decided what college to go to I knew I wanted to study Criminal Justice, “ she says. She settled on Franklin Pierce University where she played field hockey and lacrosse and pursued a Criminal Justice major. She transferred to UMass/Lowell where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and Criminology. Another internship opportunity had her working with the National Park Service in Boston in their Law Enforcement Division. “ I got a ton of experience. They wanted me to learn dispatch. I ended up with 2 shifts a week every week. In the summer it was really busy, mostly motor vehicle and medical calls. After a while I got used to it,” Kim says it so calmly I can tell it was great preparation for what was to come.

It seems the most nerve wracking part of the process was the almost seven month wait between taking the Civil Service Exam in April 2011and hearing anything back. It was a year ago, in January 2012, that she finally heard from the Lexington Police Department and started the interview process. Once that process began Kim felt she was finally on her way, “The officers that are involved in the hiring process take a lot of time and effort. Every step along the way I was so excited.”

By the time she received her conditional offer and headed to the Academy she was ready to go. And proved herself an outstanding candidate. Kim graduated in the Top 10% of her class and took home the Top Gun Award. Maybe the second most nerve wracking part of her

Officer Jeff Chaisson

New officer Jeff Chaisson with his family.

Jeff Chaisson could have gone a completely direction in his life, and for a while he did. But he never took his eye off the prize – becoming a police officer. Jeff grew up in Cambridge, but he spent plenty of time in Lexington while he attended Minuteman High School where he studied Culinary Arts. “I always knew I wanted to be a cop,” he says, “Minuteman didn’t have criminal justice, so I studied culinary arts. But I took the Civil Service Exam right out of high school.” After Jeff graduated from Minuteman High in 2001 he continued to study Culinary Arts in college and went on to work as a cook and built his career to become an Executive Chef for Sodexo. But when he heard from the Lexington Police Department he ran from the kitchen and into the training process.

You could say he went from the frying pan to the fire.

He says he had an idea of the rigors that awaited him at the academy, “I’d heard from a lot of people that the hardest part was the academic part – learning all the laws, but it was so interesting that I just soaked it up like a sponge.” Jeff proved his to be a very effective sponge graduating in the Top 10% of the graduating class.

That would have made his great father very proud. “He was a police officer in Cambridge, I heard stories about him growing up. My parents had friends who were on the force.” Jeff remembers, “I just had such respect for what they went out and did everyday, the level of community involvement they had.”

Now Officer Chaisson has a growing family that is extremely proud of him. His wife Elizabeth nervously pinned his badge on at the Swearing In Ceremony in late November, not as confident in her role as he appeared to be in his. A good sport, she joked, “It’s a good thing he’s got his bullet proof vest on.” To which Chief Corr replied, “That’s why we’ve got the Fire Department here.” Meanwhile his adorable young son, Dylan, age 16 months practically stole the show. Too young to understand the proud course his father’s life has taken, admiring him just for being a great dad.

For now Jeff is happy to be on the force, soaking in all there is to learn. “I’m getting to know the station, the policy and procedures. It’s only my first week out on the roads, I’m keeping an open mind for all the different fields. I want to see everything.”

Officer Bruce Cleaver

New officer Bruce Cleaver with his family.

Bruce Cleaver grew up in Lexington and graduated from Lexington High School in 2006.

Although his grandfather, Tom Will, had been a police officer on the Bridgeport, CT force for nearly 30 years, Bruce didn’t grow up wanting to be a police officer. “I only really knew him as a cop from pictures and stories he and my mom told about Bridgeport,” says Cleaver, “I really got interested in college – it popped into my head and went with it. Having my grandfather as a police officer certainly inspired me.”

Bruce was attending UMass/Amherst where there was no Criminal Justice major. So he pursued a Sociology degree with a concentration in Criminal Justice. Through UMass he was able to do a full time internship in the Probation Department of Cambridge District Court. That real world experience helped him understand the relationship between the police and the courts, and those they serve. “I realized the courts give people a lot of opportunities to change and make things better. To go to prison or jail you have to screw up really badly. I saw how they try to help you make things right.”

In his own life Bruce was making all the right decisions to achieve his goal. After college he took the civil service exam, worked in related fields and kept himself in great physical shape.

When the call came from Lexington he was ready. Going into the academy Cleaver felt he was ready and had a good idea of what to expect. His biggest surprise at the academy was the amount of paperwork involved in policing. “A lot of people don’t’ realize how much paperwork there is. People think cops just ride around and solve crimes, but for every hour of police work, there’s 1 – 3 hours of paperwork.”

All that paperwork didn’t seem to phase Bruce. He not only finished in the Top 10% of his graduating class, but he found time to stay in great shape and won the “Most Physically Fit” award as well. His father Kip Cleaver remembers, “Bruce would come home from being at the academy all day and go to the gym. Even in the summer.”

Cleaver agrees with Chief Corr that being from Lexington gives him a step up in building a relationship

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Filed Under: Archived Stories, Lexington Organizations, Lexington People

Take a Walk on the Warm Side

Exterior thermoscan done by Sagewell, Inc.

By Heather Aveson

One click of the curser and there it is – my home in all its fluorescent orange and blue glory. My house is one of the thousands in Lexington and Arlington that has been thermal scanned by Sagewell, Inc. as part of a Mass. Department of Energy Resources (DOER) program to encourage homeowners to take advantage of energy saving programs offered through mass save™.

Seeing where the leaks are is the first step in making your home, and mine, more energy efficient and comfortable during both the winter and summer. And it’s the first step in saving money through rebates, zero interest loans and “free stuff.”

Overall, I’m pretty happy with what I see. I bought this post-war cape three and half years ago. It’s reassuring to see all that blue on the walls, roof and door. But the windows are another matter. The bright yellow means there’s moderate heat loss in those areas. And I’d have to agree. It’s always drafty around the windows, even though they’re all double paned replacement windows. Hmm.

Next step, call Next Step Living for a free energy assessment. Next Step Living is a mass save™ participating Home Performance contractor. They will come in a do a no cost energy audit of your home. During the 2 – 3 hour audit areas of air leakage are identified, the furnace or boiler, water heater and gas range are safety tested, and recommendations are made for improvement. Two other really important things about the energy assessment – you get lots of free stuff to get you started saving money and, this is very important, it qualifies you for any of the rebates and incentives offered by mass save™. I’m going to repeat that because it’s really important. You must have an energy assessment done to qualify for the rebates or incentive programs offered by mass save™.

Energy Advisor Brian Fehlau is already at work when I show up for our appointment. He is taking outside dimensions of the house and making notes about the structure. We come inside and go over the assessment. Brian says it really covers three areas; a health and safety check, free stuff and opportunities to improve energy efficiency.

We go over my wish list. No there aren’t any programs that cover storm windows or leaky sliders. But, as we walk around Brian points out gaps between the molding and the windows that are letting cold air in. That’s an easy fix. Fill them with caulking and much of the draft should disappear.

There is rebate program that may help with boosting air conditioning to the second floor and save me money. Brian asks if I’ve ever thought about a heat pump. Not in New England I say. Having lived in the south I remember heat pumps as only moderately effective in extreme temperatures. Brian assures me that the technology has really improved and the pump works with the existing heating system during those really cold spells. Before the assessment is even over, Next Step Living has helped me set up an appointment with a climate control advisor to find out more about the possibility.

We walk around the house with an infrared thermal camera checking for wall insulation and heat loss. The walls look good. The crawl spaces along the roof line look good. Poking his head into the attic space Brian sees some loose and roll out fiberglass insulation. But there’s room for improvement. Air sealing the unheated attic space will cut down on heat loss, especially around the chimney. Open space around the chimney allows warm air to escape all the way from the basement up into attic. By air sealing around the chimney all that warm air will stay in the living space. And, it’s free. And by air sealing the attic it means the program will also provide sweeps on the bottom of all my exterior doors. For free.

Score two for savings.

In the basement Brian checks the efficiency of the boiler. 85%, not bad, but I make a note to call my oil provider for a cleaning and tune up. Brian checks the

Brian measure flue gasses on the boiler. Safety checks are one of the most important parts of an energy assessment.

draw of the flue and the carbon monoxide level around the burner. Flue gasses are 26, pretty good, anything over 100 fails. And the carbon monoxide is 00, just what he wants to see. Brian tells me these tests are probably the most important part of the assessment, and when he finds a problem, “because it’s a safety issue nothing else can get done until these issues are addressed.”

He also turns down the thermostat on my hot water heater. It’s been set at 144º and should really be around 120º.Savings.

From here we go into the attached garage, it’s under the chilly family room. Although previous owners sealed off the garage doors and added just a window and door, it’s still a cold space. Copper piping running through the space sends hot water into a secondary baseboard on the second floor. With no insulation the water in those pipes is cooling down pretty quickly, and because I rarely use those baseboards they could even freeze.

This is another easy, inexpensive fix. Enough foam pipe insulation tubing to insulate all the pipes costs me six dollars at Home Depot. And it takes about 15 minutes.

Score More savings.

Brian discovers that the ceiling of the garage, under the family room has no insulation. Taking care of that should make curling up on the couch much cozier. mass save™ will cover 75% of the cost of insulating the space.

BIG savings.

As we come to the end of the assessment Brian replaces one showerhead with a water saving head, I have programmable thermostats, but if you don’t they’ll be installed right at the assessment, absolutely free. Then we come to light bulbs. Full disclosure? I don’t like compact fluorescent light bulbs or CFL’s. I don’t like the color of the light, I don’t like the way they have to warm up and I don’t like the way they can buzz when you dim them. But I want to keep an open mind so we try them in the recessed kitchen lights. No, I still don’t like them. So Brian installs them outside and in storage areas where I don’t have to spend much time with them.

In my defense, I rarely use my electric dryer and my thermostat never goes above 66º. Call incandescent bulbs my energy vice.

We sit down and go over everything we saw. He prints out a report on the spot, complete with projected savings, recommendations and associated costs. For me the only improvement that would incur a cost is insulating the garage ceiling. The 75% rebate puts my cost at $189. Sign me up.

More savings. More comfort.

Overall, I’d say the energy assessment was a great success. Did I get everything on my wish list? No, but I learned a lot, found out how to solve several of the issues myself and have help making improvements I’d never touch on my own.

mass save™ rebates and incentives change from time to time. If you have an assessment and don’t get everything on your wish list, check back now and then at www.masssave.com for information on current programs.

I just did and found out there are substantial rebates on energy efficient pool pumps.

SCORE!

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Filed Under: Archived Stories, Lexington Businesses, Lexington Events, Lexington Organizations

Sister City Fundraiser – French A Faire!

Homeless for the Holidays

Hoping for a Better Future

All Things Sustainable

Undiscovered Lexington ~ Group Links Conservation Lands for the Community to Enjoy!

LEXINGTON’S OPEN SPACE

ACROSS LEXINGTON

THE PILOT ROUTE

MY ADVENTURE

Dinosaurs, the Solar System, and Big, Cushy Chairs

Lexington CommUNITY’s 20th annual MLK Day Celebration

The Mass Memories Road Show Comes to Lexington

To Serve and Protect

Lexington Welcomes Three New Officers

Officer Kim Orr

Officer Jeff Chaisson

Officer Bruce Cleaver

Take a Walk on the Warm Side

Diana Taraz Performs at First Parish

Saturday, October 20

7:30PM

First Parish

7 Harrington Rd.

Tickets: $12.00

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Lexington Remembers WWII Heroes

Community Links

Realtors

Colonial Times Articles