The School Committee is ripe for change — and Lana Panasyuk will help us change LPS for the better.

Firstly, academics.

The school committee is not responding to the needs of our families and our children in Lexington.

Due to lagging US standards in math education applied in Lexington, more than 1,000 children in our town take extracurricular mathematics classes — an attempt to keep up with the demands of our growing world.

Administrators and school committee members pretend math only happens within our public schools, and refuse to recognize the reality of what our children need. How can a teacher address the needs of a classroom, when half have already studied the subject and half have not?  At the upper grades, we have students ready to go beyond Calculus, and our school system does not respond to these needs either.

Lana is a Ph.D. scientist with more than 20 years of LPS volunteer work in science, robotics, math, and Big Backyard. We need leaders like her to ask critical questions about how the Lexington curriculum serves our community, rather than blindly accept outside standards insensitive to the needs of our community.

Secondly, Lexington High School.

The School Committee did not plan sufficiently for a $650 million high school project — and now our community has inadequate financial reserves.

At the same time, school committee members Eileen Jay and Larry Freeman voted to double the number of households in Lexington, even though the state will not pay to enlarge the high school.

The school committee did not engage in needed master planning — there is no forecast of student numbers from expanded housing, no indication when the 7th elementary school and 3rd middle school will break ground, and it’s unclear if the high school will be large enough.

Moreover, private school attendance has increased by 50% since 2000, as we fail to provide a responsive education to all our students.

Supporting a massive housing expansion, failing to forecast and manage the largest capital project in Lexington’s history, the community is now polarized about how to pay for education, and there is a risk that the needs of LHS, a community gem, will be unmet.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant.  

Support Lana Panasyuk – and help LPS rebound from these trends. Visit lana4lex.org to be part of the change.

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1 Comment

  1. It’s appalling to see how this failing school committee and superintendent attempt to take credit for the extra education I pay for outside of school. It’s time to stop hiding behind DEI policies and start holding this administration accountable for their failures.
    I support Lana’s quest for justice for Lexington’s kids and parents – we deserve better than the cartel currently running our schools

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