By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Two parents urged the School Committee on Feb. 11 to prioritize Lynnfield High School’s needs during the fiscal year 2026 operating budget development process.
The School Department’s current operating budget for FY26 totals $33.2 million, which represents a 7.8 percent increase over FY25’s $30,806,245 spending plan. There are no new positions in the proposed school budget.
Candlewood Road resident Paul Briggs acknowledged that developing school budgets is a difficult undertaking each year.
“I applaud the efforts to do what we have done with the money that we have had,” said Briggs. “I appreciate the challenges of budgeting and the hard work that goes into trying to figure out the level of service with the budget that we have.”
Briggs said the School Department has “made a lot of cuts” the last several years, particularly at LHS. He said that he agrees with Superintendent Tom Geary’s belief that “the time is up” from shifting resources around.
“We need a strategy to grow and deliver a really high standard of education over the next several years,” said Briggs. “I have had two kids go through the high school and I have an eighth-grader. I said the last time I was here that we were really thinking about whether she would come to the high school. She is going to come to the high school.”
Briggs urged the School Committee and Geary to prioritize LHS during the FY26 budget process. He criticized School Committee member Jim Dillon’s statement earlier in the meeting that “the best class sizes in the Lynnfield Public Schools by far are at Lynnfield High School” and “the elementary schools would die for the class sizes at LHS.”
“I am conscious that the thought process is that things are okay at the high school and there hasn’t been a drop in the standard of what is being delivered to our students,” said Briggs. “The comment about class size and the high school is better off than the other schools in that regard makes me apprehensive about the mindset as we go into this budgeting process.”
Briggs recalled that the School Committee voted to eliminate the LHS library media specialist position from the FY25 operating budget last year. The School Department replaced former library media specialist Janice Alpert with a paraprofessional.
“I feel that was clearly a decrease in the dimensions of education we can offer the kids,” said Briggs. “And, most importantly, it was an outlet for them. I know that we have done a lot to try and add more electives at the high school. But I think the reality is if you look at most students and their schedules, particularly students who may want to have band or chorus in their schedule and may want to take an aggressive course of studies, there is not time to do a bunch of electives.”
Briggs said school officials should focus on improving the academic experience for high school students.
“What I come back to is what are we doing day in and day out in the core curriculum to try and improve that experience, and how could we address in this budgeting process ways to broaden and deepen the way that we educate the kids to make it more experiential and have some hands-on experience,” said Briggs.
Briggs said he recognizes that educators are “bound by what the state mandates them to teach.”
“Everybody is watching the MCAS scores and everybody is watching the AP (Advanced Placement) test scores, and the College Board determines what the curriculum is going to be for the AP exams,” said Briggs. “But the reality for the kids is a grind. When I look at as objectively as I can as a parent, I really feel like that the experience is almost a punishment for the students who want to raise their hands and challenge themselves. It should be the opposite. We should be thinking about how we can grow these kids into innovators and leaders, and broaden their horizons and make them excited about learning. The reward for trying to challenge yourself shouldn’t be to do more and just copy more down from the white board.”
While Briggs noted that, “Kids are looking for opportunities,” he said students are aware that rigorous academic demands are very stressful.
“It’s almost discouraging,” said Briggs. “Why would I take that on when it’s just going to grind me when I know that when I get home, I will have to prepare for two or three exams tomorrow, I have got a paper due and all of these other things. I appreciate that is part of the experience and that it prepares kids. I have said before I think that the schools have done a really good job preparing my two kids for college. They are doing well and I am happy about that, but I just don’t know if the cost was worth the expense as I look back on it.”
Briggs urged Geary and the School Committee to “think about the cuts that have been made not just last year, but over the last several years” at LHS. He recalled that the high school was forced to eliminate double block science labs, Latin, Italian and several teaching positions due to budget cuts over the last four years.
“We have lost things in various ways that I think have really narrowed the standard that we are delivering to those students,” said Briggs. “This is an opportunity. There is an obligation to hit the number that the town gives you, but I think people have not been shy about asking for really, really big-ticket items. I know the school is a big line item in the budget for sure, but we shrunk the budget at the high school in the last budget. I think it’s time to really reflect.”
School Committee Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy asked Briggs to finish his comments within the five-minute speaking limit.
“I will just wrap it up by saying if you want to know what that might look like, we may want to ask the kids,” said Briggs. “It’s important what the educators have to say for sure, and we should ask them as well. We should say, ‘how can we make that experience better.’”
Briggs recalled that students have advocated for different initiatives during previous School Committee meetings in the past.
“The kids have come to advocate for themselves, and they haven’t really necessarily been heard,” said Briggs. “We should do that in this process in the short time that we have in order to make that experience better for them.”
Elworthy said she appreciated hearing Briggs’ concerns.
Library Trustee Darlene Kumar, who was speaking as a parent, said she would “love to see a librarian at the high school.” She and her daughter, Sonia, repeatedly urged Geary and the School Committee not to eliminate the position during several meetings about the FY25 operating budget last year.
“I am still really dumbfounded that we don’t have one,” said Kumar. “I have got a junior and she is about to write a term paper with no resources. She is a high honors student and this is going to be the first time where she was not equipped with the resources because Janice Alpert would put the resources into each English teacher’s Google Classroom. I am just advocating for the high school. Please, please consider the high school when you are doing your budgets. It’s very important. We have suffered a number of cuts, and these kids are still doing the work.”
Kumar said three LHS seniors have been accepted into Ivy League universities.
“Some of these classes coming up are going to do just as well, but they need the support,” said Kumar.
Kumar praised Principal Tricia Puglisi and Assistant Principal Michael McLeod’s work since they began leading LHS during the 2023-2024 academic year.
“They are compassionate, they are excellent and they are invested,” said Kumar. “They need our support, the School Committee’s support and the teachers’ support, but they also need resources and funding. Please don’t forget about the high school.”
Elworthy thanked Kumar for her remarks.