'Age Can Be An Asset': New Lincoln-Sudbury Chair Ravi Simon Q&A

SUDBURY, MA — A year into his first term on the Lincoln Sudbury Regional School Committee, LSRHS alumnus Ravi Simon was recently elected the committee's chair — perhaps the youngest person to ever hold the leadership role.

Simon will lead the committee through the 2024-25 school year, which will include teacher contract negotiations, and preparing for possible major capital upgrades, like a new roof at the school.

Sudbury Patch asked Simon to answer some questions about the upcoming school year, his personal priorities and other challenges facing the district. Here's what he had to say:

Can you reintroduce yourself to local residents, including your background attending school here?

Hello Lincoln, Sudbury and Boston! I am Ravi Simon — a Sudbury resident, an LS graduate of the Class of 2015, and a legislative staffer in the Massachusetts State House.

I grew up in Sudbury and am a product of our public school system. I went to Haynes Elementary School and Curtis Middle School, before graduating from Lincoln-Sudbury in 2015. I received a truly phenomenal education at LS that really shaped the person I am today. Classes on topics such as foreign policy and philosophy gave me the analytical tools to excel in college and beyond.

After LS, I attended Brandeis University, where I graduated with majors in politics, history and philosophy. With a growing passion for public service, my first job out of college was doing legislative advocacy to raise wages for direct care workers in Massachusetts.

Now, I work for state Rep. Carmine Gentile, who represents Sudbury, half of Lincoln and Wayland, and parts of Concord and Marlborough. Working in the state House has been a true honor and taught me much about effective leadership and public policy. It has also given me the privilege of working to advocate for and help members of my community every day.

I ran for LS School Committee in 2023 to ensure that students continue to receive an education as good as the one I received, and to bring my perspective as a former student to the committee’s discussions. I am proud to have been selected as the committee chair in our last meeting, and look forward to working with our Vice Chair Cathie Bitter, our Superintendent/Principal Dr. Andrew Stephens, and all members of the committee over the coming year.

What are some of the bigger items the committee will be tackling in the new school year?

The school committee will meet in a retreat at the end of the summer to brainstorm, discuss, and select goals for the upcoming school year. That retreat will determine our priorities, however, we do know that several things will be on our plate:

• Negotiating a fair contract with the teachers that satisfies all parties.
• Taking a look at the new advisory program, which kicked off this year.
• Our annual responsibilities, which include approving a budget and evaluating our superintendent/principal.

As the new chair, are there any initiatives or issues you’d like to see the committee take on in 2024-25?

As a person of color, I feel strongly that our high school and our school committee must always continue the process of introspection and self-analysis that has been ongoing since the murder of George Floyd.

I am excited that LS will be conducting an ADA Self Evaluation to determine how the built environment can better accommodate students with disabilities. I was also heartened when the Superintendent/Principal Dr. Stephens announced he was considering whether an equity audit (i.e. a comprehensive review by outside experts) might be an effective way to determine which aspects of the high school (academics, discipline, extracurricular opportunities, etc.) are areas where we can make progress.

I know what it’s like to feel unwelcome in a space and how that affects your confidence. In order to thrive and succeed, every student at LS must feel that they belong in our community and their identities are understood and celebrated. I feel that our School Committee must continue to use this as a guiding principle in all decision-making.

A lot of districts in Massachusetts have had budgeting problems this spring, including two districts where budgets were voted down by town meeting. Do you foresee any financial challenges for LSRHS coming up?

We are very lucky to be in a good financial position this year, in no small part thanks to excellent financial stewardship by the LS administration.

We continue to have long term challenges, however. For one, LS building is now reaching the age where it will require some major work, including an upcoming roof project that promises to be a major capital expense.

Declining enrollment at LS is another challenge. Over the last few years, our enrollment has dropped gradually, and the high school is projected to shrink from about 1,450 students to about 1,350 students in the next 7 years. Declining enrollment shrinks the amount of state aid the district receives, while many of the fixed costs of running the school remain static or drop only slightly.

What can members of the LSRHS community expect from chair Ravi Simon that might be different from your predecessors?

Recent school committee chairs have needed to navigate some major challenges, including the pandemic and a superintendent/principal search process. I have a lot of respect for everyone who has chaired this committee in prior years.

I am definitely younger than anyone to serve as Chair recently, and I hope that my age can be an asset in encouraging students to feel comfortable engaging the School Committee. I think we make better decisions with their input.

Likewise, inspired by a school committee member I met from another community, I post regular, reader-friendly updates about our meetings on my Facebook page.

In that spirit, our community can expect that I will always push for the committee to be transparent, accessible, and open to good faith feedback. As vice chair of the committee last year, I worked with our Chair Cara Endyke-Doran to ensure that our agendas linked to the documents the committee discussed in meetings, and that we held listening sessions to get input from the community. I also worked with our member Mary Warzynski on an alumni survey, which will be released soon, to help LS get feedback from graduates.

What was (or is) your favorite meal from the cafeteria?

One thing that has not changed since I was a student is how much I love pizza. Then and now, I will often pick pizza over healthier or tastier options.

One difference, however, from when I was a student — school meals are now free in Massachusetts, including at LS, so that no kid has to go hungry or experience the stigma that used to come with being enrolled in a reduced lunch program.

See upcoming meeting agendas and more on the LS School Committee webpage.