Glossary: Glossary
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- ACEC
- Area of Critical Environmental Concern – land that qualifies for special environmental consideration due to the presence of endangered species.
- AHC
- Affordable Housing Committee
- assessment
- The amount charged to a government body by another government body. For example, both of our public schools (regional and vocational) assess the towns they serve for a share of the funding needed to run the school, typically based on the number of students that the town has in the school.
- ATM
- Annual Town Meeting – held each year on 2nd Monday in May
- AYP
- Adequate Yearly Progress, a requirement under No Child Left Behind for schools to show a specified degree of improvement in areas where the school does not meet performance standards.
- Chapter 40b
- MGL Chapter 40b - state law that allows developers to bypass local zoning regulations in towns that don’t meet state requirements for affordable housing
- Common Ground
- Common Ground Development Corporation, developer of new affordable housing for low and moderate income persons and families in the Greater Lowell area. ( http://www.comteam.org/commonground.htm )
- ConsCom
- Conservation Commission
- CPA
- Community Preservation Act, adopted by Dunstable in 2006. See www.communitypreservation.org
- CPC
- Community Preservation Committee – recommends spending of CPA funds to voters at Town Meeting
- CPSC
- Community Preservation Steering Committee – appointed to begin work that will be continued when CPC is formed.
- DHCD
- Department of Housing & Community Development – state agency that governs affordable housing
- DRLT
- Dunstable Rural Land Trust - See www.drlt.org
- DYAA
- Dunstable Youth Athletic Association - baseball for kids
- ELA
- Reading/English/Language Arts, in reference to MCAS tests
- EMT
- Emergency Management Technician – the people who come in the ambulance.
- FEMA
- Federal Emergency Management Agency – www.FEMA.org
- FinCom
- Finance Committee
- FTE
- Full-Time Equivalent - or equivalent of a full-time employee. For example, 2 half-time employees would be counted as one FTE.
- GDAY
- Groton Dunstable Alliance for Youth – non-profit org. dedicated to reducing risky behavior among local youth. See www.g-day.org
- GDEF
- Groton Dunstable Educational Foundation – non-profit org. that provides grants to enrich and enhance public education. See www.gdefinc.org
- GDRHS
- Groton Dunstable Regional High School
- GDRMS
- Groton Dunstable Regional Middle School
- GDRSC
- Groton Dunstable Regional School Committee
- GDRSD
- Groton Dunstable Regional School District
- GDYBL
- Groton Dunstable Youth Basketball League - see www.gdybl.org
- GDYFC
- Groton Dunstable Youth Football & Cheerleading - a local sports program for kids. For more information, see www.gdyouthfootball.com.
- GDYSC
- Groton Dunstable Youth Soccer Club - See www.gdysc.org
- HAC
- Housing Appeals Committee – rules on appeals submitted by developers who were denied a Comprehensive Permit under Chapter 40b.
- Harvest Fields
- name of the MUD development project or the company invoved in developing the project. The partners in the development formed an LLC with the same name as the development.
- HUD
- Housing & Urban Development ( http://www.hud.gov/local/index.cfm?state=ma )
- ICS
- Incident Command System – the Massachusetts implementation of the National Incident Management System (NIMS)
- LLC
- Limited Liability Corporation - a type of corporation, often used for development companies, real estate businesses, and law firms
- MASC
- Massachusetts Association of School Committees
- MassRWA
- Massachusetts Rural Water Association (http://www.massrwa.org/)
- MEMA
- Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency – www.MEMA.org
- minimum contribution
- the amount of the school budget that the state requres a community to pay from local revenue, such as property taxes
- MUD
- Mixed Use District – a zoning overlay that allows higher density housing and light commercial use
- MUD Proposal Review Committee
- advisory committee working with the Selectmen on negotiations related to development of the Mixed Use District. See http://www.dunstable-ma.gov/govt/town-officials.htm#MUD-review for a list of members.
- NIMS
- National Incident Management System – standardized language and protocols for emergency responders
- RFP
- Request for Proposals
- Salmon Brook Commons 40B project
- 30-unit apartment building planned for construction on Pleasant St. next to Salmon Brook that was granted a Comprehensive Permit under Chapter 40B in 2005.
- scaled score
- in MCAS, raw scores are converted to a standard scale between 200 and 280, with thresholds at 220 for Needs Improvement, 240 for Proficient, and 260 for Advanced. Scores below 220 merit a Warning. (See "Threshold Scores on the 2006 MCAS Tests" and "2006 MCAS Raw to Scaled Score Conversion Tables" on http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/.)
- SpedPAC
- Special Education Parent Advisory Council - support group for parents of special needs children in GDRSD
- STM
- Special Town Meeting – called by the Selectmen as needed.
- SWPSC
- Source Water Protection Steering Committee, formed to identify potential water system vulnerabilities and take steps to manage potentially contaminating land uses in order to avoid contamination of Dunstable's drinking water ( http://www.dunstable-ma.gov/govt/town-officials.htm )
- TPL
- Trust for Public Land - www.tpl.org