Citizen Speak:
The city is going to review the traffic/crossing light at the end of Capital Street and see if it should be moved to the end of Pearl. This will support L-E students and families who need to cross Watertown Street and will be helpful during the winter months because Pearl Street sidewalks are plowed for students whereas the sidewalks in Capital are not plowed.
Principal Updates:
Building Update: The window in the Music Room that has been broken for several years has been fixed. Our school has 2 new computer carts, one Mac Air laptops and one Chrome Book. In the future, we are hoping for funding for one additional cart so the school can have easy access to a cart on each floor. In addition, the school has 3 new printers.
L-E will add a third section to the 5th grade next year. This will make our school full with three sections at each grade level. Preschool classes will be move to a different facility. L-E is currently the only school that houses pre-school classes.
A new reading support program called the Lesley Literary Initiative (LLI) has begun at L-E for students with below average language ability. L-E is piloting the program in first grade and will most likely be added to the second grade next year.
We are looking for help at two upcoming events: RafflePalooza and Newton Serves. More detail will becoming soon.
PARCC Assessment
L-E will be giving the students the PARCC Assessment. The school decided to join this year as a pilot. The results of this test will not affect the school’s Level 1 status. Students will take a timed, paper and pencil test for English and Math that intends to test critical thinking skills and assess college readiness. Interested Parents can go to the PARCC website and view practice test samples.
http://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/
Site Council
The L-E Site Council met with the Alderman to review building issues. There is a flooding problem on the playground near the entrance of the playground near the path. L-E plans to have Parks and Recreation here to see the playground when it is icy and muddy in the hope of fixing drainage issues. The current ice expands to the spot where the children enter the playground and where they line up. The danger of the ice can keep kids from going out to recess.
Fund Raising
The L-E PTO gets a fair amount of support from programs like Scrips, Stop and Shop, and Amazon. The group discussed more ways for parents to shop online that benefit parents. Much of this information is already on the website but we intend to add a dedicated page to the site for on-line shopping and fundraising options.
SUPPORT FOR L-E TRAFFIC SAFETY…
CHANGE IN PARKING METERS: On January 22nd the Traffic Council will be meeting and there are two items that may be of interest to L-E Parents. Item #TC63-14 is a request to change the time limit on the meters located in Nonantum (all meters in Nonantum currently have a 1-hour limit) to meters with a mix of a two-hour and a twelve-hour time limit.
MOVE THE CROSSING LIGHT ON WATERTOWN ST. TO PEARL STREET INTERSECTION.
If you would like to send a letter of support to move the crossing light from Capital St to Pearl St, you can send a letter of support to Dave Koses (dkoses@newtonma.gov), Bill Paille
(wpaille@newtonma.gov), or to one of the Ward 1 Aldermen – Alison Leary, Jay Ciccone or Scott
Lennon.
Main reasons why MOVING THE CROSSING LIGHT TO WATERTOWN AND PEARL is safer for L-E
families:
- Kids are crossing at Pearl Street now as it is the main thru way from Nonantum to L-E. With no light and no guard, cars often run right thru the cross walk.
- The guard for crossing Jackson is at Pearl so families have to walk back and forth. Cross Watertown at Capital and cross Jackson at Pearl. We DO NOT want families crossing Jackson at Capitol. There is no crosswalk, no guard, and lots of drivers either dropping off kids or trying to pull around cars that are dropping off kids. This is very, very dangerous for pedestrians. L-E wants families approaching the school from Pearl and crossing at Pearl. The Pearl Street entrance is the main entrance to the school and the doors open at the same time there as they do at Jackson.
- The city allows each school a limited number of routes for snow clearing during snow storms. Pearl street is our route. Right now families need to choose between safe crossing at Capital or safe sidewalks on Pearl.