Author Archives: LEPTO Admin

Half-Day Programs for Early Release Days

Our first special early release day of the year is coming up on Thursday, September 29th!  Looking for something for your kids to do those afternoons?  Newton Community Education offers half-day programs that run only on those days, right here at Lincoln-Eliot!

Future Ready Half-Days
It’s the future and you’re in charge!  Each week we’ll explore a unique concept, from city infrastructure to architecture, technology to entrepreneurship, and transportation to storytelling.  The afternoon will be filled with opportunities to explore a new activity and maybe even discover a new secret skill!!  You will plan, design, invent, and build cool new things that might someday change the world.
Grades K-5
12:20 PM – 3:00 PM
September 29, November 8, and December 8.
$97.50

Register online: https://registration.xenegrade.com/nce/courseDisplay.cfm?schID=18891
Or call: (617) 559-6999

Fall Events in Newton

Come celebrate pumpkin season with the Newton community at two upcoming family events!  The first is the Harvest Fair on October 16th from 10am-5pm at the Newton Centre Green:

And the second is Newton’s annual Halloween Window Painting event on Saturday, October 29th (rain date October 30th).  The event is open to all Newton students in grades 3-8; they can paint windows in any of the following six villages: Newton Centre, Newton Highlands, Auburndale, West Newton, Newtonville, and Nonantum.  Kids do not have to live or go to school in the village they choose to paint in.

Student artists sign up here!

There’s a $10 fee to register and students must supply their own materials; for financial aid, email Lisa Rucinski at Newton Culturual Development: rucinskil@newton.k12.ma.us

We look forward to seeing you (or your windows!)!  Happy fall!

Welcome Back to School!

Dear LE families,

We hope you had a fantastic and restful summer!  We are thrilled to welcome our new principal, Dr. Maura Morse, and we’re looking forward to a great year!

As parents or guardians of students at Lincoln-Eliot, we are all members of the PTO.  The PTO works on building community, fostering communication between parents and the school, and fundraising for school priorities such as arts and sciences programming, technology, library books, and school events.

Please save the date for our first PTO meeting of the school year on Wednesday, September 21st, at 6:30pm, for a chance to meet Principal Morse and learn more about getting involved.  And please reach out to us at secretary@lepto.org if you would like to join the PTO board or if you have any questions!

Also, please make sure that your information is up to date in our school directory at lepto.membershiptoolkit.com!  If you are receiving this email, you ARE in the directory — please see below for more details about logging in and updating your information (for instance, by adding your teacher).

We wish everyone a wonderful first day of school tomorrow and hope to see you at our back to school picnic on September 14th!

Your Lincoln-Eliot PTO

Back to School Picnic — Volunteers Needed!

Join us to meet our new principal and celebrate the start of the new school year on Wednesday, September 14th from 5-7pm on the Lincoln-Eliot playground!  (Rain date September 15th.)  We’ll have pizza and baked goods for sale, or feel free to bring a picnic!

We need a few volunteers to help sell pizza and donate baked goods; please sign up at the link below!:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E44ABA72EA2FD0-back

See you there!

Make Sure You’re In The L-E Directory!

The Lincoln-Eliot Family Directory is hosted online at Membership Toolkit.  It is an opt-in system, so please make sure you sign up — but you only have to do it once, and then you’ll be in the directory through high school!  It only takes five minutes and it’s a great way to find classmates and friends and connect with other families.

PLEASE NOTE that regulations and privacy laws do not allow information from Aspen and/or Newton Public Schools to flow into this directory and vice versa.  We know it’s annoying to have to update information in more than one place, but the success of our directory is dependent on every family logging in and adding or updating their information.

Please log in and confirm that your information is correct and up-to-date. 

Instructions: Accessing and Adding/Verifying Information

Login as a RETURNING USER by clicking here:  https://lepto.membershiptoolkit.com/  and using the same login as last year

OR Login as a NEW USER by clicking here:  https://lepto.membershiptoolkit.com/create_account

  1. Fill out the form and click “Verify my email”, then check your email for a link to complete the process. The link expires in 2 hours. If you do not receive the email, check your spam or junk folders.
  2. Once you have verified your email address, log back in and finish the registration process.
    Note: Once the Primary Account is set up, the Primary User can “invite” other email addresses to access his/her account. This allows the Secondary User to have their own login information, but still have access to the family account.

Completing/Confirming Information

STEP 1: Complete the Parent/Family and then Student Information.  Families can enter their name, address, phone numbers, and teacher.  For returning users, most of this information should already be available.  Please just confirm it is correct — and please make sure to add any incoming siblings!

STEP 2: Complete the Directory/Publish Preferences.  Each family can decide which pieces of information will be available for others to view through the privacy settings.

If you have any questions or want to find out if you’re already in the directory, please email us with your name and your child’s name(s) at secretary@lepto.org.

Principal / PTO Update 6.19

Hi LE families,

We are down to the last days of school. It was so great seeing so many people out for our 2nd annual Juneteenth event.  Special thank you to Lanni Isenberg, Co-chair LE Juneteenth Celebration and LE’s FORJ liaison, for planning another great event for our kids and families, and for bringing our school community together!

Last Friday the 5th grade class headed to Hale Reservation for a day of team building activities. Much fun was had, and many memories created! Final 5th grade activities include Graduation this Thursday at 10am and a Talent Show on Friday, 9am. Thank you so much for supporting this year’s 5th grade fundraisers which helped made the trip and all end-of-year activities possible for our rising 6th graders!

Reminder: No school on Monday, June 20th in observation of Juneteenth.

Lastly, below are some pictures from our 2nd annual Juneteenth celebration event!

Principal Morrissey & the PTO

 

LE Principal Search – 6.22

On Wednesday, June 22nd,  Lincoln-Eliot will have the chance to meet the finalist candidate, Dr. Maura Morse. Maura is currently Assistant Principal at Zervas and Assistant Director of the Department of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for our district. Previously, she was Assistant Principal of the Distance Learning Academy (DLA) and a long-time teacher at Angier.

I want to encourage everyone to participate in the open meeting at 9:15am over Zoom to meet the candidate.  We want as many people in our community to be part of this exciting process of searching for a new principal. 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://newton-k12-ma-us.zoom.us/j/84655272776?pwd=R2pKN0k1YWtxbDhWbGZpM29qbVFXZz09

Meeting ID: 846 5527 2776
Passcode: 638744

Well Wishes to Principal Morrissey

If you didn’t get a chance to fill out a wish for Principal Morrissey during Juneteenth, it’s not too late! We are still collecting any wishes or sentiments you may have for Principal Morrissey’s last days at Lincoln-Eliot and for her future beyond. Please email secretary@lepto.org by Wednesday, June 22nd, if you’d like your wish to be included. Please let us know if you’d like your name included as well. All collected wishes will be presented to Principal Morrissey this week.

FORJ Updates 6.19

LINCOLN-ELIOT JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION RECAP

Thank you to all who joined in the Lincoln-Eliot Juneteenth Celebration! With funding and planning assistance from our own FORJ & PTO, plus Bigelow FORJ & PTO, Ward FORJ & PTO, and Underwood FORJ & PTO, we enjoyed hot dogs & vegan sausages from Lord Dawgz catering, a scavenger hunt created by the Bigelow Middle School Student Council, sweet treats from Equality Cupcakes – Bigelow sixth graders to fund raise for local LGBTQ youth-serving org BAGLY, Double Dutch by local champs, lovely Juneteenth beads and coloring activities from our PTO, our awesome DJ Greg Smith, and Mr Hani’s ice cream truck! Thank you to all of the families, parents, teachers, our school social worker Ms Brinson, our librarian Ms Selwyn, custodian Mr Geary, Principal Morrissey and Jena Rossi, who helped make the evening a huge success! [All who were there will certainly always remember Ms Gayle leading the steps to The Electric Slide!]

BOSTON’S LGBTQ PAST – WALKING TOUR (June 23rd)

Presented in partnership with The History Project, this guided walking tour follows the footsteps of Boston’s gay and lesbian friends from the 1840s to the 1980s, “from Thoreau’s walks along the Common and Charlotte Cushman’s cross-dressing roles, to the World War II bars and baths, to the AIDS Action Committee and the AIDS memorial quilt project.” Children $8/ Adults $15 (Kids under 6 free). For more info: https://www.bostonusa.com/event/bostons-lgbtq-past/67643/

THE LEGACY OF JUNETEENTH: Access to Education that Empowers Us All – Tuesday, June 21st

An interactive discussion on Tuesday, June 21st, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. The event is sponsored by the Newton Free Library. The discussion will be led by Jesse Tauriac, Assistant Vice President & Chief Diversity Officer at Lasell University and is part of the Overdue: Confronting Race and Racism in Newton series. Register for this program here.

THE BOUNTY OF THE SEASON: A WAMPANOAG DINNER BY CHEF POCKNETT – Tuesday, June 21st

Join Chef Sherry Pocknett, Chef Owner of Sly Fox Den Catering, Sly Fox Den Too Restaurant in Charlestown RI, for a delicious five-course dinner featuring local Indigenous ingredients of the late spring and early summer seasons. Chef Sherry is a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and daughter of Chief Sly Fox and Bernadine Hendricks-Pocknett. June 21st at 6:30pm at Eliot Church of Newton UCC on Centre St. Suggested donation, $150 per Individual, $250 per Couple. All proceeds will go to fund Newton’s 2022 Indigenous Peoples’ Day Celebration.

BREATHE LIFE TOGETHER FESTIVAL – Saturday, June 25th

FREE and open to all, enjoy a pop-up roller rink, free skate rentals, live music, performances, DJs, painting, and food trucks along the Rose Kennedy Greenway (next to South Station in Boston). This event will feature celebrate and activate Rob “ProBlak” Gibbs’ mural Breathe Life Together. The aim of the afternoon is to cultivate an accessible, collective public space of joy, care, sustenance, and belonging that centers and supports diverse communities, families, and youth from across Boston. From 2-8pm in Dewey Square, Boston.

WALKING TOUR OF METCO HQ AND NUBIAN SQUARE – Saturday, July 9th at 10am

Join METCO high school students as they uncover the past and present of Boston’s historic Nubian Square in Roxbury. This unique 90-minute walking tour highlights their research into the artistry, activism, and achievement in the backyard of METCO’s new Headquarters.  RSVP here

PARENT GROUP ON EDUCATION ABOUT ANTISEMITISM AND ALLYSHIP

This year the FORJ community has been in dialogue about how to best support our Jewish community. One of the initiatives, being led by a Newton Temple, is a working parent group that aims to continue education about antisemitism and allyship to our community. If you are interested in participating please contact Melissa Waltuck @ melissa@slpworks.com.

FAMILIES ORGANIZING FOR RACIAL JUSTICE (FORJ) is a group of diverse Newton families helping our children learn about issues of power and inequality and how to stand up for racial justice. We seek to generate understanding and curiosity about differences in our society, and to work together towards racial equity.

METCO Scholarship Fundraiser

Screen Shot 2022-06-09 at 9.27.06 AM.pngLast week, 31 Newton METCO Seniors graduated from Newton South and Newton North High Schools. These young people stand on the horizon of new opportunities and we want each and every one of them to know they have the tangible support of the members of the Boston-Newton communities.

For over 35 years, the Newton METCO Community Scholarship Fund (NMCSF) seeks to open doors of opportunity by providing financial assistance to deserving METCO seniors seeking to further their education. The work is urgent. The time is now.

Please join us in donating to the scholarship fund today, and transform the conditions of learning and living for our Newton METCO graduates.

Please donate by mail; we are not accepting online donations at this time.

Newton METCO Community Scholarship Fund (NMCSF)
PO Box 600053
Newtonville, MA 02460