Category Archives: Community News

FORJ Meeting: Wednesday, October 23rd, 7:30-9pm at Angier

Please join FORJ Newton (Families Organizing for Racial Justice) at our next meeting led by Madeline McNeely, an expert coach who conditions leaders for meaningful work (and parent of a Lincoln-Eliot graduate!).  At FORJ we believe in supporting individuals called to initiate racial equity work in their communities.  This meeting is open to anyone interested in leading in an authentic way.  If you have questions or would like a buddy at the meeting, contact Lincoln-Eliot FORJ coordinator Lanni Isenberg, lanni_harris@yahoo.com.

PLEASE RSVP HERE here for the October 23rd Meeting

(RSVPs are encouraged, but not required!)

Principal Update 10.14.19

Dear families,

I would like to express my gratitude for your kindness, patience and empathy over the last year as my family and I slowly said goodbye to my mother.  This has been the single most challenging time in my life and coming to Lincoln Eliot every day provided me respite and joy from the reality of what I was facing in my personal life.  In the spirit of my mother’s legacy and one of her core values — I want you to know that I appreciate you all and your kind words, encouragement and gifts that truly helped to ease our pain.

Lincoln Eliot’s Safety Day, October 29th, 9:00- 10:30 a.m.

As a school, we will practice our district’s updated emergency procedures and protocols both in and out of school.  This will include having students practice shelter-in-place and lockdown for times when we want to keep everyone safe inside their learning spaces.  We will also practice how to respond if there is a hostile event in our school and we need to quickly and safely evacuate to an alternative site, Our Lady Church.  The staff reviewed all procedures and protocols during our September professional development afternoon.  The superintendent also shared resources in his update that was emailed to families last week, Safety in the Newton Public Schools.  Some of these procedures and protocols may raise questions for families.  If you have any questions feel free to reach our to me or our school Social Worker, Julian Turner.

Please mark your calendars:

* Monday, October 14th:  Columbus Day – No School
* Saturday, October 26th:  Fall Festival, 4-6pm
* Wednesday, October 30th:  Flu Clinic at school and Early Release Day, 12:30pm
* Monday, November 11th:  Veterans’ Day – No School
* Tuesday, November 12th:  PTO Meeting, 6:30pm in the library

See you on Tuesday!

Principal Morrissey

Fall Festival – Information and Call for Volunteers

We are all so excited that our annual Fall Festival is just around the corner on Saturday, October 26th from 4-6pm in the school gym!

We will have music, games, and crafts for the entire family to enjoy.  Admission is $5 per person at the door.  Your admission ticket provides entry to the fun and one raffle ticket for the amazing Teacher Treats we are raffling off later that evening.  Additional Teacher Treats raffle tickets can be purchased at the event to increase your odds of winning!  🙂

Pizza, drinks, and baked goods will be sold in the cafeteria.  Pre-order a whole pizza by filling out the form that was sent home in your child’s blue folder or completing this online form.

Most importantly, the Fall Festival cannot be run without your help!  We need parent volunteers to help staff the games and crafts, as well as sell food in the cafeteria.  Please sign up for a slot so we can all enjoy this wonderful event.  Please sign up HERE to volunteer.  Thank you!

All proceeds from this event support Lincoln-Eliot!

Thank you,
The Fall Festival Committee

Walk to School Coordinator Needed

Lincoln-Eliot is part of a citywide effort to reduce traffic around our schools.  We are looking for a parent volunteer who could help support the Walk to School program.  Responsibilities include attending Friday morning meetings in person or by phone (9:30am) and coordinating three Walk to School days throughout the year.  There is an urgent need for someone to help support the first event which will likely occur October 24 or 29th.  If you would like to help, please email president@lepto.org.

New Food Services Website and App!

A note from the Newton Food Advisory Group:

Whitsons, the company that supplies Newton Public Schools with our cafeteria lunch options, just launched their FD Meal Planner website and app.  It’s a great new tool for families to not only view menus, but also access nutritional information for all meals provided in the Newton Public Schools.  Perhaps most importantly, it shows allergen information and allows families to “build” meals based upon their student’s needs.

There are a few things to note about the new website:

  • The FD Meal Planner is linked from the “menus” button on the district and schools homepage.  However, your browser must allow “pop-ups” so that when you plug your school name into the search bar, you see the schools populate below the bar.  Please make sure “pop-ups” are enabled on your selected browser.
  • The FD Meal Planner App is available for Apple and Android.  Once you download and open the app, you will be prompted to create an account.  You must create an account to access the menus for your school.

We are excited about this new tool offered by Whitsons.  Please be sure to let our Food Service Advisory Group representative, Fernando Vieira, know if you have any questions!  Or visit this page on the district webpage to provide feedback via our Google Form.

Upcoming Dates for October/November

Don’t forget there is no school this coming Wednesday, October 9th, in observance of Yom Kippur.

Upcoming Dates to Note

* Wednesday, October 9th:  Yom Kippur – No School
* Monday, October 14th:  Columbus Day – No School
* Saturday, October 26th:  Fall Festival, 4-6pm
* Wednesday, October 30th:  Flu Clinic at school and Early Release Day, 12:30pm
* Monday, November 11th:  Veterans’ Day – No School
* Tuesday, November 12th:  PTO Meeting, 6:30pm in the library

Be a Library Volunteer!

Looking for a way to help out at school that’s fun, easy, flexible, and a great opportunity to see your children interact with their classmates?  Try being a library volunteer!

Image by 200 Degrees from Pixabay

Hundreds of books circulate in and out of the school library every week, and our two wonderful librarians could really use your help to check them in and reshelve them.  The more parent volunteers take over this task, the more time the librarians can spend on class planning and helping students find the perfect books for them.  Plus, volunteering in the library shows the kids how much you value reading and books!

You are welcome to come in during your child’s library class — you can find the schedule and volunteer policies here — or at other times during the school day.  Training only takes about 15 minutes and can be done whenever you’re available.  Just reach out to Tui at secretary@lepto.org or Ms. Packard at packards@newton.k12.ma.us to schedule a time!  (Please note that you do need a CORI/SORI form on file with the school, as you do for chaperoning field trips — contact the main office for more information.)

Thank you for your help — the library and students appreciate it!  🙂

September PTO Highlights

We had a great first month of school, and wanted to keep you all updated about what’s going on with the PTO — please reach out to president@lepto.org or secretary@lepto.org anytime with questions or ideas!

  • We kicked off back-to-school with the famous LE Blue Folders and Welcome Packets on Day 1, followed by a Friday morning coffee get-together.  It was wonderful seeing familiar faces and so many new ones!
  • At the Back to School Picnic, we celebrated our first week of school together.  Thank you to all the parents who volunteered their time and baked goods.  We raised $712 through food and spirit sales.
  • At the first PTO meeting of the year, we reviewed last year’s achievements, this year’s goals, and opportunities to participate in the many groups supporting our school and fundraising events.  Click through to see the slides and minutes.
  • Treasury:  Thank you to everyone who donated to the Annual Fund, which is now at $1,760.  Together with the picnic and Garden City Soccer, we have raised $3,812 towards our goal of $35,800.

October Goals

  • We are working closely with the Principal and Staff to determine a fair way to provide stipends for each classroom teacher and specialist and potentially small grants to support greater needs.  We will provide more clarity on this shortly so you are aware of what their needs are and how your donations will help.
  • Complete the 2019-2020 Technology Spending Plan
  • Identifying 3 more Room Connectors.  If you are interested, please reach out to Emily Nunez at nunezemily77@gmail.com

Events

  • Our first Creative Arts and Science program was held on Friday, October 4th, for 3rd grade students featuring the “Canopy Guy”.  See our website for details (www.lepto.org).
  • The Fall Festival will be held on October 26th from 4-6PM.
  • The Flu Clinic will be held at school on October 30th.

Participating

  • Be sure you are in the Online Directory at lepto.membershiptoolkit.com to receive PTO & principal updates
  • Interested in volunteering for these events or committees below? Reach out to us at secretary@lepto.org to sign up or learn more!

Fall Festival

Election Day Bake Sale

Book Fair

Family Movie Night

Family Science Night

Game Night

Online Auction

Recess Play Facilitator

Translator

 Fun Run

Teacher Appreciation Luncheon

Newton Serves

Creative Arts and Sciences

Understanding Our Differences

Families Organizing for Racial Justice

Spirit Wear

Library Volunteer

PTO Leadership

 

Condolences to Principal Morrissey’s Family

There will be no principal update this week, as Principal Morrissey is out until further notice following the death of her mother.  We are all saddened to hear of her loss and send our thoughts to her family.

The staff at Lincoln-Eliot are coordinating a meal delivery and donation to Compassionate Care ALS (https://ccals.org/) to support Ms. Morrissey during this difficult time, with the help of the PTO.  If you would like to contribute money to these efforts as well, donations will be collected until Tuesday morning (please make checks out to the school) and can be sent to the main office through the blue folders.

September 2019 PTO Meeting Recap

Thank you so much to everyone who came out for our first PTO meeting on Tuesday!  It was wonderful to see you all and we’re looking forward to another great year.  🙂  Special thanks to the teachers for updating us about the current contract situation and to Rebecca Schmidt for her overview of the Understanding Our Differences program.

Our slideshow presentation and the meeting minutes are available by clicking on the links below.  We need volunteers for all our events and programs, especially the Fall Festival and Understanding Our Differences, so if you see anything you’d like to sign up for or if you have any questions, please email secretary@lepto.org!

We look forward to seeing everyone at our next meeting on Tuesday, November 12th!

September 2019 PTO Meeting Slideshow

September 2019 PTO Meeting Minutes