General Announcements
- Michael St Germain is the new treasurer.
- Our Charter was approved.
- Charter and tax exempt status is set. We still do not have Presidents.
- FRONT STAIRS REPAIRED! Internal doors have been repaired and adjusted/shaved, Lights around the building were worked on and repaired. (exterior)
Upcoming Events
- Dec 15th there is a parent coffee for ELL parents to find out about how they can support the school. We have a parent engagement outreach coordinator – she is a district employee, grant funded position, LE is a priority school with our high % of ELL students.
- SThe Lincoln-ELiot Science Fair will be on January 29, 2015. It is not a fund raiser. Any student can participate. Not a competition, all students will receive a Participation Ribbon. Parents can help with projects.
- Rafflepaloza scheduled for April 4th at the VFW. Suzanne Goddard will be leading this fundraiser.
- PTO will be sending a parent involvement survey to parents out after the new year.
Fundraising:
Three major fundraisers have happened this fall- Meadow Farms, The Halloween Dance, and PTO Dues.
Meadow Farms brought in $1,200. Thank you to Carly Semerjian for leading these efforts.
The Halloween dance brought in $4,300. Thank you to Kara Brodsky, Karen Hite, Amy Pollock Howard, and Carol Pelon for all the planning and to everyone who baked treats, sold raffles, and manned the booths.
PTO Dues $5,485. Thank you to all the families who have sent in dues. Dues are collected all through the year.
Meeting with Alderman
Met with Scott Lennon and Allison Leary to share building, playground and safety concerns.
Concerns:
Top concern is problems that continue with the Heating system . Then playground, as it ices over or turns to mud.
The third area is the alley between the two building on Pearl Street. This is mostly a cosmetic concern for the front of the building. All three of these items have an impact on the quality of life of the school community.
We agreed to have Josh Morse, Town Commissioner, from the city come to the school and do a walk through and discuss building issues.
Other areas of concern include:
- Plexiglas windows that are grayed out.
- Playground
- Window in music room is boarded up, windows are not insulated.
Discussed how the playground floods and then freezes in the winter prohibiting children to use it at recess.
o Newton Parks and Recreaction will visit the playground and go over the state of it to see what can be done.
o Also talked about Watertown side of playground – It’s used as a dog park now, but the city asked them not to build an official dog park there.
o Improving the park is tricky as it will require the coordination of several city departments, all with an existing agenda for improvement.
o Possible revenue streams include: BAA/Marathon and CDBG funds that goes to parks. Mayor Warren is interested in improving parks across the city .
o Newton soccer, softball, and little league use the fields and may have money for parks.
Cleaning up Trees on Jewett street for walkers is discussed, DPW can notify private tenants and clean up roads for school
Traffic and Safety – Police are the best way to stop dangerous drivers. Police and fire dept are not in favor of raised crosswalks or raised speed humps. Alderman Lennon would like to get more crossing guards assigned around the city. Recruitment is difficult with low compensation. We asked the alderman about putting cones out in the drop off spot to funnel cars into the drop off zone.
