Principal Update 10.21.19

Dear families,

We hope to see you all at our Fall Festival next Saturday from 4-6pm!  Also, parent-teacher conferences are coming up; if you have not yet signed up for a conference, please reach out to your teacher to arrange a time.

Reminder: our flu clinic is coming up on October 30th; please make sure to have your forms in by Monday, October 28th.

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 a fire drill, a 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 out to me or our school Social Worker, Julian Turner.

Please mark your calendars:

* 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

Have a great week!

Principal Morrissey

Fall Festival Next Saturday! — Volunteers Still Needed

Lincoln-Eliot’s Fall Festival is coming up next Saturday, October 26th, from 4-6pm!  We hope everyone can join us for a fun celebration with food, dancing, games, crafts, and the popular teacher treat raffles!  

We still urgently need a few more parent volunteers to help staff the games and crafts, as well as to staff the ticket sales and food sales tables.  Please help us make this a wonderful event by signing up for a slot HERE or by reaching out to president@lepto.org if you have any trouble with the signup form.  We really appreciate your help!

Admission is $5 per person at the door and includes one raffle ticket for the awesome Teacher Treats, which will be raffled off toward the end of the festival.  Additional Teacher Treats raffle tickets can be purchased at the event to increase your odds of winning!  🙂

You can also 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.

All proceeds from this event support Lincoln-Eliot!

Thank you,
The Fall Festival Committee

Cast Your Vote for Lincoln-Eliot in the Watertown Savings Bank Choice Awards!

Every year, Watertown Savings Bank holds their Customer Choice Awards, where customers can vote on how to distribute charitable contributions to local nonprofit organizations.  This year, in honor of their 150th anniversary, they’re donating $150,000, twice as much as last year, which means it’s a great opportunity to earn even more than usual — and we would love it if you would cast your vote for Lincoln-Eliot!

If you have any type of account with Watertown Savings Bank, you can cast a vote!  Every customer may vote once.  The deadline to vote is December 31, 2019!!

We really appreciate the community turning out the vote for us — over the last few years, Lincoln-Eliot has been awarded:

2015       $3,149.00
2016       $2,099.00
2017       $2,010.00
2018       $1,742.00

And all of that goes toward technology, library books, and arts/sciences programs for our kids!

Please go to https://www.watertownsavings.com/community/customer-choice-awards to vote online, or print out this form and visit any branch to cast your ballot!  Thank you for helping support our school!  🙂

It’s Time to Send In Your Box Tops!

The familiar clippable Box Tops are being phased out, but the ones still out there are still worth $0.10 each for our school!  Thanks to all the families who have been clipping Box Tops off packages over the summer and this fall.  It is now time to send them into school for our fall submission.  Please either drop them off in the main office or send them into school in your child’s blue folders by Friday, October 25th. 

(You can either tape them to the Box Tops forms that went around last year, or send in loose Box Tops in a Ziploc bag.)

And if you haven’t already done so, please download the new BoxTops App so you can continue to earn money for our school simply by scanning your grocery shopping receipts.  It is easy to use — and satisfying to watch the cents add up!

Please email secretary@lepto.org with any questions — and thanks again for supporting our school!

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!)

Please join the Newton SEPAC for a School Committee Candidate Forum

  • Thursday, October 24, 2019
  • 7:30-9:30 pm
  • 100 Walnut Street, Room 304

Candidates running for Newton School Committee will be sharing their perspective on questions related to special education in Newton. There will also be time for parents to meet with the candidates. Please note that elections for School Committee are city-wide, so Newton voters elect School Committee members in all wards, not just their own.

The format of the forum will be similar to the one the SEPAC organized two years ago. A moderator will ask candidates questions that have been submitted by SEPAC members, and there will be an opportunity for parents and caregivers to speak informally with the candidates.

(The presentation date was changed from 10/23 to 10/24 to accommodate scheduling conflicts; please also note that we will be in Room 304.)

*** Please email your questions for the candidates to parlikar@yahoo.com by Tuesday, October 22. We will try to get through as many questions as we can during the forum. ***

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.