Newton residents, visitors and businesses, please add your voice to help redesign Washington Street! The City is improving a mile long stretch of Washington between West Newton and Newtonville, and we want your feedback.Please visit NewtonMA.gov/WashingtonStreet to learn about this long-term pilot project and…Watch the November 30 public meeting
Thank you, and please contact WashingtonStreet@NewtonMA.gov with any comments or questions.————-
Yogurt Beach 5th Grade Fundraiser
Quick reminder that the 5th grade Yogurt Beach fundraiser is this Wednesday, December 13th!
Go any time on the 13th and say “Lincoln-Eliot’ when paying for your delicious frozen yogurt. A percentage of the cost of your order will go back towards the 5th grade year book, graduation and field trip! See attached flyer for more details.
This is a great opportunity to treat yourself and help support our graduating 5th graders!
Thank you,
5th Grade familiesYogurt Beach Fundraiser Dec 13th 2023
Our teachers are still in negotiations, they still need our support
How we wish we could give better news, but as you probably know, our teachers continue to undergo an arduous and lengthy negotiation process with the city. Please continue to support them, in one of the following ways:
- Standing with teachers on Wednesdays. They are out there every Wednesday from 7:45-8:10. It would mean a lot to to teachers if parents stand with them, even for a few minutes, and ask how they are doing.
- Sign up for the Newton Parent Educator Collaborative to find updated information and actionable items Here
- Request a lawn sign Here
- Sign up to deliver a public comment at a future school committee meeting, stating why you think the educators of Newton deserve a fair contract Here
- Email or call the School Committee and demand that they stop playing the public relations game and focus on actually negotiating a fair contract Here
- Email or call the mayor and demand that she make additional funds available for the settlement of a fair contract Here
- Email or call your city council members and encourage them to do everything in their power to direct more money to NPS Here (Calling elected officials is more effective than we often realize. It takes fewer calls than we often imagine for them to feel pressure).
If you email teachers or even try to grab them after school quickly, that is their work email and their workplace. So teachers may not feel like they can freely talk or respond. However, we know they are appreciating any messages sent.
Book fair coming up, still need volunteers!
Thank you to Jacqui Trotta and Jenny Rosenthal for rallying up volunteers to run our November Book Fair:
The Lincoln Eliot Book Fair is coming up soon: November 28-29! We need your help volunteering for this fun event in support of our school. Sign up today:
Thank you so much for volunteering for this fun celebration of reading, where families can buy books for the holidays, shop from our teachers’ wish lists for their classroom libraries, and raise money for the school all at the same time.
We need volunteers for:
- set-up
- in-class browsing times (helping the kids make wish lists)
- before-school shopping
- after-school shopping
- bringing cookies/treats, water/seltzer to the Wednesday evening party
- setting up, helping with, and cleaning up the evening event
- closing up the book fair
Please contact Jacqui Trotta at JacquiTrotta@gmail.com or Jenny Rosenthal jrosenthal222@gmail.com
Support our teachers during contract negotiations…
As you probably know, our teachers continue to undergo an arduous and lengthy negotiation process with the city. Our impression as the PTO is that teachers are feeling increasingly disrespected and undervalued. If this continues, we worry that we will start to lose staff, especially younger talent that hasn’t been with NPS long. LE was cited as a school that lost a significant amount of staff last year in comparison to previous years and we would hate to see that trend continue.
North Andover just had a teacher walkout/strike that ended with 15.5% salary increase over 4 years (so ~4$ a year). Newton is asking a fraction of that. We will contact our School Committee rep to see why they don’t seem more supportive of the NTA (Rajeev Parlikar – parlikarr@newton.k12.ma.gov).
There are several ways you can support our teachers.
- Standing with teachers on Wednesdays. They are out there every Wednesday from 7:45-8:10. It would mean a lot to to teachers if parents stand with them, even for a few minutes, and ask how they are doing.
- Sign up for the Newton Parent Educator Collaborative to find updated information and actionable items Here
- Request a lawn sign Here
- Sign up to deliver a public comment at a future school committee meeting, stating why you think the educators of Newton deserve a fair contract Here
- Email or call the School Committee and demand that they stop playing the public relations game and focus on actually negotiating a fair contract Here
- Email or call the mayor and demand that she make additional funds available for the settlement of a fair contract Here
- Email or call your city council members and encourage them to do everything in their power to direct more money to NPS Here (Calling elected officials is more effective than we often realize. It takes fewer calls than we often imagine for them to feel pressure).
If you email teachers or even try to grab them after school quickly, that is their work email and their workplace. So teachers may not feel like they can freely talk or respond. However, we know they are appreciating any messages sent.
Mark your calendar, PTO meeting
The tentative date for our next PTO meeting will be on December 6th. Please mark your calendars! Zoom details will follow soon.
Book Fair! (and other events)
The PTO needs YOU!
Without help from parents, the PTO is not able to put on events, such as the Fall Festival. Unfortunately, we were not able to pull together this event due to the lack of volunteers for leadership. As we look at the rest of the year, we would like to make sure events not only happen this year, but also can seamlessly continue in coming years. This is why organizing events in teams is important.
The next big event is the Book Fair. We currently have 2 chairs for this event, but they could really use a third person who would help/observe this year in order to potentially help lead next year. Having co-chairs who can learn from previous leaders provides continuity. It is much harder to continue events if no one has prior knowledge of how to run them.
Book fair Dates: 11/27-11/28 (including evening event 11/28)
– Contact JacquiTrotta@gmail.com about being a 3rd chair or for other book fair volunteer opportunities
Volunteers are of great help to run the events. But what is most needed are event-leaders who can organize each event with the help of other volunteers. The more people we have, the easier and more manageable it is for all. None of us have much extra time to spare these days, but we are a community focused on giving our kids valuable experiences.
Please consider grabbing a friend and taking on an event-leadership role together so we can maintain the events that have made our community unique.
We would also like to say “Please be patient!” Whether you email with a question or filled out a form and haven’t heard back, remember we are all parents who are trying to manage our time and doing the best we can.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Book Fair — 11/27 & 28
Movie Night (has not happened since 2019)
Game Night (has not happened since 2019)
Family Science Night
Family Art Night
Fun Run
Juneteenth
Fall Festival 2024
Room Connectors
Thank you to all who have signed up… but we still need help in some rooms.
Please sign up to be a Room Connector for your student’s classroom. This is a great way to volunteer that doesn’t require too much work. We need 2 Room Connectors per classroom. The Room Connector creates a contact list for the classroom and collects some funds for a mid-year gift and end of year gift. Room Connectors make sure that all teachers know how much we appreciate them and support them.
We still need volunteers for the following classrooms:
K Kremer
K Fellows
K Lam
1 Warren
1 Ward
2 Jang
2 Gayle (1 more needed)
3 Penczar
3 Gueye (1 more needed)
3 Rooney
4 Levin
4 Monopoli/Humphries
4 Goode (1 more needed)
5 Foster
5 DeNoble/Foster
Email, call or text Emily Núñez to volunteer!
nunezemily77@gmail.com
(978)289-0093
1. Your full name
2. Your child’s full name
3. Your classroom teacher
Thank you!
We still need room connectors!
Your help is needed! Please sign up to be a Room Connector for your student’s classroom. This is a great way to volunteer that doesn’t require too much work. We need 2 Room Connectors per classroom. The Room Connector creates a contact list for the classroom and collects some funds for a mid-year gift and end of year gift. Room Connectors make sure that all teachers know how much we appreciate them and support them.
We still need volunteers for the following classrooms:
K Kremer
K Fellows
K Lam
1 Malavase
1 Warren
1 Ward
2 Jang
2 Gayle (1 more needed)
3 Penczar
3 Gueye (1 more needed)
3 Rooney
4 Levin
4 Monopoli/Humphries
4 Goode (1 more needed)
5 Foster
5 Hunter (1 more needed)
5 DeNoble/Foster
Email, call or text Emily Núñez to volunteer!
nunezemily77@gmail.com
(978)289-0093
1. Your full name
2. Your child’s full name
3. Your classroom teacher
Thank you!
Missed our last PTO Meeting? No problem
You can find the slides here