Angier Elementary School
Albert Angier Elemenatary School is the oldest of the 15 elementary schools in Newton. It draws its 400 students from Waban and a portion of Newton Lower Falls. After 5th grade, Angier students attend Brown Middle School for grades 6-8 and then Newton South High School. Ground was broken for Angier School in 1919, and students moved in for the first time in the fall of 1921. It replaced the four-room Wolcott School, which had served several generations of Waban children. At the time, Angier was described as a spacious, modern, 12-room structure. In 1936 it underwent extensive renovation and expansion. Six rooms were added to the back of the building, bringing the total number of classrooms to 18, and the total space to 51,000 square feet. It has been renovated, but not expanded, in the years since. In 2007 officials said the building, which has the city's smallest classrooms, lacks an auditorium, and uses a basement corridor as a cafeteria, is the Newton school most in need of rebuilding or replacement. Angier was named in honor of Albert Edgar Angier, a Harvard student from Waban who volunteered for the Army in 1918 and died a hero on a battlefield in France. Angier has a new principal for the 2008-9 school year. Loreta Lamberti, who had taught kindergarten at Angier for 20 years, was named to replace Pamela Appleton, who retired after six years as principal. Ann B. O'Halloran, a fourth grade teacher at Angier, was named the state's Preserve America History Teacher of the Year in 2007. She was honored by Gov. Deval Patrick at a Statehouse ceremony and luncheon. The Preserve America History Teacher of the Year is a White House initiative and is sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History. O'Halloran has been a history teacher in Newton for 22 years. She is highly regarded among other educators for her creative curricula and innovative ways of bringing history to life to keep her students engaged. For the past 15 years she has been co-teaching American History to fourth and fifth grade inclusive classrooms, making the necessary accommodations for the up to one-third of her students with severe special needs.
Version 19.1 last modified by / on 11/14/2008 at 18:04