Lincoln-Eliot Elementary School
Lincoln-Eliot School is one of the 15 public elementaries in Newton. Its nearly 300 students come mostly from the Nonantum neighborhood. After 5th grade, Lincoln-Eliot students go to Bigelow Middle School and then to Newton North High School. Lincoln-Eliot is comprised of three distinct buildings joined together. The first was built in 1939. The second, housing the kindergarten and library, was added in 1965. An annex on the playground side was added in 1974-5. In addition to its K-5 students, Lincoln-Eliot also houses four classrooms of preschool students, part of the Newton Public Schools' Early Childhood Program (NECP). Along with Williams School, Lincoln-Eliot is the most diverse of Newton's public schools. Its student body comes from many different backgrounds and cultures. About a quarter of the children come from homes where English is not the main language. In all, students speak about 20 different foreign languages, the most common being Chinese and Russian. In the 2007-8 school year, Lincoln-Eliot's racial makeup was 59% white, 17% Asian, 12% Hispanic, and 7% African-American. A study conducted for the School Committee in 2007 found Lincoln-Eliot overcrowded by 79 students, but noted that if the preschool program was relocated the school would slightly under capacity. The study projected Lincoln-Eliot will have an additional 141 students in five years. Lincoln-Eliot's name comes from the two schools it replaced in 1939. The Lincoln School was a one room, wooden building built in 1854 and located at the corner of Thornton and Pearl streets. It was originally named North District Primary School, but after the Civil War was renamed in honor of President Abraham Lincoln. The Eliot School was built in 1884 and named after John Eliot, Newton's first minister.
Version 5.1 last modified by / on 11/19/2008 at 16:27