Lexington Public Schools (Massachusetts)

Lexington Public Schools is a public school district in Lexington, Massachusetts, U.S.A. The district consists of six elementary schools, two middle schools, and a high school. Each of the elementary and middle schools are named after important figures in Lexington's history.

Elementary schools

The six elementary schools in Lexington serve students in Kindergarten through 5th grade.

Joseph Estabrook Elementary School

Estabrook Elementary is named after Joseph Estabrook (1669–1733), the first schoolteacher in Lexington. The school garnered nationwide attention from the David Parker controversy, when parents sued the Lexington school system, arguing that their children were being coerced by public school teachers "to affirm the correctness and the normalcy of homosexuality" and same-sex marriage. The bulk of the legality of the controversy revolved around whether parents have a right to receive parental notification and opt their elementary school children out of such content. Federal courts ruled against the Parkers. The current principal at Estabrook is Sandy Trach.

Fiske Elementary School

Fiske Elementary is named for the Fiske family, which circa 1678 was the first family to settle on East Street. The current principal at Fiske is Tom Martellone. The current facility was constructed between 2005-2007.

Maria Hastings Elementary School

Maria Hastings Elementary is named after Maria Hastings Cary, a local philanthropist and the founder of the town's main public library, Cary Library. The current principal at Hastings is Louise Lipsitz.

Bridge Elementary School

Bridge Elementary is named for the descendants of Matthew Bridge, to whom the once-farmland around the school site formerly belonged. The mural on the front side of the school building represents "working together". The current principal at Bridge is Ms. Colella.

Bowman Elementary School

Bowman Elementary is named for the descendants of Nathaniel Bowman, the progenitor of an important family in Lexington's history. The current principal at Bowman is Mary Anton-Oldenburg.

Harrington Elementary School

Harrington Elementary is named for the Harrington family, which produced many notable town citizens, such as Jonathan Harrington who was killed in the Battle of Lexington, and another of the same name who was the battle's last survivor. The current principal at Harrington is Elaine Mead.

Middle schools

Lexington has two public middle schools, William Diamond MS and Jonas Clarke MS, commonly referred to as "Diamond" and "Clarke," respectively. Students at Diamond are generally fed in through Fiske, Estabrook, and Hastings, and students at Clarke are generally fed in through Harrington, Bowman, and Bridge. The two middle schools serve students between 6th and 8th grade.

Both Diamond and Clarke have been among the top schools in MCAS testing.

Like many middle schools, both Diamond and Clarke operate in an academic team system, in which each grade is broken down into smaller groups of common teachers and students. Each of the grades in both schools are divided into three teams, with one exception.

William Diamond Middle School

The school is named after William Diamond, the 16-year-old drummer for the Lexington Minutemen during the Battle of Lexington and Concord. The current principal at Diamond is Anne Carothers, and the assistant principals are Bayard Klimasmith and Jonathan Wettstone.

Prior to the 2010-11 school year, the teams in each grade were named Omega, Delta, and Sigma. To differentiate between grades, one would have denoted teams as Ω6 or Δ8 and Σ7. At the beginning of the 2010-11 school year, the 6th grade team teams were renamed Athena, Apollo, and Pegasus; the 7th grade teams Denali, Everest, and K2; and the 8th grade teams, Liberty, Freedom, and Independence.

In addition to team-specific courses, Diamond Middle School has a foreign language program in French, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. Many of the Advanced French and Spanish classes compete in the National French Exam and National Spanish Exam, respectively.^{[citation needed]}

Jonas Clarke Middle School

The school is named after Jonas Clarke, a local pastor who was present at the standoff at Lexington Green shortly before the shots that started the Revolutionary War. The current principal at Clarke is Dr. Steven Flynn, and the assistant principals are Anna Monaco and Jennifer Turner.

The teams at Clarke are named with the theme of exploration. The 6th grade teams are named Voyager, Atlantis, Quest, and Columbia; the 7th grade teams are named Adventurer, Endeavor, and Explorer; and the 8th grade teams, Apollo, Challenge, and Discovery.

Along with many other extra-curricular activities, Clarke has a student-run newspaper, "Clarkies Newspaper", which is run by the students and a 6th grade teacher. Clarke's extra-curricular activities range from academic to artistic to athletic and beyond. New activities are created each year by the request of the students, if there is a faculty or parent coordinator.

Diamond-Clarke Rivalry

Over the years, Diamond and Clarke have shared a cross-town rivalry in many subjects and sports.

Lexington's middle school math teams are renowned for their successes and mutual rivalry in competitions such as Mathcounts and the NEML, and in the Intermediate Math League of Eastern Massachusetts. For more on these math teams, see Math Teams in Lexington Public Schools (Massachusetts).

High school

Main articles: Lexington High School (Massachusetts) and Minuteman Regional High School

Most students that go through the Lexington Public Schools system end up at Lexington High School. Alternatively, students are given the opportunity to attend the regional vocational school, Minuteman Regional High School, and a few each year decide to take the opportunity.

The current principal at Lexington High School is Ms. Natalie K. Cohen, and the assistant principal is Ms. Laura Lasa. There are four deans: Mr. Charles Caliri, Ms. Joanna Kilpatrick, Ms. Nancy DeFeudis and Mr. David Lautman.

External links

• Lexington Public Schools
• Diamond Math Team website (outdated)
• LPS redistricting proposal
• Redistricting map