Newton Community Stage opens at Lincoln-Eliot

Construction on the Newton Community Stage is now complete at the new Lincoln-Eliot School, 15 Walnut Park, and Newtonians gathered Sunday for a grand opening of the stage, with a Halloween Family Concert hosted by Newton Cultural Development and New Philharmonia Orchestra.

The 400-seat auditorium—designed to serve both the public schools and the community in general—is now available for performances, concerts, film screenings, lectures and special events. The stage is fully equipped with professional lighting, sound and projection systems.

Newton nonprofit gets an ally grant

Combined Jewish Philanthropies’ Center for Combating Antisemitism recently announced its list of Ally Challenge Grants, and one of the recipients is the Newton Interfaith Leaders Association.

The money will support NILA’s allyship training workshops for local interfaith clergy and lay leaders.

A student paints a window for Halloween as part of Newton’s Halloween Window Painting program. Photo by Howard Sholkin

Kids add Halloween art to storefronts for spooky season

More than 400 artists from grades 3 through 8 fanned out across seven villages to decorate several hundred business windows on Saturday.

Halloween Window Painting is a program orchestrated by Newton Cultural Development and sponsored by Spark Newton, formerly Newton Community Pride. This was the 26^th year for the program.

Newton elementary schools, ranked

U.S. News & World Report released its list of Best Elementary Schools in the state, with rankings that factor things like math and reading proficiency rates, class sizes and more.

How did Newton’s elementary schools do?

• Mason-Rice: 15^th best in Massachusetts, first place in Newton
• Peirce: 34^th best in Massachusetts, second place in Newton
• Ward: 44^th best in Massachusetts, third place in Newton
• Angier: 55^th best in Massachusetts, fourth place in Newton
• Countryside: 87^th best in Massachusetts, fifth place in Newton
• Burr: 146^th best in Massachusetts, sixth place in Newton
• Zervas: 178^th best in Massachusetts, seventh place in Newton
• Memorial-Spaulding: 192^nd best in Massachusetts, eighth place in Newton
• Underwood: 198^th best in Massachusetts, ninth place in Newton
• Franklin: 231^st best in Massachusetts, 10^th place in Newton
• Cabot: 258^th best in Massachusetts, five-way tie for 11^th place in Newton

You can read about each school’s ranking in detail here.

Mayor Ruthanne Fuller and mayoral candidate Marc Laredo attend the Newton Food Pantry honors presentation. Photo by Howard Sholkin

Newton Food Pantry honors Fuller

The Newton Food Pantry recently recognized Mayor Ruthanne Fuller at the UMass Amherst Mount Ida campus for her work fighting food insecurity, which includes hosting the pantry at City Hall for the past several years.

The organization also honored Marilyn Crone for producing hundreds of bags of treats and healthy foods for children each month.

Newton Food Pantry serves 2,500 people monthly and is planning to open in a new location next spring.

Newton teen builds next-level Halloween display

If you’re looking for Halloween displays to check out Friday night, head over to Pine Ridge Road. Ted Lahey, a 14-year-old who lives at that house, has transformed it into a haunted pirate ship.

The immersive Halloween masterpiece includes smoking cannons made of PVC pipe, a treasure chest made from reconstructed palates and more. WCVB has the complete story with video.