Trailblazer Families,
We hope that all of you are enjoying the sunshine and family time together! We wanted to share some quick updates from recent weeks at LCE, give you a snapshot of things to come in July, all with the critical importance of communication and working with our families and community in mind.
Mission and Theme!
First, we have a new mission statement "Empowering learners, building leaders - every day, for every Trailblazer!"
A team of LCE teachers came together to discuss how to utilize our core values of lifelong learning, community, collaboration, communication, safety, and empowered students and staff to create a compelling and memorable mission statement. This will be our north star as we move into the 2025-26 school year!
We are also excited to share that our campus theme this year will be WILD ABOUT LEADERSHIP! We love this theme! Our students voted and selected this theme, and we are excited to travel together on an empowering adventure.
Staffing Updates
We have a few staffing updates to share with you as well:
Jessica Kennon will be joining our 5th grade team, replacing Mandy Heering, who will be teaching in Francis Howell next year. Jessica was a student teacher at LCE this past year in 3rd grade, has served as a paraprofessional at Mike Clemens Center for 3 years, and coaches softball in her free time.
Leslie Fruchey will be joining our 4th grade team. Leslie was a paraprofessional at LCE this past year, and brings ten years of experience teaching 1st, 4th, and 6th grades. Leslie was also a building substitute at Hawthorn Elementary during the 23-24 school year, and we are very excited to see what amazing things her 4th graders accomplish this year!
Katie Auld will be joining our office team as our Financial Secretary, replacing Nicole Clouse, who has moved to a role in the business department at district office. Katie has served as a PE teacher and operations manager at First Baptist Christian Academy, and brings a host of knowledge on school operations to her new role.
Logan Dalton, who has ably served our 4th graders the past few years, is transitioning from 4th to 3rd grade. She is replacing Alayna Simms, who has taken a position in the Webster Groves School District. Mrs. Dalton has a passion for students and for literacy instruction, and will serve as a 3rd grade English-Language Arts teacher this year!
Alexis McMullin will be leaving our Special Education team for an Assistant Band Director/Music Teacher role at South Middle and South High Schools! We are hard at work on finding an outstanding special educator to round out this team.
Jennifer Summers will be transitioning out of the role of part time Speech Language Pathologist, and will be serving the students of Pheasant Point Elementary full-time. We are also hard at work looking to fill this role.
Vestibule
During the week of July 7 the facilities department will be building a vestibule to provide for a more secure entry way for visitors and patrons. Once this is built we will share out communication on adjustments to our visitor management procedures. We will continue to provide quality customer service and a friendly visit, while also increasing the safety and security at our front entrance.
We ask that if you need anything the week of July 7, please call our office to give the construction crew space to work.
STEAM Camp
We have officially wound down STEAM Camp, and it was awesome to see some Panther Cubs and Trailblazers on campus! Students learned all about chemistry, coding, rocketry, and so much more. We had 8 great days of learning together!
Departmentalization
Finally, as we have previously shared, our school is moving towards a “departmentalized” model. On each grade level team, we will have 3 teachers focusing on English Language-Arts (word study and reading), and 3 focused on Math, Science, and Social Studies. Students assigned to one of these teachers will travel between classes during the day at designated times. This will allow students who benefit from breaks and transitions to have this opportunity, and will allow our teaching staff to focus deeply on a particular subject area and deepen their mastery of this content area.
One teacher per grade level will have a “standalone” class and teach both subjects. If your Trailblazer is assigned to this class, it merely means that we strongly felt that this dedicated professional was the right teacher for your student. These students will still have opportunities through intervention times to practice transitions to other classes and get opportunities to learn from other talented LCE educators.
We will share more information regarding this towards the end of July as we are coming up on the start of school, but are VERY excited to implement this approach this coming year! We view learning at high levels to be a collective responsibility, and there is nothing more impactful than a team of educators working together for the betterment of ALL of our students!
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If you should have any questions or need anything at all over the coming weeks, please contact our office at (636) 397-3111, or you can email me directly at peterjohnson@fz.k12.mo.us. We are excited to see you all again in August, and hope your July is filled with amazing family memories!
Sincerely,
Pete Johnson, Ed.S.
Principal
Lewis and Clark Elementary