Lester Park School Newsletter

Oct 16-17...NO SCHOOL (MEA Break)
Oct 21...PTA Movie Night...SCREENagers
Oct 22...Lockdown Drill ("Secure" drill)
Oct 24...Halloween PTA dance (see flyer further below)
Week of Oct 27...Teacher Conferences and Book Fair
Nov 3... NO SCHOOL (District-Wide Staff Development Day)
Nov 5...Picture Retake Day (Morning Only)
Nov 13...4th/5th Grade Concert (Morning Only - more info to come)
Nov 19...Lockdown Drill
Nov 21...Grandparents'/Special Friends' Day (Morning Only - more info to come)
Nov 27-28...NO SCHOOL (Thanksgiving Break)

More events on our Lester Park Calendar HERE

2025-26 District Calendar with 4 Day Specialist rotation HERE

(PD=professional development/NO SCHOOL for students)

Other Helpful Links:

Lester Park Family School Handbook

School District Student Handbook

Lester Park Staff List by Grade/Dept

Previous Lester Park Newsletters

There is no school tomorrow/Thursday and Friday. This is due to the MEA break.

Have a wonderful long weekend!

We are looking for one or two adults who would be interested in being a lunch monitor. If you would rather be outside on the playground, we can make that work as well!

We know we will be short on Wednesdays and some other days as well. We are flexible when you need days off! If you only want to work a couple of days a week, no problem! If you want to work more, great!

Applying is easy, just email us at lesterpark@isd709.org and we will give you instructions.

Start time is by 10:30 and end time is 1:10. Pay is $15/hour.

School Pictures are Ready!

View and order at https://shop.jostenspix.com/login

LESTER PARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Event Code: FE26725
Also Needed: Infinite Campus Student ID

Picture Retake day is the morning of Wednesday, Nov 5. If you want your child's picture to be retaken, please be sure to let your child's teacher know. Only students who need their picture retaken will see the photographer that morning.

The PTA is looking for more food donations for the 2 main conference nights. Here is what they still need: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040D4CABAD29AAF58-58379321-copy

Conference Days are very long days for teachers. Not having to worry about supper is such a treat for them.

No Time? No Problem! Click here to donate and we will do the shopping!

https://lesterparkpta.givebacks.com/store?limit=21&live=true

Givebacks

Givebacks helps you engage your supporters, raise money online with less work, and harness innovation to build up your entire community through GIvebacks. See why over 12,000 organizations and over 2.4 million people use Givebacks to thrive.

lesterparkpta.givebacks.com

Ms Deb Hannu is our guest Art Teacher while Mr Logan Kerkhof is gone for a bit. Ms Hannu used to teacher Art at Lester Park many years ago, so it's lots of fun to have her back in our building.

She will be having an art activity for students who come for one the 2 main conference nights - Tuesday Oct 28 and Thursday Oct 30. So feel free to stop by the Art Room - located next to the Playground Doors.

The Book Fair is coming! Mark your calendars, the book fair will be here at the end of October. Students will shop during their Media time and there will be two after-school opportunities during conferences. Please sign-up!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E4DADAF29AAF9C52-58705408-book

Help with meals for teachers on long conference days

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040D4CABAD29AAF58-58379321-copy

No Time? No Problem! Click here to donate and we will do the shopping!

https://lesterparkpta.givebacks.com/store?limit=21&live=true

Givebacks

Givebacks helps you engage your supporters, raise money online with less work, and harness innovation to build up your entire community through GIvebacks. See why over 12,000 organizations and over 2.4 million people use Givebacks to thrive.

lesterparkpta.givebacks.com

Back during the COVID days, Lester Park families struggled to connect with other Lester Park families. There was a great idea to create an electronic Lester Park Family Directory so students could contact their classmates and friends. The PTA has continued this electronic directory each year since then. This form is voluntary, and you can provide as much or as little contact information as you like.

Based off who fills out the form below, the Lester Park PTA will create a public Google Doc that will be made electronically available to members of the Lester Park Elementary School family community. The Lester Park PTA is not the source of the information, and therefore has no control over its accuracy. This directory is not being created by ISD 709, Lester Park Elementary or any of its representatives, and is a volunteer effort by the Lester Park PTA.

2025-26 PTA Lester Park Elementary Public Directory Form

Many of you have your phone set up to receive attendance alerts when your child's attendance is changed in Infinite Campus by either the teacher or the office. Here's how the process works:

If your child isn't in class at the start of the day, the teacher will mark the absence whether they know the reason or not. The office will then change the absence on their part. This will cause two attendance alerts at some point IF you have the notification feature turned on
If your child is late to school (excused or unexcused), please note that we need to mark them out for the whole day, then check them in at the time they entered the school. This will cause two attendance alerts at some point IF you have the notification feature turned on.

More Attendance tips can be found in the next section.

What do I do if my child is going to be absent from school?

Email lesterattendance@isd709.org (the office & nurse will both see these emails)
or call attendance line 336-8875 then “3” to leave a recorded message
Please list any specific symptoms.
Teachers may have a preferred way for you to report an absence to them.

If the office does not know why a student is absent, an automated phone call and an email message will be sent out at sometime between 8:30-9:00. This is for safety reasons.
If your child is absent, or going to be absent, be sure to leave a reason. If no reason is given, it will be marked as an Unexcused Absence.
If you have health questions, you can call our school health office at 336-8875 x2654

Many students and parents are frequently concerned about when students should stay home or attend school. The following information is intended to help with this decision.

General practice:

If a student has had a fever of 100 degrees or more, the student must stay home for 24 hours after the temperature returns to normal without fever reducing medication.
If a student has vomited two or more times in the past 24 hours and/or had diarrhea, the student must stay home until 24 hours after the last episode.
If a student has had any rash that may be disease-related or the cause is unknown, check with your family physician before sending the student to school.
If a student is ill, please call the school daily to report the illness.

When a student is sick, parents often wonder whether or not to keep a child at home from school. If a child stays home and has the care they need when first sick, they will often get better faster. Staying home and resting will help the body fight the sickness.