Principal's Newsletter

It is officially Autumn and we are halfway through the largest stretch of uninterrupted instructional time we will have without a significant break! It is already progress report time, soccer season is well underway and students are almost done with their first of three NWEA testing sessions. As the weather is variable right now it seems that layers are the best choice for students, as mornings tend to be chilly and the afternoon warm-up sometimes feels like it is still summer.

We held our Flu Clinic on Wednesday and had a handful of students utilize this opportunity to get vaccinated before flu season begins. As illnesses seem to be beginning early this year, please keep in mind that our policy states that students who vomit or have a fever cannot return to school until it has been at least 24 hours. This helps to keep the spread of illness down and ensures that students do not return until they have recovered enough to be successful in the learning.

Next week is a short but busy week. Tuesday is picture day and the date of our next school board meeting which will be held in the library at 5:30 p.m. The PTO will be meeting at 5:15 p.m the following evening (10/8) and will have much to talk about with events such as the Pumpkin Walk happening at the end of the month. There will no school next Friday for a teacher workshop day. Some of our teachers will be attending the National Education Association of NH (NEA-NH) conference at Weare Middle School this year. There is a vast array of relevant topics and trainings being offered and I am happy to see staff members opting to take advantage of this opportunity to deepen their knowledge and better their practice. The following Monday (10/13) there will also be no school in observance of Columbus Day!

Robotics Opportunity Coming Soon!

Over the summer our STEM teacher Darcie Shepard and administration applied for a multi-year K-5 Robotics Grant offered through the state in collaboration with the company True Robotics. The company strives to provide opportunities for hands-on collaboration, real world problem-solving and increased student engagement in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). We found out earlier this week that Lempster Community School was awarded funding for the first year of the program. The grant pays for reusable classroom kits, training for coaches, software to be used in classroom lessons (for students as young as kindergarten!) and the registration fee for a competition. We were fortunate to be able to accrue enough funding to share this opportunity with multiple classrooms and still be able to send five teams to competition in the spring. Stay tuned as more information on this will be coming out soon!

Events at LCS

Athletic events, PTO dinners, parades and other special events are starting to fill up our calendars! The LCS staff is proud of the way our students represent our school at these events, and we know they take their cues from the adults around them. We kindly ask parents and community members to help us model positive sportsmanship and school-appropriate behavior so that every event is safe, respectful, and enjoyable for all.

Making Compliance A Priority

As Mr. Lewis mentioned in his superintendent's email (and provided an attachment for) we are required to have documentation regarding each student's last physical exam on file. The state also is looking for information via the home language survey. If you did not get a chance to fill this out and return it, a copy can be accessed here. Procedures and requirements for public schools are always being updated and many times it is about safety. Our water fountains recently had more advanced filters installed because the standards for acceptable drinking water have changed to tolerate a lesser parts per million (ppm) measure of specific components. It is also the law that any adult that works with children in the school building regularly as teachers, paraprofessionals, drivers, administrators, substitutes, regularly scheduled classroom volunteers, etc. have their fingerprints submitted for a background check. There is nothing more important than the safety of our students!

Library Club Coming Soon!

Robin Maguire, our town librarian, is getting ready to start "library club." This opportunity is open to students in grades three through eight and will occur once a week after school at Miner Memorial Library. We are collaborating with Mrs. Maguire to make sure that as many students as possible get to participate in this experience where they will read, play games, do crafts, occasionally work on homework and enjoy some of her fresh baked goodies! You can access the Oct/Nov. sign up sheet here along with Mrs. Maguire's welcome letter. Sign-up are on a first come/first serve basis and new sheets will be on our website a few weeks prior the each upcoming 4 week session !