The Red Devil Pen
West Lafayette Community School Corporation September 2025
This fall we launched a new Parent Virtual Lunch and Learn series designed to give families helpful tools and information to support their students. In September, two sessions were offered: the first focused on navigating Canvas at the Junior/Senior High School, and the second provided elementary families with updates on the IREAD state assessment.
These sessions are just the beginning - we’re excited to keep the series going throughout the school year, and we encourage parents to join in and take advantage of these opportunities to stay informed and engaged.
The West Lafayette Community School Corporation is continuing our partnership with Possip to ensure every family’s voice is heard. Possip is a tool designed to gather quick feedback and better understand your experiences, ideas, and concerns. Your feedback is essential - it helps us understand what’s working well and where we can grow.
Throughout the year, you’ll receive quick text messages and emails from Possip with a few simple questions about your school experience. Each school your students attend will send its own survey. Share your thoughts on what’s going well, any challenges you’re facing, and suggestions for improvement. Your feedback is confidential, and you can choose to remain anonymous.
Thank you for taking a moment each month to share your thoughts. We truly value your input and use it to strengthen our schools for every student. Learn more about how Possip works here.
WL Difference Makers is a quick and easy way for any one in our community show appreciation to our staff. Take the time to recognize a WL staff member today! Nomination Form
WLCSC also carries out a monthly staff-to-staff recognition program call Appreciation, Recognition & Thanks (ART). Thank you to the West Lafayette Schools Education Foundation's Community Partner, The Russell Company, for providing the gift cards for the monthly drawing winners.
Work is underway to prepare a proposed school calendar for the 2027–2028 school year. The goal is to design a calendar that balances semesters and 9-week terms, while maintaining a traditional structure with breaks around federal holidays. Although breaks are not scheduled around specific religious observances, accommodations are made through excused absences when needed.
This month, a calendar group made up of parent and teacher representatives from all three schools met to review survey feedback and begin drafting a proposal. From survey participants, three individuals and an alternate were randomly selected to take part in this process: Marla Bluestein-Kyburz, Philip Paré, Sarah Pierce, and Kristi Snyder.
Once the group finalizes a proposal, their recommendation will be shared with the Board of Trustees for consideration. We appreciate the engagement and perspectives of all families who contributed feedback — your input plays an important role in shaping a calendar that supports both academic goals and family needs.
West Lafayette Junior/Senior High School
Our schools thrive because of the many ways families step in to support students, staff, and programs. That support shows up everywhere - from running concessions, taking tickets, announcing games, and managing the scoreboard at soccer matches, to volunteering as guest speakers, supplying classrooms with extra materials, and chaperoning field trips like the annual visit to Chicago’s Christkindlmarkt. Parents judge debate tournaments, lend expertise in the arts by sharing skills in photography and ceramics, and even open their homes to exchange students. They donate items like easels and cameras, help set the tone for positive behavior, and reinforce at home the standards that allow our teachers to focus on learning.
This kind of involvement makes the impossible possible - whether it’s hosting a conference soccer tournament, keeping traditions like a Saturday morning victory breakfast alive, or supporting the World Language Quiz Bowl. Behind every success story in the classroom, on the field, and on the stage, there are families giving their time, energy, and heart to help our students succeed. With so many clubs, activities, and classrooms needing support at the Junior/Senior High, it’s the dedication of our families that ensures each one has the resources and encouragement to give students the best possible learning opportunities.
Our Parent Council continues to play an important role in fostering a community of collaboration, and we encourage everyone to get involved in ways that fit your schedule and interests. Together, these efforts contribute to the warm, welcoming environment that has earned our school the honor of being designated a Family Friendly School. Here is the LINK to Parent Council's informational page if you'd like to get involved.
Simply put... our families are at the heart of everything we do. Your involvement, whether at home, at school, or at special events, makes a lasting impact. We are grateful for the partnership we share with you and the example it sets for our students.
We are excited to share a great resource for our families and students: the Parent & Family Support Hub offered by the Indiana Learning Lab. This hub offers tutorials, guides, and tools to help you support your student’s learning journey (and feel more confident doing it!). Here’s how you can use the hub:
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Navigate tools and platforms - find step-by-step help with things like Canvas, assignments, and other educational technology.
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Understand assessments and standards - get clarity on state assessments, what the expectations are, and how to prepare.
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Get support anytime — access built-in help like chat features to ask questions when you’re stuck.
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Build skills together — families and students can use the tutorials to learn side by side, making homework time less stressful and more connected.
We encourage every family and student to log into the hub and explore what’s available - even if you just try one tutorial this month. It’s a simple step that can make a big difference in staying informed, confident, and ready to learn together.
Red Devil Pride, or RDP for short, is about our community coming together to celebrate the big moments and the daily life in our West Side Schools. We thank and appreciate all of YOU, our WL and WLCSC community members, who support our schools - from near and far, directly and indirectly - in countless ways. The investment and trust you put in our schools is the foundation for the work we do. The relationships we develop with one another as school staff, community members, students, and families are our greatest source of RDP.
Become a WLSEF Community Partner
In our mission to support West Lafayette schools, the West Lafayette Schools Education Foundation invites local businesses to become a Community Partner. Community Partners make an annual gift to the West Lafayette Schools Education Foundation to support the overall mission of the Foundation. The Foundation also offers event sponsorship opportunities for the annual Scarlet & Gray Dinner and Auction. The list of benefits for each partnership level can be found at https://wlsef.org/community-partners/.
The impact of Community Partners is tangible. As a WLSEF Community Partner, your gift will:
- Provide students with access to food and snacks through the Backpack Program, feeding students who are food insecure year-round;
- Provide additional resources and tools that teachers request to innovate and inspire through Teacher Grants;
- And ensure that West Lafayette schools remain a place of pride, promise, and possibility for every student, every day.
We invite local businesses to join in supporting West Lafayette schools as a WLSEF Community
Partner. Contact WLSEF today at wlsef@wl.k12.in.us or 765.269.4007.
We are eager to share the many sources of Red Devil Pride through the Red Devil Pen newsletter. We invite you to subscribe today to receive updates from WLCSC directly to your inbox. Email socialmedia@wl.k12.in.us to subscribe!