Lester Park School Newsletter

TOMORROW, Feb 27...Wear a Shirt with Words
This Monday, Mar 2...NO SCHOOL (Staff PD Day)
Mar 3...Lockdown Drill
Mar 3-10...Student Art Exhibit at Miller Mall
Mar 5... PTA Family Science Night!
Mar 12...Go Green!
Mar 19...2026-27 Kindergarten Meet&Greet
Mar 20...Rock Your Socks! Day
Mar 30-Apr 3...NO SCHOOL (Spring 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)

2026-27 District Calendar HERE

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 for students this Monday, March 2. It is a district-wide Professional Development Day for all Duluth Public School staff.

Lester Park School will open up later in the day for the City of Duluth community meeting. More information below in this newsletter.

Thanks to last week's snowstorm, we have a huge snow hill on the east end of our school parking lot. We are hoping it will be removed soon.

The snow hill is a safety issue, especially the west side which goes down into the parking lot exit lane. For this reason, we are asking parents to not let their children play on this snow hill. In the past, we have witnessed a child slide down and right in front of a car.

Thank you ~ Lester Park Office

Lester Park Families are able to order yearbooks through Jostens until the supply runs out. Yearbooks cannot be purchased in the office. Please do not send money to school. Purchased yearbooks will be given to students after Memorial Day.

You have probably received several Jostens emails about how to order Yearbooks. You can also find this information here: JOSTENS YEARBOOK WEBSITE

Payment Options:

Jostens has a variety of flexible payment options available at checkout! Order your student's yearbook and choose the payment method that works best for you: Apple Pay, Afterpay, Venmo, PayPal or credit card. Terms Apply.

Throughout the school year, we practice several different safety drills in order to be prepared for an unexpected event at school. Below are the remaining dates for this school year's drills. Note: drill dates are subject to change; families will be notified in the event that the date of a drill is changed.

Please contact your child's teacher at least 24 hours prior if you prefer that your child does not participate in one of our lockdown drills.

Lockdown Drill:

March 3

April 16 - MN/WI & School Severe Weather Drills

Fire Drills:

May 12

May 21

The 2026 Duluth Public Schools Student Art Exhibition (celebrating Youth Art Month) will be opening for public display next week, March 3-10 outside of Barnes & Noble at the Miller Hill Mall. The exhibition will feature distinguished artworks created by student artists hailing from every single school in the Duluth Public School district, including 18 of Lester Park Elementary’s finest artists! Come show some support for your fellow students and their amazing creativity and hard work!

Congratulations to this year’s selected student artists, we are honored to have you representing the creativity and artistic accomplishments of all Lester Park Labs!

KG - Nico & Naomi

1st - Rose, & Finn

2nd - Slyvie W

3rd - Marlowe, Allie, Ida & Josiah

4th - Everett, Charlotte & Lena

5th - Donovan, Hadley, Charlotte K, Max J, Stella & Nora

There will be a closing reception on Tuesday, March 10th from 5-7pm. It will be an event to celebrate student creativity and artistic achievement. Everyone is invited to attend and there will be juice and cookies to enjoy!

Promotional poster for a student art exhibition with event details and various artwork images displayed.

The 19th Annual Lester Park March Food Drive will run from March 3-27th. All of the food donated will be given to the Union Gospel Mission. In the past, Lester Park School has been one of the biggest donators!

Be sure to first check the dates on the non-perishable food you are donating. They will take food that is up to 1-year expired.

Classrooms will have their own boxes. The top 3 classroom donations will receive a treat from one of the following businesses:

Sammy's Lakeside

The Scoop on 47th

Cub Foods

Thank you for supporting the Lester Park March Food Drive!

The PTA has 2 fun events scheduled in March. They are looking for volunteers to help out with the annual Family Science Night and the "Go Green!" events. Please click on the links below to see when you can help out:

Science Night - March 5

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040D4CABAD29AAF58-62124753-science

Go Green! - March 12

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040D4CABAD29AAF58-62124901-gogreen

The City of Duluth will hold its first Public Open House will be at Lester Park Elementary!

What: Join the first public open house for the future of the Lester Park Golf Course. Learn about work to date, and offer ideas on what you would like to see happen at the site.
When: March 2 nd , 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Where: Lester Park Elementary School Gym

If you can't make it, you can take this survey to share your input: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LPGCSurvey1.

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 - especially Flu and GI 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.