This Is How We Lakeview

This coming week is the last week of Quarter 1. Teachers will be working on finalizing and posting grades by Tuesday the 13th, and you can check Infinite Campus on Wednesday for the final Quarter 1 grades.

Tuesday, October 13th is our second and final opportunity for parent-teacher conferences this fall. If you have not scheduled a conference yet and still would like to, please reach out to any of your student's team teachers.

This past Tuesday, the district sent a message to all families that shared potential cuts, in addition to the already planned extracurricular cuts, if the November levy fails. I have included more detailed information below, and I encourage you to read through how those potential cuts would directly impact your student's experience at Lakeview.

Ben Baptist

Principal

Important Dates

Thursday, October 8th: End of Quarter 1

Friday, October 9th: No School - Teacher Record Day

Monday, October 12: No School for Students

Tuesday, October 13: No School - Conference Day

Friday, October 16th: Lunch with a Loved One (details and sign-up below)

Congratulations to our latest Lakeview Values recipients! This week, students were recognized for showing perseverance.

On Tuesday, the district sent out information detailing potential cuts, beyond the planned extracurricular cuts, if the November levy fails. The message discussed potential reductions, including some that directly impact Lakeview and the junior high level:

• Elimination of teaming
• An 8-period school day
• Fewer elective opportunities
• Decreased department and building budgets
• Decreased building administrative positions

I want to offer more clarity about what this could end up looking like at Lakeview:

• The first three bullet points ultimately mean a reduction of staff (the district is projecting a cut of 15-20 positions across the junior high level).
• Eliminating teaming ultimately looks like higher class sizes due to reduced teaching staff (estimate of 28-29 students in a class).
• An 8-period school day ultimately looks like removing Study Halls or an elective class from students' schedules.
• Fewer elective opportunities ultimately looks like moving from quarter-long electives to semester-long electives, which cuts students' elective opportunities in half.
• Decreased budgets ultimately looks like fewer instructional materials to enhance student learning in our classrooms. Department and building budgets were already reduced by 25% for this school year due to May's levy failure.
• Decreased building administrative positions could look like eliminating more assistant principal positions at our buildings. Please understand that our assistant principals are often the go-to person for many of our buildings. They typically are more visible than the building principal because 95% percent of their day is spent directly interacting with students, following up on concerns, collaborating with families, and ensuring students are set up for success in school.

Over the next few weeks, we are excited to share the experiences and stories of our former Lakeview students and PLSD alumni.

On the 16th, families will have a space reserved in our Aux Gym, so please sign up as soon as possible so we can plan for enough space. Due to having one fewer lunch period this year and the popularity of the event last year, we may have to close certain lunch periods once we reach a certain number of planned attendees.

Please note that Lakeview is not providing lunch. Since Lunch with a Loved One is a special occasion, we allow families to bring in outside food from restaurants.

A big thanks goes out to our PTO for putting together a Teen Night for our students on Friday, October 16th, from 7-9 pm.

The event will be held at Lakeview, in our Cafeteria and Gym. For $10, students get to enjoy a DJ, dance battle, photo booth, a free snack and drink, and various games and activities. For those students who are interested, they can enter a team into a 3v3 basketball tournament (separate registration).

To register, please fill out the Google Form embedded below.

We would also love volunteers! If you are interested in helping chaperone the event and have time, please click this volunteer link (also linked in the registration form) so we can approve you as a volunteer for that night.

If you have any questions, please reach out to PTO Vice President Taylor Ranger (t.marieranger@gmail.com).

During the month of September, we held two different attendance competitions with our students to drive home the importance of consistent attendance.

First, we held attendance competitions in our E/I classrooms to see which class could end up with the lowest average of days missed. Congratulations to Ms. White's E/I (Team B) and Mr. Bartos's E/I (Team A) for winning those competitions.

Second, any student who missed fewer than two days of school in September was entered into a raffle for Stay in the Game-themed swag. We hope to do this raffle every month. Congratulations to our first winners: Ava Bethune, Jude Cramer, Von Kadiri, Brayan Perez Baltazar, Corbin Perry, Matthew Rossiter, and Mikias Zewdu.

Ian Wood, 7th-grade ELA teacher at Lakeview, is planning a trip to Italy in Summer 2028, and your student is invited! This life-changing experience will help students build confidence, independence, and global perspective.

Find meeting info and RSVP here: https://rsvp.eftours.com/8vyvcj4

Why attend?

- Learn how to save $250 with early enrollment.

- Get first access to limited spots.
- Learn about what we’ll see and do, academic opportunities, trip cost, and more.

In the meantime, please visit EF’s website to get answers to common parent questions. EF Tours is our trusted travel partner, and they have 60 years of experience helping students explore the world safely and affordably

Don't wait until its too late and miss out on this year's yearbook! Click the image below to place an order and secure your 2027 yearbook!

I want to give a warm welcome to our new PTO Executive Board for the 2026-27 school year! We have had two great meetings to start the year and establish the vision for this year's PTO, and we are excited to get to work.

President: Jessica Hart

Vice President: Taylor Ranger

Secretary: Katie Vincer Sears

Treasurer: Pepper Chapman

Marketing/Communications Chair: Sheila Rossiter

The Executive Board is already hard at work planning events for our students and general fundraising events. If you are interested in helping out in any way, especially for planning for a potential Teen Night in October, please reach out to Jessica Hart (jekahart@gmail.com) or Taylor Ranger!

Congratulations to our September Students of the Month! Each month at Lakeview, teachers nominate students who go above and beyond to uphold our Lakeview Values of being Prepared, Respectful, showing Ownership, and being Safe. These students model these positive behaviors on a daily basis, and we are proud that they represent Lakeview.

Congratulations to our September nominees: Marni Canini, Rehan Chapagai, Nitai Das, Haima Farhoud, Lexi King-Crump, Chanelle Kwarteng-Duah, and Laila Turner.

Parent volunteers play a key role in shaping a positive school environment! The Parents on Positivity Patrol (PoPP) program brings caring adults into our schools to spread encouragement and support for students and staff. Together, we are a community!

Want to make a difference? Click the link to join #PoPP today!

This year, Reading Improvement and Monitoring Plans (RIMPs) are new to the junior high as current 7th-graders move up to our building. Progress monitoring for the RIMPs is done through both iReady diagnostic screeners and Acadience Benchmarking.

All students engage with iReady at least three times a year with the Fall, Winter, and Spring universal screener assessments. These assessments help us identify where math and/or reading gaps may exist, which allows us to provide targeted intervention to students to help close those gaps.

Acadience Benchmarking is provided to all students on a RIMP as well as students receiving RTI Reading services.

This year, one of our goals is to highlight our incredible students and staff through our new Instagram page. Each day, we plan to capture the learning in our classrooms, the excitement throughout the building, and the successes our students and staff experience. We hope you will follow us @lakeviewjuniorhigh!

Pickerington Schools will take reasonable steps to ensure that persons with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) have meaningful access and an equal opportunity to participate in all services, activities, and programs available throughout the district. It is the policy of PLSD to ensure meaningful communication with LEP students and families and to communicate information related to the education of all students. All services needed to comply with this policy will be provided for students and their families in need of such assistance free of charge. For assistance, please call 614-835-2083 or email deepak_dhakal@plsd.us.

Nepali Notice of Language Assistance

Spanish Notice of Language Assistance

French Notice of Language Assistance

We are happy to announce that the new North/Lakeview Athletics website is live! Be sure to bookmark the new website so you can watch for announcements, register through Final Forms, check schedules, and buy tickets. All coaches will be using this website for updates and announcements, so please check here if you have any questions.

When you go to the new site, you will need to hover over "Inside Athletics" at the top of the page and then click on the Final Forms links to begin registration for sports your child is interested in.

Don’t Miss Out! Support and Celebrate Pickerington’s Lacrosse Programs at the upcoming LAX ON THE LINKS event, October 24 at Homestead Springs Golf Course.

Gather your foursome and register today!
https://events.golfstatus.com/event/lax-on-the-links/

The family also shared that they are disappointed that they no longer have the ability to email their student on their PLSD Google email. This has been a frustrating change for us here in the building as well. Many of our procedures are built around the ability of our students to email their parents/guardians, so not having that as an option anymore has been something we have been trying to work through. We currently are trying to work with the Technology Department on workarounds that would allow students to email their parents/guardians while also keeping students safe in a digital world.

Office Hours: 6:45 am - 3:15 pm

Email: ben_baptist@plsd.us
Website: https://ljhs.plsd.us/
Location: 12445 Ault Road, Pickerington, OH, USA
Phone: (614) 830-2200
Facebook: Lakeview_JH_PLSD

Instagram: @lakeviewjuniorhigh