Lester Park School Newsletter

Feb 12...School Community Meeting 5:30-7pm (More Info Below)
Feb 13...Sweetheart Day - Wear a "Sweet" Outfit
Feb 16-20...NO SCHOOL (Winter Break)
Feb 27...Wear a Shirt with Words on It
Mar 2...NO SCHOOL (Staff PD Day)
Mar 5... PTA Family Science Night!
Mar 12...Go Green!
Mar 19...2026-27 Kindergarten Meet&Greet
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)

Other Helpful Links:

Lester Park Family School Handbook

School District Student Handbook

Lester Park Staff List by Grade/Dept

Previous Lester Park Newsletters

The 2026-27 School Year calendar is scheduled for School Board approval this evening. This means we will soon share this calendar with you!

The 2026-27 calendar will have start and end dates for the next school year, as well as any days that students will not have school.

Thank you to all of the families who donated food and beverages for our 2 main conference nights. The teachers so appreciated them!

A huge thank you also to Katie and the rest of our wonderful PTA for organizing this!

Dear Lester Park Community,

Thank you again for your support of the Fun Run this fall! This update shares some of the things that the Foundation has funded recently.

From October - January, we contributed to the following at Lester Park Elementary:

Backpack Food program
Spanish Club
Classroom materials (e.g., seating, lap desks, handwriting materials, puzzles, and math manipulatives)
School garden benches and prepped the space for winter
IXL subscriptions
Library books
Gave an annual $2,000 gift to the school for their discretionary spending

We will discuss more areas to support at our February meeting. If you have any input or suggestions, please share here.

In addition, we are working with the PTA to provide clarity on the roles of our two organizations. Stay tuned, we aim to share more by April.

If you have interest in joining the Foundation Board, please submit this form.

Thank you for your support of our school, and we wish you a good February ahead!

Lester Park Foundation Board

Flyer for February Spirit Days with floral and ribbon decorations, including event information for February 6, 13, and 27.

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

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.

The PTA will host a School Community Meeting February 12th from 5:30pm-7:00pm in the Library/Media Center.

The "Safe Routes to School" Team will join us to discuss how to safely walk/bike/roll to school. More info to come next week!

Flyer for "Girls on the Run" program with program details, event times, and registration information.

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.