LISD School Newsletter

In my experience, Valentine's Day is way more fun at a school than it is out there in the grown-up world! It's a celebration of friendship. On the elementary side, parents dropped off treats all day long, and students had fun Valentine's Day parties in their classrooms at the end of the day. On the secondary side, Safe San Juans brought a carnation and a Lobo lanyard to every student, AND the Spanish club sold and delivered candy grams as a club fundraiser. The Lopez Island Farming Education (LIFE) program also had a Valentine fundraiser, selling real roses and chocolate roses, which we delivered to both elementary and secondary classrooms.

I was reading a story to the 1st grade class early this week, and I asked, "What is Valentine's Day all about?" One student said, "It's a day to celebrate the people you love," and we all agreed that this sounded just right. In my conversations with students, not just on Valentine's Day, I often challenge them to find things to love about each other and about the adults who support them at school. This advice came to me from an LISD parent who was telling me a story about a family member. In honor of Valentine's Day, I'll share it with you as I do with our students...and also try to remember myself on a daily basis. When someone's opinion, behavior, habits, or mannerisms are driving you crazy, challenge yourself to look underneath the surface to explore the root cause of your own feelings, and try to also find something to love about the person. It helps.

Happy Valentine's Week! My heart of full of love for our community, our school, our students and families, and staff, and educators everywhere.

All my best,

Martha

We could use some more folks on our team!

We have an urgent need for Paraeductors. Even if you only have a few hours to give a week - we can find a place for you. Come support our students in a meaningful way and enhance their overall school and learning experience. This job offers flexible hours, benefits at 20 hours a week and pays between $21 and $25 an hour.

We also are seeking a Middle School Track coach. Middle school track is scheduled to start on March 25 but if we don't get a coach we will have a lot of very disappointed middle schoolers.

We also have many substitute opportunities including maintenance, school bus drivers, paraeducators, and certificated teachers.

Please see our website for more information and details about how to apply.

On Thursday of this week, we had posole with local pork and all the toppings...including homemade chips, a whole selection of veggies, fruit and cottage cheese. This is a photo of Martha's lunch tray, and she was so excited to share this gorgeous selection of colorful, healthy, nutritious food made from scratch by John Shaw and the kitchen crew.

One thing every person on Lopez Island can do to support our school is to write our lawmakers asking them to work on fixing the flaws in how the state funds public education. Small rural schools in high cost of living areas - like ours - get shorted in a major way that has severely hurt our budget. The fix needs to come from the lawmakers. LISD has drafted a template email that you can copy and paste and send to our legislators advocating for change. Please take 10 minutes and send these notes along. If every family in LISD sends an email - that will make a huge impact!

Template letter and email addresses for our lawmakers can be found here.

Earlier this month, members of the Lopez GSA met up with queer teens from Orcas and San Juan Island for a fun bowling outing Friday Harbor. A good time was had by all! We hope for more interisland activities and opportunities for our students to connect going forward.

Planning is well underway for the LIPTSA Talent Show! Save the date and get your tickets now! We have a set amount of tickets available and we will not be able to sell additional tickets after we reach our limit. Links below are for ticket sales, volunteers, and talent sign up. We are looking forward to another amazing LISD community event on March 23rd!

Talent Sign Up

Ticket Purchase (All kids are FREE!)

Volunteer Sign up

The Lopez Island Clinic is offering two upcoming dates for sports physicals. They are scheduled on days where school is not in session. If your student plays sports - or might play sports in the next year or two - this is a good opportunity to get the sports physical taken care of. Sports physicals are valid for two years and are required to be on file before a student can attend a practice.

Thank you Pack, the Melvin family for donating the crab, and all the volunteers who made this event so wonderful...and for all your support of our student athletes and our athletic programs.

School Chef John Shaw is once again offering knife sharpening service on Fridays. This service is a fundraiser for the school's LIFE (Lopez Island Farm Education) program.

The cost is $10 per person +$2/in per knife. So if you bring in three knives that are 6 in long it would be $46 total.

Sharpening happens on Fridays, ideally you would drop them off in the morning and then John will have them done before 3pm. Email jshaw@lopezislandschool.org to get the next available slot.

What clubs/athletics/extracurriculars have you been involved in? I’ve been involved in both the Spanish Club and golf team for two years, counting this year. I’ve also been in GSA but I’m sorry that I’ve been so busy so I’ve been slipping away from that. I was the 11th grade ASB rep last year.

What is one positive memory from your time here that you’ll carry with you forever? I’ll remember the names of my good friends….Valentina, Amelia, Sherlin, Melissa, Ruby E., and Abril….because I have amazing memories of them that are tied to their names

What is the best piece of advice you have received from a teacher? Mr. Torres said, “If you want to build trust and earn respect in any relationship, be it friends, people you work with, or other students, always act with honesty and integrity. In my humble opinion, those are the true marks of loyalty.” This was good advice because it changed my opinion about friendship.

Finish this sentence: “I cannot live without…….” I cannot live without music because it’s a way to balance my emotions and relax me. Music has been an anchor for me to not do things out of the usual. I like K-Pop, R & B, and Mexican music.

What is the most creative excuse you have ever used to get out of school work? I used to say that it was all done and at home and that my mom was going to bring it later. She never did, but it bought me some extra time to finish it.

What is one piece of advice you have for incoming high school students? Make the best out of high school. You’ll never have a chance to go back and fix something. Life has all these adventures that you can go on, but just don’t go on the “slacking off” adventure. Trust me…you’ll regret it.

What is the most meaningful assignment ever given to you by a teacher? A recent assignment in Mr. Berg’s Mythology class where he gave us the freedom to make our own myth. I got the chance to express myself in writing. Instead of writing an essay about a book, I got to write a myth from my own inspiration.

What’s the most important quality in a friendship? Why? I would say trust. When you trust your friends, you feel safe sharing your thoughts and being yourself around them. It’s also the foundation for all the other qualities, like honesty, support, and respect. Trust is a glue that holds us all together.

In 10 years, I will be… I will be someone who is enjoying and making the best out of his life, and not letting obstacles slow him down. That’s something I’m still working on. I cling on to one mistake. I want to study forensic science…maybe be a blood splatter analyst or work for the FBI.

Who/what do you find inspiring? Growing up, I’ve been inspired by my parents. As a kid, I never fully grasped the struggles they had to face. Now I see the strength it took to make tough tasks look effortless. They always put their needs aside to take care of things. That outlook is truly inspiring.

What song summarizes your feelings about graduating from high school? I chose “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish because at the end it says “something I’m made for,” and that makes me think that I don’t know what I really want to be in life. Nobody really does. You're the one with the pen in your hand and the paper, so you’re supposed to write your own journey and become something and succeed in that.

What are your plans after high school? I’m thinking about going to a four year college and studying forensics. I want to start right away, but there is still a chance I’ll take a gap year to enjoy time with my parents. I’m weighing the pros and cons.

Is there anything else you want people to know about you? I had a hard path through high school and had a lot of difficult experiences. But you can persevere and not let things drive you down. You can’t let a single assignment or one thing be your status. High school became a wonderful experience because of my mindset and great friends. I’m ready to go off to college and open up a new chapter.

Brady Smith, Superintendent

Martha Martin, K-12 Principal

The Lopez Island School District does not discriminate in any programs or activities on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following employee(s) has been designated to handle questions and complaints of alleged discrimination: Civil Rights Compliance Coordinator, and Title IX Coordinator Brady Smith, HR Specialist Beth Stanford; Section 504, Mary Fordham. OR contact by phone, 360-468-2202, OR mail to 86 School Rd, Lopez Island, WA 98261.