Lebanon Public Schools

– Henry Ford

We are excited to share with you the careful planning and consideration that has gone into crafting the 2024-2025 education budget. Our commitment to providing quality education for all remains unwavering, and this budget reflects our dedication to meeting the needs of students, educators, and families.

Amidst challenging financial times, we remain committed to prioritizing education while balancing the needs of our community. The careful planning and consideration that have gone into crafting the education budget reflect our understanding of the importance of investing in our future, even amidst financial constraints

Every aspect of the education budget has been thoughtfully examined to ensure that it maximizes resources for learning and development. From investing in modern teaching tools to supporting professional development for educators, we are prioritizing initiatives that will enhance the educational experience and prepare our students for success.

We recognize the importance of education as the foundation for a thriving community, and we are confident that this budget will enable us to create opportunities for every student to reach their full potential. Your feedback and involvement are crucial as we work together to shape the future of education in Lebanon.

Thank you for your continued support and partnership in this important endeavor.

Please see the adjusted school calendar as a result of the latest weather event. Note that the new last day of school is June 13th. With March right around the corner I am hopeful that we will not have anymore school cancellations.

We had 516 students who had perfect attendance in the month of February! Let's keep moving this number up as the spring months come around. Regular student attendance is critical to success in school.

Curriculum Spotlight

By: Rita Quiles-Glover, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment

February Professional Development focused on Restorative Practices, which directly addresses district goal #1: The school community will provide a safe, positive, respectful, and inclusive culture that demonstrates a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. Teachers use the PD session to delve deeper into Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions and strategies.

Restorative practices refer to a range of strategies, principles and techniques that focus on building and repairing relationships, resolving conflicts and promoting community well-being. These practices, rooted in principles of respect, inclusivity, empathy and accountability can take various forms. These include, but are not limited to: restorative circles, conferences, mediation and restorative justice processes. These approaches are seen as alternatives to traditional punitive measures, and aim to address root causes of conflict while promoting long-term healing and reconciliation. In schools, restorative practices can help reduce disciplinary issues, improve student behavior/engagement and create a more positive learning environment.

This professional development day also allowed teachers an opportunity to collaborate and valuable time to reflect on connections with students to foster understanding and empathy.

Parent Meetings

The monthly parents’ meetings were canceled for the remainder of the year due to minimal attendance. Please complete the following form to help us plan enriching opportunities for next school year:

https://www.lebanonct.org/page/special-education-documents

What is new in special education?

At your next Planning and Placement Team (PPT) meeting, you will hear a team member read a version of the following statement:

"The procedural safeguards explain student and parent rights under IDEA and identify dispute-resolution options, including the right to voluntarily engage in mediation. An explanation is in A Parent's Guide to Special Education 2021 beginning on page 37.

The PPT is a collaborative process. Our district is committed to partnering with you to develop appropriate programming for your child.”

Here is a link to the guide:

https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/SDE/Special-Education/Parents_Guide_SE.pdf

As a reminder, there is a wealth of information on our website:

https://www.lebanonct.org/page/department-of-pupil-services

If you have any questions or concerns regarding special education, please contact:

Dawn DeLia, Director of Pupil Services

dawn.delia@lebanonct.org

860-642-5636

Lebanon Elementary School held its annual Family Literacy Night on February 8th. This year's theme was Read Your Heart Out This Winter. Families visited several different rooms throughout the building to participate in literacy activities for students in grades PreK-4. Rooms included For the Love of STEM, Snuggle Up With a Good Book, Winter Animals, Keep Calm and Read, and many more. A special thank you goes out to our LES PTA for supplying cookies and cocoa and having the Scholastic Book Fair open that evening. 78 LES students and well over 100 family members attended this fun event. Thank you to all of our LES staff volunteers for making this event a success for our community.

Lyman Memorial's Contemporary Ensemble traveled to Windham Hospital on February 7 to perform at their Go Red Event, a nationwide event in support of women's heart health. They performed a set list during a celebration breakfast that was being hosted for the doctors and nurses. Members of Contemporary Ensemble are Abigail Hundley and Rowan LaFleur on vocals, Mr. Baird Welch-Collins on guitar, Geneveieve Gardella on piano, Trent Goins on bass guitar and Holden LeMay on drums.

To kickoff Future Farmers of America week, our Lebanon Memorial High School students visited learners at Lebanon Elementary School and made paracord necklaces and led them through other activities.

The Lyman/Windham Tech co-op wrestling team had a phenomenal season. The team went 4-0 in the division which clinched them the ECC D3 title. They finished the regular season 20-3 overall. This was the best record in Lyman/Windham Tech program history!

They followed up this historic regular season by placing 9 wrestlers and scoring 155 points at the ECC Championships which was good enough to place them 4th out of 15 competing teams. This was highlighted by Hunter Sanchez capturing the ECC title at 120lbs.

The Co-op kept it rolling at the CIAC Class S State Championships by finishing as runner-ups, placing 7 wrestlers and scoring 158.5 points.

Congrats to the coaches and student-athletes on a great season!

Our indoor track student-athletes also excelled this winter. Below are some highlights from the Class S State Championships:

Junior Laurelin Boyer- 4th place in Pole Vault, (9' 6") State Open qualifier

Sophomore Sylvie Hiltz- 7th place in the 3200m (12:29)

Senior Ella Caplet- 10th place in the 300m (44.91)

Boys 4 x 200m Relay- 5th place (1:37.35) members included Seniors Jeremiah Bobbi, Kyle Franchi, Kenyon Morrissette and Junior Nick Zaprianov

Senior Kyle Franchi- 6th place in pole vault (11' 6")

Senior Jeremiah Bobbi 8th place 55m (6.84) 8th place in the 300m (36.98)

Senior Kenyon Morrissette 9th place in the 55m (6.85)

I am happy to announce the winner of the 2024 American Legion Oratorical Contest is Grace Kelley. In second place was Laurelin Boyer and in third place was Lexi Zimnoch.

Grace now moved on to the district contest and won there as well. She will next be competing in the state-level competition.

To win, contestants needed to write and memorize an 8-10 minute speech about why The U.S. Constitution is important to them. Then, they have 5 minutes to create and memorize a 3-5 minute speech about the amendment drawn that night. Last night's was the 23 amendment - definitely not an easy one. Please congratulate all three contestants - they all did an excellent job!

Last spring we surveyed our community to find out if there was a need for our schools to provide a school day preschool option. Subsequently, the state legislature passed the new Kindergarten entry age requirement. As a result of both we began plans to create a school day PK classroom. We have worked with an Eastconn consultant and made nice progress towards beginning this new and exciting endeavor. Much of what has been done thus far has been behind the scenes work to conduct an inventory, develop enrollment paperwork, establish a scoring rubric for entrance criteria and create communications to be shared with families. We are at a point now that information is going home/out to the community and we will begin accepting applications. The staffing for this position will be done through an internal transfer as we will be reducing a Kindergarten section due to low enrollment.

Lebanon Public Schools actively seeks to assist children and families by locating, identifying, and referring children from birth to age 22 who require special education and related services. If you are concerned about a child's development, you are encouraged to contact Lebanon Elementary School to receive information about Early Childhood Screenings.

If the child is younger than 3 years of age, you may choose instead to contact the Connecticut Birth to Three System at 1-800-505-7000.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact 860-642-5636.

House Bill 6880 raised the Kindergarten starting age from age 5 by January 1, to age 5 by September 1 of a given year.

General Statute 10-15c(a) reads "A student may be admitted early upon a written request by the parent or guardian of such child to the Principal of the school in which such child would be enrolled and following an assessment of such child by such Principal and an appropriate staff member of the school to ensure that admitting such child is developmentally appropriate"

We understand that we have families and students that this will impact. We have already met several times as an administrative team to discuss supporting our community with this change. More information about plans that are in progress will be shared at future preschool screenings, kindergarten orientations, during the registration process and in ongoing Superintendent Updates.

Families, please feel free to send photos of our students in action so that I can celebrate them in the Superintendent Updates. Thanks for helping share our Lebanon Pride! andrew.gonzalez@lebanonct.org

Human Rights Close to Home (HRCH), an initiative created by Dodd Impact Human Rights Programs in collaboration with the Neag School of Education, engages educators and youth in the development and implementation of human rights education. Its goal is to encourage civic action in order to strengthen democracy and respect for human rights in our Connecticut communities and beyond.

On January 9, 2024 eleven Lyman Memorial High School students attended the 3rd annual Human Rights Close to Home Youth Summit, held at the University of Connecticut. They had a great time attending the conference! They were able to sign up ahead of time for their workshops or seminars, the vast majority were run by high school and college students. Two sophomores were so excited by the conference, they now want to join the student committee that runs the conference and fold it into their senior projects!

Thanks go to Mr. Brodie for organizing this trip and providing the write up and photos.

Sabena Escott, MSW sabena.escott@lebanonct.org

Lyman Memorial High School Social Worker and District Family Care Coordinator

With legislation over the summer, a family care coordinator has been added to the growing number of mental health staff that CT recognizes will further support our children and families in the school setting. The family care coordinator role already encompasses what our Lebanon school district mental health teams provide for students and families. Providing students with access to mental health resources within the community and bringing mental health services to students inside of the school has always been a priority in our district. Please reach out if there are any specific mental health topics, community programs, therapeutic referrals or town programs and resources that you would like to know more about. Below are a few programs and resources for students and families.

The Lebanon School District is excited to announce a new resource for any family that sends a child to a school in the Lebanon district, as well as the agencies/businesses/staff in those towns. Through our middle and high school School Based Diversion Initiative grant, we are excited to offer for free, the Peace at Home Parenting program through June 30, 2024. In partnership with Colchester, this community parenting, education and support program, utilizes an online subscription which provides a series of monthly workshops for parents/guardians, including, parenting children and teens, parent self-care, understanding developmental milestones, sibling communication, balancing children’s academics and after school activities, and many more. Classes are designed to cover age ranges from birth to young adults, so there is something for everyone!

All of these classes are FREE! Once registered, you can join any monthly live interactive class and attend recorded 10 Minute Videos through your smart phone, tablet or computer. During live online interactive classes you will be able to ask questions, get practical, evidence-based solutions and receive handouts with important learning points. There is even access to over 150 on-demand videos, monthly Q&A and private Facebook group resources.

Working together, our hope is that students continue to thrive at home and come to school more resilient and ready to learn!

Lebanon Social Services Office offers a variety of services to Lebanon children, adults, and seniors. Social Services Administrator Shelly Ashcom works with federal, state, and local organizations to provide assistance to Lebanon residents in need. Town of Lebanon Social Services

*The use of the resources/programs in this section are not required by LPS to be used by parents/guardians. They are recommendations only.*

Call or text a trained crisis counselor to talk:

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. They’re free and available 24/7:
  Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org

• Trevor Project (crisis intervention & suicide prevention for the LGBTQ community): 1-866-488-7386 or Text 678678

• Crisis Text Line: text CTL to 741741

NIMH offers brochures and fact sheets on mental health disorders and related topics for children, adolescents and their families. Printed materials can be ordered free of charge. Brochures and fact sheets in English and Spanish.

Housing and Homeless Services can be accessed through Coordinated Access Networks (CAN). Persons are prioritized for housing services based on an assessment to be completed after calling 211.

Housing and Homeless Services

Lebanon Public Schools is now in the App Store. On your phones, in the "app store" you can search Lebanon Public Schools and you should see our logo. Please install as another way to get notifications and news from our school district.

Scan these QR Codes and be brought to our Lebanon Public Schools webpage or the Superintendent Instagram page!

The Lebanon Public Schools, in partnership with families and the community, will prepare students to be contributing members of a diverse global society. We will provide a safe, nurturing, rigorous, and student-centered learning environment.

The school community of Lebanon is committed to the mission of honoring and celebrating the diversity of our students, our community, and our nation. We strive to guide our students to conscious, deliberate, individual and collective actions that cultivate the respect of all races, religions, and social backgrounds. Our school community endeavors to produce graduates who are equipped with a greater understanding of the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The Lebanon Board of Education, in compliance with federal and state law, affirms its policy of equal educational opportunity for all students and equal employment opportunity for all persons. It is the policy of the District to promote nondiscrimination and an environment free of harassment and the District does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, alienage, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, age, disability, pregnancy, genetic information, gender identity or expression, veteran status or any other category protected under state or federal law in the admission or access to, or treatment or employment in, its program or activities. The District also provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups and is specifically required by Title IX not to discriminate on the basis of sex in its programs and activities. The District shall make reasonable accommodations for individuals with identified physical and mental impairments that constitute disabilities, consistent with federal and state statutes and regulations.

The following person has been designated to handle inquires regarding Title IX sex discrimination policies: Dawn DeLia, Title IX Coordinator, 891 Exeter Road, Lebanon, CT; 860-642-5764

The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding other non-discrimination policies: Dawn DeLia, 504/ADA Coordinator, 891 Exeter Road, Lebanon, CT; 860-642-5764

Email: andrew.gonzalez@lebanonct.org
Website: https://www.lebanonct.org/
Location: 891 Exeter Road, Lebanon, CT, USA
Phone: 860-642-5637