The Red Devil Pen

At the West Lafayette Community School Corporation, we truly value the insights and feedback our families provide. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to share your thoughts—we're listening, and your input is helping us grow. We’re continuing our partnership with Possip to gather quick, meaningful feedback from families. We are taking all of your feedback and ideas into consideration as we plan for the future and follow up on what matters most. Your voice helps shape the future of our schools—thanks for being a part of the conversation!

We’ve heard from 216 of you so far this year. We are seeing that 93% of you are happy or mostly happy with West Lafayette Intermediate School in the most recent Possip report. We heard members of the community share examples of praise, appreciation, and feedback or questions.

• Praise for the high-quality education and learning environment the school provides
• Families appreciate how the school uses the feedback they are given to help take care of students
• Request to keep families up to date with specific information about student progress
• Families would like to see how the 1:1 technology is being utilized in the classrooms

One example of what we’ve heard is the need for improved communication when multiple teachers are involved in one student’s educational day. We’ve already begun working with grade-level teams to enhance this, making it easier for families to stay informed about what’s most important for their child. We also make sure that positive feedback is shared directly with teachers when one is mentioned specifically. We are actively listening and remain committed to improving. Our goal is to continue increasing the already high percentage of families who are happy or mostly happy with the education and support we provide to our students.

We’ve heard from 370 of you so far this year. We are seeing that 92% of you are currently happy or mostly happy with West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School.

Recently we heard members of the community share examples of praise, appreciation, and feedback or questions.

• Praise for the high academic rigor and educational opportunities offered by the school
• Families appreciate how teachers and staff seem invested in the outcomes of their students
• Curriculum feedback given around adding courses and reducing screen time
• Ideas shared about increasing opportunities for student recognition

We are taking all of your feedback and ideas into consideration for our future planning and follow-up.

Looking for ways to keep your child engaged and learning over the summer? The Indiana Learning Lab is a fantastic resource! The Lab offers a wide range of student-friendly tools to help with reading, math, STEM, and more. Parents can access digital activities, educational videos, and learning challenges designed to keep kids’ minds active during the break. Whether your student wants to review the basics, explore new topics, or just have some educational fun, the Indiana Learning Lab has something for every learner. It’s a great way to prevent the summer slide and start the next school year with confidence. Check it out at inlearninglab.com and make summer learning simple, fun, and stress-free!

As we celebrate school volunteers this month, we want to give a huge shoutout to the incredible folks who generously share their time, energy, and heart with our school community. This year, our volunteers have made a real difference - supporting students one-on-one, helping in classrooms, and pulling off fun events that brought joy to both kids and staff. One especially sweet moment came from a volunteer teaching Junior Achievement in kindergarten. After five visits, she left grinning, saying it was the highlight of her week - and based on the giggles coming from the room, the kids felt the same! Whether you're running a station at STEM Night, reading in the hallway, or helping a student choose the perfect book at the fair, your presence shows students that they are surrounded by people who care. That kind of support means the world. From Field Day to Book Fairs, many of our favorite events wouldn’t happen without you. Thank you for your kindness, dedication, and the joy you bring to our school. We’re so grateful - and simply better - because of you.

Our volunteers are truly amazing, and we’re so lucky to have them. They show up in countless ways - chaperoning field trips, serving on Parent Council, supporting Fun Nights, tutoring students, donating supplies, helping with clubs, speaking in classrooms, shelving books, and running the Book Fair. Thanks to their time and talents, we’re able to offer more personalized support and richer experiences for our students. One place their impact really shines is in our library. Whether they’re shelving books to keep up with our eager readers or stepping in during the Book Fair to help students shop while our librarian teaches, their help is essential. We even have a volunteer for each day of the week to make sure everything keeps running smoothly. These volunteers don’t just help - they become part of the magic. They connect with students, support staff, and help build the warm, caring climate we’re so proud of at WLIS. From Fun Nights to Field Day, they make it all happen, allowing teachers to focus on leading and students to feel supported and seen. WLIS is a special place to work and learn, and one of the biggest reasons is the unwavering support from our community. Volunteers help reduce student-to-adult ratios, offer encouragement, and bring extra energy into our halls. Together, we’re creating something truly wonderful for kids - and we couldn’t do it without them.

A Shoutout to Our Rockstar Parent Volunteers! A huge thank you for being the behind the scenes magicians for our student clubs and activities! Things like our performing arts, our athletic programs, events like the OCMC, clubs and other outstanding and award winning programs would not be possible or successful without your participation and dedication. The parent council is integral in celebrating and supporting our teachers with food, help, food and more food. These contributions and thankful gestures mean a lot to our dedicated professional educators.

We’re honored to celebrate the dedicated team members who became part of the West Lafayette Community School Corporation in 2010. Over the years, they’ve shown unwavering commitment to our students, their peers, and the values that guide our district. Their contributions—both inside the classroom and throughout our schools—continue to make a lasting difference every single day.

West Side Difference Makers is a quick and easy way for anyone in our community to show appreciation to our staff. Take the time to recognize a WL staff member today!

Nomination Form

Red Devil Pride, or RDP for short, is about our community coming together to celebrate the big moments and the daily life in our West Side Schools. We thank and appreciate all of YOU, our WL and WLCSC community members, who support our schools - from near and far, directly and indirectly - in countless ways. The investment and trust you put in our schools is the foundation for the work we do. The relationships we develop with one another as school staff, community members, students, and families are our greatest source of RDP.

Earlier this month, the Teacher Grant committee sent out notifications to all those who applied for a WLSEF teacher grant. Six grants were fully funded for a total of $5,724.99. The total awarded to WLCSC teachers this school year is $12,484.50. Spring semester grant recipients include:

1. Allison White - 40 copies of the book La Llorona de Mazatlan so that second year Spanish students can read a shared novel and learn about Mexican folklore and emphasize speaking in past tense.

2. Julie Bauerband - purchased Ouisi Vocabulary and Conversation Builders to help multilingual learners grow in their vocabulary and analytical skills.

3. Connie Workman - an all-school event where everyone reads books by the same author, leading to multi-age discussion groups, reading response activities, contests, daily trivia, and a culminating author visit.

4. Fran Heim - training in mindfulness and yoga to benefit students in Sports Nutrition classes.

5. Karla Gurk - meal planning, grocery shopping and food preparation for Essential Skills students.

6. Amanda Hart - adjustable mannequins and fabric for students to explore garment design, pattern making and fitting techniques.

Thank you to all those who support the teacher grant program with your contributions. We love helping teachers to bring creative ideas to life in their classrooms!

The Wall of Pride celebration took place on Thursday and Friday, April 10th and 11th. This is a wonderful partnership between the West Lafayette Schools Education Foundation, the West Lafayette Alumni Association and the Junior-Senior High School. Honorees visited classes and met with students prior to an afternoon Convocation for juniors and seniors, when the official Wall of Pride induction took place. The Wall of Pride began in 2016 and seeks to recognize outstanding alumni for career accomplishments, and beloved West Lafayette educators. You can read more about the Wall of Pride at https://wlsef.org/alumni/wallofpride/

We are eager to share the many sources of Red Devil Pride through the Red Devil Pen newsletter. We invite you to subscribe today to receive updates from WLCSC directly to your inbox. Email socialmedia@wl.k12.in.us to subscribe!