We had a great first two days of the 24-25 school year. Earlier today, our 7th-grade students were led through an assembly and activity rotations by our staff and 8th-grade WEB Leaders. Judging by the photos below, I think it's safe to say they enjoyed their first experience of junior high.

A big takeaway for our staff from the first two days is how well our students engaged with our revised Personal Communication Devices expectations. We had zero issues with cell phones, and staff commented that it was great to see students with their heads up and talking with their peers in the hall, rather than looking at their phone with their head down. I shared with the 8th-grade students, especially, that I was impressed with how well they lived up to our expectations.

Next week, we hit the ground running with both grade levels in the building on Monday. Monday will still be an adjustment for many students since over 900 students will be walking the halls, but based on these first two days, we know our students are ready to embrace the 24-25 school year.

Ben Baptist

Principal

Important Dates

Monday, August 19th: Both grade levels report

Monday, September 2nd: No School - Labor Day

Check out photos from this morning's 7th-grade Staggered Start assembly and activity rotations.

One of our building goals this year is to increase the number of opportunities our families have to engage with our school. If you are interested in helping Lakeview in any way this year -- e.g., Parents on Positivity Patrol, overseeing study sessions, volunteering to help run family events, etc. -- please fill out the form below indicating your interest!

We will periodically reach out throughout the year whenever we could use volunteers.

As we look ahead to Monday with all students on campus, please keep in mind that traffic can get extremely backed up in the morning, especially with the road construction around our campus. Being stuck in traffic is not an excused tardy, so please plan accordingly. You can start dropping off students as early as 6:45 am; they will wait by the main office until 7:00 am to be let into the rest of the building.

• There is a split lane in front of the school.
• The lane next to the curb is for drop-off only.
• The lane to the left is for parking only.
• Once all buses clear and a staff member directs cars, the left lane can be used for drop-off.
• Do NOT use the left lane for drop-off until a staff member is directing cars into that lane.
• You may NOT park and drop off your student. If you are parking and coming into the building, please walk with your child to cross the flow of traffic.
• Your child should be prepared to exit the car when stopped anywhere along the white dividing line.
• If traffic does not stop, you should pull all the way up to the yellow sign that says “Stop Buses Only.”
• Students can enter through the main doors near the office or through Door Y (to the right of the main office).

This plan is designed to make drop-off safe for our students and more efficient for our parents. We appreciate your cooperation and help in keeping our students safe.

As many of you already know, Ohio recently passed a state law requiring school districts across the state to develop a policy that limits students' use of cell phones during the school day. While the requirement does not take effect until the beginning of next school year, as a building, we have seen the negative effects that cell phones have on our students for the past several years.

In addition to lowered engagement in class, cell phones also are the number-one contributor to student-to-student issues in our building. We believe that when cell phones are no longer a temptation and no longer a distraction, students are better served in the classroom and with their social interactions as well.

At Lakeview, our expectation for our students is that their Personal Communication Devices (PCDs) -- including AirPods and smart watches -- are powered off and stored out of sight from when they enter the building until the end of the school day (exceptions include IEP/504 accommodations and medical necessity). We know this is going to be a major change for some of our students, and we want to work with our families to make sure that we can support our students as they adjust to this change. We will work with grace early on as we help students understand the reasoning behind our expectation.

To enforce our expectation, we will progress through consequences if students repeatedly break our expectation. The first time, the student will be issued a warning. The second time, the student will be issued a lunch detention. Starting with the third time, the student will be referred to the office for additional consequences. Each time a student has their phone/device out during the school day, administration will take the phone/device for the day and store it in a locked container. On the first instance, the student can pick up their device at the end of the day. Starting with the second instance, we ask that a parent/guardian pick up the device after the day has ended.

If our families need to get in contact with their student(s) during the school day, we encourage them to send an email to the student's school Gmail account or call the Main Office (614-830-2200) and we will have the student come to the office.

Please understand that our intent for this expectation is to help to teach students better, more responsible use with their cell phone while in school. We appreciate your support and your willingness to work alongside us.

Please note the building-wide approach to late/missing work for students. All students have up to two days after the original assignment deadline to turn in work for full credit (no points deducted). After the two days, the student will no longer earn credit for the work; however, we still encourage the student to complete the assignment in order to receive feedback, and to prepare for the unit assessment.

If you missed the deadline to order your PTO-sponsored spirit wear, don't worry! Starstrukt Apparel is still accepting orders, though they will be delivered after the original Open House date. Orders already placed by the August 5th deadline will be able to be picked up during Open House. Click here to visit the website and begin your order.

If you are interested in supporting our Lakeview staff and students by joining our PTO, we would love to have you! Please reach out to Tiffany Appollonio, PTO President, at lakeviewpickpto@gmail.com to learn more.

Our school spirit wear shop is currently running their Back-to-School sale, offering 30% off all items and free shipping on orders over $75. The sale runs through September 10th. This is a great way to represent Lakeview and support us at the same time!

The athletic website for both PHSN & LJH is now live. Use the https://pickeringtonpanthers.org/ to watch for announcements! All coaches will be using this website for updates and announcements, so please check here if you have any questions. When you go to https://pickeringtonpanthers.org/ you will need to click on "more" and then Final Forms is under "Athletic Registration".

This form will be linked in each Community Corner update, allowing families to offer feedback to the counseling and administrative team regarding social justice, mental health, academic support, friendships/relationships, etc. Counselors and administrators will review the feedback on a weekly basis and send out any updates to concerns/questions in the next Community Corner update.

Office Hours 6:45 am - 3:15 pm

Email: ben_baptist@plsd.us
Website: https://www.pickerington.k12.oh.us/Domain/19
Location: 12445 Ault Road, Pickerington, OH, USA
Phone: (614) 830-2200
Facebook: Lakeview_JH_PLSD
Twitter: @lakeview_jh