The Red Devil Pen
West Lafayette Community School Corporation
What were our Students and Staff up to in February?
From the Elementary School's Kindergarten and First grade movie night and Kindness Week, the Intermediate School's Spelling Bee and Battle of the Books, to the Jr/Sr High hosting the annual One Community Many Cultures Celebration and announcing its new principal, it has been a busy February! We look forward to seeing what's in store for March!
We have created a way for WLCSC families and community members to Appreciate, Recognize, and Thank (A.R.T.) our WLCSC employees through filling out a google form. We have had this in place for employees wanting to recognize their colleagues, but we wanted to open it up to our community as well. Read below for more information and the link to the form. Thank you!
Join Us in Recognizing our Amazing WLCSC Staff!
Appreciative and supportive communities and families help employee retention, boost job satisfaction, and contribute to positive and healthy school cultures - all of which indirectly benefits our students. We invite our families and community members to recognize anyone who works in the WLCSC.
We hope you will join us in showing appreciation for those in our schools whose difference making reaches you on personal level!
- Send appreciation with your name or anonymously.
- Of course, the A.R.T. program does not replace a kind word or a personalized communication; we just wanted to provide our supportive community another opportunity to connect.
- Please send appreciation by the 15th of each month.
Navigate HERE to fill out a short recognition form and send some smiles to those who work so hard for our students and schools.
Incoming WLJSHS Principal, Mr. Rodgers, shares a letter of introduction.
Click the Letter to View it in a Larger Format.
WLCSC By The Numbers
The district greatly appreciates the support of the community in our recent referendum renewal. After completing one of our required financial statements (form 9), we thought we would share a breakdown of what the Operating Referendum Fund was used for in 2023.
- Total revenue in the Operating Referendum Fund amounted to $7,280,749.26 in property taxes and other miscellaneous tax revenue.
- Total expenditures amounted to $7,893,538.04 and covered a wide variety of expenditures including 1) teacher salaries and benefits, 2) general maintenance, custodial, and security expenditures, utilities 3) transportation wages and benefits, and other transportation expenditures such as contract agreements, and 4) general maintenance equipment.
A breakdown of expenditures by major spending category are below:
School Board News
The February Board meeting was February 12th at 6pm. During this meeting students from the Intermediate School were honored for their participation in general music, band, orchestra, and art at school, and a new principal was announced!
The next meeting will be earlier in the month due to Spring Break. It will be held on Monday, March 4th at 6:00pm at Happy Hollow.
School Board documents and information are always available to our community on the district website.
A Letter from School Board President, Amy Austin
Click the Letter to View it in a Larger Format.
West Lafayette Elementary School
February at WLES has been busy! We have been fortunate to have several community members help us in celebrating Black History Month and the Lunar New Year! Thanks to the organization of Parent Council Vice President Donna Rayman, all WLES students enjoyed a Black History Month convocation with visits from four community members who shared how their occupations support our community. Our students asked fantastic questions and loved getting to meet such leaders in the community (see photos included). Mrs. Wayman’s first grade class learned about the Lunar New Year as parents came in to share traditions with the class. We love how our diverse community is willing to share their traditions and customs so that we may learn from one another!
February also brought our students and staff the opportunity to focus on kindness. We celebrated with dress up days, a lesson with our school counselor, and opportunities to share kindness through daily messages on the announcements. Students were eager to write examples of kindness they experienced with peers and staff members. This was such a heartwarming experience for all! We were also able to partner with the West Lafayette Dance Marathon group from the high school to host the VIP Dance with proceeds going to support Riley Hospital for Children. This was such a fun event and we appreciate the partnership with our high school friends!
Sara Delaney
WLES Principal
West Lafayette Intermediate School
Partnerships with families come in many ways. Several of our parents and guardians are involved in our Parent Council. Each year our Parent Council organizes many activities for students and staff. The students love our grade level Fun Nights that are organized and supervised by our wonderful volunteers.
This year Fun Nights were organized for 6th graders on February 2nd, 5th graders on February 23rd, and 4th graders on March 1st. Our students come to school to meet friends and have a great time. They have a DJ with music to dance in the Large Group Instruction Room. They have a quiet space in the music room for short films. In the cafeteria they have Minute to Win It games, pizza, and ice cream. The gym is also available for students to run off energy with organized ball games. Students have a photo booth and art station as well to wrap up a great night. They enjoy getting to know each other with NO electronics.
We are grateful to our amazing Parent Council who put effort into making this year memorable for all.
Margaret Psarros,
WLIS Principal
West Lafayette Jr Sr High School
Held this year at the Jr-Sr High School on February 7, the World Languages Department hosted its annual One Community Many Cultures event to celebrate cultural diversity.
First held over 30 years ago, OCMC is a student-driven event that highlights students' individual and group projects, performances, a living history museum, and gastronomy of the languages offered at WLHS. This event has become a favorite evening to showcase over 650 students enrolled in one of our language offerings and is enjoyed by their peers, parents, school staff, and many from the community who look forward to this evening each February. This year's celebration included 28 Talent Show performances, more than 2 dozen Living History participants, hundreds of food dishes, and many projects on display in the LGI. Over 350 attendees enjoyed the sights and sounds culminating in a sampling of food from around the world.
We want to thank our World Languages teachers (Ms. Espinoza, Chair, Mrs. Corredor-Sanchez, Ms. White, Mr. Beyogle, and Mr. Studt) for their many hours of extra time given to plan, schedule, promote, and carry off this evening each year. Thanks also to our Music Department Chair and Howenstein Auditorium Supervisor, Mrs. Letcher, for all of her assistance in helping the many musically talented students set up on the stage to perform in the annual Talent Show option for OCMC. Finally, appreciation to the Head Custodian, Mr. Paul Gray, and his staff for their work in setting up tables in the LGI and their quick work after preparing for school the next day. OCMC '24 was once again a great way to celebrate our RDP!
Ron Shriner
WLJHSH Principal
Substitute Teach at WLCSC
Come join our team as a substitute teacher! Teachers and students need and count on substitute teachers. Our schools offer safe and supportive working environments.
- Schools count on substitute teachers to provide consistency for the children in the classroom.
- Schools count on substitute teachers to keep the daily work of teaching and learning going even when the permanent staff cannot be there.
- The WLCSC values our substitute teachers!
Click HERE to learn more and start the application process TODAY!
Click on the flyer to apply today!
West Lafayette Schools Education Foundation
Important Upcoming Dates for WLSEF:
- March 27: Red Devil's Give Back Day/WLSEF Day of Giving
- April 12: Wall of Pride Class of 2024 Induction/Convocation
- April 19: Scarlet & Gray Dinner and Auction
- April 25: Nobel Prize Celebration Day with Dr. Moungi Bawendi '78
More details to follow from the WLSEF executive director, Wendi Ailor. If you have any questions, you can email or call Wendi at wlsef@wl.k12.in.us or 765-269-4007.
Red Devil Pride
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.
“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Share Your Photos
We would love to feature more photos in our monthly collage!
If you have a photo of a school activity to share, please send the photo, your name and a brief description (who, what, when, where) to socialmedia@wl.k12.in.us
The email account is not monitored but is checked periodically. We will use selected photos in our newsletter and social media outlets.
Subscribe to the Red Devil Pen - Connect with WLCSC
There are so many great things happening in our West Lafayette Schools! We are eager to share the many sources of Red Devil Pride through the Red Devil Pen newsletter so that we may celebrate, learn and grow together as a community in support of our students and schools.
Did you know that you can subscribe to this newsletter?
We invite you to subscribe today to receive updates from WLCSC directly to your inbox.
Follow this link to directions on how to subscribe:
https://help.smore.com/article/643-subscribing-to-a-newsletter
We will still continue to send out the newsletter via social media and as a direct communication to families of students via a Skyward email, but we want to ensure that we can remain connected to our community in as many ways as possible.
Education is a community endeavor, and we strive for continuous improvement in all we do for the benefit of the students we serve. If you have questions, concerns or ideas, please reach out to our school or district offices.
West Lafayette Community School Corporation 765-746-1602
West Lafayette Junior Senior High School 765-746-0400
West Lafayette Intermediate School 765-746-0500
West Lafayette Elementary School 765-464-3212
Website: https://www.wl.k12.in.us/
Location: West Lafayette, IN, USA
Phone: 765-746-1602
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wlcscrdp/
Twitter: @wlcscrdp
Instagram: @wlcsc_rdp