LEAD Innovation Studio

Website: https://lead.parkhill.k12.mo.us/
Location: 7201 North Line Creek Parkway, Kansas City, MO, USA
Phone: 816-359-4130
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parkhillLEAD
Twitter: @ParkHillLEAD

• October 21: Parent Advisory (Virtual), 6:00 PM
• October 21: Clubs After School
• October 26: Bags Boo Bash, 1:00 PM
• October 31: Jostens Additional Cap and Gown Order Day

Attendance: 816-359-4131

School Phone: 816-359-4130

School Fax: 816-359-4139

Counseling: 816-359-4132

Health Room: 816-359-4134

If you are new to LEAD, you might not know about our annual cornhole tournament: Bags Boo Bash!

If you are familiar with it, you know that it is an absolute blast and a wonderful LEAD tradition.

Click here for more information regarding the event and how you can help make it happen!

Our October Parent Advisory meeting will be virtual, so you can join the conversation from the comfort of your own home on Monday the 21st at 6:00 pm.

Per parent feedback, we've now gone to a monthly format instead of just quarterly, which means we have more time to discuss the things you want to discuss! Instead of an admin presentation, which has been what most advisory meetings have been in recent years, this will be more of an open forum for us to discuss a variety of topics.

A link to our virtual session will be sent out to all parents and guardians on Monday. We hope to see you online Monday evening!

Please remember that part of mastery grading at LEAD is the requirement that students complete all of their work. Unlike a traditional school, where a student can potentially "game" their grade by picking and choosing what they want to complete, with the hope that they will meet the requirement of 60% to pass, at LEAD, a student who does not do a project will fail the course.

Luckily, that doesn't happen often because of the timeframe given to students to complete their work.

But if you see that a grade is reported as an F at quarter, even if Schoology says the score is higher, you will see this comment along with it: “Your student earned a 50% because they are missing a project. Schoology progress may indicate a higher percentage, but all projects must be completed to pass the class at quarter.”

The bad news is that would mean they are off pace, but there is good news: they can still get caught up by completing the work.

Please keep this in mind as you see grades posted in Infinite Campus, because they will not always match what Schoology says. And keep in mind that this is not the product of Schoology: this has been our philosophy since the beginning.

If you have questions about a grade, don't hesitate to reach out to the teacher.

We are experiencing issues with laptops dying during the day. While this can sometimes be attributed to battery issues, many students have openly acknowledged that they don't charge their laptops in the evening.

Please do your part to make sure your student is charging their laptop at night. While not everything we do is on a computer, self direction, which is one of our pillars, often involves a laptop, and if students don't have a working laptop at school, it makes that process inefficient.

Let's have those batteries at 100% in the morning so students can work at their own pace through PFA's and other assignments when given the opportunity. Thank you for your help with this!

On Monday, October 21st, LEAD will be on a different schedule due to programming changes. Students will start the day in their CT location.

1st block music students, AM NCC, AM NCAPS, and AM Professional Studies will start the day at LEAD.

Please remember that students are not allowed to wear costumes on Halloween. If you have any questions about this policy, please reach out to Dr. Early.

Please do not bring outside commercial food or drinks into the building for student consumption during the school day. This includes bringing outside food for students during lunch. Not only is this against district rules, but managing food deliveries gets in the way of other responsibilities in the front office, making our processes less efficient.

This also includes deliveries from services like Door Dash.

Please refer to pages 64 and 65 in the Park Hill School District Student Handbook for more information.

Our PBIS school store is running very low on snacks for kids. We would love any snacks you are willing to donate.

Also, the PBIS Team at LEAD is going to have a Fall Fundraiser!

The money raised will help fund items to for our school store. We are partnering with Crumbl Cookie to help raise money to purchase items for our store.

On October 28th, students, staff, and guardians will be emailed a link. Clicking on this link will allow you to purchase a Crumble cookie.

This link will remain active until 3:00 pm, October 29th. Each cookie will cost $6.00 and be boxed and delivered to students at school on October 31st.

Students can buy cookies for a friend too. If students want to buy their cookies using cash, they can do so during lunch on October 28th and October 29th. If you have any questions about this fundraiser, please email eisenmengers@parkhill.k12.mo.us.

Aspiring Professionals will hold a mock interview event for our students on Tuesday, November 12th, 2024 from 1:30-3:00pm.

We are looking for 50+ community members, from all types of businesses and backgrounds, to help us conduct mock interviews for our students. This experience directly helps our students gain confidence and the feedback they receive will help them on their professional journey.

Please contact Maddy Malcolm (malcolmm@parkhill.k12.mo.us) or Shannan Mulcahey (mulcaheys@parkhill.12.mo.us) if you would like to volunteer for this event. Thank you for supporting Park Hill Professional Studies!

Our Parent Advisory group does many wonderful things for LEAD's staff and students throughout the year, but often, the work falls on a small core group of parents and they could use a hand! If you are willing to be on the contact list for helping out with events, please click here. Additional help from a wider base of parents can make more great things happen at LEAD!

Please keep in mind that being on the help list does not commit you to coming to meetings, though we would love to see you there!

The deadline for parents to sign up for the scholarship initiative is November 8th. Click here for a video that explains more about the initiative.

Please see this website for more information regarding this awesome scholarship opportunity for your Senior!

LEAD is introducing a new capstone project during the 2024-2025 school year.

LEAD’s capstone will be an optional graduation distinction that celebrates and encourages student work and inquiry beyond traditional academics. The capstone is an independent, student-designed project outside the parameters of a student’s schedule, credits, or GPA. It is a passion project they will engage in on their own, with the help of a staff member assigned as a capstone advisor, not only for their intellectual pursuit and betterment, but also for the potential to stand out more in post-secondary and scholarship application processes.

LEAD is proud to announce the establishment of a capstone grant to support capstone candidates in their community projects with a vision to provide essential resources such as media equipment, printing, graphics, or web design. The initial goal is to raise $3,500. This will ensure funding is available to our students, ensuring their projects reach their full potential.

Click here or scan the QR code in the corner to donate.

We are hoping to collect some kind notes from our LEAD families to share with our LEAD staff members. If you would like to thank one of our staff members for their efforts, please take a moment to complete this short form.

These responses will be shared with our staff. Share the love and lift up a staff member who has a made a positive difference in your student's life here at LEAD!

Click here to nominate a LEAD staff member for a Park Hill Star Award.

Click here for this week's Park Hill High School newsletter.

In the next several weeks, LEAD will be implementing the Signs of Suicide (SOS) program.

This program teaches students about this difficult topic and encourages them to seek help. We encourage you to visit www.mindwise.org/parents for information on the warning signs for youth suicide, useful resources, and some of the key messages students will learn during this lesson.

For more information about the SOS program at LEAD, or to opt your student(s) out of this program, please see the information in the LEAD SOS Parent Information and Opt Out Letter.

For more information about the SOS program, please contact Dr. Laura Hartman at hartmanl@parkhill.k12.mo.us

Please visit the attendance page on LEAD's website for information on student absences.

If you have questions about our attendance policies or procedures, please contact Adelaide Wills (816-359-4131, willsa@parkhill.k12.mo.us).

Free and Reduced applications will be available after August 1, 2023. We encourage families to complete and submit an application for free and reduced price meals to see if you might qualify. See information about meal charges on the menus and nutrition homepage. A new application must be completed each school year. Online applications are available through the SchoolCafe portal and is the most efficient way to submit an application.

For more information, please click here.

We will frequently use social media to send out reminders about important events and to share information about the great things going on in our school. If you haven’t already done so, please like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter for updates.