Lesher Middle School

Bike Week!

Monday, May 6

Softball District Playoffs Begin

Quiz Bowl @ CLP MS

Tuesday, May 7

3:30 JV Softball vs. Webber @ Spring Park

Wednesday, May 8

3:30 Track Meet vs. Boltz @ FCHS

Softball District Playoffs Rd. 2

Friday, May 10

5th Grade Visit Day!

Mother's Day 5k:

Saturday, May 11th 9:00am

Here is a quick explanation of the week.

• Get your bike ready for Lesher’s Annual Bike to School Week is coming up, May 6th – 10th
• We will have bike events every day of the week before school, during lunch, and during ELOs
• We will have prizes for students who participate in bike events! Prizes include bike accessories, local businesses (in the past, Fort Fun, Fly High, Chippers Lanes, and Loveland Laser tag), and our grand prize is a brand new bike!
• To be entered to win prizes, participate in bike activities from biking to school to trying our bike games during the day! Each activity you participate in, you will receive a raffle ticket. The more you participate, the better your chances of winning!
• If you bike to school 3 days that week, you get our 2024 Lesher Bike Week t-shirt! You don’t want to miss out on it!
• On Wednesday, May 8th, we will have a bike parade from various locations around our Lesher neighborhoods and breakfast for bikers! Click here for more information on meeting places and times. And make sure to show up early to school to get your food!
• If your bike needs any work, bring it to the Bike Wrench (our friendly, local mobile bike mechanic) during Nordic Fest or after school on Tuesday at the bike racks. We will also have the Poudre High School Bike Tech class working on bikes on Monday afternoon.
• On Thursday, May 9th, we are doing a “Dress up Your Bike” competition in the morning! Decorate your bike and ride to school!
• If you would like to donate to make Bike Week even better, bring in gently used bikes and bike gear or volunteer your time (sign up here)!
• Here are this year’s 3 promotional videos… enjoy! Don’t Just Stand There, All Signs Lead to Adventure, and Life in the Bike Lane.
• Please be safe – wear a helmet, be seen, plan your route, and dress for the weather
• For more information, click here for our schedule of the week or contact Mr. Mayer (bmayer@psdschools.org) or Mr. Van Roekel (rvanroekel@psdschools.org)

Lesher Bike Week's OFFICIAL 2024 Gear is here!

All items will be delivered to Lesher with free shipping. All gear will be delivered to students during the last week of school, May 28-30th.

Don't miss out! Orders must be placed by midnight Friday, May 10th.

Click here to sign up!

Every year on the Saturday before Mother's Day Sunday, Lesher hosts an amazing Mother-honoring 5k run with gifts for mothers and fun for the whole community. This is a community-wide event and we'd love to have you be a part by running the race or being part of our volunteer team that makes the morning a hit year after year. If you'd like to volunteer to help on Saturday May 11th you can sign up on the link below.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050F4FA9A728ABF58-48745412-mothers#/

The top 10 gymnasts from Colorado went to nationals and placed 3rd overall!

Jordyn placed 1st out of her Colorado team and placed 3rd overall in her age division at the regionals meet! She will now start to train as a level 7 gymnast!

We are so proud of you!

Parents/Guardians, counselors met with 6th & 7th grade students to choose their Core/Encore classes for next year. Schedules will be distributed to students at Lesher's August Check-in Days. Let us know if you have any questions.

Hey 8th graders!

8th Grade Day is coming up SOON!

What is 8th Grade Day you ask? It’s a day in the last week of school filled with fun, awards and recognitions, but the most exciting part is the VARIETY SHOW in the VPAC just for 8th graders!

This show is a chance for you to create an act that will amuse, inspire or amaze your classmates. Grab some friends- or perform by yourself! We need acts of all types- funny skits, singing, dancing, playing an instrument or something totally unique and creative.

Your act can be serious or funny- but now is the time to get creative and entertain your classmates!

Sign up here: bit.ly/Lesher-Viking-Variety-Show

Have questions? See Ms. Thompson in Room 4!

Hello Families of Lesher 8th Graders!

This is the first call for short videos of your child in their element!

At the end of the school year, a video collage presentation is compiled to celebrate all of the out-of-school / extracurricular activities that our 8th graders participate in. This video montage will be shown during the end of the year celebration just for our departing 8th graders in May.

Do you have a short action video snip (10 seconds or less) of your 8th grader? Maybe you have a moment from a sporting event, engaged in favorite hobby at home, playing with a pet, doing something adventurous -- or a fun moment from a vacation? Anything goes, as long as we can see your child in the video! Horseback riding, theater, magic tricks, biking, hiking, skiing, volleyball, dance, football, surfing, cross country, wrestling, water sports, ziplining, basketball, softball, baseball, track, soccer, trampoline jumping, baking, gymnastics, rubik’s cube speed, unicycling, musical instruments, chess, gaming, disc golf, and weightlifting are several of the moments that have been received and used in years past!

If your child has an event- be sure to grab a few seconds of video and send it along! Sound will not be included in the video, so keep that in mind. Ideally this video montage will have a 2-10 second ACTION video of EVERY 8th grade student! You can submit 2 snips if you can’t pick your favorite- I will try to get all of them in. This is a chance for students to shine in ways that aren’t seen during the school day.

Please email your short video snips to the 8th Grade Day Viking Variety Show Coordinator, Ms. Julie Thompson - juliat@psdschools.org – she will be collecting them throughout the year, up until May 1st.

Also, as spring is upon us and the days are warming up, please make sure your child is dressing school appropriately – a refresher of what is and is not appropriate is in the planner on page 16. We appreciate your help.

Families, If you haven’t already, please register for Lesher’s Genius Week the first full week of summer. It is fun learning about all kinds of things like dissection, law, sewing, and some good old fashion competition! There is a scholarship available on the Registration page that closes this weekend; check it out!

https://sites.google.com/psdschools.org/leshersgeniusweek/registration-information

From Poudre School District...

As Poudre School District is engaged in Long-Range Planning work – involving boundary adjustments, school consolidations, and educational program changes – our community can get information from many different sources. This is, in many ways, a good thing. It shows that people are engaged and invested in this complex and important topic, and they are seeking and sharing varying perspectives.

On the flip side, things can get lost in the mix. There's a lot to track and digest, and it can become difficult to figure out what’s fact or fiction.

Continuing to provide clear and accurate communications throughout this process, we are addressing common questions and concerns, rumors and, in some cases, disinformation that is circulating throughout our communities. What follows is a list of things we’ve heard and the district’s responses, separated by category for your convenience.

Questions, Concerns and Misinformation about School Consolidations, Boundary Changes

Please visit the Long Range Planning Committee website for the most up-to-date information: HERE

Updated Listening Session Information:

Share your thoughts at a listening session this spring.

A series of listening sessions will be held this spring. These are opportunities for members of the public, including staff, families, students, and community members, to provide feedback on the scenarios that the PSD Facilities Planning Steering Committee is developing. All sessions will follow the same format, which includes an overview presentation, followed by small-table conversations and a questionnaire.

The Facilities Planning Steering Committee presented possible options publicly for the first time at the March 19 PSD Board of Education meeting. After gathering feedback from listening sessions, the committee will make two to three recommendations to the school board. The board will be asked to make a decision about how to proceed at its June 11 meeting.

Board of Education Listening Sessions

• 5:30- 10 p.m., Tuesday, June 4, in the auditorium at Fort Collins High School, 3400 Lambkin Way in Fort Collins

Microphones will be available at each session so attendees may share thoughts with the board. Board listening sessions will be recorded and posted on the PSD website; they will not be livestreamed.

March 6, 2024

Dear Poudre School District community:

Board of Education directors voted (5-2) Tuesday night to modify bell schedules at 31 schools. The new times will go into effect at the start of the 2024-25 school year.

This decision preserves busing for students at a time when neighboring districts are cutting services and saves about $1 million in the face of districtwide financial challenges. It is also the first step in a multi-year plan to align bell schedules by grade level, with the goals of saving additional money and expanding busing services in future years.

The board voted to adopt the Scenario A schedule, which was favored by those who took a communitywide survey asking for feedback on two scenarios. Watch the staff presentation and board discussion here: https://youtu.be/5c34J6f4Yfc

As a result, school start and dismissal times will shift by:

· 5-10 minutes at 10 schools

· 11-20 minutes at 14 schools

· 21-30 minutes at seven schools

· Eighteen school schedules will NOT change.

· See bell times for each school: www.psdschools.org/schools/school-start-dismissal-times

We empathize with students, parents/guardians, staff and others who will navigate these changes and recognize that current bell schedules may have been a factor in families’ decisions to attend a certain school. We plan to communicate directly with families who submitted applications as part of the School Choice process as soon as possible. It is our intent to answer questions that this news will likely prompt regarding choice school enrollment.

Why this change, why now?

As part of an ongoing commitment to improvement and annual budget development, schools and departments look for ways to prioritize students and operate as efficiently as possible. Working with an outside firm specializing in routing, the Transportation Department determined that it could save money and minimize disruptions to busing services due to staffing shortages through a routing optimization process.

If PSD didn’t optimize and reduce the number of routes, there was a real risk of not being able to run all routes every day. The ongoing, nationwide and local shortage of bus drivers could lead to interruptions in service. Making this change now also results in savings of about $1 million to $1.5 million.

PSD is facing fiscal challenges because of the decline in student enrollment, inflation, and increasing benefits costs. Fewer students mean fewer dollars. In a district where about 85% of a roughly $400 million budget goes to pay for people, any cut is felt acutely, and any savings are even more critical.

What’s next?

The bell schedule changes approved by the board go into effect for the 2024-25 school year. Along with its vote Tuesday, the board also charged staff with looking for even more optimization within the Transportation Department and making districtwide changes to create long-term consistency for our families.

By making steps toward a system where bell times are standardized to the maximum extent possible – as in elementary schools start at the same time, middle schools start at the same time, and high schools start at the same time, PSD could reduce the overall number of bus routes and drivers currently needed from 122 to about 85.

The hope is that PSD could then offer busing to 100% choice schools for the first time ever; this has not been possible under the current model. Currently, about one in four families choose to send their students to a school other than their neighborhood school, known as School Choice. PSD has historically only been able to provide busing services to neighborhood schools for students who meet certain requirements and for whom transportation is legally required.

Expanding busing services is beneficial for families who might not have the ability to transport their students to a 100% choice school.

We recognize that students, families, staff and community members may face challenges while adjusting to the newly approved bell schedules and appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding in advance.

Sincerely,

Poudre School District

Here is the link to register

High School Course and Planning Worksheet – Digital Copy

High School Recommendation Guide

-This are pulled from Fort Collins High School Presentation Recommendations

High School Planning Guide

We've had an increase in broken laptop screens. Families, please make sure that you speak with your child about being safe and responsible with their laptops. Below are our school wide technology expectations that you can review with your family. Thank you!

This week, updates have been rolled out to all student laptops. To apply these updates, you'll be required to restart your laptop multiple times. To determine if a restart is necessary, click on the Windows button; if prompted, choose "Update and Restart" or "Update and Shut Down." Ensure your laptop is plugged in and charging before initiating the restart. The process will take approximately 20-30 minutes, with some restarts potentially lasting several hours. Keep the screen open throughout the update. Note that these updates will occur on the second Tuesday of each month. If you encounter any problems or have issues, feel free to reach out to Ed Tech Coordinator Becky Knips at rknips@psdschools.org. Thank you!

Here is a link to our academic honesty police. Please take time as a family to read through this information and let us know if you have any questions! Thank you!

Academic Honesty Policy

Follow this link to this year's Club information!

This link will be updated when student initiated clubs get approved throughout the year.

Please Click Here

Click here for more information

Please follow this link!

Please Click Here

We would like to compile a spreadsheet of Lesher Businesses for our school and community to utilize. If you own a business, work for a business, or simply want the community to know about services you offer please fill out this form.

Instagram @leshervikings

Website: https://les.psdschools.org/
Location: Lesher Middle School, Stover Street, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Phone: 970-472-3800
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LesherMiddleSchool
Twitter: @Lesher_MS