Dear Lebanon Parents and Guardians,

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of winter already. We are not halfway through it and I am ready for warmer weather. Walking out to your car in the morning in the dark when it is -3° just takes the stuffing out of you. However, it was nice to have snow on the ground for several weeks. It just brightens up everything.

I want to give a major shout out to our custodians and maintenance crews for plowing our parking lots and keeping our walkways free of ice. You made all the difference last month, and we are very grateful.

This month’s edition has a great deal of information about scheduling for 2025-26 which begins this week. Please take the time to read through this section carefully, and then sit down with your students and talk about the classes they plan to take next year. Your guidance and advice are essential in helping your students make the best choices for their next school year as well as their futures.

In closing, I wanted to share this fun picture of our head custodian, Jake Johnson. Jake and his team are absolutely the best; they will never know how much we value and appreciate them!

That’s all for now. Take care, stay safe and warm, and… ONWARD LEBANON!

Bob Reynolds, Principal

Lebanon High School

• All students report to TEAM. 9th, 10th, and 11th graders report with their scheduling sheet and ChromeBook.

• Students follow the directions and enter their course requests. Once they are ready to review, the TEAM teacher checks their scheduling sheet and makes sure it matches what is in ProgressBook.

• Students submit the course requests and close out of ProgressBook.

• Students who are absent for this activity will be called down to the Main Office from February 7th-12th to enter their course requests.

• During this window, students will be called down to the Guidance Office to meet one-on-one with their counselors to review and change (if necessary) their requests.

• CCP Presentation
• AP at a Glance
• Benefits of AP

If you have any questions about any part of this process, please contact the Guidance Department at your earliest convenience.

You are cordially invited to join us for the Early College IT Parent Night. A special event highlighting the milestones of the Early College IT Program offered through a partnership between the University of Cincinnati and Lebanon City Schools. Come to hear an overview of the program, meet the IT teacher as well as UC representatives. Additionally, LHS alumni that have completed the program will speak of their achievements in the IT field. This special event will be held on at 6 PM in the LHS Conference Room. Hope to see you there.

Graduate Services will be in the main lobby from 3 to 6 PM on February 6th to provide information and accept orders for class rings. Stop by to explore options and get your order in!

WCCC Lebanon Business Academy students competed at the Region 17 Business Professionals of America (BPA) competition. Over 400 registered members across Southwest Ohio competed in the competition. Congratulations to the following students that placed in the top six in their event.

Special congratulations to Nate Carraher, Eva Sloane, JJ Lewis, Leyna Eggers, Luke Morris, Malin Matheny, Aidan Ford, Alyssa Wellinghoff, Nola Seller, Averay Givens, and Allie Smith, on their state qualifying finish! They will be competing at the State competition in Columbus on March 10th-11th.

Congratulations to all our competitors and state qualifiers!

Junior Kaitlyn Burger was honored with the Youth Leader of Tomorrow Drum Major award at Lebanon's 40th annual MLK Commemoration program. She was recognized for her advocacy for students with disabilities and mental health needs.

Kaitlyn is a member of the Hope Squad, Burger is working with Key Club to plan a dress drive for students who can’t afford dresses for prom, homecoming, and Daylight Prom for students with multiple disabilities. For more information, please click this link.

Congratulations on this honor, Kaitlyn! You make us proud!

We had four musicians represent Lebanon High School during the local Honor band. Quite the honor after auditioning against local schools in district 13! The students were:

On January 18th, the Lebanon Boys Basketball Team participated in the 22nd annual Flyin' To The Hoop at Kettering's Trent Arena. The Warriors took on the Wolverines from Dayton Dunbar High School. They played hard, but fell to their opponents 60-37.

This event is a nationally-ranked high school basketball showcase that takes place annually during Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. Teams performed in front of sellout crowds of over 20,000 fans, 100+ members of the national media, and college coaches in Dayton, Ohio. This is the second time in the history of Flyin' to the Hoop that Lebanon had been invited to compete, the last coming in 2019. Congratulations to our Boys Basketball Team for being selected to participate in this prestigious event.

The annual Lebanon Athletics Hall of Fame induction brunch was held on Saturday morning January 25th at Shaker Run golf club. Congratulations to this years inductees.

Here is a link to the news story outlining their accomplishments: Hall of Fame Class of 2024

The district is reading The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, a book highlighting the negative impact of cell phones and social media on young people, particularly in junior high and high school. Recently, an article was found discussing the book’s impact. It may be helpful for parents and guardians, especially in understanding how two million students in Virginia and South Carolina returned to phone-free schools in January due to statewide cell phone bans. If time allows, please take a look.

Many of you met our new service dog, Smoake, in last month’s newsletter. Here is an update from counselor Loren Wall.

After providing a spotless resume and showcasing her skills, Smoake is now officially our intern! Smoake has been working hard to adjust to her new home and job. During her evaluation period and the first two weeks of her internship, you may have seen her walking around the building and doing brief visits. She is now ready to move on to the next level.

As we enter the third week of her internship, Smoake will begin working with an additional handler and spending more time doing student visits in the guidance office during her office hours (see attachment). She will then be evaluated by her training organization and begin teacher-scheduled classroom visits in March. Eventually, she’ll work her way up to hallways during bell changes, arrival/dismissal duty, and larger assemblies and events.

Just wanted to keep everyone updated on her progress! Click here to check out her resume.

Thanks,

Loren Wall

Friends of Academics (FOA) acknowledges student academic accomplishments via awards, luncheons, and scholarships. To contribute to these achievement recognitions, kindly consider making a donation to FOA through their Venmo account @lhs-foa. Over the summer, approximately 100 senior students creatively decorated their parking spaces to show support for FOA. Be sure to visit the Friends of Academic link to champion LHS academics! friendsofacademics@lebanonschools.org Please don't hesitate to reach out with any inquiries.

The LHS Friends of Academics parents organization proudly sponsors our quarterly High Honors pizza lunch, celebrating students who achieve academic excellence. Previously, students qualified by earning a GPA of 3.6 or higher. We’re now adding an attendance requirement to align with LHS Attendance exam exemptions—students must also have 17.5 or fewer hours of absences per quarter to earn the High Honors pizza lunch. Let’s continue to honor hard work and commitment to both academics and attendance!

Hello families of students who are gifted. Please see the attached fliers about the upcoming Gifted Resource Fair at Hamilton County Educational Resource Center on March 8th and summer camps and academies at Northern Kentucky University. Scholarships are available, so please don't delay applying.

• NKU Summer Opportunities 2025
• Gifted Resource Fair

Please contact Beth Deuer at deuer.elizabeth@lebanonschools.org if there are any questions.

Like last year, if school is delayed or canceled, we will send a text message to all parents/students/staff members who have provided their cell phone number to us through Final Forms. If you prefer not to receive a text message or do not have cell phone access, you should use any of the other forms of communication that are used on these days, including our website, Facebook, Twitter, radio, and TV. All major radio and TV stations in the Cincinnati and Dayton area are contacted.

• SCHOOL DAY: School begins each day at 7:25 and ends at 2:25.

• DOORS OPEN: Doors to the building open at 6:55.

• PARKING PASSES: Parking stickers are now sold out for the school year. Students obtaining their licenses will need to continue riding the bus for the rest of the school year. However, after seniors finish their classes in May, parking spots will be available for $5 each during the last eight days of school. An announcement about these senior spots will be made in early May, so stay tuned!