Back to school 7 2017

July 2017

Welcome to the 2017—2018 School Year!

A Message from the Superintendent Welcome back to the 2017-2018 school year! As the Class of 2017 graduated, it symbolized the purpose of our community schools. Each student is vital to the success of Lawrence as a community. As a result, every adult must dedicate themselves to our mission. The mission of the MSD of Lawrence Township is: Through innovation and dedication, we educate all students through graduation.

This mission statement is the guide for all adults who work with our children. It is a Follow Dr. Smith on Twitter journey to educate children. As a public school district in the community of Lawrence, we have a unique opportunity to educate all students. As a school corporation, our staff is prepared to not only graduate students, but to grow each child to the extent of his or her ability. As we prepare to return for the 2017-2018 school year, you will notice a few changes:

1. An ongoing commitment to our Blue Ribbon Facility Plan with renovation and construction taking place at the following locations: a. Harrison Hill Elementary b. Indian Creek Elementary c. Skiles Test Elementary d. Belzer Middle School Exterior Athletic areas e. Lawrence Central High School Auditorium 2. A commitment to increasing academic rigor in all school buildings.

3. A review of the work of our Building Capacity Task Force and the creation of a plan to address district growth.

4. The expansion of the Spanish Immersion Program in the fall of 2018 to Skiles Test Elementary.

5. An enhanced system of care at Brook Park and Winding Ridge Elementary Schools through a partnership with Communities in Schools. This partnership will support a full-time Community Liaison to engage and support students.

6. A continued partnership between our school corporation and the City of Lawrence.

MSD of Lawrence Township

Lawrence Education and Community Center 6501 Sunnyside Road Indianapolis, IN 46236 317-423-8200 Visit us on the web at www.LTschools.org

The first day of School for the 2017 - 2018 School Year is August 3rd.

These are just a few of the changes you will see as we continue to bring excellence to our school corporation. As a school corporation we are an important part of this strong community. As a result, our district must intentionally plan for the future. Please take a moment and read in detail our Strategic Plan: Learners Today Leaders Tomorrow. After reading, one will understand that our community schools are ready and are improving daily to support our future leaders.

The capacities of our buildings continue to be a topic of discussion. In early 2017, a Building Task Force was initiated under the leadership of our Assistant Superintendents, and tasked with developing potential options in response to current and future student enrollment in the MSD of Lawrence Township. During the 2016-2017 school year, our district served 15,936 As evidenced below, we are a growing district! This is positive and requires intentional planning for the future!

After a series of committee meetings, two community forums, and a community-wide district survey, the following four options evolved to potentially address the building capacity issues at the elementary schools:    

LECC becomes a 12th elementary school; LECC becomes a 6th grade center; LECC becomes a 5th/6th grade center; Add a 6th grade center to each of the two middle school campuses.

Feedback from the community showed little support for the first three options, all with less than 30 percent in favor. The fourth option of adding a 6th grade center to each of the two middle school campuses received an overwhelming level of support with 72 percent of respondents in favor of this option.

Based upon those results, it was the recommendation of the task force to further study the details of adding a 6th grade center to each of the two middle schools. Since that time, a small group of administrators has begun to identify areas to be addressed, not only in terms of capacity, but also in terms of programming for a rigorous core curriculum, performing and related arts, and extra-curricular activities. Additionally, the ability to provide transportation and food services must be considered.

It is now time to determine the associated costs and timeline to implement the cost of a 6 th grade center at each middle school. For the sake of comparison, the study of the costs and implementation timeline to move all sixth grade students to LECC (former Craig Middle School) will also be conducted.

Upon completion of this study, a recommendation will be brought to the Board of Education with details of the extended plan and a goal of transitioning to the new configuration by the fall of 2019. The needs of the students will guide both the design and the timeline of the plan, all while staying within the allocated budget.

Public education is a cornerstone of our great democracy. Therefore, each of us must commit ourselves to supporting the dreams of each of our students. As Superintendent of Schools, I am excited to begin, again, this journey of excellence as we build the MSD of Lawrence Township as the “District of Destination.�

Sincerely,

Dr. Shawn A. Smith Superintendent

Blue Ribbon Facilities Plan Update Indian Creek Elementary - $5M Skiles Test Elementary - $5.5M Belzer Middle School Site/Athletic Fields - $1M Harrison Hill Elementary - $6M Technology Upgrades - $1M District Wide Interior Upgrades - $1.5M Lawrence Central Auditorium updates - $2M Click here for the latest images of the proposed updates to Harrison Hill Elementary, Belzer Middle School, and Lawrence Central High School.

Please join us when we dedicate our new outdoor athletic complexes on Friday, August 25!

6:30 pm Lawrence Central Stadium—7:00 pm Kick-off LC Bears vs. Chatard Trojans 7:00 pm Lawrence North Stadium—7:30 Kick-off LN Wildcats vs. Brownsburg Bulldogs

Lawrence Central vs. Lawrence North Football September 1 at 7:00 pm at Lawrence North

2017 Back-To-School Guide Enrollment All students new to our school district must enroll at the Welcome Center, located at 6501 Sunnyside Road. The Welcome Center is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.

The Welcome Center will be open for extended hours from 8:00 a.m. -7:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays July 20, 25, 27, as well as August 1 and 3.

Click here for more information including a list of necessary forms and documents needed to enroll.

Immunization Indiana state law requires all student to have an up to date immunization record, religious exemption letter or medical exemption letter on file before the start of school.

Click here for the 2017-18 School Immunization Requirements

Transportation Information Currently, our Transportation Department is hard at work preparing routes for the first day of school!

On July 27th, parents will receive an email with detailed instructions of how to obtain your child’s bus information. As in the past few years, bus information will be available online. If you are unable to access your child’s bus information online, bus information will be available at your child’s school per the following: Early Learning Centers – Together on Tuesday on August 1 Elementary Schools – Together on Tuesday on August 1 Middle Schools – Schedule Pick Up 7/26 & 7/27 High Schools – LC Schedule Pick Up & Freshman Orientation 7/26 & 7/27 LN Freshman Orientation 7/26 LN Schedule Pick Up 7/27 & 7/28 Additionally, the Transportation Department will have phone lines staffed to assist with bus information beginning on July 27 from 7am – 4pm. You can contact transportation at 317-423-8400 or click here to email them.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you on August 3!

Printable School Year Calendars 2017 - 2018 School Year Calendar 2017 - 2018 School Year Calendar - Espanol 2018 - 2019 School Year Calendar

Hours of School 

Elementary School: 8:00 am - 2:35 pm

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Middle School: 8:50 am - 3:45 pm

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High School: 8:50 am - 3:40 pm

Supply Lists Early Learning Centers

Amy Beverland

Brook Park

Crestview

Forest Glen

Harrison Hill

Indian Creek

Mary Castle

Oaklandon

Skiles Test

Sunnyside

Winding Ridge

Belzer Middle School

Fall Creek Valley Middle School

The middle school supply lists are the "basic" supplies. Individual classes may require additional supplies.

High School supplies vary and are dependent on the courses being taken.

Now Enrolling - Before & After Care Our Before and After Child Care program is now enrolling grades Kindergarten through 6!

Before and After Care is a safe and enriching child care environment offered at all of Lawrence Township's Early Learning Centers and Elementary Schools. Staff includes licensed caregivers and outstanding high school interns. We accept CCDF. Below are the fees for After School Extension for the 2017-2018 School Year: Registration Fee After School (2:30 - 6:00) AM Care (6:30 - 7:30) Click here to enroll.

$25.00/Family $65/Child/Week - $50/Week each Additional Child $25/Child/Week

Important Back-To-School Dates

Basic 2017—2018 Curricular Resource Fees Kindergarten $ 75.00

July 26 - Book & Schedule Pick Up  Lawrence Central - 11 am to 7 pm  Belzer - 11 am to 7 pm  Fall Creek Valley - 11 am to 7 pm July 26 - Freshman Orientation  Lawrence Central - 4 pm to 6 pm  Lawrence North - (2 separate sessions) 9 am to 12 pm & 1 pm to 5 pm Please click here for more details and to register for Freshman Orientation at Lawrence North.

July 27 - Book & Schedule Pick Up  Lawrence Central - 11 am to 7 pm  Lawrence North - 1 pm to 7 pm  Belzer - 11 am to 7 pm  Fall Creek Valley - 11 am to 7 pm July 28 - Book & Schedule Pick Up  Lawrence North - 8 am to 12 pm August 1 - Together on Tuesday  All Early Learning Centers & Elementary Schools except Harrison Hill & Mary Castle 4 pm to 6 pm August 2 - Meet Your Teacher Night  Harrison Hill & Mary Castle ONLY 4 pm to 6 pm

Elementary: Total Textbook Rental and Fees Elementary School

Forest Glen

1st Grade $112.00

1st Grade $112.00

2nd Grade $131.00

2nd Grade $131.00

3rd Grade $129.00

3rd Grade $129.00

4th Grade $120.00

4th Grade $160.00

5th Grade $183.00

5th Grade $223.00

6th Grade $150.00

6th Grade $190.00

Middle School: Total Textbook Rental/Laptop and Fees— $164.00 (plus additional fees depending on student schedule) There may be an extra supply fee charge dependent upon courses taken.

High School: Total Textbook Rental/Fees High School textbook rental and fees are based on the courses taken by the student.

Lifeskills and Functional Academic Fees for Elementary and Middle School are the same as the grade level fees.

Lifeskills and Functional Academic Fees for High School are based on the student’s schedule.

General Information: Fees are NOT covered by Free or Reduced Textbook/Netbook Assistance provided by the State.

Students in grades five and up are provided individual laptops.

Parent Access to Student Webgrades Parents can log directly into Skyward, our student management system, by clicking on the Skyward link in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage of their child's school. Skyward Family Access gives parents the ability to track their student’s progress throughout the school year. Parents can see missing work, grades, attendance and discipline 24/7. Parents also have access to past report cards.

Obtaining a Parent Username and Password to Log Into Skyward 

Click here to apply for parent access to Skyward.

As soon as your information is verified, your username and password will be mailed to your home.

Logging Into Skyward To log into Skyward, click the Skyward menu in the upper right of the school’s homepage.

On the Skyward log in screen, enter the username and password sent to you by the district.

Select the school for your child from the drop-down menu and then click Grading from the list.

Click the PR button to view individual class grades.

Click the All Assignments tab to view all grades for each item graded.

Visit the iTunes Store to download the Skyward app for your mobile device.

2017—2018 Grading Period Dates Semester 1

Period Ends

Report Card Issued

Midterm Ends

Midterm Report Issued (Middle School)

10/06/17 12/21/17

10/20/17 1/12/18

09/01/17 11/11/17

09/08/17 11/17/17

03/16/18 05/30/18

03/21/18 06/08/18

02/9/18 04/20/18

02/15/18 04/27/18

Semester 2

Midterms and report cards will be electronic this year. Paper copies are only being sent home by request.

Breakfast and Lunch Information Lunch Prices Elementary: $1.75 Middle: $1.80 High: $1.85 The price for breakfast is $1.25 Your children may qualify for free or reduced price meals.

Reduced price is $0.30 for lunch and $0.20 for breakfast.

You must submit an application to qualify your child to receive free/reduced meals every school year.

Click here to access the Free and Reduced Lunch Online Application Pay for lunch online. You can pay for your child's lunch from the convenience of your home 24/7 via PayPAMS. The system also allows you to view your child's meal account balance, schedule automatic payments, view reports of daily cafeteria purchases, and receive low balance email reminders.

Click here to go to PayPAMS

Middle School Athletics Belzer and Fall Creek Valley Middle Schools offer 25 different interscholastic athletic opportunities for students throughout the year. Many of these are also available to 6th graders. In the fall, 6th graders can participate in tennis, cross county and soccer. Shuttle busses will transport 6 th graders from elementary school to the middle school for athletic practices and competitions. NOTE: Sixth grade students wishing to participate in middle school sports must do so at their assigned middle school.

Visit the Belzer Bruins Online

Visit the Fall Creek Valley Bearcats Online

Sports Physicals Fall sports physicals are being offered at both middle schools for any MSDLT athlete. The cost is $20 and registration is not required.

Click here to download the IHSAA Physical Form The Belzer Physical night is Thursday, July 27 - 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

The Fall Creek Valley Physical night is Wednesday, July 26 - 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

We’ve Got An App For That!

The LT Schools Mobile App is live in the Apple and Google App Stores! Learn everything you need to know about what’s going on at your child’s school and around the district! Get real time updates with important information from push notifications and easy access to Announcements, Calendar Events, important contact information, links to Skyward Family Access, lunch menus, Board of Education information and much more.

To check it out, you can search for LT Schools Mobile in the App Store, or just click here on your device and when it opens, click on Get App under our logo on the left side of the screen. This will take you right to the App in the store without having to search for it.

If your student plays a sport at the middle or high school level, you can see the athletic schedules (events) and announcements in the App! Click here to access the app on Google Play.

News From Around the District New year – new faces! Please welcome our new Administrators!

Tracey Means

Ryan Banas

Marlon Sam

Principal Lawrence Advance Academy

Athletic Director Lawrence Central High School

Assistant Principal Lawrence Central High School

Ayanna Williams

Erika Tran

Adam Korengel

Assistant Principal Lawrence North High School

Coordinator—English as a New Language

Assistant Principal Crestview Elementary

Congratulations to the MSD of Lawrence Township Teacher, Classified Staff, and Administrator of the year for the 2016-2017 school year!

Pictured from left to right: Phil Ritchie, Classified Staff of the Year, Indoor Air Quality Controller, Lawrence Education and Community Center Margaret Manuzzi, Teacher of the Year, Third Grade Teacher, Indian Creek Elementary Brett Crousore, Susan Jordan Administrator of the Year, Principal, Lawrence North High School Click here for a list of the Teacher and Staff of the Year for each of our buildings.

Thank you to the Falcon Family of Champion Chrysler Jeep Dodge, our partners in education, for sponsoring our district’s Teacher of the Year celebration.

Honored Educators Behind every successful student is a fabulous teacher or staff member. The Honor An Educator program, sponsored by the LT School Foundation, is a way to thank the teachers, administrators, coaches, bus drivers, and staff members who encourage, influence, and inspire students to be the best they can be.

Congratulations to our Spring 2017 Honored Educators! Click here to see the list of recipients.

Belzer Teacher, Jeff Mann, is the Lawrence Excellence Design Challenge Winner Congratulations to Jeff Mann, Belzer Middle School Language Arts teacher, winner of the $20,000 Lawrence Design Challenge sponsored by the Lawrence Township School Foundation. Mr. Mann's project is Road Scholars: A School Bus Literacy Program.

The purpose of the Design Challenge is to financially reward a teacher (or teachers) for an innovative idea that, if implemented, meaningfully impacts the organization through efficiency, effectiveness, and/or measurable improvements.

Watch Mr. Mann’s video outlining his project.

Click here for the May 26, 2017 press release.

Read more in the Towne Post Online.

Read the article by Mr. Mann published in Edutopia online magazine

Marching Pride of Lawrence Township Color Run Marching Pride of Lawrence Township is hosting a My School Color Run on August 19, 2017 at Lawrence Park. Save the date! This is a FUN run.

Times don’t matter, but how much color you can accumulate does!

Help is needed with parking, registration, and generally assisting runners before, during and after the race. Click here to sign up to volunteer.

The registration link is now live!

Register online OR Click here for a PDF version of the registration form The Student Pledge Form can be found here.

Pledge money can be turned in to the performing arts assistant at either school for safekeeping.

Congratulations to the Class of 2017!

Accelerated Learning Summer School 2017 at Crestview Elementary The video linked below illustrates the learning that took place this summer!

Video credit: Courtney Shaw

Board of Education News The Board of Education meets at the Lawrence Education and Community Center, 6501 Sunnyside Road.

July 24 – Work Session/Board Meeting - 5:30pm August 14 – Work Session/Board Meeting - 5:30pm August 28 – Board of Education Meeting - 7:00pm Click here for a complete listing of Board of Education Meetings and Work Sessions.

Information from current and past School Board meetings can be found at our MSDLT public BoardDocs site below.

Audio Recordings from regular Board of Education meetings are available in BoardDocs, however, for easy access, they can also be found on their own webpage. From the School Board section of the website, just click on the link to Board Meeting Audio on the left side of the page.

Click here to access the Board Meeting Audio Recording webpage.

BRIDGE FUND GOLF OUTING

Register now for “the BoB” Golf Outing. The event will take place at Pebble Brook Golf Club on Friday, October 6, 2017.

The MSDLT is looking for friendly, hardworking and dedicated people to work in our school district.

Click here to view our open positions For the latest job postings and MSDLT employment information, click here to follow MSDLT Human Resources on Twitter! We are now posting job openings weekly, check out what's new!

Food Service Workers and Before & After Caregivers and Site Leaders Needed If you are interested in working part-time while your children are in school and you would like to work in a friendly, student oriented environment, consider joining our Food Service or Before & After Care team!

Food Service, Cafeteria Monitor, Caregiver and Site Leader positions are now available.

Click here to apply for Food Services

Click here to apply for Before and After Care

Bus Drivers Needed Are you interested in a part-time opportunity that would give you holidays off, paid training and variety to your day? The MSD of Lawrence Township is hiring bus drivers! We offer fully paid training, a flexible schedule and competitive pay. Contracted drivers earn over $100 per day!

If you love children, enjoy a flexible schedule & want to join a student-focused, safety-oriented team, click here to apply today!

Substitute Teaching Information Kelly Educational Staffing is dedicated to helping districts save money and operate at peak capacity by fulfilling all staffing needs. Kelly Educational Staffing has proudly provided staffing to schools since 1997 with a daily placement rate greater than 98%. To date, over 90 million student learning days have been taught by a Kelly Educational Staffing substitute teacher. For more information, click here to visit the Kelly Educational Staffing website.

To apply for substitute teaching positions in the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township, please contact the local Kelly Educational Staffing branch office at (317) 917-0159 or 2580@kellyservices.com.

For more MSDLT News: Be a Fan on Facebook, Follow Dr. Smith on Twitter Follow MSDLT on Twitter Follow MSDLT Human Resources on Twitter Stay in touch with LT School Foundation MSDLT Social Media Directory

Check out our Blog!

Follow us on Instagram!

Watch Lawrence Live! On YouTube!

LT Inside Out is our electronic newsletter designed to share information about our school district with parents, community members, and stakeholders.

Parents who have registered their email in Skyward will be included in our electronic mailing. We are working to build an email list of community members and friends of MSDLT. Interested parties can sign up by going to our homepage, https://www.LTschools.org. Click on List Serves on the right side of the screen and select LT Inside Out. Or click here to go directly to the listserve webpage.

Before printing this newsletter, please think green and conserve paper.

Visit the Market at Hague every Saturday through October 8:00 am—noon Lawrence North High School 7802 Hague Road

Visit the Ft. Ben Farmers Market every Thursday through September 4:00 pm—7:30 pm The Civic Plaza 9230 Memorial Park Drive