Dear LCSD Families, Staff and Partners:

Welcome back and happy 2026! Many good things await us in the coming year. We are so glad to have you as part of the Panther family. Here are this month’s updates:

NEW! Panther Spotlight

New this month, I am thrilled to highlight one or more members of the LCSD community who are making an extraordinary difference. This month, I want to shout out Margarita Perea and Kristin Sparkman. These two amazing women are the co-chairs of the District Accountability Committee (DAC), as well as being parents of current students and active contributors to Lake County through their professional lives. Many thanks to Margarita and Kristin for their extraordinary leadership of the DAC!

January Headlines (scroll to learn more)

Improving Student Outcomes – Assessment season starts this month. Rest up!
Strategic Plan – We are building out our 5-year implementation plan.
School Merge – Watch for information about school tours, coming up!

January Updates

Improving Student Outcomes: This month, students will be taking their mid-year English language arts and math assessments in NWEA. In addition, our students who are English learners will be taking ACCESS tests. It’s a great time to make sure that students are getting adequate rest so that they can demonstrate all that they are learning at school! Also, did you know that the following students received academic honors for their achievement at CMC? Congratulations!

President’s List Calero, Seydis Charles, Emily Fiedler, Helen Finken, Cleo Goerdt, Brooklyn Green, Grace Guzman, Liliana King, Chloe Peters, Jaren Peters, Jude Talbot, Evelyn

Dean’s List Baker, Merritt Barela, Nevaeh Galarza, Victor Homer, Avalynn Machuca, Vicente Ramos, Angelina Sandoval, Calvin Sheleg, Itai Sweet, Zoey Tarango, Abdiel

Strategic Plan: We have identified three major priorities for the district’s strategic plan: Pursuing Educational Excellence, Enhancing Student Experience and Expanding Family & Community Collaboration. Our leadership team is now in the process of developing goals for each priority and a detailed implementation plan that will cover the next 3-5 years. We look forward to sharing more detail and involving staff and partners in these discussions!

School Merge: In the summer of 2026, we will consolidate our school campuses from four to three. Watch for opportunities coming soon for families to tour our schools and start to picture what next year will look like! You can also read our Q&A about school consolidation and submit any questions in English or Spanish.

Despite the warm weather, January is the heart of winter and the heart of our work together for the year. We look forward to staying focused on helping students succeed and grow while we wait for the sun to return!

See you soon,
Kate

Kate Bartlett, Superintendent