LCSD Superintendent Update: November
Dear LCSD Families, Staff and Partners:
November already?! It feels like the year is flying by. As we pause later this month during our first school break of the year, I am grateful for our amazing staff, supportive parents and smart and fun students. Thank you for being part of the Panther family! Speaking of which, congratulations again to our girls’ cross country team on their State Runner-Up finish.
Looking for a way to be a little more involved? Don’t forget about our new group, Panther Padres. Any LCSD parents or guardians are welcome to join! Simply email me to sign up. You’ll receive a few texts a month, at most, with important information and will be able to share feedback and questions directly with me.
November Headlines (scroll to learn more!)
- Improving Student Outcomes – Improvement plans for the year are complete
- Strategic Plan – Thank you to our Strategic Planning Committee for developing our priorities!
- School Merge – Have a question about school consolidation next year? Let us know! English | Spanish
- Calendar Committee – The Board of Education has voted on the new calendar!
November Updates
Improving Student Outcomes: Every fall, once we receive the previous year’s assessment results from the state, we create our improvement plans for the year with input from the District Accountability Committee as well as the Board of Education. We have recently completed this work, which takes the form of our Unified Improvement Plan (UIP). You can view this year’s UIP on the CDE website.
Strategic Plan: We had 30 community members, students and staff participate in our two-day Strategic Planning Committee in October. Wow! What a rich conversation about the future of LCSD and what we want to focus on. We are in the process of refining our strategic goals for presentation to the Board of Education, and look forward to sharing the final product of this work with the whole community this spring. Thank you to everyone who participated!
School Merge: In the summer of 2026, we will consolidate our school campuses from four to three. We continue to work on the various steps we need to take to make this transition successful. Since our last update, we have made one change to our plan. Based on staff feedback, we have decided to place grades 6th-8th in the current, lower 7th-8th grade wing, instead of moving these grades upstairs. We are confident that we will be able to provide significant physical separation between younger and older students, as we do today. Read our Q&A about school consolidation and submit any questions in English or Spanish.
Calendar Committee: The Board of Education voted unanimously on October 27 to adopt the Calendar Committee’s recommendation to adopt the GOLD calendar. This is the calendar option that lengthens summer break, maintains 4-day weeks and includes 156 student contact days. The final survey results indicated the most community support for this option, and the Calendar Committee and the Board agreed. Read more about the process and view the 2026-27 student calendar.
I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving with friends and family, and look forward to being back in touch for the very celebratory month of December!
Kate
Kate Bartlett, Superintendent
