August 24th – 27th, 2026
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Dear LCES Families and Guardians,
What a wonderful second week of school at LCES! It has been so exciting to see our students settling in, building friendships, growing more confident, and most importantly, learning! Classrooms are buzzing with meaningful instruction and curriculum, and it is clear that we are officially underway.
Our students are getting stronger with our school routines, and so are we! We continue to make improvements to our dismissal process each day. Our goal is to have dismissal completed by 3:45 p.m. each day. Please plan to pick up your student by 3:45 from either the front door or back pickup lane. Both pickup lanes will close promptly at 3:45 p.m. Thank you for helping us keep this process safe and efficient for everyone.
Kindergarten & 5th Grade Buddies
This week, our kindergarteners met their 5th grade buddies for the year! It was such a special time as our youngest and oldest students connected, got to know one another, and began building a relationship that we hope will continue throughout the year. Be sure to check out the pictures below!
A Quick Attendance Reminder
Tardy time for all K-5 students is 8:00 a.m. Thank you for prioritizing your child’s learning and attendance. Being at school and ready to learn on time each day makes a meaningful difference!
Questions or Concerns? Start with Your Child’s Teacher!
As a final reminder, please reach out to your child’s teacher with any questions or concerns. Your child’s teacher is your first go-to person for anything related to your student and is an important partner in your child’s success. If you need help contacting your child’s teacher, the front office is able to share contact information.
Cheers to a wonderful weekend and another great week ahead at LCES! We are so grateful to have your families as part of our LCES community.
Warmly,
Brandi Lovely, PK-5 Principal
Front Office: 719-486-6890
From the Front Office:
Power Hub App is back up and working!
Thank you for your patience while Power School worked on the app. It is back up and able to take payments.
Please let the office know if you have any other troubles or need help with accessing the app.
LCES Important Dates (PK – 5th)
August 24-September 3: K-5 Beginning of Year DIBELS reading benchmark assessments
September 7: No School, Labor Day
September 9: K-5 Open House at LCES 6:00-7:00pm
K-5 Specifics
DIBELS Testing: This week we began our beginning of the year DIBELS assessments. These tests help us measure how well kids are learning and gives us a direction on interventions for the school year. This assessment is also important because it is influential in making big decisions for our district regarding student performance. We will finish testing all K-5 students through the first week of September and thank you for talking with your student about doing their best at school! We look forward to sharing these assessment results with you at parent teacher conferences in October.
Buddies: 5th grade & Kinder buddies had their first Meet & Greet Thursday. It was such a special time!
Come Have Lunch With Your Student!: We would love to welcome you into our school for lunch! Sharing a meal with your child is a wonderful way to see our new building, connect with your student during the day, and experience our school community.
Please review the LCES Lunch Visitor Flyer for important visitor expectations, and be sure to sign in at the front office when you arrive. We can’t wait to have you join us!
Lunch Schedule (Kindergarten–5th Grade):
Kindergarten: 10:35–11:00 a.m.
1st Grade: 10:55–11:20 a.m.
2nd Grade: 11:35–12:00 a.m.
3rd Grade: 11:40 a.m.–12:05 p.m.
4th Grade: 12:05 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
5th Grade: 12:40–1:05 p.m
August Panther HOWL (Habit of Work & Learning) Focus: Respect
For the month of August, we will celebrate the HOWL of Respect. Respect means, “I see the value in others and I treat everyone with kindness.”
Attendance: Week 2 of school, attendance continues to be high! We had 96% daily attendance for LCES. Year to date our overall average daily attendance is 96%. Beginning in September, students who have perfect attendance every 2 weeks will be entered into a raffle for a free pizza from the Famous!
K- 94% 1- 96% 2- 98% 3- 99% 4- 93% 5- 98%
K-5 Project Dream
Reminders & Updates
– All Project Dream programs take place at Lake County Intermediate School (1000 W 6th St.)
– Transportation schedules are posted on our LCES Project Dream information page (link above).
– For afterschool, please do not pick up before 5:15p, as students will be in activities and their departure before the end of activity can cause disruptions.
– Students who bike to school can load their bike up on the activity buses that transport students between LCES & LCIS. This may change when we begin transporting students via large school buses.
– Due to our current waitlist, please let us know if your plans have changed and you no longer need your student to attend any Project Dream program.
Registration
A combination of high program interest and capacity limitations for afterschool and Friday programs have resulted in a maximum of 3 days of afterschool and a waitlist for both afterschool and Friday programs. We are sharing the following updates to give a timeframe for expanded capacity and moving students off the waitlist to help families make better plans for their students this Fall.
We expect to be able to open more spots for afterschool and Friday programs for grades K-5 (LCES) beginning September 8th, the Tuesday after we return from Labor Day Weekend. Our goal is to move as many families off the waitlist as possible at that time. Waitlist spots are determined by the date we received your request, with the earliest requests being highest on the waitlist. We do not publish what spot a student is on the waitlist. We will reach out to families to confirm their added days prior to the Labor Day weekend.
We expect another expansion of our capacity later in the Fall, likely after the Fall Break. If we still have a waitlist at that time, we will prioritize enrolling families without days before expanding to four days. Do not expect your student to have four days of afterschool this Fall.
A reminder, our online registration through school registration closed on July 29th. If you submitted registration for Project Dream after July 29th, you need to contact Blanca Rodriguez directly to be on the waitlist for afterschool and Friday programs. Many families have already taken this step and have a spot on the waitlist, but feel free to reach out to Blanca to confirm.
Lake County Intermediate School
We are so excited to host all Project Dream programs at Lake County Intermediate School. We’ve received questions from students and families about LCIS, and we’ve posted more information on our LCES Project Dream information page (link above).
Blanca Rodriguez | Student Coordinator | 719-293-0115 | brodriguez@lakecountyschools.net
Thank you and see you at LCIS!
The Center Specifics
Dear Preschool Families,
We are seeking a few more parents and community members that are interested in serving on our Head Start Policy Council. The Policy Council consists of families from Head Start, as well as our other programs and our community. Members work in partnership with our staff to review our program goals and planning, policies, and activities. Through this work families share input, ideas, and experiences that help us understand and meet the needs of the families we serve. The Policy Council meets once a month with dinner and childcare provided. Please reach out if you are interested or would like more information. We will be working to get our new council established soon so we can start with an initial meeting in mid September.
Enjoy your weekend, we will see you Monday!
Tanya Lenhard, Director
719-486-6928 (work); 719-293-1055 (cell)
tdlenhard@lakecountyschools.net
Classroom News!
This week was all about continuing to feel comfortable in classrooms, bonding with teachers, playing with friends, and routines, routines, routines. They are getting much smoother and we already see a lot of independence occurring with things like washing hands, hanging up backpacks,saying goodbye, and navigating all the many things that occur in preschool. This is great work for a few short days in school! We hope that your child is settling into the preschool year with a sense of comfort and enjoyment. Please reach out if there is anything we can do for support, we know that sometimes this transition can be new and we are here to partner with you to ease things that might feel difficult.
From the Assistant Director
Dear Families,
It’s been a great second week! It’s been great to see all the happy faces during drop off.
A few reminders:
- Please don’t forget to turn in your LCECE Tuition application to Marissa on August 24,2026. Tuition will be posted on August 26, 2026, you will need access to your Power Hub to view your monthly tuition for September. If you need help accessing this information please reach out to me.
- If you need to confirm your child’s pick up list, add/drop a person please reach out to Marissa at 719-427-7075.
- Turn in your completed DECA and ASQ screener, this can be sent in your child’s yellow folder or brought to me directly.
- Don’t forget to turn in your child’s current Physical (Annual Well Child Check), this can be put in your child’s yellow folder or brought to me, our 30 day deadline is September 8.
I hope you all have a great weekend. I look forward to seeing you all next week.
Marissa Martinez
Assistant Preschool Director
mamartinez@lakecountyschools.net
Office: 719-486-6927
Cell: 719-427-7075
Family Engagement Corner
Hello PreK Families!
I would like to take a moment to introduce myself! I am so excited to be a part of the PreK team this year.
I have been with the school district for five years. I started as a Club Leader with the after-school programs and then served as a Site Supervisor for four years.
I was born and raised in Leadville and went through the school district as a student myself. Now, I am so excited to be a part of the district as a staff member!
As the Family and Community Coordinator for PreK this year, I am excited to get to know all of our families, learn from one another, and help build a strong sense of community. I look forward to meeting everyone and making this a wonderful year for our PreK families!
I am so happy to be here and can’t wait to get to know you all! 💛
Raquel Contreras
Family & Community Coordinator
rcontreras@lakecountyschools.net
Cell:719-293-1403
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