LCHS: 24-25 School Year and End of Year Updates
Dear LCHS Community,
It is hard to believe we are starting to plan for the 2024 – 2025 school year. We have some exciting opportunities in store which we believe will help all of our students be successful here at LCHS. Below are some important updates and changes that we want to make you aware of:
Bell Schedule 24-25
After a lot of conversation and discussion, we have made the decision to return to a block schedule for our 9-12 students. This will look like A/B days with Crew-3rd hour on A days and 4-7 on B days. Students enrolled in English 9 and Integrated I (Math) will see those classes every day. Details of the schedule will be shared out as we get closer to the following school year. Students in 7-8 will continue to have a similar schedule to this year and see all of their classes every day.
We believe that this switch back to a block schedule for 9-12 will allow us to provide high quality education experiences for our students. It helps our students be able to engage in deeper thinking with their teachers, have longer time for projects, and more opportunities to engage in robust conversations. Additionally, this will allow us to have a strong partnership with CMC and allow our students to both participate more easily in concurrent enrollment classes and high school classes. Internships are now finalized as a part of graduation requirements and the switch to block will allow flexibility for students to schedule their internships throughout the day. We believe this switch also will allow for students and teachers to have more potential to be outside during their courses.
One of the things we are very excited about is having an extended crew which will allow us to accomplish a lot more. Some big pictures things we are planning to accomplish in crew next year are:
– Panther Support: This will be a time when students are able to sign up with a teacher to get additional support in class. Teachers also will have the ability to sign students up for a time for make-ups, helping them understand content more etc… More details will be shared as we get closer to the 24-25 school year.
– Community Meetings: A longer crew time will allow for us to have more regular and structured community meetings. This is a time when we can come together to celebrate, talk about areas of growth, and engage as a school community.
– Buddy Crews: One of the things we have reflected on a lot this year is peer mentoring. We are going to try a new initiative this coming year to have older students mentor younger students by crew. We believe this will allow students to have someone that they can have in their corner.
– Senior Support: This will allow time for college admissions counselors to come talk to students, for the counseling staff to work with seniors on college applications and financial aid, and help prepare seniors for life after high school.
– Expeditionary Learning: This crew structure will provide time for students to connect with their crew teachers through large and small group team building, group discussions, and collaboration in our outdoor space. Students will have the opportunity to collaborate with their own grade level through team building, crew vs crew challenges to teach them social and emotional skills. This structure will help students feel welcomed and supported by their teachers.
– Independent Reading: With full classroom libraries almost complete, we now have the exciting opportunity to implement a school-wide independent reading program. This looks like 20 minutes a week where every student (and ideally, staff member!) in the school is reading a book that they love. We will offer suggestions for tracking, incentives, and crew vs. crew reading competitions. A spreadsheet of the book inventory will be shared with you to allow students to borrow books from other teachers, as well.
Graduation Requirements
Over the past couple of years we have been working to re-think and refine our graduation requirements. We have officially adopted our new graduation requirements and they can be found here in LCSD board policy. We believe that will allow for students and families to have a common baseline of knowledge when they graduate from LCHS and have flexibility when determining their plan to graduation. We want these decisions to be collaborative between student, family, and school. Here are some of the high level points:
– There will be three graduation pillars / mountains that families and the school will pick from to determine which is the best course forward for their student. Student, parent/guardian and school staff will select and approve which Graduation Plan/Mountain (Sherman, Massive) is best for their student. Selection of the Mt. Elbert graduation plan requires an application and recommendation process.
– In addition, students will take a semester long career exploration course before the second semester of their sophomore year (either semester freshman year or first semester sophomore year) which will help them determine which career pathway they would like to explore. This then will help determine electives and offerings for them their junior and senior year. It will also help inform their internship which is required for graduation.
Scheduling 24-25 Classes
Starting next week, we will begin the process of having students select their courses for the 24-25 school year. We will be pulling grade levels down one day at a time and starting to have these conversations. Process is below:
– Students will be called down by grade levels for conversations about course offerings, graduation pillars, and career pathways.
– At this time, students will receive a course selection form that will help guide them in their decisions.
– Students then will enter their selections into PowerSchool (our system that makes schedules).
– Students will bring their course selection form home for a parent/guardian signature and return to their crew teacher for a grade. The intent behind this is for transparency with parents/guardians about what their students are choosing. We encourage you to have these conversations.
J-Term (June of 2024)
In addition to the exciting changes for the coming years, we are revisiting the last two weeks. Although attendance and grading are still in place, this will look different than the rest of the school year and will vary across grade levels. It is our hope that we can provide students with unique and engaging learning opportunities. We are working to provide opportunities for teachers to teach other things they are interested in and continue to help students explore careers and different pathways. Below are some high-level details and we will communicate specific details as we get closer.
– 9-12 finals will occur on Wednesday, May 29th and Thursday, May 30th. Some 7-8 elective and enrichment finals will take place these days as well. 7-8 finals will still take place the last two days of school Wednesday, June 12th and Thursday, June 13th. Finals are required for all students. If a student is going to miss these days they will need to go through the approval process to take them early. We will communicate details of this in early May.
– The last two weeks (June 3rd through June 13th) each grade level will participate in a different form of J-Term. See below for grade level information:
7/8: Will have a normal core classes in the morning with various activities each afternoon. We also will include a move-up day for 6-8 students and an Environmental Science day.
9: All 9th graders will participate in a two-week exploratory session provided by Colorado Mountain College. Students will rotate through four different career pathways: fire science, health science, construction trades, and Outdoor Recreation Leadership/Ski-Area Operations. During the first week, they will be at CMC Leadville working directly with CMC faculty and exploring local offerings. The second week they will travel to various CMC campuses and job sites to engage in experiential activities. This program is designed for student exposure to career pathways.
10/11: Students on 10/11 will have a selection of courses that our LCHS teachers are offering. They will explore various topics and connections to post-secondary options.
Cornerstones
Cornerstones will now look like an annual event for 7th graders and an annual event for 9th graders. Starting next year, this will take place in the fall. This year, it’ll be in the spring for planning purposes. We are partnering with 100 Elk in Buena Vista for an annual high-ropes course for freshmen, and 7th graders will have a local event.
As we get closer to the start of the 24-25 school year we will communicate out more information and details.
Scott Carroll
Principal
Lake County High School
