Dear LCSD Staff:
Thank you for your dedication to our students and our mission as a school district as we have navigated a challenging few days. We know that these events weigh heavily on all of you and your families. Our staff has shown the resilience and perseverance that Leadville is famous for over and over this week, not to mention many times prior.
We appreciate your patience as we have worked to finalize plans for schools to reopen on Monday. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office continues to work through its investigation of the school safety concerns focused on Lake County High School that arose last week. Although the investigation is still active, the imminence of threat to the Lake County High School is now greatly reduced and important steps of the investigation have been completed. The Sheriff’s Office remains squarely focused on keeping our community safe while maintaining clear communication.
We have jointly made a plan for this week that we believe represents a cautious and prudent approach to going back to school. All of our schools will have extra law enforcement and district office admin presence near our schools, as well as after school, at the beginning of the week. This presence will be flexible, and adjusted as needed through the course of the week.
If you have a specific need for presence or support, please contact Jim Mulcey at 719-293-0489 and he will coordinate. Please remember that law enforcement is also responsible for emergency response elsewhere in the county, and so our plan needs to be somewhat flexible. As always, please stay aware of your surroundings, make sure that outside doors are closed and locked, and report anything out of the ordinary.
Here are some specific guidelines. If you have questions, please start by contacting the staff member listed:
- Normal procedures for away athletic games will resume on Monday (Amy)
- Normal procedures for home athletic games will resume on Monday (Amy)
- Athletic practices will resume on Monday (Amy)
- Open campus for LCHS lunch will resume on Monday (Scott)
- Students are allowed to travel to CMC and internships as normal starting Monday (Scott)
- Outdoor recess at LCES and LCIS will resume on Monday (Tanya, Brandi, Cheryl)
- Field trips will resume on Monday (Principals)
- Normal preschool drop off procedures will resume on Monday (Tanya)
- Normal Project Dream activities will resume on Monday (Mike)
- Out of an abundance of caution and so that we know classes are in the building during academic time, please no outdoor activities at LCHS between 8:00-3:30, Monday only (Scott)
We will have extra mental health support for staff available at LCHS on Monday. If staff from other schools would like to access this support during your plan or lunch, please come to LCHS.
We have deep empathy for the impact these past few days have had on our families and community. The two of us continue to coordinate daily. We are grateful for the collaboration that has allowed us to respond in an aligned way over the past few days. We both look forward to seeing you and our students back in school, and back to learning, this week. We will update you if anything changes, and we are very grateful for your support.
Thank you,
Kate Bartlett, LCSD Superintendent and Heath Speckman, Lake County Sheriff
