Dear Lake County School District Colleagues,
In just a few days we will all be back together again to kick off our 2023-24 school year. I love the time we all come together at the start of the school year as it is full of smiles, hugs, and sincere excitement for the job we all get to do each year. I look forward to this time together as it is one of the few opportunities we all share together each year, no matter where your daily job may have you working.
Reflecting on the past year, I am most proud of the work we have done in supporting excellence in growth and achievement for our students. Specifically, our initiatives around literacy and programming for our English Learner programming this past year has been exceptionally well planned and demonstrated collaborative efforts across the district. Only one year ago did the work of our literacy leadership team take effect and the efforts of teachers in either adopting or implementing a new curriculum began. And, in the first year of adoption we have seen significant gains in students’ literacy success across the district. The work this year of the equity group in auditing and beginning to sketch a path forward for more equitable practices is another highlight. Efforts to support our multilingual learners that are being planned for this coming year’s implementation include language acquisition specials at our elementary levels, and an overhaul of our EL program with support of the Colorado Department of Education.
One of the highlights of this past year was the honor of receiving the Governor’s Bright Spot award presented to Lake County Intermediate School for their exceptional growth. Related to this was the accolade of LCIS coming “off the clock” as a result of student academic growth. Check out the video highlight for this award here: https://youtu.be/WADOAw3BKOc
This next year we will look to continue developing these two elements of our strategic plan (literacy growth/achievement and programming for English language acquisition). We will also focus on implementing action steps around equity that are being co-created with The Equity Project and our very own equity stakeholder group. Our academic focus for the coming year has already kicked off with the creation and first meetings of the Math team. This team began work with district-wide walkthroughs and will be making recommendations for considerations for our district-wide math programming.
Other very important areas of work for the coming year include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Cooks have/continue to increase student access to healthier foods by: partnering to serve fresh local products, reducing the use of products that contain the “Harmful 7 Ingredients,” and increasing scratch-cooking offerings.
- Facilities/Maintenance will move forward with the School Board’s direction for Lake County Intermediate School which will consider the development of a plan to renovate the facility.
- Custodians went through summer re-training and efforts to completely re-strip and re-wax our floors across the district within the short seven week time period. This team has also been working extremely hard to prep classrooms for student/staff return
- Transportation continues to find the “yes” response to the travel requests that support our Learning Beyond Walls approach to school.
- Athletics and activities will continue to revisit how we engage more students in school. This coming year we will offer a full season experience of boys volleyball, and football in response to students requests and engaging students not currently participating.
Feel free to check out the presentation we shared with the Board in June of celebrations by month from last school year: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12iRNJhqBs3sJ73jVBfJEJaQLJkyGadvMckn9FgSHAIw/edit?usp=drive_link
To kick off our new year and the upcoming work, we will have an all district lunch together on August 1. We are asking that all employees of the district prioritize this time together; please make sure you are in attendance and feel free to work any scheduling conflicts that might arise out with your supervisor.
During this kickoff time together we will have the opportunity to introduce new staff as well as to celebrate and recognize our classified and certified staff of the year.
Below you will find a table that outlines many other start of the school year events. If you have any questions about upcoming events, please do not hesitate to contact your front office, your supervisor, or Kathleen Fitzsimmons at the District Office (719-486-6811). We are here to answer your questions and make sure you have everything you need.
I look forward to the excitement of the new year, and I thank you for your dedication to our district. Enjoy the rest of your summer! We look forward to seeing you soon.
Sincerely,
Bethany Massey
Superintendent of Schools
Lake County School District
Beginning of Year Schedule
| Date | Event & Time | Location |
| July 24 Monday | Principals, Secretaries & Other 200/195-day employees return | All Buildings |
| July 31 Monday | New Staff HR Onboarding/Orientation 8:00 am-11:15 am LCEA Presentation-11:15-11:30 am Lunch 11:30-12:30 pm Return to home buildings 12:30-4:00 pm | District Office, Room 11 with Kathleen Fitzsimmons (719-293-4678) |
| August 1 Tuesday | All staff return to work 8:00-11:15 in home buildings 11:30-12:00 District Welcome @ LCHS for all staff12:00-12:30 Lunch @ LCHS for all staff 1:00-4:00 in home buildings in afternoon | Report to your home building. District welcome @ LCHS |
| August 2-3 Wednesday-Thursday | All staff Professional Development and Work Time | Individual buildings per schedule (Principals and managers to provide detailed schedules.) |
| August 7 Monday | 10:00-6:00: PreK-12 orientation conferences with families All staff need to have an ID photo taken | All Schools |
| August 8 Tuesday | First Day of School Photos for ID’s can be taken at CCHS/DO this day if not done on Monday at home school | All Schools |
