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Upcoming Dates at a Glance
Thursday, February 11 - Staff Professional Development (early release)
Friday, February 12 - Parent Teacher Conferences (no classes)
Monday, February 15 - President's Day (schools closed)
Tuesday, February 16 - Board of Education Meeting (7 p.m./District Administration Center) 
March 21-25 - Spring Break (no classes)
Monday, May 23 - Tentative Last Day of School (subject to change due to inclement weather days, which are added to the end of the district calendar)
Board of Education Public Notice
The Liberty Board of Education is seeking an individual to fill a vacancy as a director on the Liberty Board of Education.  The term vacancy will be from February 16, 2016, until April 2017.  Candidates must meet the qualifications of state law to serve as a board director.

Residents interested in serving as a director on the Liberty Board of Education must submit a letter of interest to the school board secretary.  Candidates submitting letters of interest will receive an application packet to be completed and returned no later than 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 3, 2016.  Click here for the process timeline. Please submit letters of interest to:  Mrs. Sandra Cockrum, Secretary, Liberty Board of Education, 8 Victory Lane, Liberty, MO 64068.  Phone:  816.736.5301 or email: scockrum@liberty.k12.mo.us. 
LPS News to Know
EPiC Elementary Enrollment Information
If you are interested in placing your child's name in the EPiC Elementary randomized lottery process for enrollment in the 2016-2017 school year, but missed the January 26 and 27 enrollment tours, you may call Patrice Clark at 736-5730, and let her know you are interested in attending the February 9 school-wide showcase night from 4-7 p.m.  For more information regarding EPiC's enrollment process, visit their website at www.epic.liberty.k12.mo.us.  Enrollment is open through Friday, February 26. 
2016-2017 Kindergarten Enrollment Online Soon
Liberty Public Schools will begin its second year of online enrollment on February 1, for those families needing to enroll their incoming 2016-2017 kindergartners. More information to follow!
Summer School Online Enrollment Coming Soon
This year's Summer Adventure 2016 online enrollment for kindergarten through 8th grade opens Thursday, February 11.  Additional information may be found on the summer school website by clicking here. 

Summer Adventure 2016 is scheduled to take place from June 2-28.  Be sure to follow the LPS summer school program on Twitter at @LPSSummerAdv. 
LPS Recruiting Video Now Available for Viewing
A video highlighting why our teachers enjoy working at LPS has been produced and is available on the district's YouTube page.  If you have not seen the video, it can be viewed by clicking the image below:
Reminder:  Honor an LPS Teacher With Valentine's Day Gift
Just a reminder, if you know a teacher who seems to never give up on their students, who sees potential in every student, who goes the extra mile to make sure kids are not only learning, but also makes sure they're excited about school, then we can help you to say thank you. To honor LPS teachers, administrators, and staff, the Liberty School District Foundation (LSDF) is sponsoring a recognition opportunity.  For Valentine's Day, you are invited to give a donation to the Liberty School District Foundation in honor of any teacher, administrator, or staff member who works for LPS.  For each donation, LSDF will attach a heart to a Valentine's Day card to be delivered to honored educators; hearts will include your name, acknowledging your generosity and gratitude (gift amount not mentioned).  Donations must be made by February 4 and will be used to support the Foundation and its programs, which directly benefit LPS students. Donations are tax deductible. 

For more information, visit www.LSDF.org.  Remember, in order to include your heart on a Valentine's Day card, you must make your donation by February 4; this may be done by clicking here. 
LHS Wrestling Cancer Research Fundraiser
Help Liberty High School raise money for general cancer research by bringing donations to the wrestling tournament on January 29th & 30th. LHS will be competing against more than a dozen area high schools for the most donations collected. The wrestling tournament will be held in the new field house at LHS on Friday evening and from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday. Thanks in advance for your support!
Staff/Student Recognitions
Orchestra Students Selected to UMKC Honors Weekend
Congratulations to the following students on their selection to the UMKC Midwest Honor Orchestra/Band Festival and Symposium!
 
Violin: Daniel Adkins (HMS), Natalie Juno (LHS), Amy Jurgensen (LHS) Nolan Burroughs (LHS), Sungjune Park (LHS), Olivia Bunch (SVMS), Bih Awasom (SVMS), Delaney Brown (LNHS), Max Brown (LNHS), Haydn Finlinson (LNHS), Zane Fulkerson (LNHS), Anais Gumbly (LNHS), Riley Sutherland (LNHS), Zahra Kahn (LMS), Peyton Steenstra (LMS)

Viola:  Zoe Moody (LHS), Heather Shipley (LHS), Allyson Harris (SVMS), Kathleen Harner (LNHS), Anna Haynes (LNHS), Nishat Shah (LNHS), Noah Lively (LMS)
Cello: Teagan Anders (HMS), Kyla Lancaster (SVMS), Ally Fisher (SVMS), Ava Curry (LNHS), Phillip Cleary (LMS), Connor Looney (LMS), Kendall McMullen (LMS), Hope Peck (LMS)
Bass: Alex Soto (LHS), John Paul Williams (SVMS) Zach Klug (SVMS), Fiona Burroughs (LMS)
  
Students will participate in clinics/rehearsals all weekend and perform in concert on Sunday, February 14, at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Being selected for this event is a very high honor!
LHS Young Women Recognized by NCWIT
Each year, the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) awards young women, both locally and nationally, for their accomplishments and aspirations in computing. This year, several Liberty High School students are being awarded.  The awards ceremony will be held at Garmin International on February 5th. Congratulations to the following young women:  Liberty High Winner - Sydney Scholes; Liberty High Runners-Up - Erica Schmitz,
Grace Schott, and Paige Baldwin.
LNHS Varsity Scholar Bowl Team Wins 2nd Place 
Liberty North High School's Varsity Scholar Bowl team won 2nd place at the Smithville Invitational Tournament on January 23. The team had six wins and scored 2430 points during the day. Team members were:  Hillary Albert, Brooks Casel, Kaylee Chase, Jacob Dice, Chase Mason, and Elliott Yoakum.  
 
Pictured (L to R): Chase Mason, Jacob Dice, Kaylee Chase, Elliott Yoakum, Hillary Albert, Coach Camp (Brooks Casel not pictured)
LNHS Speech and Debate Team Finishes 1st Overall
Congratulations to the Liberty North Speech and Debate team for finishing 1st in overall sweepstakes out of 36 schools at the Bob Bilyeu Winter Classic in Springfield, MO.  The tournament draws teams from all over the state. The following students placed individually:
 
1st Humorous Interp Summer Blankenship
1st Program of Oral Interp Thadeus Acha
2nd Foreign Extemp Jake West
2nd Original Oratory Michaela Scarrow
3rd Dramatic interp Michael Chapman
3rd Duo Interp Conner Paulson/Annalyn Blackwell
3rd Champ Lincoln Douglas Debate Isaac Keller
4th Champ Public Forum Debate Jordan Jackson/Carman Stephenson
4th Champ Public Forum Debate Cheyenne Bourgeois/Jacob Lozano
4th Policy Debate Jake West/Sara Venier
4th Student Congress Isaac Keller
 
1st Novice Dramatic Interp Noah Graham
2nd Novice Foreign Extemp Sadik Mohamed
3rd Novice Humorous Interp Cassie Sisson
3rd Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate Braydee Chu
3rd Novice Dramatic Interp Sean Pappone
4th Novice Duo Interp Colt Duncan/Jamal Gregory
4th Novice Policy Debate Sadik Mohamed
5th Novice Humorous Interp Colt Duncan
5th Novice Original Oratory Sadik Mohamed
6th Novice Original Oratory Lauren Johnson
 
Other members of the team also competed at the St Joseph Central tournament and also won 1st in team sweepstakes at the tournament.
 
1st Public Forum Debate Madisen Barrett/Isabel Hicks
1st Humorous Interp Morgan Neal
1st Dramatic Interp Bryce Tinkham
1st Storytelling Garrett Williams
2nd Prose Nate Meshau
2nd Dramatic Interp  Nate Meshau
2nd Extemp Jordan McCue
3rd Prose Bryce Tinkham
3rd Humorous Interp Gabe Wright
4th Policy Debate Tyler Brown/Mitchell Sidden
5th Original Oratory Madisen Barrett
5th Student Congress Michael Gallup
5th Humorous Interp Garrett Williams
6th Original Oratory  Isabel Hicks
6th Storytelling Anais Gumbley
7th Storytelling Damon Gooch
7th Duo Interp Morgan Neal/Autumn Bammes
8th Original Oratory Sullivan Nevins
It's a Regional Win for Liberty Sapphires
January 23rd, the varsity and junior varsity Sapphires competed at a regional competition held at Lee's Summit North High School. The varsity Sapphires brought home first place finishes in their pom and jazz routines, earned a judges' award for outstanding technique in their pom routine, and were named the overall high point winners for two routines. This is the team's sixth regional title in the last nine years!  The LHS junior varsity Sapphires also had an impressive day. The JV team earned a first place finish in their jazz routine, second place finish for their pom routine, and finished seventh overall out of all varsity and junior varsity teams combined.  Congratulations to the Liberty High School Sapphire teams!
 
Varsity team members include:  Chloe Balsdon, Taylor Bargfrede, Brynn Baymiller, Sarah Bono, Olivia Book, Hannah Doherty, Kennedy Doherty, Jessie Fullinwider, Chloe Kuchta, Ally Miller, Annie Pottios, Alexa Smith, Taylor Stufflebean, Mary Jane Swetnam and Alyzza Vitug. The team is coached by Kristen Bosiljevac and Maggie Willis.
 
Junior varsity team members include:  Nichelle Davidson, Josi Frigon, Clair Heller, Katie Moon, Madi Ripper, Braylin Stevens, and Maggie Taylor. The team is coached by Courtney Klepper.
Upcoming Events
Liberty High School Courtwarming 2016 
Blue Jay For all the information you could possibly want to know about next week's Courtwarming at Liberty High School, click here!    
 
After the success of the Color Powder Party during Homecoming week, we decided to have a Tekno Bubble Dance immediately following the Courtwarming basketball game! The bubbles glow under black light, and when they pop on the kids during the dance, it has a really cool effect!  Be sure to read through the information to see what other fun activities we have planned to make sure we #GlowBigOrGlowHome!
LHS Blood Drive Friday, February 19
The Liberty High School AP Biology class is sponsoring a Community Blood drive at Liberty High School on Friday, February 19, from 7 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. in the auxiliary gym.  Adult donors may come at any time or they may make an appointment online by going to www.savealifenow.org.  Use Sponsor Code libertyhs.  For more information, contact Rick Knowles at 736-6800, ext. 2019 or any LHS AP Biology student.
Women in Engineering Breakfast
Girls (and their moms) in grades 6-12, this is for you! If you are interested in learning more about careers and future trends in engineering, join us for breakfast at Mosaic Life Care, 8880 NE 82 Terrace, KCMO, on Saturday, February 27, from 9-10:30 a.m.  Professionals from a variety of engineering fields will be available to share what their current jobs are, the types of jobs their company hires for, and what skills and education are needed for those jobs.  

Click here to register!  For more information, contact Colleen Jones.
9th Annual KC Brain Bee Competition
High school students are invited to compete on January 30 at the live Q & A competition, testing their neuroscience knowledge. Brain Bee is sponsored by the Society of Neuroscience, KC Chapter, and is held at KU Medical Center from 9-Noon.  The winner will be invited to the championship at the University of Maryland in March. Go to http://sfnkc.org/ for more information. Email afnkc@kumc.edu with student's name, grade, and high school.  More questions?  Contact Colleen Jones.
District/Community Events
Earnest Shepherd Youth Center Chili Supper
Earnest Shepherd Youth Center's annual Chili Supper is going to be held February 18.  Mark your calendars now for an evening of good food and fun! Dinner will be served from 5-7 p.m. Cost is $10 per adult, $5 for children ages 5-10 years of age; children 4 years and under eat free. Come help support the Youth Center, and enjoy a delicious meal including chili, hot dogs, and nachos. This is one of our fundraisers to support our programs for 2016!
 
For more information, call 781-7733.
QuickNews Bulletin Board
In an effort to make our Liberty Public Schools e-newsletter, QuickNews, a concise publication in which subscribers may read in timely fashion, district/community announcements will be advertised in the main QuickNews section for a maximum of two weeks.  After this period of time, announcements will be transferred to our QuickNews Bulletin Board, which is located on the LPS website provided at the link below. In addition, the Bulletin Board may include announcements not meeting the criteria to be placed in this publication. The addition of the QN Bulletin Board allows them to now be publicized. This bulletin board will continuously be updated throughout the week, and announcements will remain until they expire by date. To access this page, simply click here. 
 
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© 2015 Liberty Public Schools
8 Victory Lane, Liberty, MO 64068
816.736.5300