Dr. Robert L. Taylor

Superintendent of Schools

Lebanon Community School Corporation

School Highlights

We had some exciting happenings during this year's National FFA week, February 19-22, 2013. All in all, it was a fabulous week that allowed not only the current FFA members and agriculture students to celebrate the opportunities that are available to them in the FFA and agriculture industry, but the rest of the student body to be involved.

Tuesday - Marshall Perkins, State FFA Officer for Indiana, engaged Mrs. Hartley's Fundamental of Agriculture students during their class periods with a presentation on FFA opportunities and involvements. The students participated in activities that tested their creativity and had them think about the broadness of the agriculture industry. At lunch, 8th grader Dylan Krout won the "Guess How Many" Event with his guess of 843 gummy bears. The actual amount was 902!

Wednesday - Students vied for the title of Cow Pie Champion at lunch in the "Cow Pie Eating Contest." Student winners included - 6th grader Dillon Disbro, 7th grader Dagon Johnson, and 8th grader Clayton Barber.

Thursday - "Cow Pie Toss" was the lunch activity of the day. Students enjoyed a free friendly competition similar to corn hole.

Friday - FLYTE, the Official National FFA Mascot, visited Lebanon Middle School to help with the Kiss the Mystery Animal Event.  Members of the student body voted all week during lunch by dropping change into tubs with the teachers' names on them. The winners were: Mrs. Furman, 6th grade; Mr. Dunshee, 7th grade; and Mr. Polston, 8th grade.  A very special thanks goes to Alisyn Smith and her family for donating the use of the pig for this year's event! The students loved being able to interact with FLYTE and our very own tiger mascot. This was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity for our students!

The Lebanon Middle School Agriculture Department was recently awarded a 2013 Boone County Master Gardener Grant in the amount of $250 for our "Tiger Landscapers in Training" Project. This grant money will allow us to purchase the tools we need to help plant and maintain the flowerbeds around the school. Jane Diedrich has volunteered to assist us in teaching the students to properly maintain the garden, divide and transplant and plant appropriate plants to attract butterflies.  We look forward to partnering with the community to help educate the students and beautify the school environment.

Members of the Lebanon Middle School and High School competed in the State FFA/4-H Dairy Foods Career Development Event on January 26, 2013, at Purdue University. The Junior Consumer division of the Dairy Foods C.D.E. consists of identifying milk quality defects, ice cream processing defect identification, distinguishing between dairy and nondairy food items, cheese identification, and also tests the students' knowledge of the dairy industry, products and marketing. In the Junior Consumer division, Kennedy Williamson placed 2nd, Julianne Lowe placed 3rd, Kayleigh Edwards placed 4th, Arnela Cajlak placed 11th, Jordan Childers placed 13th and Kylie Reynolds placed 14th. The team consisting of Kayleigh Edwards, Arnela Cajlak, Jordan Childers, and Kennedy Williams placed first in the division. Jessica Mars, high school member, competed in the Senior FFA division. The Senior FFA division covers the information above with the exception of the ice cream processing defects identification. That section is replaced with a California Mastitis test and milker unit defects and damages identification.

Four 8th graders represented the Lebanon Middle School FFA at the District IV FFA Leadership contests at Benton Central on March 2, 2013.  Kayleigh Edwards and Sara Ottinger placed 4th in the Animal/Food Science division of the Discovery degree demonstration with their presentation on Ear notching. Arnela Cajlak and Julianne Lowe placed 1st in the Natural Resources/Plant and Soil Science Division of the Discovery Degree Demonstration competition. Their placing with their demonstration of how to make a pine cone bird feeder has qualified them for the state level competition at Purdue during the State FFA Convention in June.

District IV Parliamentary Procedures Career Development Event
Members represented Lebanon Middle School on March 11, 2013, at the District IV Parliamentary Procedure CDE at Ivy Tech. The Parliamentary Procedures event challenges the students in their ability to effectively and properly run an efficient meeting through the use of parliamentary law. Team members include:
President - Clayton Barber
Vice President - Nikki Thatcher
Secretary - Kayleigh Edwards
Treasurer - Grant Johnson
Reporter - Arnela Cajlak
Advisor - Sarah McIntyre
Sentinel - Lauren Hudson
Members - Trevor Boyne and Baylee Burcham

News

In the District

February was a very busy month for our FFA chapter! We are excited about all of the recent happenings and are excited about the bright future ahead! During National FFA Week our middle school members welcomed the National FFA mascot Flytie, into their building while four of our high school members had the opportunity to travel to the National FFA Center for a Sponsor Reception!

March 2-3, 16 middle school and high school students, competed in a total of nine district leadership contests at Benton Central! Below are the results from the competition! The members of the Agricultural Mechanics, Agriculture Farm & Business Management, Discovery Degree Demonstrations (Plant, Soil, Natural Resources & Horticulture), and Creed Speaking will be advancing to State FFA competition in June! 

On Monday, March 11th both the Novice Parliamentary Procedure team (8th grade members) and Senior Parliamentary Procedure team (members in grades 9-12) will travel to Ivy Tech for district competition. Both teams have been practicing since the beginning of January and will test their knowledge on how to properly carry-out a meeting based upon Robert's Rules of Order.

In addition to preparing for leadership contest and parliamentary procedure contest, we have helped six of our FFA members submit applications for their State FFA degrees and two of our senior FFA members submitted their National FFA Scholarship application! We will be notified later this semester regarding the results of each!

Leadership Contest Participants

Kayleigh Edwards & Sara Ottinger-Discovery Degree Demonstration (Animal and Foods)

Julianna Lowe & Arnela Cajlak-Discovery Degree Demonstration (Plant, Soil, Natural Resources & Horticulture)

Stephanie Holloman-Creed Speaking

Corey Edwards-Freshmen Extemporaneous Speaking

Ashley Syferd-Freshmen Prepared Public Speaking

Jackson Bland-Agricultural Sales Presentation

Jessica Mars & Kylee Reed-Agriculture Farm & Business Management Demonstration

Peyton Keller, John Plunkett, Ally Reagan, and Mackynzie Pullen-Quizbowl

Shelby Lee & Jesse Rogers-Agricultural Mechanics Demonstration 

Novice Parliamentary Procedure Team

Clayton Barber

Nikki Wynne

Kayleigh Edwards

Grant Johnson

Arnela Cajlak

Sarah McIntyre

Laura Hudson

Trevor Boyne

Baylee Burcham

Senior Parliamentary Procedure Team

Luke Everett

Lindsey Williams

Jesse Rogers

Jenna Dickerson

Kaitlyn Heick

Corey Edwards

Sandra Malagon

Alyssa Hankins

Shelby Roberson

State FFA Degree Applicants

Luke Everett

Mike Herr

Nick Reynolds

Jesse Rogers

Joey Plunkett

Lindsey Williams

National FFA Scholarship Applicants

Luke Everett

Joey Plunkett

Thank you for the continued support that you provide to our Agriculture students and teachers!  

Left to right: Cameron Hudson, Collin Campbell, Kate O'Rourke and Andy Miller

On February 4th, Lebanon High School was notified that two senior students, Cameron Hudson and Andy Miller, have been named National Merit Scholarship Corporation Finalists. This is an outstanding honor for both students and our school. Traditionally, we may have a finalist every few years, but to have two in the same year is a rare accomplishment. Each year, about 1.5 million students and 22,000 high schools enter the National Merit Scholarship Program through their participation in the PSAT exam taken in October of their junior year. From the 1.5 million students, approximately 50,000 (about the top 3.3%) are recognized as National Merit Scholars. From the 50,000 National Merit Scholars, about 16,000 (about the top 1%) are recognized as National Merit Semifinalists. Then, about 15,000 students are recognized as finalists with approximately 8,300 receiving a National Merit Scholarship. At LHS this year, we had four students recognized at the Scholar level (top 3.3%) in Collin Campbell, Cameron Hudson, Andy Miller, and Kate O'Rourke, and now two students, Cameron Hudson and Andy Miller, reached the top 1% level. The performance of these students is a credit to the students themselves, their families, an amazing senior class, and to LHS and LCSC.

 

"Comedy Sportz will make you laugh, I guarantee. That's our only goal; to make you laugh," said Junior Jonas Gustavson. Comedy Sportz is a team at LHS that competes by playing games based on the show, "Whose line is it anyway." There are two teams that compete against each other during the competitions in hopes of making the audience laugh the most.

Comedy Sportz practices like any other sport would throughout the week. During practices they rehearse different games and learn how to work off of each other. "My favorite part about Comedy Sportz is the practices because you learn each team member's strengths and weakness," said Gustavson.

They have to work on impromptu skills along with creating jokes that all age groups will laugh at. The LHS Comedy Sportz team competes with: Roncalli, Westfield Lawrence Central, and more. Four members are chosen from each team to compete in games like: Things, Dance Party Freeze, Hitch Hiker, Four Corners, and Whatcha Doing. There is a referee that determines how many points each team gets, depending on how much the audience laughs. "The audience chooses the final winner, the harder they laugh, the more points our team gets," said sophomore Taylor Zell.

Comedy Sportz consists of ten members including: Nora Wornhoff, Taylor Zell, Abby Osbourne, Captain Kody Tucker, Gideon Bower, Captain Jonas Gustavson, Matthew Pickens, Lia Triscari, Madison Garner, and Sally Everett. Miss Becker coaches the team through their different practices and competitions. They hosted their own show at Lebanon High School on February 27.

Gideon Bower said, "This is my first year joining Comedy Sportz, I thought it would be fun to join and I was right. I love performing the different impromptu routines at competitions." Junior Kody Tucker said, "I love getting on stage and making fun of myself, which is why I joined Comedy Sportz."

Left to right: Sean Keefer, Robert Taylor, Jason Joes, Jake Marshall, Brad Sloan, Kevin O'Rourke and Sue Ellspermann

Wednesday, March 13 LHS was presented with a 2013 Governor's Workplace Safety Award by Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann and Indiana Department of Labor Commissioner Sean Keefer. LHS received this award as a result of the OSHA training the Building Trades students received as part of the partnership with Safety Solutions Success. The Building Trades students completed their 10 hours OSHA training, which is a very important training industry wide and improves their marketability in the workforce. LHS was nominated by Safety Solutions Success. LHS was the only school honored and during the awards announcement it was mentioned that LHS is the only school in the state that provides this type of training. This honor is a great recognition for Mr. Sloan, the building trades students, and LHS. Attending the awards luncheon were Mr. Sloan, Jake Marshall (student representative), Dr. Taylor, Dave Herr, Kevin O'Rourke and Mr. Jason Jones, President of Safety Solutions Success. Congratulations Mr. Sloan and the Building Trades students and thank you for the positive work you are doing as representatives of our school.

Staff/Faculty Spotlight

 

Last November Pam Shelby, Central Elementary second grade teacher, applied to be a presenter at the Midwest Education Technology Conference in St. Louis on February 13th. Much to her surprise, she was selected to share her presentation about using technology to differentiate learning along with her success with the Accelerated Math program.

Participants at the METC conference were taken back to the year 2004 when Lebanon teachers visited a school in Lafayette, IN that used a new program, Accelerated Math, to differentiation instruction. That next year Central Elementary had four high ability classrooms pilot the program. District administrators recognized the success the program was having for students of ALL ability levels, not just the high ability students.

The following year Accelerated Math was implemented in all Lebanon elementary schools with Mrs. Shelby coaching teachers on how to use the program. According to Mrs. Shelby, "Accelerated Math has been and continues to be the best way to differentiate math instruction that I have ever come across." The program is structured to have students scan their work using scan cards, and receive immediate feedback indicating missed problems and correct answers, while at the same time allowing students to work at their own pace and instructional level, which is what differentiation is all about.

Mrs. Shelby says she was honored to represent the Lebanon Community School Corporation at this national level to share the success that she and many other Lebanon educators have had and are continuing to have with Accelerated Math.

Central Elementary School

Community Events

School Bulletins

 

Open Enrollment applications will be accepted April 8 - April 26. The application can be picked up at any LCSC elementary school or downloaded at the school corporation website here. The application must be returned to one of the elementary schools, no applications will be accepted at the Superintendent's office.