It is hard to believe we are now starting our seventh week of the 2014-2015 school year. I want to thank each of you for helping make the start of this school year one of the best that we have experienced. Getting off to a great start of the year has helped to set a positive tone for both students and staff, and I am very confident we are going to have a fantastic year for student success and achievement.

I have mentioned numerous times, that I sincerely believe in order for our children to get the best educational experience possible, we must all work together. I don't think there is any question we want to make certain that every student has the opportunity to achieve to his or her fullest potential. The levels of academic accountability, for both the school corporation and the student, have been continually rising over the last decade. With this higher degree of accountability for instruction and student performance, there is a corresponding increase in the commitment and involvement needed by everyone who works with children.

I am confident the staff at LCSC is an outstanding group of teachers and paraprofessionals who are dedicated to doing what it takes to help children succeed. But I also believe the education of our children in Lebanon schools is a shared responsibility between teachers and parents. Now more than ever we need the active involvement and support of each and every parent or guardian. Your involvement is just as important as having a highly qualified teacher in every classroom. The involvement of each parent or guardian is one of the most important factors of a child's success in school.

Throughout the year I will be reminding the teachers and administrators about our responsibilities to insure we provide the best instruction possible. I will also be reminding each of you about your responsibilities. While you have expectations, as you should, about the quality of the educational program LCSC will provide, we also have expectations about what will happen to support your child's learning during those times they are not attending school.

Some of the critical areas where you can help your child and your teachers are:

• Attendance: Your child is expected to attend school on a daily basis. Just like the work world attendance is critical to completing your responsibilities. It is imperative students are in school on time so we can deliver the highest quality educational experiences. One good idea is to monitor the school and corporation calendar. Knowing when, critical school activities occur, or when school vacation days are throughout the year will help knowing when to consider scheduling some appointments or vacations while not taking your child out of school on scheduled school days.

• Character: One of the critical areas of personal growth and development that is not "tested" is the area of respect and appropriate behavior. I believe we all expect our children to respect and adhere to the rules of the school, their teachers, and to respect the rights of other students. Teachers cannot teach and children cannot learn in an environment that allows bullying, harassment and intimidation; it cannot and will not be tolerated. I fully understand that this is a two way street and we will always adhere to a professional expectation that all our staff members will model and display respectful behavior toward our students as well.

• Responsibility: Your children are fortunate to attend schools that are staffed by caring and highly qualified teachers. As Superintendent I have focused on insuring our staff implements the best practices in teaching combined with the integration of technology, to enhance student learning. We have worked hard, with your help to make Lebanon Schools a place of innovative learning that is both rigorous in content and relevant in application. Each teacher in turn expects your children will approach learning with a positive and engaged attitude. Each student has the responsibility to work to the best of their abilities, complete their assignments on time, and take full advantage of the support and assistance that is available through each LCSC staff member. We are ready to provide the support they need to make their time at LCSC a life changing opportunity.

As superintendent, I too must be a valued partner in this educational experience. To that end, I promise you that my guiding principles, my leadership compass, will always be based on my core professional values; Honor, Courage, and Commitment. I will not waiver or compromise in my dedication to each student, parent, and staff member at Lebanon Community Schools. Every decision I make will be based on what is best for the students of Lebanon Community Schools.

With commitment and service,

Dr. Robert Lynn Taylor

Superintendent of Schools

Lebanon Community School Corporation

The Central Staff will be introducing students to STAR bucks this fall! In order to support positive behavior at Central, staff created an acronym to reinforce our mascot of STARS.  

At Central, we are encouraging students to be STARS by being Student Leaders, Trustworthy, show Awesome Attitude, be Respectful and make Safe choices in their daily behavior exhibited at school. Students who display one of the STARS attributes, will be given a STAR buck ticket to be placed on a larger star outside of each classroom. Classes will strive to fill their stars with their class STAR bucks tickets collected by their classmates to win a positive reward for their classroom. Students will also receive personal acknowledgements for their positive citizenship with special recognitions each week.  

Thanks to Central's PTO for their generous support in funding this positive behavior incentive program!

The Teachers (Eileen Potenza and Nancy Meeks), Speech Language Pathologist (Julia Vandegriff) and Assistants (Annette Gosewehr, Joni Leavitt, Michelle Walton and Cynthia Marquis) of the Developmental Preschool at Harney Elementary hosted a parent night "Chill Out With A Good Book" on Monday September 15. The evening's events were funded through a grant from the Lebanon Education Foundation. The goal of the evening was to promote early literacy skills in the home. This event helped parents to better understand practices when reading with their child. The parents were given information about specific strategies for reading with their child. Then the event progressed to breaking up into three stations where small group activities were demonstrated to parents. These activities included building their home library, learning strategies to promote letter identification and using technology to build literacy. Parents and children left the event with a 10 book library. The evening concluded with an ice cream social where every child won literacy based door prize.

Harney is Making Worms!

Worm farming is a great new project as part of our afternoon "Clubs" for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students. The Worm Farm is part of Mrs. Wiley's Art clubs where students will learn to use their creative ability and artistic talent to start a worm composting program in Harney Elementary.

Two days a week students will be hard at work in the Worm Farm club establishing this great club that will benefit Harney by reducing waste, but creating a wonderful resource of nutritious compost that can be used on gardens. Our goal is to create enough compost to make it available to Harney families along with some great worms for anyone's garden.

Students are following a three-phase plan of education, promotion and production. Over the course of the school year the club members will participate in each one of the phases to educate the students on how worms create compost; promote composting and recycling; production of the compost by gathering the recycled food, maintaining the worm bins and putting the worms and compost to good use.

The education phase will have students going to each classroom and presenting information about worm composting complete with a worm bin model to demonstrate just how worms make dirt from food scraps. The promotion will consist of students making posters, signs, coloring books and even a video to keep the food scraps coming and the worms busy. And once all of those scraps are collected the worm "farmers" will collect the waste, maintain the worm bins and eventually bag the compost and box up the worms for use in a garden.

Worm farming is a great way for students to learn how to have a positive impact on our environment while having a great time. Look for some great Harney Compost to be available in the early spring.

9/11

The morning of 9/11 our 4th and 5th grade classes went outside and listened to a teacher explain briefly about 9/11 and why we need to remember and respect today. They all stood very quietly through the speech and then took a moment of silence and said the Pledge of Allegiance together. Even though these students were not alive for this event - respect and understanding is being learned. Well done everyone in teaching about such a tragic event in our history.

Camp Tecumseh

Hattie B. Stokes 5th grade students, parents and staff traveled to Camp Tecumseh on September 9th and 10th. Students participated in their Foundations for Success program. The program focused on students learning leadership, cooperation, problem solving, trust and friendship. Stations were led by staff and parents and students traveled though all six stations during their camp experience. Even with the rain, students left with valuable life lessons and smiles as they boarded the bus to come back to Lebanon.

Students of the Month

Student of the month showed the Shamrock lifeline when they entered the building and showed the lifelines even when no one was looking. 

Perry-Worth students participated in a first annual 'walk-a-thon' to help raise money for the school! Students were challenged to walk 40 laps, or however many they could in an hour. The students and staff raised OVER $9,000 in pledges! Thank you to the Perry-Worth PTO for planning and organizing this event and the students for their fast walking feet!

Lebanon FFA

Members of the Lebanon FFA and Agriculture Department have been busy over the past couple of months! At the beginning of June, approximately 60 FFA members were rewarded for their outstanding involvement and leadership through our annual Achievement Trip to Holiday World. The members enjoyed a great day of fun and fellowship! The summer was also filled with exciting activities and trips for the Lebanon SAE (Supervised Agriculture Experience) Class through tours of the Fair Oaks Swine Adventure, Becks Hybrids, Titus Donuts, the Purdue Vet School, This Old Farm meat processing facility, Bloom's by Sandy, Victory Field, and RDM Shrimp Farm. Students also visited Parkwood Nursing Home to deliver flowers grown by the Horticulture class to the residents. FFA members also gained valuable leadership and communication skills while facilitating activities at the Young McDonald's farm and trash pickup during the Boone County Fair. To round out the summer experiences, members helped set up the FFA Pavilion at the Indiana State Fair on July 25th. Their activities ranged from cleaning, painting, and helping build the ever popular putt-putt area. A special thanks goes out to all of the parents and volunteers that help make these opportunities and events possible for our members and students!  

FFA Mums Sale

The FFA and Horticulture class have been busy over the last few months growing Mums for a fall fundraiser. We will be selling the Mums for $5 (for an 8" pot) and $10 (for a 12" pot). There are many different colors and varieties to choose from! The Mums will be available to purchase at sporting events during Homecoming week as well as Saturday, September 27. The schedule is listed below.

Monday, September 22: Girls Soccer (soccer fields) 5:00-7:00 pm

JV/Freshman Football (football field) 5:30-8:00 pm

Tuesday, September 23: Boys Soccer (soccer fields) 4:30-7:00 pm

Girls Volleyball (High School Gym) 5:30-8:00 pm

Friday, September 26: Varsity Football Homecoming game (football field) 5:30-9:30

Saturday, September 27: LHS Greenhouse 9 am-12:30 pm

Thank you for supporting the Lebanon FFA Chapter!

Cheerleaders of the Week 

The Lebanon High School cheerleaders and Clete the Tiger were honored to be selected as WTHR's "Cheerleaders of the Week" on September 12. The team visited the WTHR studio after the big win against Southmont. They appeared live during Dave Calabro's sports segment and performed a cheer. It was a fun evening and we had a great time watching the newscast and representing the Lebanon Tigers!

LHS Publications

The Lebanon High School publications staffs participated in a critique and medalist rating from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association in New York and have received notification that the 2014 Pennant newspaper staff earned a silver medal, and the 2014 Cedars yearbook staff earned a gold medal for their work. About the yearbook, one judge stated, "Your staff knows what to do and they do it well!"

CSPA is an international student press association, founded in 1925, whose goal is to unite student journalists and faculty advisers through educational conferences, idea exchanges, textbooks, critiques, and award programs. The CSPA offered annual prizes for the best student newspapers and magazines in 1925 as part of its first activities. Both publications are now eligible for Crown awards, the next phase in the process, and we will be notified of our standing in December.

We are very proud of the students who work diligently for our student media on a daily basis to tell the story of every student and staff member at Lebanon High School and are very happy to see their hard work recognized.

Boone County Kiwanis Global Youth Leadership Academy

Ten sophomores from the LHS Class of 2017 were nominated to the Boone County Kiwanis Global Youth Leadership Academy (BCKGYLA). Students from LHS were chosen for their concern for others, self-discipline, and for displaying leadership qualities and potential. Recently, they met at the Witham YMCA, along with ten sophomores representing Western Boone Jr. Sr. High School and Zionsville High School, where they learned about leadership skills. This is a three year program designed to promote personal growth, and to give students an opportunity to give back to the community, as they continue to develop an increased awareness of others.

Back Row: left to right: Zach Nies, Jacob Copeland, Trevor Boyne, Spencer Bayston, Evan Stambuagh Front Row: Left to right: Katlyn Coddington, Lauren Hudson, Nicole Wynne, Caitlin Schroeder, Brooke Montgomery

On September 16, the AVID 11 and 12 students and chaperones traveled to the Indianapolis Convention Center to attend the annual National College Fair. Students had access to more than 300 colleges and their admission representatives from throughout the United States and internationally. Colleges provided materials and information about their respective post-secondary institutions and students were able to meet college representatives, ask questions, and learn more about their "dream" colleges.