Lennox Elementary News
I hope that everyone had a great summer and that the students are looking forward to a new school year! It is always exciting to meet your new teacher and start a brand new school year!
The first day of school this year will be Monday, August 22nd. You will have the opportunity to meet our new and returning staff members at our pre-school open houses on Tuesday, August 16th. The open houses will be from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at each elementary school. Students will have a chance to meet their teachers and view their classrooms. The offices will be open to accept lunch money and answer questions as well. We are hoping that the new elementary cafetorium will be open and staff persons will be set up there to hand out packets and accept lunch money.
We will miss Mrs. Kristi Koltz who took a position at Discovery Elementary in Sioux Falls. We wish her the best as she has the opportunity to teach at her own children’s school. RoxAnn Neeman will be transferring to the fourth grade at Lennox from Chancellor, and a new teacher has been hired for the fifth grade. We welcome Emily Witte to the fifth grade spot at Lennox. Emily has experience teaching at Elk Point/Jefferson and will also coach the freshmen girls’ basketball team. Welcome, Miss Witte!!
Two other Chancellor teachers have transferred to the Lennox Elementary building. Rhonda Holbeck will teach first grade and Paula Horton will teach second grade. We are excited for the opportunity for all these teachers to collaborate together and share great ideas!
A few support staff persons have switched buildings for this upcoming year. Mary Lunstra will join our SPED department at Lennox Elementary while Darcee Anderson will help out the Worthing staff. Laura Breck has taken on a new job, and so Angela Smit will join the SPED support team. Michelle Vietor will replace the vacancy left by Jill Veeder to instruct our SPED students. We are lucky to have such caring individuals to support our students with special needs across the district!
We will continue with our discipline program through the SD Dept of Education called “Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports” and continue to make changes to fit our needs in the Lennox School District. The program is positive-based and focuses on rewarding students for meeting school expectations. Our three expectations are: “Be Safe”, “Be Respectful”, and “Be Responsible”. Students who meet these expectations will receive Oriole Bucks to be used at the school stores each quarter. Consequences will be in place for students who have trouble meeting expectations. Thank you for your continued support in this program. Only through good communication and parental support can we instill in children the need for good behavior. Let’s continue to work together!
We will again use the “Response to Intervention”program with elementary students. “RtI” is a data-based program where each student is assessed three times in reading to determine if they need reading interventions with classroom teachers or specialized teachers. Teachers provide these interventions within the school day for many students based on the data. As a result, we saw great gains in the reading achievement of many of our students at all three elementary sites! Information will be available regarding RtI at the open houses and parents will also be receiving letters home once school begins. Response to Intervention is a nationwide program that is gaining attention by many school districts. We are very proud to have piloted this program and look forward to another year of RtI.
More information will be forthcoming in regard to the Safe Routes to Schools grant that the Lennox community received. Some of this funding will help to provide instruction to our students about getting to and from school safely, plus there will be incentives for students as they learn more about biking and walking for exercise! Stay tuned!
We are anticipating another successful school year! We value each child and will do everything possible to help them have a positive school learning experience!