"The Lion Dispatch"
December, 2019
'Tis the Season!
Thank you for taking time to read over the December edition of "The Lion Dispatch".
If you have questions and/or need further clarification regarding information within this newsletter, please reach out to Dr. Amber Johnson, Director of Learning, at ajohnson@lpslions.org.
Louisville Mission and Vision Statement
Vision Statement - Louisville Public School is a progressive district that engages a community of learners in collaboration towards excellence.
Mission Statement - Louisville Public School staff, families, and community are dedicated to the intellectual, emotional, physical growth, and safety of our students.
Louisville Public Schools Earns Global Accreditation
Louisville Public School District earned continuing regional accreditation from the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), an accreditation division of Cognia, formerly known as AdvancED.
Shannon Vogler, Midwest director for Cognia, shared “Seeking regional accreditation speaks to the districts commitment to system driven continuous improvement and effective schooling for their students. It demonstrates their intent to not settle for average, but reach for a higher standard of education quality.”
NCA CASI provides nationally-recognized accreditation, the purpose of which is to encourage and support continuous school improvement focused on increasing student performance.
To earn accreditation, schools must meet NCA CASI’s high standards, be evaluated by a team of professionals from outside the school and implement a continuous process of school improvement.
Louisville not only met those standards but rated second in the state in their Index of Education Quality (IEQ) score. This score speaks to the level of impact and sustainable best practices a school demonstrates through stakeholder interviews, observational data and artifacts shared with the accreditation team. This accreditation protocol is globally recognized and granted on a five-year term.
Notable District Strengths included:
- Learners have equitable opportunities to develop skills and achieve the content and learning priorities established by the system (district).
- The system (district) has a formal structure to ensure learners develop positive relationships with and have adult/peers that support their educational experience.
- The system (district) plans and delivers professional learning to improve the learning environment, learner achievement, and the system's effectiveness.
- The system provides access to information resources and materials to support the curriculum, program, and needs of students, staff, and the system.
Areas of Growth included:
- Instruction is monitored and adjusted to meet individual learners' needs and the system's learning expectations.
- Educators gather, analyze, and use formative and summative data that lead to demonstrate improved student learning (i.e. balanced assessment)
We are very proud of our district for being recognized number two across the state!! In addition, our district is committed to continued excellence as we focus on our areas of strength, as well as areas of growth!!!
LPS - AQuESST Classification
AQuESST is Accountability for a Quality Education System, Today and Tomorrow:
AQuESST is:
A way to illustrate the overall performance of a school and considers the broader educational experiences and success of each student.
- An opportunity to classify student performance on several indicators grouped by tenets to provide schools and districts with an overall descriptive classification of Excellent, Great, Good, or Needs Improvement.
assessment scores
graduation rates
progress for students learning English
reduction in absenteeism
*If a school is identified as Targeted Support and Improvement OR Additional Targeted Support and Improvement, they can not receive an Excellent Rating.
Below compares Louisville Public Schools AQUESST classification from 2018 to 2019.

*Additional Targeted Support and Improvement (ATSI)
*Status - % Proficient in ELA and Math
*Progress - Growth, Non-Proficiency, Reduction, Improvement, Science
*Graduation - % of student's graduating
*Progress Toward English Language Proficiency
*Chronic Absenteeism - Reduction in chronic absenteeism
*Evidence-Based Analysis (EBA)
Louisville Middle School has been identified as an "Additional Targeted Support and Improvement" (ATSI) school in the area of "Student with Disabilities".
As a school designated for improvement, our staff members will be working towards developing a plan and course of action to increase the performance for the student group - "Students with Disabilities".
As a district, we will continue to keep our LPS families informed about the goals and action steps to address this specific improvement area.
In addition, the following courses of action will be taking place over this school year -
*Louisville Middle School must develop an improvement plan for the identified student group (i.e. Students with Disabilities).
* Our ATSI team will take part in "Leading for Equity" which are self-paced modules.
* Our ATSI team will take a Comprehensive Needs Assessment and develop an improvement plan based on the tenet where responses are prevalent.
* The Improvement Plan will include disaggregating data and identifying potential areas of growth from student data results (i.e. observations, formative and summative assessments).
* LPS will receive on-site Regional Technical Assistance from NDE which includes our ASTI team engaging in equity data-rich discussions, plan/adjust interventions, monitoring, and charting of student progress.
reVision Community Engagement Meeting Follow-Up
What is reVision?
The reVISION process is a strategic approach for schools to analyze their current Career & Technical Education system and make plans, as needed, for adjustments. By participating in the reVISION process, our school district is focused on ensuring that our students leave high school with the knowledge and skills required for employment and/or entrepreneurship.
In addition, the reVISION process will provide opportunities for our district to design career education programs for students to experience a smooth transition from high school to postsecondary education.
Most importantly, the reVISION grant will play a critical part in developing a talent pipeline for economic growth and workforce development in Nebraska. A key component of the reVISION process will be to analyze the alignment between our current career education programs and Nebraska’s identified economic and workforce priorities.
Take-aways from our reVision Community Engagement Meeting:
Our reVision Facilitator from the Nebraska Department of Education, Therese Marzouk:
- reviewed labor market data and occupational projections for our community.
- reviewed identified knowledge and skills required for jobs in the local and/or regional economy based on NDE workforce data.
- assisted community members to consider potential new or revised course offerings which could be offered within the Career Education program.
Next Steps from our reVision Community Engagement Meeting:
- LPS' reVision team will be compiling and reporting the results of the community engagement meeting
- LPS' reVision team will develop an action plan for implementing proposed changes
- LPS' reVision team will identify the resources needed to implement the proposed new or revised CTE Program(s) of Study and/or course offerings
- LPS will follow-up with our stakeholders with a progress report in the Spring of 2020.
If you or you know someone within our community who would like to be involved in partnering with our school district about visiting/speaking with our students about career options, please email Mr. Brett Schwartz at bschwartz@lpslions.org.
District ACT Testing - March 24, 2020
Louisville Public School district will be a testing site for students who are interested in taking the ACT and in grades 10th or 12th grade - SPRING 2020. All 11th grade students will be taking the NSCAS-ACT on April 7, 2020
As a testing site, individuals who have registered and paid will be able to take the ACT at Louisville Public School.
Late Spring 2020 ACT Testing:
Offered to students in grades 10 and 12 ONLY
Tuesday, March 24, 2020 (Initial)
Tuesday, April 7, 2020 (Makeup)
If you are interested in having your 10th or 12th grader take the ACT on Tuesday, March 24, 2020, please email Dr. Amber Johnson at ajohnson@lpslions.org by December 20, 2019.
Elementary School News
Middle/High School News
Walking Club
Interested in a place to walk during the cold winter months?
If so, Louisville High School would like to invite you to walk the halls from November 18, 2019 to March 1, 2020.
The high school area will be open for interested walkers every Monday-Thursday from 5:30 am - 7:00 am.
We would simply ask that you enter from the high school activity side, keep the dirt outside by changing your shoes prior to walking and stay on the tiled areas throughout Louisville High School.
If you are interested, please contact Mrs. Bev Becker at (402) 234-3585.
Need Access to the Weight Room?
School Closings and Delays
If in question, Louisville families should contact their respective school offices and make certain that all contact numbers and family information is updated for the 2019-2020 school year.
2019 - 2020 Louisville Public Schools Staff

Louisville Public Schools Administration
402-234-3585
Dr. Amber Johnson - Director of Learning
402-234-3585
Mr. Shane Mathis - Elementary Principal
402-234-3585
Mr. Brett Schwartz - Secondary Principal
402-234-3585
Mr. Clint Little - Activities Director
402-234-3585
Mr. Nate Simons - Technology Director
402-234-3585
Louisville Public Schools Board of Education
Kara Habrock
Ashley Christiansen
Andy Mixan
Jon Simon
John Winkler
*The board does not discriminate on the basis of sex, disability, race, color, religion, veteran status, national or ethnic origin, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, or other protected status in its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated groups*