Daniel Coyle, The Culture Code- The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups

Let me first start by wishing you all a safe and happy holidays!

Tis the season for giving and we are grateful for the gift you give us each day to work with your students. We work hard to give back by providing a safe, nurturing, rigorous, and student-centered learning environment so that each of our learners can grow academically and socially.

Highlighted in this update are just a few examples of how our staff and students are being responsible citizens and contributing members to our community.

Maddie Archer, a Junior at Lyman Memorial High School, is being spotlighted for her efforts to ensure that those in need will have an enjoyable holiday season. Working with the Norwich DCF Maddie helped support a program to provide gifts for youngsters in and around our community. She took it upon herself to reach out to staff to ask for contributions. She had a great response and was able to provide multiple bundles to identified families. When speaking to her she was so excited about how she was able to make a difference that she was already talking about extending her efforts next year and reaching out to teachers in the Colchester school system.

On November 17th we received letters from the Town of Lebanon Department of Social Services thanking our staff and students for their generous donations of food to the Lebanon Food Pantry for Thanksgiving.

The first letter was written to the Grade 2 Team of teachers and students. The department expressed that they were grateful for the food donation and stated it was a wonderful addition to the pantry at the special time of year. The second letter was sent to the Lyman Class Advisors for giving 12 Lyman Orchard pies to the food pantry.

The department greatly appreciates the schools support and I am proud of our efforts to be responsible citizens.

Our Lebanon Elementary School Preschool and Kindergarten classrooms engaged in a service learning project organizing a Pajama Drive. They encouraged involvement of the entire school with a goal of collecting 100 pairs of pajamas in mind. Upon collecting the generous donations the staff and students pass them along to the Department of Children and Families office in Willimantic for any children in need. This is the fourth year in a row that our youngest learners have found ways to give back to others.

Lebanon Middle School teacher and Lebanon Education Association Co-President, Jeannette Picard entered a raffle with the Connecticut Education Association and won a free basketball clinic that will be run by the Connecticut Sun's professional basketball team! The clinic will be held at LMS on January 6th exclusively for our middle school learners. This is a special treat, thanks Mrs. Picard.

We are in the midst of what experts are calling the "Tripledemic". We have seen many cases of respiratory viruses and the flu in our schools. We have increased the frequency of touch surface cleaning and continue to encourage our learners to practice good hand hygiene to help prevent illness. Our nursing staff has been diligent in their attempts to spot signs of sickness and stop the spread in our classrooms. We ask for your continued cooperation in monitoring your students health and not sending them to school with signs of COVID-19 or a fever. Our district recently sent home self-test kits for families to help with earlier identification of COVID-19 and to set us up for a safe return to school after the holiday break.

On December 9th we joined schools across the state in a PJ Day for CCMC. By participating we were able to raise close to $1,000 to donate to the hospital.

Thanks to those of you who attended the Budget Input Session held on December 15th. This was the first opportunity for stakeholders to provide feedback on the development of the 2023-2024 budget. We are about a month ahead of last year's schedule for developing the budget. I plan to hold another input session sometime in the new year and will make sure to share the invite in my Superintendent Updates, on our FB page and by sending you a direct email.

Here are the slides that were shared during the presentation. I provided details and explanations during the informal presentation to support the data in the slides. If you have any questions about the information included please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please keep in mind, this is a working draft that still contains many variables at this point. I plan to use the feedback shared from those in attendance, along with ideas that I have, to begin making adjustments to this projection. At the finance subcommittee meeting on December 20th the Board saw this presentation and heard the feedback that was provided. We also began deliberating regarding possible cost saving measures. At the next input session I will make clear where changes were made.

We secured this opportunity for our 7th and 8th grade learners as well as a select group of students at Lyman. The lab will be visiting at the end of February.

Goodwin University’s School of Business, Technology, and Advanced Manufacturing prepares career-focused learners with the technical, professional, and interpersonal competencies to meet the needs of today’s employers. With this knowledge and ethical mindset, individuals can contribute to the social responsibility and sustainability of organizations within the community.

The Goodwin Advanced Manufacturing Mobile Training Lab brings necessary training for skills to: • employers for workforce development • high school students, who can earn college credit in manufacturing • middle school students, inspiring young “makers” to become part of the next generation’s workforce • the community, to share information on the awesome opportunities for great careers in manufacturing

Bringing the mobile lab to schools and manufacturing facilities reaches audiences who may not otherwise have access to training and introduces them to a world of career possibilities.

From the Curriculum Office, Rita Quiles-Glover, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

Meaningful curriculum that harnesses student experiences allows for learning that makes real life connections and accesses prior knowledge to aid in further understanding of concepts. Active learning techniques help develop critical thinking and logical reasoning skills for students. Through my classroom visits, I’ve observed these types of lessons and seen firsthand how they help students to understand their impact on the world around them.

In the spirit of the holiday season, third grade classrooms at Lebanon Elementary School participated in such a lesson. A few months ago the state shared the need for holiday cards for military soldiers serving overseas. This meaningful writing task aligns with the third grade language arts standards that students prepare, publish and/or present work appropriate to audience, purpose and task. Along with aligning with standards, this learning is a simple way to make a profound impact. In addition to the writing task, teachers allowed students to share their experiences at a PBIS assembly. One student read during the assembly....these cards have helped to cheer up hundreds of thousands of soldiers during the holiday times. Another student shared….one person’s small idea to help others has spread all over the world and has touched so many lives. This is an example of how a simple act of kindness through the writing craft can make a profound impact.

Lebanon Public Schools actively seeks to assist children and families by locating, identifying, and referring children from birth to age 21 who require special education and related services. If you are concerned about a child's development, you are encouraged to contact Lebanon Elementary School to receive information about Early Childhood Screenings.

If the child is younger than 3 years of age, you may choose instead to contact the Connecticut Birth to Three System at 1-800-505-7000.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact 860-642-5636.

Chartwells has organized and will be executing several new initiatives throughout the course of the school year to involve our students more in the food service program.

In the photos below, students at the high schools are conducting taste tests and voting to provide instant feedback that will help us build our menus.

Students expressed an appreciation for having a voice in this process and for the tasty offerings.

The students tasted the Teriyaki pineapple chicken sandwich and the mozzarella pepperoni panini. We sampled 576 portions during both lunch waves and had 113 votes total. The mozzarella pepperoni panini received 65% of the votes, and the chicken sandwich received 35%.

Food service committees at each school will be meeting in the upcoming weeks to continue the collaboration.

Dear Lebanon Families,

In August, Lebanon Public Schools received funding to help continue free meals for students for a portion of this year. As a reminder, SMART funds require participating School Food Authorities to provide free breakfast and/or lunch meals to all students in schools that are approved to participate in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program in School Year 2022-23. As a requirement of the funding, our school district must notify families 30 days prior to these funds running out. This serves as a notification that the SMART funds will continue to cover our district meals until Nov 30th.

Fortunately this does not mean we move right back to paid lunches.

Lebanon Public Schools has decided to utilize our school lunch fund surplus to help continue free meals for the students. As of today, we are uncertain how long the surplus can sustain covering meal costs. Our plan is to address the situation each month and keep families notified of changes. Similar to the required SMART funds timeline , we will notify families 30 days before meals will be expected to be paid.

Please continue to watch for communications about our School Lunch Program as the year progresses.

Parents/guardians are also encouraged to continue to fill out eligibility applications, as the requirements for free and reduced meals have changed recently.

2022-23 Application for Free and Reduced-price School Meals or Free Milk

Best,

Andy

Click "buttons" throughout update to view articles & important documents

Families, please feel free to send photos of our students in action so that I can celebrate them in the Superintendent Updates. Thanks for helping share our Lebanon Pride! andrew.gonzalez@lebanonct.org

A small group of Lyman Memorial High School students attended the Connecticut Boards of Education and Connecticut Association of Public Schools Superintendents annual conference and participated in workshops with other student representatives from across the state.

Inspired by their experience, these students came back to district and requested a meeting with me. During the meeting we discussed establishing opportunities for their voice (students) to be heard. I was excited that they reached out because I too was energized to make some changes to how learners are involved in their education here in Lebanon, and was already working to establish committees in each building to give students a forum to share ideas and express concerns. I will not only listen to their thoughts but act upon them.

Hazel DeLucia- In her freshman year Hazel Placed 1st at the Wheeler Invite, 2nd at Winding Trails, 3rd at the Harry Geraghty and Wickham Invites and 6th at the Stratton Brook Invite. She was recognized as an Eastern Connecticut Conference All-Star and is one of only two athletes in the entire conference that ran undefeated. She placed 5th at the ECC Championship meet (out of 88 runners). She came in 9th at Class S State meet (out of 121 runners). For her efforts she was named to the Class S All State Cross Country team.

Kassidy LaTour- Kassidy, a Senior on our Championship volleyball team was selected the All State Team for her efforts on the court. She had 62 aces, 208 kills, 222 assists, 280 digs and 12 blocks this season.

Arianna Garcia- Arianna joined Kassidy on the All State Team after leading our squad to ECC regular season and tournament titles. She had 38 aces, 11 kills, 44 assists and 471 digs.

Kassidy and Arianna were integral parts of championship teams in each of their 4 years on the volleyball team.

Magda Carpenter- Magda racked up awards this soccer season while helping our team to an ECC championship and a trip to the state tournament finals. Magda is a 3-time ECC All Star and 2-time Class S All State player. She was voted the ECC Tournament MVP and recognized as the New London Day newspaper's Player of the Year.

Our Lebanon Elementary School students, led by Mrs. Shuman put on a great performance during their winter concert. The students spread the holiday spirit while singing to their classmates during the day, their families at night and then again in taking a trip to our Lebanon Senior Center.

The Model United Nations celebrates 70 years of bringing this event to CT high school students – 70 years of educating our next generation of global leaders.

Among the thousands of our MUN alumni, many have gone on to work in the White House, have become diplomats, engineers, politicians, teachers, accountants, journalists, soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. Those who have participated in MUN say it remains a vivid and important event in their lives and how it forever opened their minds to the world and how we can all work towards a more sustainable and peaceful world.

This event helps prepare our youth to navigate the globalized world we all live in – and the work of the students who endeavor to solve some of the world’s most critical issues inspire us all.

Model UN 2022 Topics

Security in Space

Post-Conflict Economic Development

Ending Genocide

Deforestation

Reforming the Security Council

Global Food Crisis

Combating Gender-based Violence

Global Youth Engagement

Protecting Children's Health

UN Security Council Crisis

International Court of Justice

On December 2nd and 3rd sixteen Lyman students attended the 70th annual Model United Nations Conference sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Connecticut. The conference was held at the University of Hartford and was attended by 821 students from seventeen high schools across Connecticut. This conference is completely student run as students apply for and are trained to act as committee officers. Over the years Lyman has had numerous students chosen to be officers and several who have gone on to participate in Model UN in college as well.

Lyman’s students represented Japan this year. They used the knowledge they had gained when meeting with one of the Japanese delegates to the UN back in October as well as independent research to prepare position papers and resolutions to present in their committees. Committee debate revolved around topics such as security in space, post-conflict economic development, genocides, global food crisis, combatting gender-based violence, youth and public decision making, and access to life-saving support for children. One Lyman student also participated in an International Court of Justice case brought by Democratic Republic of the Congo against Uganda for alleged acts of armed aggression.

These sixteen Lyman students, from all four grades, did an outstanding job putting forth solid arguments for resolutions and getting up to speak in their committees numerous times. They formed coalitions with other countries (represented by students from other schools) to get resolutions amended or passed. And at the end of the day on Saturday they worked within their committees to solve a surprise crisis dealing with the Taliban in Afghanistan. We should be very proud of how well our students represented Lyman and Japan as they worked cooperatively with students from all over Connecticut and took on some of the most critical challenges in our world today.

Students Participating:

Naomi Andrews-Kowal Olivia Michael

Samuel Barnes Christina Pineault

Kendall Breault Aurora Smithwick

Sarah Cropley Blake Susman

Rhiannon Dixon Keegan Tardiff

Megan Geier Justin Valiquette

Juliana Haynes Anthony Williams

Jenny Lopex Addison Ziegler

Advisors:

Cynthia Hisman

Baird Welch-Collins

I am truly grateful for the years of dedicated service that Mr. Laskarzewski has given to the district while serving as the Lebanon Middle School Principal. He will be retiring at the end of this school year after nearly two decades of providing leadership and guidance to our middle school staff and students. He announced his retirement well in advance of his last day so that we can begin the search for a new Principal. I have included an invitation to apply (below) that includes important dates.

Sabena Escott, MSW sabena.escott@lebanonct.org

Lyman Memorial High School Social Worker and District Family Care Coordinator

With recent legislation over the summer, a family care coordinator has been added to the growing number of mental health staff that CT recognizes will further support our children and families in the school setting. The family care coordinator role already encompasses what our Lebanon school district mental health teams provide for students and families. Providing students with access to mental health resources within the community and bringing mental health services to students inside of the school has always been a priority in our district. Please reach out if there are any specific mental health topics, community programs, therapeutic referrals or town programs and resources that you would like to know more about. Below are a few programs and resources for students and families.

Lebanon Social Services Office offers a variety of services to Lebanon children, adults, and seniors. Social Services Administrator Shelly Ashcom works with federal, state, and local organizations to provide assistance to Lebanon residents in need. Town of Lebanon Social Services

*The use of the resources/programs in this section are not required by LPS to be used by parents/guardians. They are recommendations only.*

Regular attendance is vital for student success. When students attend regularly they the best chance to achieve academically and thrive. Every day a student is in school is an opportunity to learn, build relationships and access supports. We look forward to partnering with you to make sure our learners are present and prepared to grow each day. We understand that students are more likely to attend school when they feel safe, connected and supported. We will continue to work hard to motivate students to attend by fostering a belief among students that they can achieve at high levels .

Research shows that when students are chronically absent- missing more than 10% of the school year, or 18 days over an entire year- they are less likely to read proficiently by 3rd grade, achieve in middle school and graduate from high school.

Please remember you can see our COVID-19 data that is updated in real time at https://www.lebanonct.org/ There is a "button" on the main page that links directly to our dashboard.

COVID-19 medications are now available through your doctor, local pharmacies, and health clinics.

If you have COVID-19 symptoms, do not wait to get treated.

You must take oral COVID-19 medication within 5 days of your first COVID-19 symptoms.

Use the tool below to find a location that is right for you.

https://covid-19-test-to-treat-locator-dhhs.hub.arcgis.com/

The link below is for patients and legal guardians to access official immunization records for themselves and their children using the CT WiZ Public Portal.

https://portal.ct.gov/DPH/Immunizations/CT-WiZ-Access-My-Immunization-Record

The Lebanon Public Schools, in partnership with families and the community, will prepare students to be contributing members of a diverse global society. We will provide a safe, nurturing, rigorous, and student-centered learning environment.

The school community of Lebanon is committed to the mission of honoring and celebrating the diversity of our students, our community, and our nation. We strive to guide our students to conscious, deliberate, individual and collective actions that cultivate the respect of all races, religions, and social backgrounds. Our school community endeavors to produce graduates who are equipped with a greater understanding of the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The Lebanon Board of Education, in compliance with federal and state law, affirms its policy of equal educational opportunity for all students and equal employment opportunity for all persons. It is the policy of the District to promote nondiscrimination and an environment free of harassment and the District does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, alienage, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, age, disability, pregnancy, genetic information, gender identity or expression, veteran status or any other category protected under state or federal law in the admission or access to, or treatment or employment in, its program or activities. The District also provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups and is specifically required by Title IX not to discriminate on the basis of sex in its programs and activities. The District shall make reasonable accommodations for individuals with identified physical and mental impairments that constitute disabilities, consistent with federal and state statutes and regulations.

The following person has been designated to handle inquires regarding Title IX sex discrimination policies: Dawn DeLia, Title IX Coordinator, 891 Exeter Road, Lebanon, CT; 860-642-5764

The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding other non-discrimination policies: Dawn DeLia, 504/ADA Coordinator, 891 Exeter Road, Lebanon, CT; 860-642-5764