From the Principal 

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

As another modified contact day is upon us on Friday, December 7th, I wanted to take a moment to tell you about the purpose of these days. Jefferson County Schools allow for 4 modified contact days each school year giving teachers additional time and attention for assessing individual students.  Leawood schedules two of these days in August to assess where students come into their learning at the start of the school year.  We choose to do the other days one in December and one in May.  On these days, teachers will be assessing reading levels and other assessments that they deem pertinent to guide the instruction for your child.  Not all students will be tested this month.  If you are new to Leawood and missed our beginning assessment days, we are requesting your time for testing this day, too.  We may also request a parent/teacher conference, either because we were not able to schedule one in October, or because we have further concerns we need to address.  Look for more information and signup coming from your child's teacher.  Thank you for this time getting to know more about the learning of your student.

Our Attitude of Gratitude

As we enter the holiday season, I would like to take a moment to say thank you.  I am constantly amazed by what our community can do when we work together to support our children.  Thank you to our teachers and paraprofessionals for your dedication and honest love of children and this profession. Thank you to our support staff: cafeteria, office, and custodial staff, for the way you care for our kids and all you do to keep our school running smoothly. Thank you to our students for bringing your joy and love of learning with you every day. Thank you to our musicians and artists for their gifts – the band and orchestra with Mr Whaylen,  the class informances with Mr Zigman,  and all the creations that adorn our hallways remind us of the importance of art in our world.  Thank you for our healthy schools attitude and our staff and families committed to our new Garden and Wellness Initiatives. Thank you to our PTSA and volunteers for your boundless positive energy and “can-do” spirit. Thank you to our parents for instilling the value of a good education and entrusting your children to us. Thank you to our Jeffco community for trusting that our children are our greatest asset, and that we must invest our time, energy and resources for their future!

On behalf of the staff, we wish all of our Leawood Family a very restful, peaceful and joy filled holiday season. Try to find some time to spend with family and friends doing those simple and special activities that make memories. Baking, sledding, crafts, building a snowman, and reading seasonal stories are all moments that we hold dear to our hearts as we grow.  Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Joyous Kwanzaa to all of our families.  

We will see you in 2019!!!  Stay warm and safe.

Mrs. Martha Shehan

**NEW EnrollJeffco**

Be looking for more information about registering and enrolling at Leawood for the 2019-2020 school year.  Beginning January 22,  2019, ALL students will need to enroll and let us know you are returning to Leawood.  In July/August, you will still need to register through Jeffco Connect, making sure your contact information is updated,  paying fees, and signing off on agreements (Code of Conduct, Media Releases, and other OPT out agreements with your digital signature)  For more information, visit the EnrollJeffco webite HERE.

School Start Time Survey

The School Start Time Task Force has been meeting since last spring, analyzing the research around school start times and its effect on students, especially in middle and high school.  For more information, please visit the Jeffco School Start Time webpage If you would like to give input, please use the survey link below.  The survey closes on December 10th, 2018.  Start Time Survey

Family-School Partnership Survey Open Now!

Our district is committed to ensuring that your experience with us is collaborative, successful, and helps your child(ren) learn and grow. We want to know how we are doing. Below is a link to complete a survey about family-school partnerships. The survey is anonymous and will only take 10 – 15 minutes. Results will be used to improve our district and your child(ren)’s learning environment. The survey opened on November 26th and closes Friday, December 14.

Click on or copy/paste this link into your browser: 

www.tinyurl.com/JeffcoFamilySurvey2018 

Thank you for taking the time to give us feedback!

Student Based Budgeting in Jeffco Schools 

Beginning in the 2015/2016 school year, our District moved from a ratio-based staffing allocation model to a student based dollar allocation model. The new system is called Student Based Budgeting or SBB.  The move to SBB was driven by educational best practices being implemented across the country which aligns with the local desire for more site-based decision making. The benefits of SBB include:

1.     Site-based decisions for staffing and spending to best meet the needs of the specific students being served in each school.

2.     School level autonomy and flexibility to align resources to the school improvement plan and to deliver the best student achievement results possible.

3.     Distribution of the majority of school level resources to the school instead of a small discretionary allocation of operational dollars.

The intent of the SBB model is to ensure a transparent, predictable, consistent, fair, and equitable distribution of funding.  School budgeting has not been fundamentally adjusted for many years in a way that addressed changing priorities, needs, goals, and individual school populations. As a school principal, I am now able to make collaborative site-based decisions for staffing and spending. The goal is to give schools more autonomy and flexibility to better align resources for individual school needs. In the next couple of months, our School Accountability Committee (SAC) will be very involved in this process. We work collaboratively with staff to gather recommendations regarding budget priorities.  This is an important step in the budget development process that aligns with district policy “prior to the adoption of the school budget for the upcoming school year, the SAC will provide recommendations to the principal on school priorities for spending school moneys.”  If you are interested in this process or have any other questions, feel free to contact me. 

Upcoming in December

Tues/Wed, December 4th and 5th Hot Chocolate Sales:  Our third graders have been preparing an authentic task learning how to plan and manage an after school hot chocolate stand.  The money they raise will be going to the Foothills Animal Shelter. Look for more information 

Thursday, December 6th, 4-8pm, Barnes and Noble Night Fundraiser:  This has become a new fun tradition at Leawood.  We'll have musical performances, artwork on display, and teachers and staff reading their favorite holiday stories.  Leawood earns a percentage of all purchases that night, so come do some shopping, visit with friends, and have some fun while supporting our Leawood PTSA.

Thursday, December 13th, 2nd and 3rd grade concert with Mr Zigman: Join us in the Leawood gym from 7-8pm for a performance these classes have been preparing to share with us. 

Saturday, December 15th,  9 am to noon, Children's Holiday Workshop Thanks to our PTSA and the many volunteers who put this together each year.  What a wonderful Leawood tradition.  We can still use some help with prep and day of volunteers. Look for the signup on the PTSA page of this newsletter. Hope to see you there!

Monday, December 17th - December Wall of Pride Lunch

Friday, December 21st - Holiday Classsroom Parties

Holiday Break: December 24th - January 8th

Students Return - Wednesday, January 9th