FROM THE PRINCIPAL

January 2021

Dear Leawood Families,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I WISH ALL OF OUR LEAWOOD FAMILIES A NEW YEAR FILLED WITH HOPE AND PROMISE!! 

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break and a chance to relax and enjoy some quality time with family over the holiday season. 2020 brought with it change after change, and in the face of the pandemic, your flexibility, adaptability, and your continued commitment to keep all of us safe allowed us to continue your children's learning the best that we could.  Whether we were providing instruction in person or remotely, I hope that you have found our school community to be warm, caring and friendly. We continue to strive to build community spirit while learning new and exciting things, no matter the challenges we face. 

We miss you being in the building, and during our remote times, we miss the laughter of all our students in the halls.  I know students miss being with their classmates and teachers, as well. As difficult as circumstances have been, there have been many bright spots during this time. It is evident that your children are showing up to school with smiles each morning willing to share their stories and experiences. We are grateful for the gift we have in our community and our families. We appreciate all you have done to get your students ready each day. Without you, the growth we see would not be possible.

We are ready to make 2021 a year filled with success through hard work and dedication and providing students with daily opportunities to flourish. We continue to be dedicated to meeting the needs of each and every student at Leawood. The hard work is the responsibility of us all – teachers, students, staff, and families. I know together we will continue to make learning an exciting venture!!  Although social media is flooded with stories about how students “are behind”, at Leawood we celebrate our mid-year testing scores that prove our intentional planning and focused instruction is making a huge difference to our student success!  We look forward to sharing this data at our next Accountability meeting on February 3rd.

We understand that continuing with Kdg-5th grade remote learning through January 15 was not an ideal situation for many families, and one which results in continued challenges.  We all want nothing more than to be back in person and we hope this short time remote again will bring us back strong so we can continue through May. At this time, preschool in-person will begin again on Wednesday, January 6 and in-person K-5 will resume on Tuesday, January 19th. I have heard no other news regarding any additional information from our district, but I will also communicate this to you as soon as I know. If your family is experiencing extreme situations which we can support, please reach out to our mental health team using this form: Leawood Family Support Form.  Your request for help will remain confidential.  Jeffco has many supports in place to help, so please just reach out and ask.

As we move into this New Year, I want to thank all of you for the continued support and encouragement that you never failed to show us in 2020. We certainly faced monumental challenges, but we faced them together with grace, courage, and love. I could not ask for a more loving and caring school family and community. I am ever grateful and humbled to serve your students, families, and this community. Without you, our students could not be successful. I am particularly thankful for each teacher and dedicated staff member at Leawood Elementary. Every day they choose to be here with integrity, enthusiasm, and professionalism.  Happy New Year!

Kindly,

Mrs. Martha Shehan, Principal

martha.shehan@jeffco.k12.co.us 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

We have a very busy month ahead of us at Leawood! Right around the corner are some important events. I look forward to seeing you, even virtually, at these and many others during 2021. All grades are also scheduling MAP testing in the next couple of weeks.  Be sure to look for emails from your teacher regarding exact day and time.