THE FAITHFULNESS OF OUR FATHER

Oh my, have we seen the faithful hand of our Father this summer! I am so blessed to be a part of a school that believes that the Lord can do mighty things! LCS belongs to the Lord and our mission is strong and secure: "LCS cultivates passion for God, love for learning, joy in serving, impacting the world for Christ." This is truly at the core of all we do and as the year unfolds, testimonies based on this mission will arise in abundance and we will share them with the community. Join us in praying for LCS and dedicating this year to the Father whose faithfulness to us never fails and never ends.

Mrs. Kristen Zaloom
Dean of Learning
kzaloom@lcs.org

Click the links below or scroll for the full newsletter!

A Message From Our Board Chair

What is Christian Ed?

I am the product of Christian education. I attended a large Christian school in Indiana of about 1300 students from kindergarten through 12th grade. My dad was a teacher and later the athletic director. He also coached multiple sports throughout his time there. Needless to say, as I grew up, I spent many evenings and weekends riding on buses to ball games with him, roaming the school hallways during practices, and helping clean up the concession stand, sweep bleachers, or gather basketball jerseys to wash after games. My siblings and I knew most everyone at the school and they all knew us. The school was a second home to me. I was very comfortable there. I loved that place both as a student and as a curious child exploring and playing. As I grew, I excelled academically, and I played on multiple varsity sports teams in high school. If the Apostle Paul was a "Pharisee of Pharisees", I was the "Christian school kid of Christian school kids". Christian education was all I knew. But what is Christian ed?

This may seem like an odd question. Many of us feel like we are quite familiar with Christian ed. Perhaps we’ve had children in Christian schools for years or even attended one ourselves. But have you given much thought to what differentiates our experience from that of our neighbors in the public school system?

Let’s start with this: Christian education is not simply a Christian teacher in a classroom. If that was all it was, it would be a nice thing but not significantly different from other education options. Rather, Christian education involves fundamental Biblical worldview development. Let’s unpack that for a second.

A worldview is simply the framework through which one sees the world. You can think of it like wearing glasses with colored lenses. The shade of the lenses will color everything you look at. A Biblical worldview understands everything around us through the lens of scripture. We start with the underlying foundation that God is real and his word is true. This shapes how we understand his creation and, most importantly, how we see other people. In education, this means that when we study science, we are learning how God orders the world. When we study math, we are learning how God thinks about numbers. In history class, we see God’s hand at work through various people and events. In every subject, we are able to better understand it because we know the One who created it. In one sense, it has been said that we are trying to think God’s thoughts after him.

A Christian school is also a place where the gospel is regularly preached. Christian schools seek to partner with families and serve alongside local churches in the spiritual development of children, and they can be impactful in leading children to Christ. This makes sense seeing that children spend 35 hours a week in school compared to about 1 hour a week in church! It was through events that happened to me in 4th grade that God convicted me of my sin and led me to repentance and faith. God completely changed me from the inside at age 10, and I knew it. As I grew, God used my teachers and sports coaches to help me mature spiritually. Because I was in a Christian school, I had many adults outside my immediate family who were helping spiritually shape me. As a parent, I now clearly see how significant this was.

So what makes Christian ed distinctly different? Biblical integration into every aspect of the classroom. The result is a child who knows God, who sees each academic subject from God’s perspective, and understands the gospel. As our children understand the world God created, their thinking, or worldview, is conformed to God’s and they become more Christ-like! Christian ed is uniquely suited to partner with families in this journey. Ultimately, Christian ed produces spiritually formed children who grow academically because they begin by first knowing the One who created every subject they study! These are children who will go on to impact the world for Christ!

Andy Martin
LCS Chairman of the Board

Meet Our New Faculty members!

Upcoming Events & Reminders

• September 10th-12th: The ever famous High School Retreat Information and required forms have been sent out. If you did not receive the information, please reach out to us. Please return those forms as soon as possible to kzaloom@lcs.org

• September 18th: Back to School Night at 6:30pm. This event is for Parents only; this event commences in the church sanctuary and a schedule for the evening will be provided at the door

• September 19th: The last day for high school students to Drop or Add a course

• September 24th: PICTURE DAY for all students (even Seniors)-Class Pictures are taken this day!

• September 26th: The Middle School Retreat is just day long at Grafton State Park-more information to come! If you are a MS parent and are willing to provide transportation that day, please let Mrs. Zaloom know at kzaloom@lcs.org

• October 13th: Columbus Day- No School

• October 15th: PSAT/NMSQT for 11th graders at LCS-(see graphic below)

Ipads & Chromebooks for Upper School

Please complete and return your Technology agreements! No student will be issued a device without this agreement. You may print and return it Mrs. Scott or sign electronically and email to mscott@lcs.org.

• All 6-7th graders will use a school issued iPad. See agreement HERE.

• All 8th grade and above will use a school issued Chromebook unless otherwise noted (current 11th & 12th with MacBooks) See agreement HERE.

Arrival & Dismissal Reminders

Our school day begins at 7:50am and dismissal will occur between 3pm and 3:15pm.

ARRIVAL: Students can be dropped off as early as 7:30am. Busing is provided for any student whose residence is within a 15 mile radius of LCS and that is arranged by calling the Bus Transportation Dept. at your local public school. On Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Lower School students will continue to have Morning Meet in the gym. Upper School students will have Morning Meet Mondays and Fridays in the Ministry Center. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays grades 6-12 will meet by grade in their homeroom where their advisor will lead a class meeting time that includes devotions, class planning, and topics such as time management, conflict resolution, and character building.

Thursday Mornings students should be in the building at 9am. Upper School students begin their Second Period Class at 9:13am sharp so please make sure you plan accordingly. There will not be a homeroom time for grades 6-12 on Thursdays so their Second Period teacher will take attendance. If you are not able to coordinate the transportation for the late start, your student can still take the bus or be dropped off at the usual time. There will be appropriate supervision for grades PK-5th grade in one location and grades 6-12 in another. Below is a link to a Google Form that will help us plan for the students that cannot come at the later time.

On any given day please make sure you are timely as we plan intentional programming for the 7:50-8:12 time period. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have Advisory Period when Advisors are covering topics such as conflict resolution, time management, effective group work, etc. We appreciate your effort in this.

DISMISSAL: Please locate the instructions below for our dismissal system called Pikmykid, an app that streamlines our dismissal operation. Also, please see details for our After Care and After School Study Hall Programs should you need to make use of that! There is a Google Form that will allow us to gauge how many students may need to use this program.

The last bell rings at 2:59pm every day of the week. At that time, students in grades 6-12 will activate and complete their Serve jobs. For our new families, every Upper School student has a light cleaning job at the end of the day such as sweeping classrooms or hallways, wiping down desks, boards, windows, or collecting the garbage. After their jobs are complete, they make their way to pick up items needed at their lockers and head to their dismissal rooms. The Homeroom Advisors will bring up the dismissal progress on the Viewsonic TV's so that students know when it is time to head to the lobby for pick up.

At about 3:05pm buses will be called and students taking the bus will be dismissed. Student drivers and parent pick-ups will be dismissed next. For our new families, as you drive up the hill toward the entrance to the school at dismissal, a staff member will be standing along the way to check you in, which signals our dismissal staff and the Homeroom Advisor as to when you have pulled up. As you move through the line, guided by our security team, the dismissal staff will post that you are ready for the student to meet you. You don't even need to get out of your car.

DISMISSAL CHANGES: You may have a change of plans during the day or closer to dismissal and need to alert your student. Make changes in the Pikmykid App. but you can also call the Main Office at 518-434-6051 by 2:30pm if possible. Sometimes it is a last minute situation and we certainly understand that, however if you can make that switch early enough we won't have kiddos on a bus when they needed to be picked up or the other way around.

PiKMyKid Instructions

After Care Program

After School Study Hall Program

Interested in After School Care? REGISTER HERE

New Free Lunch Program This Year!

We are excited to share that our school has been approved to house the making and serving of a nutritional lunch program! 

Here is how it works:

• 1. Begins MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15th

  2. Monday through Friday, lunches will be made in our kitchen;

  3. Teachers will ask their students if they would like to have the lunch that day. Any and all students are welcome to order. (see menu for September below);

  4. Lunch trays will be delivered to PK-8 classrooms at the lunch time;

  5. Students in grades 9-12 will make their way to tables outside the kitchen and choose from a limited variety(see menu) and take their lunch to a room or outside;

  6. There is no cost to this and even students who have brought a lunch on a given day could opt in.

We do ask that if you prefer that your student NOT partake in the free lunch, please make that a family conversation so that the teacher is not in a difficult position when taking a tally in the morning.

Below is the September menus according to grade levels and a medical form. If a student has an allergy, the form can be filled out and a substitute product can be given. (Ex. dairy allergy, Lactaid instead of regular milk)

Reminders about Lunch Program

September PK Menu

September K-8 Menu

September 9-12 Menu

Medical Statement for Special Dietary Needs

Attendance Policies to Keep In Mind

Absences

All students are required to be in school each day. The instructional program is designed for a progressive and sequential experience for students which is vital for effective learning.

Failure to attend school will be considered either an excused or unexcused absence as defined by New York State. An excused absence is one due to personal illness, family illness, death in the family, medical appointments, or court appearance. All other absences are considered unexcused. If a student will be absent, parents/guardians must inform the school by 8:45 am on the day of the absence. A written note or email from a parent/guardian must be submitted to the school within 3 days of the last absence, stating the specific reason for the absence.

Excessive Absences

Teachers are required to take and record attendance every period. Absences in excess of 20 periods for classes that earn 1.0 credit or 10 periods for classes that earn 0.5 credits are considered excessive and constitute sufficient grounds for withholding credit for the class. Absences in excess of 30 periods for classes that meet 7 periods- sciences with labs, Math 6 and 7. (Periods are defined as 40 minutes of a class. If a class meets for 80 minutes, two absences have occurred.) Classroom teachers monitor the absences and report to the parents and the Director of Upper School when students are approaching an excessive amount of absences. The Director of Upper School will make the final determination of consequences if the pattern of absences continues.

Tardies

Morning Meet begins at 7:50 am in the gym each morning. It is vitally important that students arrive at school on time each morning. When students arrive late to school, they miss important community and instruction time which often results in frustration for the child. Please make every effort to have your child in school by 7:50 am. For every 3 tardies, within a quarter, a student will serve a lunch detention. Student Drivers who incur 2 lunch detentions for tardiness will not be allowed to drive to school for a week.

Support Our Athletic Department! Go Eagles!