A Busy Time at LCHS

As is usually the case in May, things are busy at LCHS.  The following are a few of the upcoming events at LCHS:

·         May 14 - Last day for ROAR Block

·         May 16 - SOL testing begins

·         May 18 - Senior Baccalaureate Service at Mineral Baptist Church (4:00 pm)

·         May 19 and May 20 - Senior exams

·         May 21 - Senior Awards Day - LCMS (9:00 am) and Senior Awards Night - LCMS (7:00 pm)

·         May 23 - Graduation Rehearsal - LCHS Cafeteria at 8:30 am

·         May 23 - Graduation - LCHS Stadium at 6:30 pm

·         May 24 and May 25 - Rain Dates - LCHS Graduation

·         May 27 - Underclassman Awards Assembly - LCMS - 9:00 am

·         May 28 and May 29 - Underclassmen Exams

·         May 30 - Last Day of School

Thank you again for your continued help and support this year.  I look forward to seeing everyone at these upcoming events.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at 540-894-5436 or you can email me at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us.

UPCOMING EVENTS AT LCHS

We have a busy couple of weeks coming up at LCHS.  Here are some of our upcoming events:

·         Parent-Teacher Conferences - Wednesday, April 2nd - 3:45 pm - 7:00 pm

·         "Legally Blonde - The Musical" - Friday, April 4th at 7:00 pm, Saturday, April 5th at 7:00 pm, and Sunday, April 6th at 3:00 pm - LCMS Forum

·         LCPS Arts Fest - Saturday, April 5th - 10:00 am - 2:00 pm - LCMS

Also, be sure to check out the LCHS Athletics website at www.lchsathletics.org for the full calendar of upcoming athletic competitions.

As always, thank you for your support of LCHS.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at 540-894-5436.

Thank you!

As you have probably heard, I have resigned my position as principal of LCHS effective at the end of the 2013-2014 school year.  Having been at LCHS for 16 years, this was certainly not an easy decision, but I feel it is time for me to explore other opportunities.

I can't thank everyone enough for their support over the last 3 years.  To say that the LCHS community has been through some challenging times recently would be an understatement.  I will never forget how the LCHS community - the faculty, staff, students, parents, and community members - rose to the occasion and came together to meet these challenges.  I will always be proud of what we accomplished.

While I will be leaving at the end of the year, the school year isn't over and we still have work to do at LCHS.  Our teachers are working to adjust curriculum because of the inclement weather days and we continue to provide the best education to our students.  Our spring sports are getting ready to begin and our student-athletes are ready to represent LCHS.  And, our Fine Arts students are working to get ready for the annual Arts Festival and for the spring production of "Legally Blonde".  As you can see, we have many events happening at LCHS over the next few months.  Please come out and support our students in their many endeavors. 

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.  I can be reached at 540-894-5436 or at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us.    

LCHS INFORMATION

This past week, we have sent home three letters to our LCHS families.  Each of these addressed various issues impacting the LCHS community.  In case the letters did not make it home, I want to take this opportunity to review the information that was sent out.

GRADUATION

The first letter, which was sent home with our seniors, addressed graduation.  Weather permitting, the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2014 will be held at 6:30 pm on Friday, May 23, 2014 at the Louisa County High School Stadium.  We will check the weather forecast on the morning of Thursday, May 22nd and, should the threat of inclement weather preclude us from holding the ceremony on Friday, the ceremony will be moved to Saturday, May 24th.  We will attempt to hold the ceremony at some point during the day on May 24^th.  Should the weather still be uncooperative, the ceremony would be moved to the afternoon of Sunday, May 25^th.  At this point, we have been unable to secure a suitable rain site, which requires us to plan to have the graduation ceremony at the LCHS Stadium.  More details regarding the ceremony will be provided at a later date.     

ADDITIONAL TIME TO THE SCHOOL DAY

The second letter dealt with the addition of 15 minutes to the school day to make up for time missed due to inclement weather.  Starting on Monday, February 3rd, the bell schedule at LCHS will be adjusted.  Starting on February 3rd, our first bell will ring at 7:55 am.  ROAR Block will begin at 8:02 am and first period will start at 8:38 am.  Our new dismissal time will be 3:30 pm.  By adding more time into each period, we will be able to make up for the time we missed because of the snow. 

DR. PETTIT'S LETTER

Dr. Pettit also sent a letter home to LCPS families addressing the days missed because of inclement weather and the plan for making up time if we should miss more days this winter.  The full text of her letter is below:

Families of Louisa County Public Schools:        

This has been an unprecedented year for inclement weather closings and delays. These disruptions have not been conducive to student learning.  The instructional time that we have missed­ - and any more that we may miss in the coming weeks­­ - must be made up to meet state requirements and allow our students to achieve at the levels expected by LCPS, Louisa County, and your family.

Our 2013-2014 school calendar was created to accommodate 10 missed days.  We have exhausted those built-in options. Five days did not need to be made up because of the length of our daily schedule. Our two built-in make-up days - the February 17 holiday and March 17 teacher workday - have been converted to regular school days. Three additional days missed will be made up by the 15-minute increase in the instructional day that begins Monday, February 3. Although we do not know what the coming weeks of winter will hold, the following make-up days will be scheduled as needed in the event of inclement weather:

After January 30:  1st day missed:  May 27   2^nd day missed: May 28   3^rd day missed: May 29   4^th day missed: May 30

The approved school calendar referenced these as potential make-up days if needed. Missing more than four additional days may result in adding more instructional time to each school day or additional days.

While we cannot control the frigid temperatures or conditions on state roads, we can ensure that we respond appropriately, with an emphasis on preserving the quality of instruction for all of our learners. Overcoming this challenge will require the combined efforts of our teachers, students, staff and families. Students may receive additional homework as the year progresses.  Assignments that help reinforce lessons taught by our teachers may be sent home more than has been customary in the past. This will allow our teachers to maximize concept development in their classroom time without sacrificing student review.  Schools may also send home links to various skill-building and knowledge-building websites.

We are shifting our window for SOL testing as late as possible in the school year. Writing assessments will now be given later in March. Your child’s principal will send home details of these date changes. These adjustments will give our students the best chance for success by maximizing instructional time before the state assessments are given.

We know the missed days, the schedule changes, and the academic challenges ahead aren’t easy on your family. We appreciate your support of Louisa County Public Schools as we work together to maximize learning for our students this year.

Sincerely,

Deborah D. Pettit

Division Superintendent

 

As Dr. Pettit mentions in her letter, everyone at LCHS is working to ensure that we maintain the quality of instruction for all of our students in all of our classes.  While we have missed several days, we will continue to ensure that the students of LCHS receive the best education possible.

As always, thank you for your continued support of LCHS.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at 540-894-5436.

 

 

 

The Second Semester Begins

As we begin the second semester of the 2013-2014 school year, we want to remind everyone about the six expectations of Louisa County High School. As a safe and orderly environment is vital to make certain that all of our students can be successful, these expectations are in place to ensure that our students remain focused on their education.

Our six expectations are:

1.     Arrive to school and class on time.

2.     No electronic devices should be seen or heard.

3.     Appropriate school attire should be worn at all times. Headwear should not be worn in thw building at any time.

4.     Respectful language and behavior should be demonstrated at all times. Profanity will not be tolerated.

5.     Respect yourself, your peers, staff, building facilities, and equipment.

6.     No food or drink is to be consumed or visible in the classrooms or hallways, with the exception of water in the original plastic container.

These expectations serve as the cornerstone for all that we do at LCHS. As such, we will be reviewing them with our students on the first day of the second semester. Our teachers and administrators are committed to enforcing these expectations and students who fail to comply with them will face disciplinary action. With your help and support, we can ensure that our school remains a model for schools across the Commonwealth.

I would also like to remind you that we will be sending first semester report cards home on Friday, January 10th.  Please ask your child to see his or her report card.  If you have any questions about the grades on the report card, please feel free to contact your child's teachers.

We are very excited to start the second semester of the 2013-2014 school year.  If we can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us. We can be reached at 540-894-5436.  We look forward to working with you to ensure that your child is successful.

SOCIAL MEDIA SAFETY

On November 15th, Louisa County's Commonwealth's Attorney Rusty McGuire and Senator Tom Garrett came to Louisa County High School to speak with our students regarding the appropriate use of social media sites and what can happen when these sites are not used appropriately.  During their presentation, Mr. McGuire and Senator Garrett spoke about recent cases across the nation where students had been bullied using social media, incidents where words exchanged through social media caused a fight which lead to several arrests, and the fact that individuals can face criminal charges based on what they write on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. 

I would ask that you please help keep these social media sites a safe place for all by monitoring what your child is posting on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Vine, and Instagram.  As we told the students, these sites are a great way to keep in touch with friends and family, but, if used incorrectly, can lead to significant problems, both for those posting and those who read the posts.  The following suggestions for keeping teens safe on social media were posted by the USA.GOV website:

1. Keep your child’s profile private so that only family and people you know see photos, important dates and other information.

2. Make sure they’re not posting personal details, including phone numbers, home address, and the name of their school or Social Security number.

3. Only allow them to publish photos and videos that don’t jeopardize their safety or their integrity.

4. Make sure they choose a strong password that can’t be guessed, and that it gets changed every three months.

5. Never allow them to accept friend requests from people they don’t know.

6. Keep an open dialogue with your children. Ask them to let you know if they’ve received private messages from a stranger, or from someone at school who is teasing, harassing or threatening them. Those could be signs of cyber-bullying or even a sexual predator.

SOURCE:  http://blog.usa.gov/post/60075400004/six-tips-for-keeping-teens-safe-on-social-media

If you feel that your child is being harassed or bullied by another student through social media, or if you feel that something is happening through social media that could manifest itself at school, please feel free to call LCHS and speak to an administrator.  We will take the necessary steps to ensure that these types of incidents do not impact the learning environment at LCHS.

 

As always, thank you for visiting my blog.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 540-894-5436 or at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us. 

October is Here!

October is here and things are busy at LCHS. Our athletic teams have been competing and doing well.  Speaking of LCHS athletics, congratulations to the LCHS Golf team.  They made the regional championships for the first time in school history!  Our Fine Arts department held their annual Fall Fine Arts Recital last week and everyone did a wonderful job.  Our band, choral, theater, and art students did a fantastic job in  showcasing their talents.  And, our CTE department represented LCHS well at the State Fair.  Our students won many prizes, including several first place finishes.  And, this is just the beginning of October!

We do have several events coming up at LCHS.  These upcoming events include:

October 11 - End of the 1st Nine Weeks
October 14 - Teacher Workday
October 16 - LCHS Democracy Day
October 18 - Report cards sent home
October 22 and 23 - SOL Writing Tests
October 23 - Parent/Teacher Conference Night

Please be sure to check out our calendar for more events.  Our calendar can be found at www.louisalions.com.

As always, thank you for your continued support of LCHS. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.  I can be reached at 540-894-5436 or at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us. 

LCHS IS OFF TO A GREAT START IN 2013-2014

I hope that everyone is enjoying their Labor Day weekend!  We are almost three weeks into the school year and we have had a great start at LCHS. 

In the last few weeks we have had a few milestones at LCHS.  First, work has begun on the new high school building.  The construction company has been working hard prepping the site and you can see that progress is being made.  If you haven't had a chance, take a look at the pictures on the bottom of our home page to see some of the work they have done.

We held our Fall Academic Awards ceremony on August 22nd.  At this ceremony, we recognized many of our students for their accomplishments in their classes, on their SOL and AP tests, and for earning perfect attendance last year.  Congratulations to all of these students for their hard work and dedication.

Last week, we also had the first home athletic competition in our new gym.  Our junior varsity and varsity volleyball teams played at LCHS for the first time in two years.  Both teams set the bar high by winning their games.  Great job ladies!

We do have a few events coming up at LCHS:

1.  Underclassmen school pictures will be taken on September 4th.  If you did not receive an order form, please contact the main office. 

2.  Senior make-up portraits will be taken on September 5th and 6th.  Be sure to sign up for an appointment time in the main office.

3.  First nine week interims will be distributed to students on September 11th. 

 

4.  Our fall sports teams are in full swing.  Be sure to check out the calendar on the LCHS Athletics page for the full schedule.  Come out and support our student athletes as they represent LC!

As always, thank you for your support of Louisa County High School.  If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact us at 540-894-5436.

Welcome to the 2013-2014 School Year

Well, believe it or not, the start of the 2013-2014 school year is only a few short days away.  It seems as though the summer flew by!  Everyone at LCHS has been working hard to get ready for the new year and we are all excited about the start of school. 

I would like to thank everyone for coming to the Open House on Friday.  While the weather was a bit hot and sticky, it was great to see so many students and parents.  I hope that everyone had a good time meeting their teachers, enjoyed a hot dog, and got the information they needed to have a great start to the new year.  I want to say thank you to the FFA and to the LCMS PTA for cooking the hot dogs on Friday.  They were delicious!

In case you haven't heard, LCHS has a new gym!  It is located behind the middle school, right next to our new tennis courts.  The new gym has already been used for practices and for our freshman Kick-Off Day.  Our PE teachers are excited about using it for their classes and we are planning on having volleyball and basketball games at LCHS for the first time in two years.  Thanks to everyone who worked to make this happen.

Speaking of new buildings, the groundbreaking for the new LCHS is scheduled for August 21st at 6:00 pm.  It has been a long journey over the last two years and this is another huge step in getting LCHS back to normal.  If you haven't seen the plans for the new building, please be sure to check them out by following the link below:

http://louisacounty.va.schoolwebpages.com/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=26889&linkid=nav-menu-original-4-1&cms_mode=view


As always, thank you for your support of LCHS.  If you need anything, please feel free to call us at 540-894-5436 or email me at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us.

May is Here!

As I sit down to write this blog entry, we are less than 3 weeks until graduation.  I know that it is a cliché, but the year has certainly flown by.  While summer is just around the corner, we do have a busy month ahead of us.  I thought I would use this blog to highlight a few of the upcoming events at LCHS.

May 6th - May 15th

AP Testing

May 13th - May 16th

SOL Testing    

May 17th

Senior Picnic - Lake Anna State Park

May 19th

Baccalaureate - Mineral Baptist Church (Please note that this is a new location.) - 4:00 pm

May 20th

Underclassman Awards Ceremony - LCMS - 9:00 am

May 20th and May 21st

Senior Exams

May 22nd

Senior Awards Day - LCMS - 8:30 am

Senior Awards Night - LCMS - 7:00 pm

May 23rd and May 24th

Underclassman Exams

May 24th

Graduation Practice - 8:30 am - LCHS

Graduation - LCHS Stadium - 6:30 pm

May 25th

Graduation (rain date) - LCHS at 10:00 am or JPJ at 1:00 pm

This is just a partial list of events we have coming up in May.  Many of our clubs have end of the year celebrations planned and our teams are continuing to play games.  Please be sure to check our website for a full calendar of events. 

As always, I want to thank you for your support of LCHS.  If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact me.  I can be reached smithte@lcps.k12.va.us or at 540-894-5436.

Spring?

Even though the temperature outside doesn’t feel like it right now, spring is here. We have made it through the winter with a few more snow days than we would have liked, but warmer temperatures are on the way. Believe it or not, summer is just around the corner.

While summer is not too far off, we are still working to address the issues caused by the snow days. As you know, in order to make up the time we missed, our school day now begins at 7:55 am and ends at 3:35 pm. Also, Friday, May 24^th is now a 1:00 pm dismissal day. This schedule permits us to make up much of the missed instructional time prior to SOL testing.

Regardless of the temperature, spring is always a busy time at LCHS. Our spring sports teams have been hard at work and each team is looking forward to a great season. Be sure to check out the link on the LCHS Athletics website for a complete schedule. Our arts programs have been busy as well. The annual LCPS Arts Festival was held on Saturday and it was a great event as always. Also, the LCHS Musical Theater Ensemble presented “Godspell” this weekend. (If you missed this weekend’s performances, they will be doing a final show on Friday, March 29^th in the LCMS Forum.) And, our students and teachers continue to work diligently to get ready for the SOL tests coming up in May. Even though the year is coming to a close, everyone at LCHS is still working hard to maintain our tradition of excellence in classroom, on the athletic field, and in our extracurricular activities.

Also, don’t forget that we will be having our Parent-Teacher Conference Night on Wednesday, April 10^th from 3:45 pm to 7:00 pm. This is a great opportunity for you to meet with your child’s teachers to discuss his or her progress during the 3^rd nine weeks. I hope to see everyone there.

As always, I would like to thank you for your support of Louisa County High School. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at 540-894-5436 or by email at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us.

The Misuse of Prescription Medications

Earlier this week, Corporal Clay Hart, the LCHS School Resource Officer, spoke to our students about the misuse of prescription medications.  During his talk, he informed the students about the various dangers of this misuse.  The students were told that they could not only face school and legal consequences, but that these medications can cause significant health issues when used inappropriately.  Corporal Hart shared stories from his experiences as a deputy sheriff of instances where the misuse of prescription medications led to tragic consequences.  Far too often, teenagers feel that prescription medications are "safe" to misuse.  Because of this misconception, we wanted to ensure that our students were aware of the dangers and had the information they needed to make the right decisions.   

If you have not done so, I ask you to please talk with your child about this topic.  As we frequently tell our students, making the right choices is the key to success.  It requires everyone in the community - teachers, parents, administrators, and community members - to work with our students to ensure that they do make the right choices.

As always, I want to thank you for your continued support of LCHS.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 540-894-5436 or at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us.  

2013 Is Off To A Great Start!

Since this is my first post of the New Year, please let me start by saying that I hope everyone had a great holiday and that everyone has a wonderful 2013.  So far, 2013 is shaping up to be a great year at LCHS.

I wanted to thank everyone for a great end to the first semester.  Our SOL and CTE credentialing testing went well and the results we have gotten back are looking great.  As of today, we still have not gotten back SOL scores for the Earth Science, Biology, Chemistry, and English: Reading tests.  As these were all new tests this year, the scores tend to take longer to get back.  As soon as we do get them, we will calculate grades for these courses and send home updated report cards for those students in these classes.

I also wanted to let everyone know that we are continuing to address the issues caused by the earthquake.  Just before Winter Break, our Automotive, Building Trades, and Culinary Arts classes moved into their new facilities.  These new classrooms are much closer to what we had before the earthquake and our teachers and students are excited about their new spaces.  I want to thank everyone who worked hard to make these new facilities possible.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, LCHS will begin the full implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program this semester.  This program is designed to reduce existing bullying problems among students, to prevent the development of new problems, and to achieve better peer relations at school.  A major component of this program are class meetings.  During these meetings, students will discuss bullying, the impacts of bullying, and appropriate ways individuals can stop bullying.  Holding these meetings will require us to change our ROAR Block schedule slightly.  When ROAR Block begins on January 23rd, all students will be expected to be in first period by 8:07 am on Thursdays.  On Thursdays, students will have first period at the beginning of the day.  The last 30 minutes of the block will be used for either Olweus Class Meetings or club meetings. 

In case you haven’t heard, we have set the date for graduation for the Class of 2013.  The graduation ceremony will be held on Friday, May 24^th at 6:30 pm in the LCHS Stadium.  Should the weather not cooperate, we will hold the ceremony on Saturday, May 25th either at the LCHS Stadium or at a rain site.  While we have been working diligently over the last several months to secure a rain site, as of now, we have not been able to do so.  Once we have a site, we will get that information out to our seniors and their families as quickly as possible.

As always, I would like to thank everyone for their continued support of LCHS.  If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  I can be reached at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us or at 540-894-5436.

Upcoming Events

As I look at the calendar, I can't believe that the end of the semester is right around the corner. But, since we are almost at the end of the semester, I wanted to post about a few upcoming events at LCHS.

First, we will begin our SOL testing on Tuesday, December 11th. If your child is taking an SOL test this week, please make sure that they get a good night's rest before the test. Our students and teachers have been working hard this semester to prepare for these tests and I know that everyone will do well.

Secondly, I wanted to let everyone know that the last day for ROAR Block for this semester will be on Friday, December 14th. Starting on Monday, December 17th, students will be expected to report to school at 8:07. Also, we will be having non-SOL final exams on December 19th and 20th.

Finally, we will be holding our second semester Open House on Thursday, January 3rd from 3:00 pm until 7:00 pm. This will be a great time to meet with your child's second semester teachers. We hope to see everyone there.

Also, the winter sports season is in full swing. Please come out to support all of our athletic teams. Your support is invaluable and our student-athletes appreciate all that you do for them.

I hope that everyone has a fun, relaxing, and safe Winter Break. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at 540-894-5436. I can also be reached through email at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us.

Olweus Anti-Bullying Program

Bullying has become a major topic in education over the last few years. The definition of bullying, as given by the website http://www.violencepreventionworks.org/public/bullying.page, is:

            "Bullying is aggressive behavior that is intentional and that involves an

            imbalance of power. Most often, it is repeated over time."

Bullying, whether it is physical, verbal, or cyber bullying, has no place at LCHS. We have been working to not only educate students about bullying, but to also ensure that these behaviors do not occur at our school. We will maintain a safe and positive learning environment for all of our students.

One of the programs that we are using to continue to ensure a safe and positive learning environment is the Olweus Anti-Bullying Program. This program is designed to educate everyone in the school community -students, teachers, staff members, and parents - about what bullying is and what can be done to prevent bullying. In addition to faculty and staff training, a major component of the Olweus Program are class meetings. During these class meetings, teachers and students talk about various topics including what constitutes bullying, why some people bully others, and what can be done to prevent bullying. One idea behind the Olweus Program is that open and honest communication can help reduce bullying in a school.

LCHS will begin holding our Olweus class meetings during the second semester. Our plan is to make Thursdays "Activity/Class Meeting Days". Starting when ROAR Block does next semester, we will have Activity Days on the first and third Thursdays of the month and Olweus Class Meetings on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month. On Thursdays, all students will be expected to report to school by 8:07. The class meetings and club meetings will take place during the last 30 minutes of 1st period.

As always, thank you for your support of LCHS.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I can be reached smithte@lcps.k12.va.us or at 540-894-5436.

 

FALL IS HERE!

The weather is staring to get a bit chillier and tomorrow is the first day of October.  Fall is certainly here.

And, speaking of October, I wanted to let you know about a few events we have coming up this month:

The week of October 1st - October 5th is Homecoming Week at LCHS.  As always, this week will see our students competing in our Spirit Days contest.  On Friday, we will have the Homecoming Parade and the Homecoming game against Fluvanna.  And, of course, we will have the Homecoming Dance on Saturday, October 6th from 7 pm - 10 pm.

On October 9th, Toney Lineberry will be coming to LCHS to speak to our juniors and seniors about driving and highway safety.  Mr. Lineberry is an excellent speaker and his conversation with our students will certainly motivate them to be safer drivers.

On October 12th the U.S. Government classes and the LCHS Library will be hosting our annual "So, Now You're 18 Day".  This event allows our seniors to meet with government officials, hear from candidates for office, register to vote, and participate in a mock election.

Report cards will be going  home on October 19th and LCHS will be holding Parent Teacher Conferences on October 24th from 3:30 pm - 7:00 pm.  We hope to see everyone on the 24th.

As always, thank you for your support of LCHS.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 540-894-5436.

Upcoming Events

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.  I wanted to remind everyone about a few upcoming events at LCHS:

1.  We will have school pictures for students in grades 9 - 11 on September 5th.  An order form was sent home last week, but if you need another, please contact the main office.

2.  Senior make-up pictures will be held on September 6th.  If your senior did not get his/her portrait taken in June, please make sure that he/she stops by the main office to sign up for a time to have his/her picture taken on September 6th.

3.  Our College Planning Night will be held on September 6th at 6:30 pm in the LCHS cafeteria.  The LCHS counseling staff will be on hand to provide information and answer any questions you might have about the college application process.

As always, if you have any questions about these, or any other events, please feel free to contact us at 540-894-5436.

Open House

I wanted to take a few minutes to thank everyone who came out for the Open House on Friday.  We had quite the crowd.  It was great to see so many smiling, happy faces!  The start of school is only a few short days away.

Summer!

I hope that everyone is having a relaxing, fun-filled summer.  As I sit to write this, we are just over a month away from the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year.  It is amazing how time seems to fly.

As is usual over the summer, things have been busy at LCHS.  Custodians, secretaries, teachers, and administrators have been hard at work getting LCHS ready for the new school year.  Our summer remediation program went very well and many of our student-athletes have been at school getting ready for their upcoming season.  School may not be in session, but there always seems to be something going on at LCHS.

We will be sending out a newsletter shortly with information about the beginning of school.  Please be sure to take a few minutes to read through this when it arrives.  Also, be sure to put August 10th on your calendar.  We will be having our Open House on that day from 3:30 pm - 7:00 pm.  I hope to see everyone there.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.  I can be reached by email at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us or at 540-894-5436.  Enjoy the rest of your summer!           

A Busy Time At LCHS

First, I need to apologize for not having made a blog entry in a while.  As you know, things at LCHS have been busy and time just got away from me.  I promise I will get back on track with my monthly entries.

I find it hard to believe that we are already in May and less than a month from graduation.  We are entering the final stretch of what has been a unique school year.  We have SOLs and exams coming up, as well as all of our typical end of the year activities.  May and June will certainly be busy months.  Please check out the calendar on our website for the dates and times of the events we have planned.

Speaking of graduation, we do have two plans in place depending on the weather.  If the forecast is for sunny weather, the ceremony will be held at the LCHS stadium at 10:00 am on Saturday, June 9^th.  If the forecast calls for rain, we will have the ceremony at the Siegel Center in Richmond at 1:00 pm on Saturday, June 9^th.  Letters were sent home with seniors that provided the details for each of the venues.  The final decision will be made by 9:00 am on Friday, June 8^th.  I know that our seniors (and their parents) are excited about graduation and we want this important ceremony to be special and memorable.

As we near the end of this school year, we will continue to demonstrate the hard work, dedication, and commitment to excellence that makes us LCHS.  Our mission is to finish the school year with the strength that saw us through all of the challenges of the year.

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.  I can be reached at 540-894-5436 or at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us.