It’s July 30th, right? Surely the beginning of the school year can’t be 10 days away for some, no more than 17 days away for all of our region’s Lutheran schools. Seriously? Seriously!
Registration is nearly complete at Concordia Lutheran High School. Fall sports (or should it be summer sports!) are kicking off (yes- soccer AND football....and volleyball). Classrooms are prepped. Staffs are complete. Here we go...the school year has arrived.For us at The Lutheran Schools Partnership, we are excited about a new year. New school years always bring about anticipation and excitement. Here is our list that connects with your school in one way or another- Support of the statewide tax credit program. With the bump to $12.5 million of credits, one would guess that there will be plenty of credits to go around. If you’ve been keeping track (http://thelutheranschools.org/2017/07/24/the-sgo-credit-race-is-on-and-its-fast-and-furious/), you know the credits are being used in record numbers. What does this mean? Make your donation now! (https://www.lutheransgo.org/donate/) (for the record, I made my gift the first week of July) Welcome with good old fashioned Hoosier hospitality (and a bit of Lutheran love) the new folks in your school. TLSP and the Indiana District will welcome new teachers and principals later this week as we share all the great supports that are part of this region. Be it a principal, teacher, pastor, student or family, be sure to let them know they are appreciated and you are happy they are part of your community. What does that mean? A handshake, a casserole, the extra-face-to-face visits, and prayers are all ways to welcome our newcomers into the fold. Alicia Levitt, newly installed as TLSP’s academic excellence coordinator, has been busy with teachers being trained with a new science curriculum (stay tuned for a newsletter from Alicia on this), working with our curriculum maps and acclimating herself to her new digs in the ACE Classroom. What does this mean? Along with each staff, we are striving to look for ways to improve our curriculum and help students learn. TLSP is working through an RFP for marketing and PR. While we have been quite satisfied and greatly appreciate the work of The Nichols Company (contracted with them since December of 2009), the RFP will allow for a constructive process of determining ongoing marketing and communication needs for the broader Lutheran school community and in support of admission counselors. A committee of TLSP BOD members, TLSP principals, and TLSP admission counselors will serve as the review committee. A decision will be made by December. (Yes, The Nichols Company will be an anticipated participant in the RFP) A task force will work through adopting a manual for serving students with special needs. Some of the same task force members from last year will participate in this project. What does this mean? We trust that this resource will be used by all of our schools and will be bring about an energized look at serving a broader group of students in need of hearing the Gospel. TLSP and it’s school leadership will continue it’s planning with Cross Connections (https://www.crossconnectionscounseling.com/) to provide needed support for teachers, students and families. Life challenges are aplenty and classrooms are experiencing the effects of these challenges. For academic success to occur, a readiness is needed. We continue to strive to serve our families the best we can and Cross Connections will assist us in this issue. What does mean? We expect a concept paper to be delivered to The Lutheran Foundation on September 1. While there is plenty of vocal opposition to it in our community, we at TLSP will continue to support all who have put into place and continue to support School Choice in Indiana. We are thankful that parents are given opportunities to make a choice with this program to place their kids in our Choice schools. What does this mean for us? We thank our legislators for this program and we encourage each of you as well to tell your Indiana legislators thank you for their support of School Choice. It is indeed a parent’s right to choose the best situation for their kids.Oh, there will be and there is more on the TLSP docket but this hits the high points.Thank you for your prayers.
