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As the school year came to a close, Lakota’s Class of 2023 enjoyed cherished traditions that have become a hallmark of the Lakota experience. From the Military Commitment Ceremony and the Parade of Graduates to academic award nights and senior picnics -- to the grand finale of commencement exercises, Lakota's graduates bid farewell to their high school years.
A passion project led by first-year teacher Molly Zaenkert gave her kindergartners at Heritage ECS more than just a crash course in over 20 different occupations. Their special weekly classroom visitors also accelerated their reading, writing and social studies skills in ways she never fully anticipated.
The “Innovation Museum” at Wyandot ECS earlier this month put on full display the power of personalized learning. Melissa Riehle’s second-graders were handed the question,”How can we innovate to improve the world around us?” and they answered it with calm down bracelets, hover phones and flying cars, just to name a few.
Lakota's annual Financial Prospectus is coming to mailboxes soon. Learn how Lakota is being good stewards of our taxpayers’ dollars and prioritizing fiscal responsibility.
Wednesday, May 24 is the last day of school for all Lakota students. Here are the summer and back-to-school updates you need to know now, including start dates, transportation requests, the summer lunch program, summer hours and more. Look for more information on Lakota's Back-to-School Hub webpage by mid-July.
To ease the transition to a new school year and honor families’ requests for alternative pick-up and drop-off locations for transportation, Lakota is asking that families submit transportation forms by Aug. 3 to receive transportation on the first day of the 2023-24 school. Note that all transportations forms are now a part of FinalForms.
Union Elementary School’s third-grade team and three individual students are celebrating big results in the recent WordMasters Challenge™ meet - a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 125,000 students annually.
The Lakota Local School District, in partnership with the Faith Alliance, is participating in the USDA’s Summer Food Service Program this year. Meals will be provided daily to all children (ages 18 and younger and individuals with disabilities through age 21) - free of charge and regardless of income - beginning May 31 through Aug. 1 (except for July 3&4). The summer program is funded through the USDA and implemented at no cost to the district.
Another adjustment to the 2023-2024 academic calendar - updated again on May 15, 2023 - moves the official first day of school for students in grades K-12 back to the original date of Wednesday, Aug. 16, including a staggered start. The last day for students, now May 23, falls one day later than originally communicated and the beginning of the year staff professional development days return to Aug. 11, 14 and 15.
For the past five years, Lakota Innovation Specialist Kim Carlson has been working with Woodland Elementary students on the NPR Student Podcast Challenge. This year, almost 100 students participated, and Carlson submitted podcasts from 23 groups.
With the new grade bands approved by the Lakota Board of Education, the Master Facilities Committee met on May 5, 2023 to continue its discussion on how best to make the plan become a reality and meet the future educational needs of Lakota students in a fiscally responsible way.
On behalf of the Lakota Board of Education, Board President Lynda O'Connor shares details regarding upcoming opportunities to participate in community focus groups to help inform the search for a new superintendent. Meetings are organized by relationship to the district and occur at various times on May 17 and May 31.
The Northern Cincinnati Foundation, in partnership with Lakota Local Schools, is proud to announce the recipients of the 2023 Lakota Educator of Excellence Awards: Melissa Riehle, teacher at Wyandot ECS; Ellen Bowmann, special education teacher at Lakota East; and Mary Brophy, principal at Hopewell ECS.
Each recipient was honored with a special surprise celebration during “Teacher Appreciation Week” with their respective school communities.
Lakota Local Schools is celebrating 46 employees who are retiring in 2023. The district has been recognizing these individuals on social media throughout the month of May.
Lakota is proud to spotlight this year’s valedictorians and salutatorians. Meet the co-valedictorians for Lakota East, Ian Balfour and Noah Keith, and co-salutatorians Reagan Ryan and Elliott Keith. Learn more about Lakota West valedictorian Christopher Barber and salutatorian Luke Weis.
Lakota Board of Education members have each appointed a representative to serve on the District’s new Community Curriculum Advisory Team (CCAT), a group formed in response to the Board’s vote earlier this year to approve an internal curriculum audit.
Parents can now log into FinalForms via their OneLogin account to review and update their student information for the 2023-2024 school year. Back-to-school forms must be reviewed and updated before the start of the new school year.
The search for Lakota’s next superintendent will be conducted in partnership with the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA), the Lakota Board of Education announced following executive season and at the conclusion of its regular meeting on May 1, 2023.
Each year, the Lakota Board of Education approves a “cap” on the number of open enrolled students the district is allowed at the start of the new school year. Administrative Guidelines 5113 state the priorities with which students are approved: Lakota staff, returning open enrolled students, siblings of returning open enrolled students and then new applicants.
Based on Lakota’s projected enrollment for preschool special education students, no additional students will be accepted into the tuition-based preschool program for the 2023-2024 school year. This means there will be no tuition lottery for the 2023-2024 school year.
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Lakota Local Schools will hire a second assistant superintendent for the 2023-2024 school year, a move that will divide current responsibilities into two areas of focus: operations and student success.
The new position will focus on student success with Robb Vogelmann overseeing operations once a new superintendent is named. The move will not create an additional full-time employee because of internal administrative restructuring.
- Human Resources
An adjustment to the 2023-2024 academic calendar most notably moves the official first day of school for students in grades 1-12 from Wednesday, Aug. 16 to Tuesday, Aug. 15. Beginning of the year professional development days for staff will now span Aug. 10, 11 and 14.
At its second annual Cyber Showcase, Lakota’s Cyber Academy celebrated the second cohort of students to pass through all three levels of cyber coursework offered at both high schools - and the impressive stack of awards and experiences they accumulated in the process.
- Awards
- Cyber
- Real World Learning
Entrepreneurship students in the INCubatoredu@Lakota program came together on April 18 for the third annual pitch night competition. Lakota East and West students spend the academic year in the Incubator course conceptualizing, building, and bringing to life business proposals that they then pitch to judges for investment dollars.
Tonight we honor and celebrate Lakota seniors who will serve in the military after graduation. In addition to the traditional in-person ceremony open to the public, the district will live stream the program on West Chester Township’s YouTube channel. The ceremony will be held at Lakota East Freshman School at 7 p.m.
It was Piggie versus Skippyjon Jones in the March Madness finals.
The excitement at Heritage ECS was palpable, especially for the first graders in Mrs. Sellers and Mrs. Vogelsang’s classes.
At its April 17 meeting, the Lakota Board of Education approved Lori Brown as the district’s new executive director of curriculum and instruction. Brown has been the interim leader of the department since February.
Learning gets “real” when it revolves around a real event and real people. That could be why a gifted math project centered on the Iditarod Race has stood the test of time and continues to pop up in fourth grade math classrooms throughout Lakota.
- Personalized Learning
- Real World Learning
- gifted
As the Lakota Board of Education begins the process of finding Lakota's next superintendent, the Board is asking staff, parents, students and community members to participate in this community survey. The survey will remain open until noon on April 28.
- School Board
- superintendent
On the morning of the lemonade stand, Alison Brunk’s class finished setting up and many of her first-graders were looking around with big eyes, saying “This looks really cool.” Brunk reminded the students, “YOU did all of this!” 
- Community Conversations
As part of its long-standing community conversation program, the Lakota Board of Education recently invited its stakeholders to discuss mental health, wellness and prevention as it pertains to students.
- Community Conversations
The popular Lakota Safety Village for incoming kindergartners is back! The program is hosted by the West Chester Police Department and the Butler County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officer Divisions at Liberty Early Childhood School.
Lakota Local Schools has now earned its ninth consecutive Auditor of State Award with Distinction. “Fewer than four percent of all (government) entities that are audited annually earn or are eligible for this award,” said Ryan Holiday, southwest regional liaison for Ohio’s Auditor of State, Keith Faber.
- Finance
The Lakota District is soliciting community input on the 2024-2025 district calendar. Lakota staff, students, parents and community members are invited to review the current draft before any final recommendation is presented to the school board.
- academic calendar
At the April 3, 2023 Lakota Board of Education meeting, Interim Superintendent Robb Vogelmann announced that he will be returning to his former assistant superintendent position following the Board’s hiring of a new superintendent.
- School Board
- superintendent
- Community Conversations
Please join us for our rescheduled Community Conversation on April 5 on the important topic of Mental Health.
- Community Conversations
At its special meeting on March 27, 2023, members of the Lakota Board of Education approved one change to policy 0169.1, public participation at board meetings in a 4-1 vote.
In lieu of the traditional 30-minute public comment sessions, the Board will now hold 45-minute community listening sessions prior to regular board meetings.
- School Board
We invite our community to join us on Tuesday, April 25 at 7 p.m. as we celebrate the Lakota East and Lakota West Class of 2023 seniors who have made a commitment to enter a branch of service after graduation. In addition to the traditional in-person ceremony open to the public, the district will live stream the program on West Chester Township’s YouTube channel and host a week-long military family spirit week in all Lakota schools.
- military
In response to the Lakota Board of Education’s vote to approve an internal curriculum audit, Interim Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Lori Brown presented the Community Curriculum Advisory Team (CCAT) at the March 27 special school board meeting.
“(The Community Curriculum Advisory Team) is going to serve as an advisory group to the curriculum team,” Brown explained to the Board. “We’re going to look at identifying concerns within the curriculum, look at our timetable for reviewing curriculum within the (team)…and bringing those updates back to the Board.”
- School Board
Lakota Local Schools is excited to debut the first-ever “Light Up Lakota!” school showcase at Lakota West High School from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 11.
The next iteration of Lakota’s former “State of the Schools” tradition, “Light Up Lakota!” will shine the spotlight on the school and district programs and initiatives that directly support the four pillars of Lakota’s strategic plan: WE are Personalized; WE are Future Ready; WE are Fiscally Responsible; and WE are In This Together. Complete your event passport to receive your very own #WEareLakota "spotlight!"
Caring Community Collaborative (C3), in partnership with Lakota Local Schools, Butler County Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Services Board, Envision Partnerships and Butler County Family and Children First Council, presents a series of three virtual workshops on Cyber Safety: Parenting in a Hyper Digital Age.
April is the “Month of the Military Child.” As a way of lifting up all our military families, Lakota is proud to announce a district-wide “Military Family Spirit Week” April 24 through April 28.
- military
On March 9, Lakota School Board President Lynda O’Connor received the 2023 Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA) Service Award.
- School Board
You know a sixth-grade project about food trucks was a success when you impress guest judges who just happen to be from the Food Network.
A new student leadership team at Lakota East High School makes its every move with one goal in mind: to create a welcoming and healthy school culture. For months, the student leaders have been building out a concept they've coined NEST. Short for Navigate, Empower, Support and Thrive - NEST reflects the group's highest priorities. The group will debut months of planning in a week-long kick-off campaign this week.
- Leadership
The Lakota community welcomed America’s newest citizens at the region’s most recent Naturalization Ceremony hosted by Lakota East High School on March 14.
Before a gymnasium packed with students, teachers, administrators, local and state dignitaries, and representatives of the United States District Court Southern District of Ohio, 71 candidates for naturalization - representing 37 different birth countries - took the “Oath of Allegiance.” The ceremony was planned and hosted by the Lakota East Veteran’s Network, a student-led group promoting military awareness.
- Real World Learning
- military
Following any emergency situation at Lakota, building and district administrators reflect on the event in an effort to continually improve our emergency response plans.
This occurred following the recent tornado warning affecting Butler County and yielded some important procedural updates for Lakota families to be aware of.
Because the severe weather happened during many schools’ dismissal times, the most important updates center on transportation procedures.
Lakota’s Master Facilities Committee met on March 6, 2023 to begin reviewing possible locations for new buildings that would align with the approved Master Facilities Plan (MFP).
- Master Facilities
- Community Conversations
Please join us for a Community Conversation on March 28 on the important topic of Mental Health.
- Community Conversations
To better accommodate the public in attendance and at the guidance of the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, Lakota Board of Education meetings will be moving to the auditorium at Lakota East Freshman School.
- School Board
- Community Conversations
Lakota’s Board of Education recently held two community conversations to gather feedback from staff, parents and community members about the district’s strategic plan which was implemented in 2019.
- Community Conversations
A Lakota-hosted leadership program that got its start 10 years ago and gave rise to many of the individuals leading our district and schools today, is making its return to support Lakota’s next generation of leaders. And two of those former program participants, now innovation specialists at Lakota East and Lakota West, are leading the charge.
When you have 51 different birth countries and 35 different native languages represented across four different schools, a joint “Celebration of Nations” event is nothing short of eclectic. For the first time since 2019, the tradition spanning Hopewell Junior School, Hopewell ECS, Union Elementary and for the first time Woodland Elementary, returned to its original in-person format this year.
What do you do if you’re a teacher who finds yourself with an open class period at the change in semesters? If you’re Hopewell Junior chorus director Jennifer Akers, you build a new class.
- Special Education
The Innovation Hubs at Ridge Junior School and Lakota East High School were stocked with more than just books and technology this month. They were also the home to mounds of canned goods sculpted into true works of art.
The sculptures - also on display at Liberty and Hopewell junior schools as well as Lakota West High School - were the culmination of students’ responses to a community-wide challenge put forth by Reach Out Lakota. Called Can Creations, the first-ever friendly competition was designed to encourage local businesses, students and community groups to build sculptures out of items needed by the local food pantry.
Lakota Local Schools is excited to debut the first-ever “Light Up Lakota!” school showcase at Lakota West High School from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 11.
Shawnee Early Childhood School second-graders helped spread kindness and smiles throughout their school on the days leading up to Valentine’s Day with a special candy gram sale.
The second-grade teaching team (Mrs. Goetz, Mrs. Wagner, Miss Evans and Mrs. Bumiller) wanted to wrap up their economics unit with a real-life experience that also incorporated community service. “We landed on selling candy grams because it was right around Valentine’s Day – and everyone loves candy!” said teacher Effie Goetz.
The Northern Cincinnati Foundation, in partnership with Lakota Local Schools, is currently accepting nominations for the 2023 Lakota Educator of Excellence Awards. The nomination deadline is Monday, April 10 and all honorees will be announced the first week of May during Teacher Appreciation Week.
Throughout February, schools across the district created artwork, read books and completed projects to celebrate African Americans’ many achievements throughout U.S. history.
What does life look like after high school?
A new program called Industry Insights is designed to help Lakota students answer that question.
Industry Insights are sessions that introduce new fields to high school students. During each session, a panel of industry experts is on hand to share their experiences, answer questions and then speak one-on-one with students.
- Real World Learning
At the Feb. 10, 2023 policy committee meeting, members of the Lakota Board of Education reviewed policy 0169.1, public participation at board meetings. Prior to the policy committee meeting, the Board’s community engagement committee met to discuss different approaches to public comment at school board meetings.
- School Board
We hope you’ll join us on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Lakota East High School for a community conversation about our Strategic Plan.
- Community Conversations
This year, Lakota's elementary participation in two national competitions about doubled, thanks to classroom teachers and a little out-of-the-box thinking by the Lakota’s gifted intervention specialists. It also resulted in a perfect score for one Woodland Elementary student.
Beginning Feb. 1, Assistant Superintendent Robb Vogelmann will become the district's interim superintendent.
- superintendent
- Publications
Several times a year, Lakota produces a community newsletter to help parents and residents, alike, gain insight into our schools and stay informed about important district-wide updates. The winter 2023 edition, arriving in mailboxes soon, continues the momentum of this year's theme, "WE Choose Lakota", spotlighting the personal stories of several students, staff, parents and community members who choose Lakota for all different reasons.
If you’ve ever wondered what kindergartners wonder about, look no further than Liberty ECS teacher Christa MacFarlane’s “Wonder Workshop.” A growing list catalogs her students’ biggest curiosities and then challenges parents and community members to visit their classroom and share their expertise.
Little by little, the class has been chipping away at their list, becoming experts themselves in such topics as how instruments and magnets work, how smelly markers are made, how to play chess and fish, and even how grass grows. The project is a model of both personalized and real world learning.
- Personalized Learning
- Real World Learning
Community members were invited to have a community conversation with the Board about school finances. Here's what they had to say.
- Community Conversations
- Finance
- Community Conversations
Community members were invited to have a community conversation with the Board about school finances. Here's what they had to say.
- Community Conversations
- Finance
Now in her 25th year at Lakota, Beth Lange incorporates a few traditions into her lessons at West Freshman.
- Personalized Learning
Personalized learning, in its truest form, is best modeled at Lakota Central. Technically the district’s newest high school, it is officially recognized as a virtual school by the Ohio Department of Education. In reality, it merges the concepts and resources of three former Lakota programs - the Academy, the Virtual Learning Option (VLO) and the work study experience formerly known as ACCESS - all under one roof.
- Personalized Learning
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