Awaiting return of magic

The nice thing about summer is it eventually gives way to the first day of school, my favorite time of year.  On Tuesday we will observe an anticipated 39,000 students interacting with about 8,000 Lincoln Public Schools employees – and the magic will start to happen once again.  I’m confident the 2014-15 school year will be another successful one for LPS and our community.

Student enrollment totals are only a guess right now until the fourth Friday of September when they become official on the day we report them to the State Department of Education. However, we do anticipate about 1,000 new students this year coming from all over our state and country.  Lincoln continues to attract families for jobs and quality of life.  

 

This summer I met several families from the east coast who were delighted to be here – families who had planned on enrolling their children in private schools, but who changed their minds when they discovered we have an outstanding public educational system that is focused on ALL students succeeding.

 

The Lincoln Board of Education held their annual retreat earlier this week and the emerging theme was “refine and align.”  With so many great programs designed to raise graduation rates and overall achievement, Board members felt that we needed to complete what we have already started.   They did agree that a 90 percent graduation goal within five years was a great target.  I know we can do it.

 

I want to close by thanking everyone with LPS for their commitment to learning.  We have a wonderful school district because of the people who work here.

 

Let’s have a great school year.

Steve