Lesher Middle School

Saturday 3/23

Odyssey of the Mind tournament @Lincoln Middle School

Monday 3/25

Track gold cards are due by the end of the day!

Wednesday 3/27

2:30 Girls Golf vs. Preston @ Mtn. Vista

Thursday 3/28

2:30 Boy Golf vs. Preston @ Mtn. Vista

3:30 Varsity Softball Scrimmage vs. Webber @ Spring Park

PRIOR TO March 18th ALL students must obtain a GOLD CARD from the main office:

1. Complete the Online Athletic Registration each season(fall, winter and spring):

   https://poudreathletics.sportngin.com/middleschools

2. Turn in a hard copy of Current Physical from your Doctor’s office to Ms. Roth in the main office. Physicals cannot be uploaded or completed online. A physical is good for 364 days.

1. If you have questions about your current physical, please see Ms. Roth.

3. Pay the Athletic fee on school pay or by cash or check to Ms. Lamb in the main office. You will need to show Ms. Roth your receipt (you can print receipt or show Ms. Roth a picture).

1. Fees will be refunded if you do not make the team.

2. Checks should be made out to Lesher Middle School

Track & Field - 6th , 7th & 8th graders welcome - Must obtain gold card by Monday, March 25th (same steps as above)

• Coach Swann - jswann@psdschools.org

• Preseason Camp: 3/26, 3/27, 3/28 from 2:55-4:00pm. Meet in Main Gym.
  

• Practices: begin Monday, April 1st and are Monday-Friday from 2:55-4:45PM.

• Family Meeting: March 20, 2024, from 5-6pm.

Girls Soccer - Must obtain gold card by Monday, March 25th for the FIRST PRACTICE

• Coach Spear - rspear@psdschools.org
• Coach Reyes - areyes@psdschools.org
• Coach Groves - dgroves@psdschools.org

• Tryouts: March 19th - 21st from 3:00-4:30pm

Lesher students will be taking the Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) assessments in April - see the calendar below . All students will take 3 English Language Arts assessments and 3 Mathematics assessments. Additionally, 8th graders will take 3 Science assessments.

As you plan ahead, we would greatly appreciate your help avoiding student appointments or other student absences on these days. A more detailed and specific calendar of testing days and times will be released after Spring Break. If you have questions about the CMAS assessments, please contact Deana Kochis, School Assessment Coordinator, at dkochis@psdschools.org or (970) 472-3854.

What is CMAS?

The state assessment system, Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS), is designed to measure student mastery of Colorado’s academic content standards. Colorado’s academic content standards indicate skills and knowledge necessary to prepare students for success from early school readiness to postsecondary competencies, reflective of both workforce readiness and 21st century skills. Student progress toward these outcomes is measured through CMAS, which provides information to teachers as they incorporate the content standards in their daily instruction. CMAS results are also used for school and district accountability.

Click here or see below for the CMAS Bell schedule.

Last weekend the Lesher Wrestling team took 27 wrestlers to the Regional tournament in Greeley. Lesher took 3rd place in our Region!! Out of 27 wrestlers, 14 qualified and will be competing for a State title in Denver this weekend.

Congratulations to

Casey Fontana

Cash Helgerson

Braxton Williams

Bryan Cram

Hamid Hamidzai

Emmet Brennan

Karson Klitch

Emory Little

Mina Wright

Josh Richen

Josh Boade

Shane Boros

Stratton Hay

Holden Irby

Our Advanced Chamber Orchestra is busy this weekend performing at the Music For All Festival in Indianapolis! This is quite the honor and an incredible experience for our students. We are so proud of you!

Student Challenge: March BINGO—students have academic, organizational, kindness, and self-care challenges to complete in the month of March. Once students get a BINGO, they can turn the form into the front office for the chance to be entered into a drawing to win prizes.

THIS BINGO BOARD

Families, Genius Week registration is open. Visit the Genius Week website HERE to register soon for the early bird discount; we want your students there!

Thank you & Go Vikings!

Please visit the Long Range Planning Committee website for the most up-to-date information: HERE

Updated Listening Session Information:

Share your thoughts at a listening session this spring.

A series of listening sessions will be held this spring. These are opportunities for members of the public, including staff, families, students, and community members, to provide feedback on the scenarios that the PSD Facilities Planning Steering Committee is developing. All sessions will follow the same format, which includes an overview presentation, followed by small-table conversations and a questionnaire.

The Facilities Planning Steering Committee presented possible options publicly for the first time at the March 19 PSD Board of Education meeting. After gathering feedback from listening sessions, the committee will make two to three recommendations to the school board. The board will be asked to make a decision about how to proceed at its June 11 meeting.

Listening Sessions:

Sessions will not be livestreamed.
Please note changes were made to the schedule.

• 7:30-8:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 20, at Timnath Middle-High School, 4700 East Prospect Road, Timnath
• 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, March 20, at Fort Collins High School, 3400 Lambkin Way, Fort Collins
• 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Monday, March 25, at ITC Aspen 1 and 2 at the PSD Support Services Complex , 2407 Laporte Avenue, Fort Collins
• 6-8 p.m. Monday, March 25, at Rocky Mountain High School, 1300 W. Swallow Road, Fort Collins
• 6-7 p.m. Wednesday, March 27, Online
• 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28, at Lincoln Middle School, 1600 W. Lancer Drive, Fort Collins
• 6-8 p.m. Thursday, April 4, at PSD Future Ready Center, Suite 510 in the Foothills Mall, 215 E Foothills Parkway (for those who speak Spanish)
• TBD session for those who speak Arabic

Board of Education Listening Sessions

• 5:30- 10 p.m., Tuesday, April 16, in the auditorium at Poudre High School, 201 S. Impala Drive in Fort Collins
• 5:30- 10 p.m., Tuesday, June 4, in the auditorium at Fort Collins High School, 3400 Lambkin Way in Fort Collins

Microphones will be available at each session so attendees may share thoughts with the board. Board listening sessions will be recorded and posted on the PSD website; they will not be livestreamed.

March 6, 2024

Dear Poudre School District community:

Board of Education directors voted (5-2) Tuesday night to modify bell schedules at 31 schools. The new times will go into effect at the start of the 2024-25 school year.

This decision preserves busing for students at a time when neighboring districts are cutting services and saves about $1 million in the face of districtwide financial challenges. It is also the first step in a multi-year plan to align bell schedules by grade level, with the goals of saving additional money and expanding busing services in future years.

The board voted to adopt the Scenario A schedule, which was favored by those who took a communitywide survey asking for feedback on two scenarios. Watch the staff presentation and board discussion here: https://youtu.be/5c34J6f4Yfc

As a result, school start and dismissal times will shift by:

· 5-10 minutes at 10 schools

· 11-20 minutes at 14 schools

· 21-30 minutes at seven schools

· Eighteen school schedules will NOT change.

· See bell times for each school: www.psdschools.org/schools/school-start-dismissal-times

We empathize with students, parents/guardians, staff and others who will navigate these changes and recognize that current bell schedules may have been a factor in families’ decisions to attend a certain school. We plan to communicate directly with families who submitted applications as part of the School Choice process as soon as possible. It is our intent to answer questions that this news will likely prompt regarding choice school enrollment.

Why this change, why now?

As part of an ongoing commitment to improvement and annual budget development, schools and departments look for ways to prioritize students and operate as efficiently as possible. Working with an outside firm specializing in routing, the Transportation Department determined that it could save money and minimize disruptions to busing services due to staffing shortages through a routing optimization process.

If PSD didn’t optimize and reduce the number of routes, there was a real risk of not being able to run all routes every day. The ongoing, nationwide and local shortage of bus drivers could lead to interruptions in service. Making this change now also results in savings of about $1 million to $1.5 million.

PSD is facing fiscal challenges because of the decline in student enrollment, inflation, and increasing benefits costs. Fewer students mean fewer dollars. In a district where about 85% of a roughly $400 million budget goes to pay for people, any cut is felt acutely, and any savings are even more critical.

What’s next?

The bell schedule changes approved by the board go into effect for the 2024-25 school year. Along with its vote Tuesday, the board also charged staff with looking for even more optimization within the Transportation Department and making districtwide changes to create long-term consistency for our families.

By making steps toward a system where bell times are standardized to the maximum extent possible – as in elementary schools start at the same time, middle schools start at the same time, and high schools start at the same time, PSD could reduce the overall number of bus routes and drivers currently needed from 122 to about 85.

The hope is that PSD could then offer busing to 100% choice schools for the first time ever; this has not been possible under the current model. Currently, about one in four families choose to send their students to a school other than their neighborhood school, known as School Choice. PSD has historically only been able to provide busing services to neighborhood schools for students who meet certain requirements and for whom transportation is legally required.

Expanding busing services is beneficial for families who might not have the ability to transport their students to a 100% choice school.

We recognize that students, families, staff and community members may face challenges while adjusting to the newly approved bell schedules and appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding in advance.

Sincerely,

Poudre School District

Here is the link to register

From Mrs. Champagne...

Sewing Supplies Needed for Art Room/Sewing Class:

• thread (all colors)
• buttons
• fabric (quilting cotton, jersey, fleece, canvas)

• any sewing supplies you don't need or use anymore

• any good working sewing machines you don't use anymore

These items can be dropped off to our main office!

Hello Families of Lesher 8th Graders!

This is the first call for short videos of your child in their element!

At the end of the school year, a video collage presentation is compiled to celebrate all of the out-of-school / extracurricular activities that our 8th graders participate in. This video montage will be shown during the end of the year celebration just for our departing 8th graders in May.

Do you have a short action video snip (10 seconds or less) of your 8th grader? Maybe you have a moment from a sporting event, engaged in favorite hobby at home, playing with a pet, doing something adventurous -- or a fun moment from a vacation? Anything goes, as long as we can see your child in the video! Horseback riding, theater, magic tricks, biking, hiking, skiing, volleyball, dance, football, surfing, cross country, wrestling, water sports, ziplining, basketball, softball, baseball, track, soccer, trampoline jumping, baking, gymnastics, rubik’s cube speed, unicycling, musical instruments, chess, gaming, disc golf, and weightlifting are several of the moments that have been received and used in years past!

If your child has an event- be sure to grab a few seconds of video and send it along! Sound will not be included in the video, so keep that in mind. Ideally this video montage will have a 2-10 second ACTION video of EVERY 8th grade student! You can submit 2 snips if you can’t pick your favorite- I will try to get all of them in. This is a chance for students to shine in ways that aren’t seen during the school day.

Please email your short video snips to the 8th Grade Day Viking Variety Show Coordinator, Ms. Julie Thompson - juliat@psdschools.org – she will be collecting them throughout the year, up until May 1st.

High School Course and Planning Worksheet – Digital Copy

High School Recommendation Guide

-This are pulled from Fort Collins High School Presentation Recommendations

High School Planning Guide

Registration is now open for GirlsGetMath@CSU, a free weeklong, non-residential summer math camp in the Department of Mathematics at CSU! The camp will run June 10-14, 2024, Monday-Thursday 9am-3:30pm and Friday 9am-5pm. Students will explore a variety of topics in mathematics (such as cryptography, data science, image processing, fractals, and graph theory) in a collaborative and inclusive learning environment where they engage with hands-on activities and computer labs. During the camp, students will also take a campus tour, eat lunch in dining halls, and hear from successful women in STEM careers. There is no cost to attend the summer camp, and we will provide all materials, daily snacks, lunch, and a camp t-shirt.

Please direct any interested students to https://mathematics.colostate.edu/girls-get-math/ where they can fill out a short application to attend the camp. The deadline is Friday, April 26.

Thank you in advance for helping to spread the word. Feel free to reach out to jamie.juul@colostate.edu or liz.arnold@colostate.edu with any questions.

Sincerely,

Jamie Juul

Liz Arnold

We've had an increase in broken laptop screens. Families, please make sure that you speak with your child about being safe and responsible with their laptops. Below are our school wide technology expectations that you can review with your family. Thank you!

This week, updates have been rolled out to all student laptops. To apply these updates, you'll be required to restart your laptop multiple times. To determine if a restart is necessary, click on the Windows button; if prompted, choose "Update and Restart" or "Update and Shut Down." Ensure your laptop is plugged in and charging before initiating the restart. The process will take approximately 20-30 minutes, with some restarts potentially lasting several hours. Keep the screen open throughout the update. Note that these updates will occur on the second Tuesday of each month. If you encounter any problems or have issues, feel free to reach out to Ed Tech Coordinator Becky Knips at rknips@psdschools.org. Thank you!

Here is a link to our academic honesty police. Please take time as a family to read through this information and let us know if you have any questions! Thank you!

Academic Honesty Policy

Follow this link to this year's Club information!

This link will be updated when student initiated clubs get approved throughout the year.

Please Click Here

Click here for more information

Please follow this link!

Please Click Here

We would like to compile a spreadsheet of Lesher Businesses for our school and community to utilize. If you own a business, work for a business, or simply want the community to know about services you offer please fill out this form.

Instagram @leshervikings

Website: https://les.psdschools.org/
Location: Lesher Middle School, Stover Street, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Phone: 970-472-3800
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LesherMiddleSchool
Twitter: @Lesher_MS