Welcome Back team GREYHOUNDS!

The CUSD #9 Greyhound Nation is prepping for an amazing 2023-2024 school year! Teachers are enthusiastically getting their classrooms ready to welcome students. Principals are meeting and making final decisions on schedules. I am working diligently on producing a Tentative FY24 Budget for the district. It warms my heart to see the excitement in the faces and spirits school family returning to school. There is nothing as rejuvenating as the eagerness felt when life comes back into a school building after a summer break! We can't wait to get our students back into our classrooms!

Greetings Lebanon CUSD #9 Families and Community-

The 2023-2024 School Year is here! This Greyhound Family has been working hard to welcome our students on Thursday, August 17th. There is no better feeling than the feeling of life coming back into school buildings before students return after a summer break! WE are ready to greet our Greyhound students and families.

It is important to remember that the start of every school year brings newness, and newness brings anticipation of the unknown. With change comes challenges, but it is so very important to remember that those challenges can bring much growth. As your leader, I know there will be hurdles to overcome, but I know with a team and positive energy that ANYTHING is possible. As a community and educational team, we must come together and remember that anything that seems impossible can be possible...possible is in the word impossible! I simply can't wait to see the Greyhound Nation work together for true greatness this school year!! I have no doubt that our Greyhound Team will come together and make this 2023-2024 School Year the best one yet!

Sincerely,

Dr. Ganey

Our finance committee has been hard at work already! We met for our first meeting on Wednesday, August 2nd. The committee is comprised of two community members (Carl Holman and Leah Corbitt) , two staff members (Marsha Schmittling and Jackie Hamm), our district treasurer (Brent Wood), two board members (Missy Mitchell and Shawn Dow), a building administrator (Mr. Foster/Ms. Emrick), and the superintendent (Dr. Ganey) . A big thank you to the members already for a collaborative and purposeful first meeting!

At the meeting, big ideas were presented on ways to help bring both our Education Fund and Operations and Maintenance Fund back into the black. Next month, we plan to review the FY23 year end actuals and our FY24 tentative budget, discuss enrollment, and continue to determine the best big ideas moving forward to develop a short and long term financial plan for the district. There is much work to be done, but our committee is up for the challenge!

Please be looking for Lebanon CUSD #9 in the upcoming Lebanon Fireman's Picnic Parade on Saturday, August 12th at 6pm! We can't wait to see our community and families along the parade route.

Welcome to the 2023-2024 school year! We are excited to get the school year started and have been preparing to receive our students! I hope you have enjoyed time with family over the summer and have had time to relax before we hit this school year running!

This will be another year of excellence at LES! Our expectations are high for ourselves as educators, and for our students! I believe that if we create an environment where students feel safe, loved and nurtured, they will work hard to give their best! The staff and I will focus on building supportive relationships with our students, so that they can focus on working hard and preparing themselves for a successful future!

Our responsibility is not only to provide a formal education, but to also build character among our students. We will continue celebrating their successes, rewarding them when they display great character, and holding them accountable for their behavior. Working with our families, we want to contribute to the future success of our students…starting now!

The Chapter One Project will be providing school supplies for all LES students again this year! The only supplies that your students will need to bring in preparation for this school year will be a backpack, lunchbox, and water bottle.

Our Lebanon School Handbook is accessible on our web-site, and can be a helpful tool in navigating our school. Many questions can be answered by just reviewing the handbook. For example,

• Can students bring toys, balls or other recreational items to school? (No, we will provide recreational items for our students during recess)

• Can students bring cellphones to school? (Yes, but the cell phone must be off and in the student's backpack. Keep in mind that we are not responsible for lost or stolen cell phones)

• Does LES have Before & After-School Detention? (Yes, students can receive detention for negative behaviors, as well as incomplete homework assignments)

I encourage you to review the LES School Handbook to familiarize yourself with our school rules, teacher conferences, attendance, etc. Just go to the LES website, click on School Information and then click on Handbook. That’s it!

Important Dates To Remember:

• Monday, August 14th: LES Open House 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM

• Thursday, August 17th: First Day of School for Grades 1-12

• Monday, August 21st: First Day of School for Pre-K & Kindergarten

Again, we are looking forward to teaming with our LES Family to ensure that our students are ready to take on the challenges that lie ahead! We are committed to affecting and being a part of their future…not just their time at LES! Our contribution now….will impact the rest of their educational careers!

Welcome Back!!! We hope you all had a wonderful summer and some restful time away. The bustling of the halls and the rowdiness in the gym and on the fields is about to start. Soon we will start the next year of our students' futures. Not only is this year a focus on the best education possible, but it is also a continuation of building good humans. This is something that we will work on extremely hard, but we also need help from all of you. Helping students understand that being kind, accepting others as they are and standing up for those who are being mistreated is the recipe for being a good human.

23-24 Bell Schedule

We are so blessed to have Jessica Zurliene with Chapter One partnering with our school to help provide school supplies. She has been able to provide school supplies to the Elementary school and has been so gracious to ask the teachers at the Junior High and High School what their needs are in regards to supplies. Some teachers requested items from her, making the lists seem smaller. Please consider donating to Chapter One. We are attaching the lists here, however they can also be found on our website.

JR High Supply List

SR High Supply List

Mark YOUR Calendars!

Our 6th grade orientation will be August 9th at 10 am.

Freshman orientation will be August 9th at 9:00 am.

Open house is on August 15th at 5:00 pm. This year will have a different format than previous years. I will be speaking for the first 15 minutes in the gym about changes to the upcoming school year. I will also be around for any questions. Parents/guardians will then walk their students' schedules. We will have bells that will keep the night moving quickly. We will also have clubs and activities set up in the commons for students to sign-up for or gather more information. We are excited to announce that Takozz Food Truck and Kona Ice will be on our grounds to kick-off the year!

HS and JH Fall sports have started practices, and JH Softball and JH Baseball start games this week:

Baseball: Belleville St Theresa on Tuesday at 4:15

They play at SISBL Freeburg fields-504 Cemetery Rd, Freeburg IL.

Also, BB and SB both play in the Marissa/New Athens Tournament on Thursday and Saturday.

Thursday's games are at New Athens HS field at 5:30.

*Saturday game times depend on Thursday's results*

We are looking for a few high school students to lead our "Hound Pound" student section for our fall home games. Please email the Athletic Director Mr. Cruthis at ccruthis@lcusd9.org if you are interested in helping get our student section going in the right direction. We are going to look at talking to a few other school's student section leadership to collaborate some ideas.

On Monday, Aug 28th, we will have a "Lebanon Day" to show support for our JH Baseball/Softball, HS Soccer, and Volleyball teams as they all have home games on this date. We are inviting the community to come out and support all of these teams and we are going to bring in a food truck and hopefully a dessert truck.

The Athletic Booster Club is asking any athletes that are available to walk in the Fireman's Picnic parade this Saturday. They will lineup on the street near the McKendree Fountain in the middle of Campus.