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Educating All of Our Students

The board should continually focus on Lex2’s vision to “be highly innovative and excel in preparing all students for continuous learning and career success”.

The district’s 2021- 2026 strategic plan ambitiously took up this challenge and has made great strides in offering new choices for Lex2 students and expanded programs to help them succeed. These include:

The Lex2Launch program for academically advanced learners
Immersion programs for multilingual learners
Continually expanded courses offerings and exposure to college and career opportunities
A renewed focus on individualized plans for students who need additional support
The new performing arts centers and the opportunities it allows

The board should whole-heartedly support pushing even further!

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Supporting Teachers

Teachers are the heart and soul of the district’s efforts, and they should always know the district supports them.

Teachers need support to be effective and continue in their careers. The district has worked tirelessly on teacher compensation, mentoring, training opportunities, and establishing Professional Learning Communities.

The district should redouble its efforts in:

Learning about teachers’ resource needs in the classroom and implementing plans to meet them
Ensuring there is consistency in administrative support of teachers and in enforcing the district’s discipline policies (administrators need to know the district and board are supporting them doing so)
Guaranteeing that special education teachers have the support they need and that they and all teachers and students are safe in their classrooms
Respecting teachers' time and judgment while assisting with the parts that go beyond the classroom – paperwork, meetings, and communications with parents
Making sure the teachers know the board values their dedication, training, and experience

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Responsibility, Responsiveness, and Communications

The board needs to continue to have members whose focus is on doing their job!

The Lex2 School Board is responsible for:

Establishing the educational goals and policies that guide the district and judging how effectively the district is meeting its goals
Overseeing the district, including adopting the budget to ensure that it can carry out its goals and being vigilant in the use of the monies it is entrusted with
Communicating with its stakeholders

When laying out plans and managing finances, it is vital to receive feedback from the administrators, teachers, staff, parents, and guardians on what is working and not working, and what could be made better.

It is also vital to look at district expenditures and processes broadly and across groups. It does no good to aim for some fixed percent of the budget for teachers if those teachers don’t have the needed staff assistants, substitutes, and administrative backing – or if some of the teachers have very large class sizes.

And it is vital to have accurate and timely communications with the public. The public should be told of the district’s successes and where it needs to focus more. The benefits and drawbacks of controversial or seemingly counterintuitive policies should be clearly laid out - especially how they will affect the students and other stakeholders now and in the future. Statistical summaries and comparisons should be accompanied by straightforward honest information vital to their understanding - our state and district demographics have changed over time and relative to other places, the definitions and scores on which the district is evaluated have changed too.

My Priorities

Educating All of Our Students

The district should continue expanding the number of high-quality academic choices and activities available to all of our students.

Supporting Parents

Parents have a lot to navigate: program choices, setting up IEP/504 plans, communicating with the schools and the district, online systems, and more. The district should provide all the help and clarity it can.

Supporting Teachers

Teachers are the dedicated, trained professionals that make the schools work in partnership with parents. They should be treated like it.

Responsibility, Responsiveness, and Communications

The district and its board are entrusted with great responsibility - board members should take it seriously by providing transparency and remaining accountable.

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Supporting Parents

Lexington Two parents vary just as widely in their experiences and backgrounds as the students they entrust to us – helping all parents help their students is vital!

Ways to increase these parent-school partnerships include:

Continuing to come together as a team with the parents and guardians of students who have individualized education plans
Working as a district team to provide all approved resources to help parents and guardians navigate the system for finding the medical and psychological resources to determine the best way to help their students, and to develop an individualized plan if needed
Consistently providing the needed assistance for communication between parents and guardians who are fluent in other languages with our teachers and staff
Continuing to improve the district and school web pages so that all of the needed information - from district policies and details on academic programs to school events and tech-support - is easy to find and up-to-date
Ensuring that homework and progress tracking systems are easy to navigate for parents and guardians of all technological backgrounds