The staff at Hopewell Junior had a big surprise awaiting them when they returned for the new school year. Over the summer months, the school’s PTSO and custodial staff were working on a special “welcome back” gift: a new staff lunchroom.

Lakota Local Schools has earned a “B” as an overall letter grade by the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) in its recently released state report card for the 2018-19 school year.

Do you know high school students interested in therapy, photography, teaching or writing? Here’s a chance for them to get hands-on, real world experience through one of our fall internships.

Students and staff started the school year with a focus on building the friendships that will carry them through the remainder of the year. In the same spirit, we are dedicating this month’s social media contest to celebrating those new and continuing friendships around Lakota.

A new visual now serves as a roadmap for Lakota educators whose ultimate goal is to prepare every graduate to follow one of the 4 Es at the end of their K-12 career: Enrollment in higher education, Enlistment in the military, Employment, or the pursuit of Entrepreneurship.

Lakota’s elementary school media centers, turned innovation hubs, still offer shelves of books to enjoy - but they are also now complete with virtual reality stations, video production green screen rooms, a sound recording booth, a 3D printer and even modernized furniture to help facilitate authentic, future-ready learning.

As another indication of the importance of safety, Lakota Local Schools has implemented new security measures throughout the district. “The safety of our students and staff is always our number one priority,” said Superintendent Matthew Miller. “Our plans are never complete. We are always working with our law enforcement partners to evaluate all of our safety measures in order to improve.” During the summer, 1,200 Bearacade® Door Control Systems were installed in classrooms throughout the district.

During the 2018-19 school year, district leaders, staff and students worked together to reimagine the high school experience. Teachers and students collaborated during a three-day LakotaNEXT design challenge last November, working to answer the question: How might we design a prototype of a high school master schedule that fosters the core principles of personalized learning? The result? New course offerings and expanded zero bell options at both Lakota East and West high schools. “We have heard the request for more choice during zero bell from parents and students,” said Keith Koehne, Lakota’s executive director of curriculum and instruction. “We are excited that we have been able to do just that this year.”

Over the summer, hallway floors at 10 Lakota schools were transformed to look like giant gameboards. These new sensory paths have Shawnee ECS students jumping on lily pads, hopscotching on tiger paws, and turning circles on pictures of coiled snakes. These sensory paths are making their way into schools across the nation to help keep kids moving and engaged during the day. Students and teachers alike are enjoying these cool new movement paths.