n our schools - lsr7

R-7 Board of Education301 N.E. Tudor RoadLee’s Summit, MO 64086816-986-1000

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INSIDE

OUR SCHOOLSLEE’S SUMMIT R-7 SCHOOL DISTRICT’S COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER

n Superintendent’s Message - Honoring Student Voice | 2

n The Voice of the Students | 4

n Annual Performance Report - Highest Score in 5 Years | 6

n Hour Power - The Power of Mentoring | 8

Our students,our schools, ourcommunity -

preparing each studentfor success in life.

2 | OUR SCHOOLS FEBRUARY 2019

SUPERINTENDENT’S MESSAGE

WITHOUT HONORING STUDENT VOICE,OUR JOB IS INCOMPLETE

By: Dennis L. Carpenter, Ed.D - February 2019

Each August since 1998 a small private liberalarts school in Wisconsin - Beloit College- has released what they call their annualMindset List. This list provides a glimpseinto the generational changes in the lives ofstudents entering college that fall. This pastAugust was an interesting year for the BeloitCollege Mindset List and its creators. This isbecause this year’s college college class of2018 (last year’s LSR-7 seniors) are the firstcollege freshmen class to be born in the newmillennium (2000). Some of you may havenever heard of this list, so let’s take a look ata few of the sixty cultural touchstones thatare highlights from the College Class of 2022Beloit Mindset List:

● Students have always been able to refer toWikipedia.

● People loudly conversing with themselves inpublic are no longer thought to be talking toimaginary friends.

● Presidential candidates winning the popularvote and then losing the election are notunusual.

● They’ve grown up with stories of where theirgrandparents were on 11/23/63 and wheretheir parents were on 9/11/01.

● The Prius has always been on the road in theU.S.

● There has never been an Enron.● They never used a spit bowl in a dentistoffice.

●Avisit to a bank has been a rare occurrence.● Exotic animals have always been providingsupport to passengers on planes.

● I LoveYou has always been a computer virus.● Bonefish Grill has always been servingsustainable seafood.

● The words veritas and horizon have alwaysbeen joined together to form Verizon.

● Chernobyl has never produced any power intheir lifetimes.

● Oprah has always been a magazine.

These are just a few of the items on theirlist and I would encourage you take a look atthe full list: http://themindsetlist.com/2018/08/beloit-college-mindset-list-class-2022/.

So why is it important for educators andactive community members to pause and thinkabout those things that are culturally normalfor our young people, even if not so much sofor ourselves? Well, in my mind that answeris pretty straightforward. It’s because wehave an obligation to prepare the children ofour community for their futures and not ourpasts. As effective educators we work eachday to teach children and not just subjects.As educators we don’t just prepare classroomspaces, we have to think about those spacesbeing future-ready. And, the only way toeffectively do this is by honoring the voice ofour students.

Therearemanyexamplesof thishappeningacross our district and this has motivated me toGET IN THE GAME! Whether it’s workingwith my new 7-12th grade student advisorygroup, meeting with Cara Gruhala’s leadershipgroup at Longview Farm Elementary, ormaking parody raps with @snackpackraps atthe Missouri Innovation Campus, honoringstudent voice is at the core of what I do. If itwere not, my work of ensuring that each childin our community is future-ready would be atad bit more difficult. And by the way, THEYkeep me going!

Dennis L. Carpenter, Ed.D

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SEEKING WAYS WE CAN

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Makayla Holmberg -Lee’s Summit High School

Student Voice

As a studentfrom Lee’sSummit HighSchool I appreciatethe opportunityfor me to sharemy voice with ourcommunity. Thisopportunity allows

me to share about the importance of ourcommunity connecting with everyone.

There is not a lot of informationgiven about the Special Education (SPED)program and we have an opportunity tobetter understand the experiences of ourfellow students in the SPED program. Thereare many ways to get this done. I wouldpersonally like to be able to talk to ourSpecial Education students and get to know

them better. I would like to be given moreopportunities throughout the year to interactwith our peers and seek understandingof all the offerings we have in our SPEDdepartment for our students.

Some people wouldn’t even know howto approach students in the SPED program,which is a conversation that should betalked about. It would be nice to have moreinformation on how to talk to our peers withdisabilities. Is there anything we can do tosupport our classmates? I’m thinking aboutspecific reactions or behaviors that wouldbe helpful for ease of interaction. To beequipped with these skills would be helpfuland I will be actively seeking ways I canengage with my peers.

There are several diagnoses thatare classified as special needs. Autism isone of the first things I think about, butthere are also students who are blind andstudents with prosthetics. There are studentswith dyslexia and students with hearingdisabilities who can only communicatethrough sign language. Education on thedifferent diagnoses is important for people

to understand the differences and fosteringproductive relationships.

It’s important for us to understandour differences so we can understandour commonalities. The definition of“disability” is wider that we might imagine,and I hope we can all try to see the studentswith disabilities for who they are, not whattheir diagnoses might be. As we think aboutconversations in our schools, I hope this canbe one that continues.

LET’S CONSIDER AND SIMPLY

HONOR ALL VOICES

Jordan Russo-Hicks -Lee’s Summit West High School

Student Voice

We talk about what the conversationshould be but we should just talk about whatthe conversation is. We are aware that thereare certain marginalized students. But wecontinue to ignore this conversation becauseit’s been proposed that some people aren’tready for it. We should be talking about

progressive, new ideas and new lesson plansand teaching strategies. And I want to starta conversation about how we can work tohonor all voices in the conversation. This ismy voice.

I have faced conflict and evenopposition because I feel as thoughmy ethnicbackground makes me relate differently withmy teachers. I long for a place where I cancollectively learn about my peers and theycan learn about me. We could all be betterserved if we can bring the majority to at leasta simple understanding of the day-to-dayminority experience.

The conversation about equityin education is becoming a nationalconversation and LS R-7 must get on board.

It shouldn’t comedown to simplykeeping pastcurriculum andconve r s a t i on sfor the sake oftradition. That’dbe the only thingI could think offor the reason as

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OUR SCHOOLS | 5FEBRUARY 2019

to why we haven’t advanced our thoughtprocesses.

Until we understand what’s actuallygoing on, we can’t even begin to get to theroot of this conversation. That’s all it’s aboutin the end: understanding. Our progression isadvanced by our awareness of the situation.However, there are times when people don’teven seek to understand or learn.

The conversation should also beabout representation. Representation is theacknowledgment of inclusivity. How am Igoing to feel wanted or included if I can’t seemore people who look like me in positionsof power (i.e. teacher, administrator,counselor)? How can I seek help if I’m notsure those helping can relate or even have acontext for my experience?

As the great Louis Armstrong sang,“I hear babies crying, I watch them grow,they’ll learnmuchmore than I’ll ever know.”

Let’s change our narrative in LS R-7 tomake this world a little bit more...wonderful.Let’s consider and simply honor all voices- the voices of students, the voices of Lee’sSummit citizens, the voices of our future,the voices of our present, yours and mine.

LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING

THE COMMUNITY’S GROWTH

THROUGH OPPORTUNITIES,

PERSPECTIVES AND

PROGRAMS WELL INTO THE

FUTURE

Abby Castle -Lee’s Summit North High School

Student Voice

Lee’s Summit. That’s all I have to saywhen people ask me, “where do you go toschool?” They always respond with a nodof recognition. However far from home,Lee’s Summit is known for its tightly knitcommunity. The conversation in LSR7should be about how students learn torepresent their community overall and worktogether with their peers from the wayactivities offered at each school unite forcertain events.

I’ve played the saxophone in the LSR7band program from elementary through highschool. Through my time in band, I’ve seen

how bands fromdifferent schoolsin LSR7 combineto perform atvarious events.These eventsinclude marchingband parades forVeterans Day,Truly 150 and

national football bowl parades. I recommendchecking out the LSR7 band social mediaaccounts to see fun photos and videos ofstudents in these activities and the recentCitrus Parade over winter break.

Although we may wear differentuniforms, we come together as musiciansto represent Lee’s Summit at regional andnational events. Middle and high schoolmusic students perform together at differentevents throughout the year, at events like Jazzin the Courtyard at LSW. For school eventslike the Missouri All District EnsemblesAuditions, musicians come together fromchoir, band and orchestra to represent LSR7.I always think we sound better when we playin events like these together. All of theseadventures begin when students start their

music journey in elementary choir, stringsor band class.

As a senior this year, I have been doing agreat deal of reflecting on my time in LSR7,specifically how the district has supportedme to grow as a person. I appreciate all ofthe dedicated teachers in LSR7 who inspirestudents to pursue their passions, teachstudents valuable critical thinking skills andencourage students to always do their best. Ienjoyed representing my school and city atvarious events through the programs I havebeen involved in. One thing I have lovedthe most about Lee’s Summit is the deeplyrooted sense of community that crosses allboundaries.

Although I will soon close this chapterof my life, I will rest assured that I leftmy mark on my community through theindividual friendships I made with youngerpeers as well as the personal investmentI made in my activities and leadershippositions. I look forward to seeing thecommunity’s growth through opportunities,perspectives and programs well into thefuture.

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LS R-7 EARNS ITSHIGHEST MSIP 5 ANNUAL PERFORMANCE

REPORT SCORE - 99.3%

Lee’s Summit R-7 is pleased to celebrate earning a 99.3%on the 2018Annual PerformanceReport (APR) issued by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education(DESE). The district earned 119.2/120 points on the report. This is the highest score in the sixyears of the DESE MSIP 5 Cycle.

The following data outlines LS R-7 percentage of points earned on APRs from 2013through 2018. Again, the 2018 score is the highest in the 6 years.

Typically APRs are based on 140 point totals, but because science testing was a fieldtest in 2018, no points are available for science (typically 20 points), making the total pointspossible 120 in 2018.

The 2018 summary breakdown of APR is as follows:

• Standards 3-5 - College and Career Ready, Attendance and Graduation Rate - each earned100% of the points.• Standard 1 – Academic Achievement (measuring MAP/EOC performance of all students) -earned 100% of the points.• In subgroup math performance (a subcomponent of Standard 2), LS R-7 earned all 4 pointsavailable, up from having earned only 3 of the 4 points in 2017.• Subgroup ELA performance is up by a point from 2017 to 2018.• Subgroup performance improved from 82.1% in 2017 to 92.0% in 2018.• As Subgroup performance improved in 2018, no other category lost points.

“Students and staff have done phenomenal work reviewing and implementing systems andprograms that have assisted with increased performance. We are so proud of our community.We have much to celebrate; including growth in the Subgroup Achievement category,improving from an 82.1% to a 92% without losing any points in other categories. As wefurther commit to district-wide improvement and providing future-ready learning experiencesfor all of our students, we can expect 100% on subsequent APR reports and higher levels ofoverall college/career readiness,” said Dr. Dennis Carpenter, Superintendent.

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OUR SCHOOLS | 7FEBRUARY 2019

Reorganized School District. No. 7301 N. E. Tudor Road

Lee’s Summit, MO 64086An Equal Opportunity Employer

Published by the R-7 Board of EducationDr. Dennis L. Carpenter, SuperintendentEditor: Kelly Wachel, Public Relations

Executive Director

BOARD OF EDUCATIONPhyllis Balagna........................... President

Jackie Clark.......................Vice President

Julie Doane ................................... Member

Kim Fritchie................................... Member

Ryan Murdock.............................. Member

Dennis Smith ................................ Member

Bob White...................................... Member

Regular Board of Education meetings are held onthe third Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at theStansberry Leadership Center, 301 N. E. Tudor Rd.Info line: 816-986-1001. Web: www.lsr7.org

MISSION STATEMENTWe prepare each student for success in life.

VISION STATEMENTLee’s Summit R-7 is an exemplary school district, graduating students who are

college and career ready with the competitive advantage necessary to be successful.Lee’s Summit R-7 reflects a culture of respect and acceptance. Collaboration is anexpectation that fosters mutual understanding and a focus on student achievementand staff development. Lee’s Summit R-7 encourages innovation and creativity,

recognizing student learning as our fundamental purpose.

OUR•SCHOOLS

At their regularly scheduled meetingin December 2018, the Lee’s Summit R-7Board of Education unanimously voted toapprove boundary adjustments and moveforward with Phase 2 recommendations inthe Comprehensive Facilities Master Plan(CFMP) process.

The CFMP team presented therecommendations during the DecemberBoard of Education work session, whichwere ultimately approved at the Boardmeeting. The recommendations wereapproved after five months of robustengagement series, public input, in personconversations and dedicated work from theCFMP team.

It has been important to the District torelease recommendations around facilitiesand learning as well as potential boundaryoptions to our staff, families and communityso that our community could review them

and engage with us throughout the fallsemester. The recommendations wererefined based on our engagement efforts,staff and community input, data analysis andCFMP team discussions. We will continueto engage with our entire community asrecommendations move forward and weembark on Phase 2 of the CFMP processduring Spring 2019.

The final elementary and secondaryboundary recommendations can be foundon our CFMP website (lsr7.org/cfmp),along with Phase 2 recommendations. Phase2 work will encompass teams working onresearch for instructional framework, equityplanning, expansion of workforce readyprogramming, middle school design andearly childhood programming.

LS R-7 BOARD OF EDUCATION VOTES TO MOVE FORWARD WITHCOMPREHENSIVE FACILITIES MASTER PLAN, BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENTSLee’s Summit R-7 Board of Education approved recommendation to adjust boundaries and

continue planning for Phase II work of Comprehensive Facilities Master Plan


Lee’s Summit R-7 School Districtis pleased to launch our new hOur Powermentoring program. We have the collectivepower to impact the lives of our students andwe are excited to open another avenue forbringing the community into our schools. Thelaunch of this partnership will allowmentors tospend an hour a week supporting our students.The hOur Power program has been designed toengage, inspire and connect caring and talentedindividuals in our community through a varietyof mentoring and volunteer opportunities thatpositively influence the academic success ofLee’s Summit R-7 students.

For more information about hOur Power,and to start the application process to becomea mentor in our school district, please visit ourwebsite: https://www3.lsr7.org/hour-power/.We look forward to welcoming our communityinto our schools to see first-hand the collectivepower of community supporting our studentsthrough mentoring. Join us!

Steps to becoming an hOurPower mentor include:• Complete an hOur Powerapplication• Complete the R-7 backgroundcheck requirements• Attend a mentor trainingsession• Get matched with an R-7student• Start mentoring with ourstudents!

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