SUPERINTENDENT’S MESSAGEThe school year has gotten off to a great start, and I want to thank everyone – students, parents, staff and administrators – for your efforts and preparation to ensure a smooth first month. I especially want to thank parents and staff at our transition schools for your great cooperation in making sure our students felt right at home in their new buildings.Speaking of new buildings, our construction project is moving forward, although much of the work is not visible to you as a lot of the work includes bidding and contract negotiations to prepare our buildings for demolition. A second round of architect meetings were held with the Grant, Lincoln and Roosevelt communities. Those in attendance were able to see the proposed footprints and interior layouts of the new buildings as well as some preliminary design drawings.For those waiting on another high school meeting, that should be scheduled within the month.I know many of you are interested in when the old buildings will be coming down. That depends on how long the abatement process takes at each school, and it will vary at each building. Our best guess is that demolition will not happen until December at the earliest.As always, we appreciate the support and cooperation of our community as we look to provide the best learning environment possible for our students once our project is complete.

Jeffrey W. PattersonSuperintendent

Board of EducationLinda Beebe, PresidentEmma Petrie Barcelona, Vice PresidentTom EinhouseEdward FavreBetsy Bergen Shaughnessy

COMMUNITY MEETING ON CONSTRUCTION OCT. 23The district will be holding a community meeting on Thursday, Oct. 23 at 6:30 pm in the Roosevelt Gym at the former Franklin Elementary School, 13465 Franklin Blvd. The meeting will address what the neighborhoods of the three elementary schools that will be torn down can expect during the abatement, demolition and construction periods. This will also be a chance for residents to ask questions of the construction team and district officials.

Thank You!Thanks to the Lakewood Education Foundation for supporting the following grants through the Margaret Warner Educational Grant. The committee has awarded Lincoln School two grants for the 2014-2015 school year:

Mr. McGuan and Mr. Browngardt for “Wings: Using Model Building to Sharpen the Mental and Manual Dexterity of Fourth and Fifth Graders”: While learning about model building, students will: learn to read directions closely and accurately, develop mental/manual dexterity, hone problem-solving skills and learn the value of perseverance.

Mrs. Thompson for “Margaret Warner Club”: This is a community service based organization partnering with the Lakewood Division of Aging and Giant Eagle to provide shopping assistance to the vision impaired elderly. Members are also inspired to achieve their dreams with a variety of after school activities, guest speakers, and field trips.

Picking your child up early from school? Please send a note to your child’s teacher in the morning so that your child can be ready and waiting for you in the office when you arrive.

3 rd Grade Fall OAA Administration The fall 3rd grade reading test will take place on Tuesday, October 7. Please make sure your child is in-school, on-time, well-rested and has had breakfast.

New Addition to the Playground!

Did you see our new basketball hoop on the playground? Wow...students are really having a ball shooting hoops at recess! Many thanks to the Mitterholzer family for this generous donation!

Lincoln Wins $$ for Recess Equipment!

Thanks to everyone for coming out last weekend for Fitness Fits Everyone!  Lincoln won second place for the percentage of students in attendance. That gives us $200 to spend on new recess equipment. Our thanks go out to Jordan's Family Foundation and the Rossen Family for this great event!

Community Meeting Set

There will be a community meeting on Thursday, Oct. 23 at 6:30 pm in the Franklin Gym. This meeting will address the process of abatement and demolition at the

three elementary schools and listen to any concerns from those in the neighborhood.

Halloween News

We will be celebrating Halloween this year with a costume parade around the block. We will be inviting neighbors to come out on their porches to see our parade and the lunch/recess “WOW”

October ticket winners will lead the parade. Once we are back in our classrooms, we will enjoy a sweet treat and head home for trick-or-treating!

Please make sure that costumes are school-appropriate and leave weapons and other potentially offensive accessories at home.

When you child gets home, do a quick-check to make sure you have everything you may need for a fun night. The office will be open until 4 PM if something is left behind.

PTA Reflections 2014-2015

It’s back to school and time to think about The Annual PTA Reflections Competition. Starting off strong with a new logo, designed by our Early Childhood Reflections’ Chair, Karina Robinson, that speaks to the fun and creativity which abounds within our Lakewood youth; and committee representation throughout the district eager to assist throughout the process to make our program bigger and better than ever. Please meet this year’s Reflection Committee: Mona Atfield and

Tonya Nanni(Lakewood HS), Danielle Patera(Garfield); Megan Nagel (Harding); Kelley King(Grant); Kristopher Payne (Harrison); Beth Kiraly-Bratko (Horace Mann) Sylvia Masek and Errin Wischhusen(Lincoln); Kelly Carroll(Roosevelt); Karina Robinson(Early Childhood PTA), and Ruth Koenigsmark, Council Chairperson.

Reflections is an opportunity to celebrate the artistic talents of Lakewood’s young people, ages Pre-School to High School. The PTA Reflections program welcomes all grades and abilities to explore and be

involved in the arts. Annually, hundreds of our students will reflect on a common theme and create original works of art in the categories of dance choreography, film production, literature, music composition, photography , visual arts and Special Artist. The Special Artist is a new category to the competition that we are all excited about. This is a non-graded category and limited to students with physical, cognitive or mental health challenges.

This year’s theme is “The world would be a better Place if……Each student is encouraged to begin working on their submission. The Due date for all submissions is Friday, November 21, 2014. Please see rules on our Lakewood PTA Reflections page on Facebook or go to http://www.ohiopta.org/PROGRAMS.aspxThe Committee has been working diligently to organize upcoming Reflections events. Here is a glimpse of our calendar for the school year so far:

September 15-19-Start the Arts Week and Reflections Kick OffOctober, Workshops for Students Citywide-TBANovember 21 - Entries must be received –Collection sites TBADecember 15 , 2014, Judging is completed for all entriesJanuary 14, 2015-All winning entries will reach Ohio PTA for judging on state levelJanuary 28, 2105- Tentative Date for Reflections Recognition CeremonyFebruary & March-Winners on the State Level will be announcedMay-Awards Ceremony for Local Winners-TBA

Participation in the Reflections program is free to all students attending PTA/PTSA schools. This year we are also inviting all Lakewood schools public or private and Homeschoolers, even if a PTA/PTSA is not in place, to participate in the competition. There would be a nominal entrance fee for non PTA/PTSA schools.

In closing, many thanks to the Lakewood Observer for stepping up to be our very first sponsor of this year’s Lakewood PTA Reflections Program. We hope our list will grow extensively to include a wide range of supporters from parents, to local artists to Lakewood Businesses all in support of promoting and encouraging our youth’s artistic abilities.

GUIDELINES TO FOLLOW WHEN YOUR CHILD IS ILL

The following are recommendations to follow regarding when to keep a sick child home from school.

A student must be free of vomiting, diarrhea and fever (temperature over 100°) for 24 hours before returning to school in order to prevent the spread of illness to others. If your child is ill in the morning before school, keep him/her at home until your child is symptom free for at least 24 hours.

A physician must evaluate a rash and if medication/ointment is ordered for a contagious condition, 24 hours of treatment must be complete beforereturning to school.

Strep throat, conjunctivitis (pink eye) and impetigo infections must be treated as prescribed by your physician for at least 24 hours before your child may return to school.

These guidelines are suggested for the good of all students. A child who returns to school before being completely well runs a greater risk of infecting others. Contracting an illness such as chicken pox, flu and strep could be serious and possibly life threatening to some students. We strive to keep children healthy and with your help school can be a healthy place.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your school nurse.

"You cannot educate a child who is not healthy, and you cannot keep a child healthy who is not educated." Jocelyn Elders