How many times have we heard this phrase?  It really did not hit home with me until our faculty/staff Christmas gathering.  My hospitality committee, under the genius idea of Mrs. Ledbetter, decided that it would be so neat to divide our staff into teams and partiipate in a scavenger hunt.  This hunt encouraged us to revisit different parts of the building in search of the next clue, reflect on a little nostalgia, and of course, find those coveted puzzle pieces!  The team to locate all of the pieces first had to put the puzzle together, which happened to be a picture of the new builidng. We then proceeded to the new building for our gathering.  It was at that point that it hit me that our time in the ""old" LES was quickly coming to a close.  It forced me to remember all of the years I have been at LES and the experiences we have had together as a family.  We have laughed, cried, loved, and yes, sometimes even disliked each other, but through it all, we have remained "LES Strong".  As we transition to the new building, I would like to pledge to you our continued committment to excellence.  Our first 51 years of existence have proven this, and we are dedicated to many more years of success in the future.  We thank you for helping to make us who we are and for your support.  Go, Counts!

Parents,

     We are off to a great school year!  Everyone has settled in, and we are quickly coming to the end of the first nine weeks. One thing the teachers at LES do is meet with every parent prior to the first report card coming home.  I ask that you make every effort to attend this conference as your teacher will be sharing test results, areas of concerns, and areas of celebration.  Remember, we are both members of your child's team.  Let's make this year count!

     Wow!  It was truly wonderful seeing so many of you at registration this week!  Many thanks for being so understanding as we altered your route onto our school property and into our building due to continued construction.  If you have not registered, please do so as soon as possible. Remember, if you are a returning student, you must go online and register  using your child's snapcode.  If you cannot find it, please call the school and we can send it to you via email.  Also, if you do not have access to the internet at home, we have laptops at school you can use.  Once you have registered online or if you need to use the laptops at school, I would suggest calling us and setting up a time to come in to complete the process (pay fees/show one proof of residence/apply for car rider or walker tags, etc. ) since access to our office has been limited and we must come and let you into the building. (Even in the summer, safetey remains a huge priority!)  If you are new to LES, please call our attendance clerk, Mrs. Allen Crim, at 438 - 8000 and she can tell you what needs to be done.  We need all families, returning and new, to complete registration as soon as possible as we cannot count your child as a student at LES until he/she has completed the registration process.  Right now, we have about 100 students who have not registered, which may cause the district to take teachers away from us.  We report on a daily basis our enrollment numbers by grade level, so please help us keep all of the wonderful teachers we have by registering your child(ren) and encouraging those you may know who will be new to our school to do the same.  In advance, thank you for your assistance in these matters!

I know that I say this every year, but it is still true.  It is hard to believe that we are a few mere weeks away from coming to the end of the 2017 - 2018 school year.  This has been a very busy year in which we celebrated our school's 50th anniversary and broke ground on the new LES, giving us the opportunity to pay homage to our past and look forward to the future.   With the new construction came a unique set of challenges such as the change in traffic flow,  limited parking and the rumblings and vibrations  from the construction site, but through it all, I would not trade any of it.  With progress sometimes comes pain, but when I tour the new school and see all of the wonderful things it will bring to our community, students, faculty, staff, and parentes, I have to smile and say that it has been well worth it.  I want to thank you all as well for your patience and understanding through this process.  Change is very, very difficult,  and being inconvenienced is just that - an inconvenience, but I thank YOU for accepting it all with grace and with the  mindset of being able to see what is to come.  What awaits us at the finish line is going to be well worth the inconviences and wait!