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Lovejoy Independent School District
Celebrating 100 Years of Excellence in Education
Centennial Logo Designed by Hudson Samuels, LHS Student
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A Message from the Superintendent
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As you know, our Seniors are required to complete a Senior Project. Our students propose a project in which they have a high level of interest, and then they have a series of requirements culminating in a juried presentation. On Monday night, I had the pleasure of witnessing one of our Senior Projects in progress. Senior Hannah Hansen planned and organized a Women's Concert with a focus on Breast Cancer. Our Fine Arts presentations in Lovejoy are typically awesome, but this particular event brought the concert to a new level by creating the "Music with a Message" genre. The event included all of the women's choirs at LHS (grades 9-12), plus an orchestra quintet, a dance ensemble, and various solos. The event was powerful and uplifting, and was directed toward an important cause. Hannah Hansen and her fine arts colleagues did a beautiful job of modeling the very reason we require a Senior Project of every graduating student.
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October 6th and 9th
As your students may have already shared with you, Friday, October 6th and Monday, October 9th are student holidays. The administration building will be open on Friday, October 6th, with all campuses being closed that day. The district will be closed on Monday, October 9th. As always, should a need arise for you to contact me, please feel free to reach out to me by text or phone call on my mobile number: 972.415.8129. Best wishes to you and your family for a safe and relaxing long weekend.
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College Admissions and GPA
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College Admission and the Role of GPA/Rank
Unequivocally, our goal is to implement the best system possible which will support our students in their quest for admittance to the college/university of his/her choosing. The idea of ranking or not ranking our graduates has been a discussion item for several years. Under Texas law, we are required to rank the Top 10%, but beyond that, it is a local district decision. We have done a thorough review of this issue at least twice in the past and have not found a compelling reason to drop the ranking policy beyond the Top 10%. Our college counselors have put together a panel of college/university admissions professionals to provide additional information for our community. Please plan to join us on October 30th from 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM in the LHS gym. Currently, we have commitments from staff at these institutions:
The University of Texas - Austin
The University of Texas - Dallas
The University of North Texas
Texas Tech University
Save the date for October 30th at 6:30 PM.
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Foundation for Lovejoy Schools
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Men's Tailgate Tournament: October 11
It is time for the men to sign up for the Men's Tailgate Tournament. Join us for food, beer, and a cornhole tournament. The tournament is double elimination, so everyone is guaranteed to play two games. The tournament will be held at the home of John and Kris Dunaway in Lucas. Sponsors for the event are Renfrow Dunaway Group, Lee Lewis, Nine Band Brewing, Tom Grisak Estate Homes Realtors, Estate Life Magazine - Lucas and Fairview, Chick-fil-A of Allen, and the Dunaway Family. For more information and to register for the event, click on the following link:
Men's Tailgate Registration
.
Wednesday, October 11
6:30 PM
120 McMillen, Lucas, Texas
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Foundation Named Collin County
Medium Nonprofit with Most Donors
Congratulations to the Foundation for Lovejoy Schools on their designation as the Collin County Medium Nonprofit with the Most Donors on North Texas Giving Day. The designation was awarded by the Communities Foundation of Texas, and was sponsored by Vector Systems. The Foundation earned $333 for this distinction.
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A Message from the
Deputy Superintendent
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Grading Calculation for Grades 5 - 12
 Dear Lovejoy Community:
It is hard to believe we are now in the month of October and in the seventh week of school. Last week, I shared information about how class rank and GPA calculation is done in Lovejoy. Given that we are nearing the end of the first grading period, I thought this would be a good opportunity to address how grades are calculated for grades 5-12.
Beginning with the fall semester of 2015, changes were implemented to the system our teachers in grades 5-12 use to calculate grades. Although it has been two years, questions will periodically surface from parents and/or students who would like to return to our prior system of grade calculation.
For several months during the spring of the 2014-15 school year, I facilitated a grading task force with teacher and administrator representatives from SCIS, WSMS and LHS. The goal of the task force was to ensure alignment of our grading practices, and to ensure our system was resulting in student grades which best reflected the level of student course content knowledge and learning. As you may know, prior to our change, we had a calculation system which equally weighted major grades (tests, major projects, etc.) as 50% of the grade, and all minor grades (daily homework, quizzes, etc.) as 50% of the grade. The grading task force discussed a few unintended consequences of our 50/50 grading system which included:
1. The grades earned by students are not always truly representative of the actual knowledge of the major concepts and standards in a course due to the weight of daily work on the average. By and large, students have very high daily work (minor grade) averages. However, these often consist of short homework assignments which are assessing small portions of the course standards and/or prerequisite skills. Also, given the proliferation of technology and the significant incentive to have a high minor grade average, there could be opportunities to get answers from another source and not truly understand the material.
2. Major grade assessments and assignments are more tightly aligned with the major course concepts and skills. When students perform poorly on these and then have their average "propped up" by a high daily work grade, there is the increased likelihood that students are passing classes, but moving to the higher course with major gaps in their knowledge. For example, a student could have a 100% minor grade average and a 60% test average, and receive an 80% or a "B" in the grading period without truly having a "B" level of course knowledge.
When considering the possibility of changing the weight or value of the major grades, the committee reviewed the averages for high school students from the first semester of the 2014-15 school year. The committee ran the percentages of first semester averages for students with different percentage values (for example, what if major grades were 80% of the average or 60% of the average, etc.). When the committee reviewed the data, it was evident that changing to a 70/30 system from a 50/50 system would have minimal impact (an increase or decrease of 0% to 6%). Students who experienced the greatest potential negative impact had both low minor and low major grade averages. An example of the minimal impact can be seen when calculating a student's grade on the prior system and the new system. Under the old system, if a student had an 80% major grade average and a 90% minor grade average, they would have a six weeks average of 85%. With the new system, if a student has an 80% major grade average and a 90% minor grade average their first quarter average would be 83%. This 2% difference was considered minimal, knowing students would have opportunities to increase their learning and increase their average with improved performance on the major grade assessments, or on assignments through our re-teaching and re-testing mastery learning practices.
As we come to the end of the first grading period, I thought it would be timely to explain the rationale behind greater emphasis being placed on major grades which come from more significant assignments or assessments (tests, major projects, etc.).
Again, the mission of the grading task force was to ensure grades reflect the level of learning.
We hope you continue to love where you learn. If you have feedback to help us improve, please do not hesitate to contact me on my cell at 214.385.1967.
Respectfully,
Dennis Muizers
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Lovejoy Cross Country
The Lovejoy Cross Country team competed in the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I
n the open 10k, the boys team had a very strong tempo which will go a long way in shoring up their aerobic bank account from which they will be making substantial withdrawals later in the season. In the open 5k, the remainder of the girls team stepped up and set some impressive personal records. The Lady Leopards ran the open divisions, allowing them the opportunity to get out and run, and not have to contend with the 100s of runners in the race or hotter race temperatures later in the day. The Leopards are well poised for a championship season.
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The Lovejoy Leopard Varsity Football team lost last Friday night at Hanby Stadium in Mesquite against the West Mesquite Wranglers, 30-10.
This week is an open week for the Leopards. The next home 15-5A contest is Friday, October 13th, against the Forney Jackrabbits. This is the 2017 Homecoming game with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 PM. Tickets are available for purchase at the High School store until Friday, October 13th at noon. Pre-game admission for general reserve seating is $6 for adults and $3 for students (K-12). Tickets purchased at the gate on home varsity football nights are $8.00 for both adults and students.
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Lovejoy Golf
Allie Bianchi won her first tournament of the year shooting a four over. She played in the FMHS Tour 18 Fall Classic, taking the first place medal with a round of 76.
The varsity boys took on Tanglewood Resort and Golf Club, Monday, October 2nd, in the Denison High School Stinger Classic. This was the first tournament of the year for the team, which brought home the win with a team score of 332. The varsity boys play in Texarkana October 13th and 14th.
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Lovejoy Tennis
The Lovejoy Tennis Team defeated the North Forney Falcons 19-0 this past Tuesday, September 26th. The win brings the District 15-5A record to 4-1. The Leopard Tennis Team was scheduled to play Mesquite Poteet on Tuesday. The event was rained out and is rescheduled for Thursday, October 4th. We hope to see you there supporting our Leopard Tennis program.
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 Lovejoy Volleyball
The Lady Leopards continued their winning track by defeating the West Mesquite Lady Wranglers 3-0 and Mesquite Poteet Lady Pirates 3-0. These wins place the Leopards at 8-0 in 15-5A competition. The Lady Leopards are back home on Friday, October 6th, versus the North Forney Lady Falcons at 5:30 PM in the Lovejoy High School Gym.
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Lovejoy Band
The Lovejoy High School Band competed at the Mansfield Preview of Champions Marching Contest this past weekend. The contest is a prelims/finals format, and the LHS Band placed in the top 10 out of almost 30 groups from the entire DFW area. The band was selected to perform in the finals that evening. They stepped it up a notch in the finals competition and moved to 8th place - above 2 6A sized schools. Congratulations to the students and directors for a great performance.
You may
click here
to view the entire show including the Pre-Show, which is not seen during football game half time performances. The band's next competition will be held at Wylie Stadium on Saturday, October 14th, at 12:45 PM.
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Leopards in the News
This section of Email Express highlights news reports/articles featuring Lovejoy over the previous week.
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Homecoming Mums
The Lovejoy Majestics will be selling mums in the high school commons area during A, B and C lunch from Monday, September 25th, through Thursday, October 12th, between 11:25 AM and 1:00 PM; and in the evenings, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at the high school between 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM from Tuesday, September 26th, through Thursday, October 12th.
Majestic Mums are a great Lovejoy tradition, with all profits supporting the Majestics Dance Team. A dazzling array of mums and garters
will be offered to suit any taste and budget. Unique custom designs are available
for mums and garters, with numerous decorative ribbons, bling, and sports-specific trinkets, from football, basketball, baseball, band, theater, choir, fishing, wrestling, and so much more. Come by the LHS Commons Area to see the offerings. The Majestics thank you for your support.
New This Year: Name loops, braids and bases for purchase to help you make your own.
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Evening with the Majestics: October 13
The annual Evening with the Majestics will be Friday, October 13th. All Lovejoy ISD students in grades K-6 are invited to join the Majestics as we celebrate Homecoming. "Mini Majestics" (grades K-4) and "Majestics in Training" (grades 5-6) will perform the pre-game Fight Song in the Victory Lines on the field, and will then sit with the Majestics and participate in "stand routines" in the bleachers.
Click here
for additional information.
Click here
to complete the registration form and to be a part of the Homecoming tradition.
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PTA Reflections: Within Reach
 The National PTA Reflections program encourages students of all ages and abilities to explore and be involved in the arts. Through the program, National PTA, Lovejoy Local and Council PTAs, and PTAs across the country urge students in preschool through grade 12 to create and submit original works. This year's contest theme is "Within Reach". We hope all Leopards will submit an entry in one or more of the following categories: Dance Choreography, Literature, Film Production, Photography, Visual Arts, and Music Composition - reflecting on the specific theme.
There is a special artist division option for students with disabilities to ensure all students have the opportunity to participate in the program. Students are recognized each year for their artistic ingenuity to bring the theme to life in a way which is personal and meaningful. For rules and entry forms,
click here
. The deadline is Friday, October 27th.
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Eagle Project: Hurricane Harvey Relief
A Message from Hunter Kight
 "My name is Hunter Kight, I am an 8th grader at Willow Springs, and I've just started my eagle project. I have chosen to help the Hurricane Harvey victims for my project. Many of the victims did not have flood insurance, and this looks to be the most costly natural disaster in U.S. history. The clean-up and rebuild effort will take more than a year. There is a time during disasters like this that charities experience donor fatigue. This is where donations drop to their lowest. Through my project, I am trying to reduce donor fatigue by collecting basic essential items. I have partnered with the Salvation Army to collect supplies like canned goods, baby food/formula, hygiene items, diapers, and cases of water. Large donation boxes are located at each school to collect these items. I will leave these boxes out until November 3, 2017. Please consider supporting this effort by filling the boxes and helping the victims."
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Lovejoy ISD Pre-Kindergarten
Space Available
Our district has offered a Pre-K program as a part of our employee daycare program for the past 11 years. On the suggestion of parents, we decided to expand that program and offer a tuition-based program open to our community. We currently have two Pre-K classrooms open at Puster Elementary. This program offers enhancements in music, fitness, art, library, science, technology, engineering, and math. We are enthusiastic about providing a Lovejoy education for community members looking for a rich learning experience which will provide a firm foundation for kindergarten and beyond. The first week of school we received an email from a parent with a child in the program and this is what she said:
"My daughter loves her new school and runs to get dressed every morning (used to throw a fit). Her teachers are great."
If you are interested in applying, please
click here
. To schedule a tour of the Pre-Kindergarten program, please contact
Stacey Dillon
at 469.742.8003.
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The Lovejoy Running Club
The Lovejoy Running Club will be meeting every Tuesday and Thursday evening at 6:00 PM near the Duck Pond at Celebration Park. All ages and ability levels are welcome to attend, from novice walkers looking to shed a few pounds, to elite runners gearing up for the next race. If you have questions regarding the running program, you may contact:
greg_christensen@lovejoyisd.net
. P.S. Dogs are welcome.
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 ASA Winter Basketball Registration Now Open
Registration for ASA Winter Basketball is now open for grades K - 12.
Click here
for additional information.
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Health Science Educator
Are you a licensed nurse? Have you ever considered helping develop the next generation of healthcare providers? Come work as a Health Science Educator in Lovejoy ISD and help make a difference in our growing program. We are seeking a dedicated individual with the following qualifications:
- Licensed nurse
- Minimum of two years of nursing experience in a facility
- Experience teaching students or supervising nurse aides
- High interest in teaching high school age students
- Strong communication skills
Interested candidates may
click here
to apply. Please contact Stephani Kranz at 469.742.8033
with questions.
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Bus Drivers
Lovejoy ISD is currently accepting applications for full-time and part-time school bus drivers.
Click here
for additional information.
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Lovejoy High School Parent Tech Session: Tonight
Google Boot Camp - Calendar and Classroom
Would you like to access course calendars to see due dates and other information? Do you have questions about Classroom or Guardian Email Summaries? Bring your dinner and join us for a Parent Tech session tonight at 6:30 PM in the Lovejoy High School Library. We will take a look at where you can find course calendars and subscribe to them, how your teen turns in work on Google Classroom, and what is included in the Guardian Email Summary. There will be a Question/Answer session at the end. We hope to see you there.
Tonight, October 4, 2017
Lovejoy High School Library (2nd Floor)
6:30 PM - Bring Your Own Dinner and Learn
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 Lovejoy Leopards, Inc. 9th Annual Golf Tournament: October 6
Lovejoy Leopards, Inc. will host their 9th Annual Golf Tournament this Friday, October 6th, at Twin Creeks Golf Club in Allen. Registration will begin at 7:30 AM, with a Shotgun Start at 8:30 AM.
Click here
for the registration form and for additional information.
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WSMS Madagascar Live!: October 21
The Willow Springs Middle School cast and crew of Madagascar Live! invite you to attend:
Madagascar Live!
Family Fun Night
Saturday, October 21st
6:00 PM
WSMS Courtyard and Cafeteria
Join the characters of Madagascar Live! for this family fun night. Sing the songs, play some games, and eat treats. Enjoy a mini carnival-like atmosphere. The night will conclude with an outdoor movie watching party of Madagascar (weather permitting). Bring a blanket and enjoy this great evening with the cast of Madagascar Live!. This is a great event for children and families in support of the middle school musical theatre program. Tickets will be $20 per person. Tickets can be purchased at
this link
.
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Friends of Fairview Firefighters Association/ Community Pancake Breakfast: October 21
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Lovejoy High School Student Council
Pink Out Football Game: October 27
Every year, Lovejoy Student Council makes a donation to help beat breast cancer. The LHS Student Council members invite you to purchase Pink Out t-shirts to raise money and spread awareness for the cause. The t-shirts are $16 and may be purchased through the
Online Payment Center
.
This year's fundraiser will benefit a local non-profit organization. Check out
www.breastcancercanstickit.org
, and the organization April Samuels has built to help fight breast cancer. Her story is amazing and her family lives in the Lovejoy district. Orders will be delivered to campuses October 25th and 26th.
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Mini Madagascar Live! VIP Party: November 2
Are you a VIP? Join us for a Mini Madagascar Live! VIP Party on Thursday, November 2nd, at 6:15 PM. November 2nd is opening night of the Willow Springs Middle School musical, Madagascar Live!. The animals are escaping from the Central Park Zoo, and you are invited to experience it firsthand. If you like to Move It, Move It, we hope to see you at this exclusive engagement to meet the zoo animals, and experience a Crack a Lackin good time.
This experience includes a special pre-show backstage tour with a Madagascar Live! character, signed show poster, t-shirt, 1 adult ticket and 1 child/student ticket, a goody bag and special reserved seating. Tickets are $50 and are available at
this link
. Tickets to this special event are limited to the first 50 students. Tickets are available
only online
.
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If you would like to provide us with accomplishments of a Lovejoy graduate, please click here. We will share this information in the "Where Are They Now?" section of Email Express. It is a pleasure to report the successes of Lovejoy graduates during their college years and beyond.
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Lovejoy ISD App
The Lovejoy ISD App is available for download on both Apple and Android devices. To download the app for Apple devices, please
click here
. To download the app for Android devices, please
click here
.
Twitter and Facebook
Are
you following the district on
Twitter
? Have you liked us on
Facebook
? Join us on social media for news and announcements.
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As always, please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns.
With Respect,
Ted Moore
Superintendent
Lovejoy ISD
972.415.8129 (mobile)
469.742.8011 (office)
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