It is with heartfelt joy and gratitude that we thank Dave Rueter and Lynne Rose for their faithful and dedicated commitment to excellence in ministry in the PSD for the past decade! Dave has accepted a call to serve at Our Savior, Livermore, CA (CNH District), and Lynne is retiring after serving 14 years as the PSD Early Childhood Consultant. Both conclude their ministry in the PSD this week. God grant Lynne and Dave a wonderful new adventure in the next season of their lives! We will keep them in our prayers!

 

Their departures leave a void, but we know that the Lord will fill the void when we are able to call a full time Associate Education Executive and a part-time DCE Liaison within the next few months.

**Those who have registered for the Administrators Leadership Conference will be sent a link to all of the sessions on Tuesday morning, July 7, at 8:00 a.m. Make sure that you save this important information!**

There is still time to register! The cost is just $53 per person. Please click here to be directed to the information and registration page on our website. Register today!

The PSD Administrators Leadership Conference is taking place next Wednesday-Friday, July 8-10. We are excited to welcome Dr. Ryan Bredow and Dr. Jack Preus to speak with us on "Mission-Driven Leadership in Challenging Times" (as selected by the Early Childhood leaders) & " Building More Robust Online Academic Systems and Processes" (as selected by the K12 leaders).

We will also welcome Michael Blacher and Ron van Blarcom to speak with us on the legal issues surrounding the reopening of our schools. In addition, we are very excited to launch a new Rigor and Relevance framework initiative through a discussion with Dr. Bill Daggett, the Founding Partner and Chairman for ICLE (International Center in Leadership and Education).

Don't miss this great leadership opportunity!

Here is the 2019-2020 PSD School Statistical Information . Thank you for submitting your Stats @ a Glance!

LCMS School Ministry also just came out with the 2019-2020 National Lutheran Schools Statistics Report . In addition, you can view the 2020 School Statistical Analysis Report as well as past statistical information on the LuthEd website statistics page . This information is important and interesting.

Please note that the response rate for the LCMS statistics was 85% nationally, but our PSD response rate was again 100%! Thank you! We are proud of and grateful for all of the schools we have in the PSD!

Crean Lutheran High School in Irvine, CA, was one of seven LCMS schools named an NLSA Powerful Practice School for 2019-2020. In addition, several of our schools were recognized as having enrollment in the top 10 nationally in different categories:

Largest LCMS Schools in the United States

1. Faith Lutheran Middle School & High School, Las Vegas, NV (1,945)

2. Lutheran High School of Orange County, Orange, CA (1,351)

3. Crean Lutheran High School, Irvine, CA (854)

6. St. John's Lutheran School and Preschool, Orange, CA (791)

Early Childhood Centers with Enrollment Over 300

2. Trinity Lutheran Preschool, Litchfield Park, AZ (357)

Elementary Schools with Enrollment Over 500

1. Faith Lutheran Middle School, Las Vegas, NV (769)

2. St. John's Lutheran School, Orange, CA (650)   

High Schools with Enrollment Over 500

1. Lutheran High School of Orange County, Orange, CA (1,351)

2. Faith Lutheran High School, Las Vegas, NV (1,176)

3. Crean Lutheran High School, Irvine, CA (854)

The July devotion is now up on our website. It is written by Elinor Courvoisier, emeritus educator from Christ, Costa Mesa, CA, and titled What's Behind Your Mask? Click here to read it! Thank you, Elinor, for reminding us that it is through times of struggle and turmoil that our faith has the opportunity to grow even stronger as we trust Jesus more fully.

Thank you to all the generous supporters of Hearts for Jesus this year. Contributions have reached $21,637.18 , which will provide funds for 901 students to attend Children’s Bible Clubs, sponsored by Mission India, where children will hear the message of God’s love for them, and learn of Jesus as their Savior. 

 

As the Hearts for Jesus mission project for this school year is coming to a close, please send your contribution for Hearts for Jesus to the district office by July 31. At that time, we will send our 2019-2020 Hearts for Jesus offering to Mission India. Funds received after July 31 will be applied to the Hearts for Jesus project for next year.

Click here to read a great daily devotion from LHM titled "The Courage of Jehoshaphat."

From the Council for American Private Education (CAPE):

Update: US Supreme Court Issues Historic Ruling for Religious Schools

June 30, 2020

 

Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue

  

In 2018, the Montana Supreme Court became the first state supreme court in the country to strike down a tax credit scholarship program. It did so on the grounds of Montana's Blaine Amendment, ruling that because some families receiving scholarships would send their children to religious schools, the entire program needed to be scrapped.

 

Today, the United States Supreme Court overturned that decision, ruling 5-4 that "A State need not subsidize private education. But once a State decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious."

 

During oral arguments, Justice Kavanaugh, who sided with the majority, referred to an  amicus brief  signed by CAPE which argued that states should not be able to single out religious schools for adverse treatment. Today, in a historic decision with important implications for private education, the Court agreed.

July 7–8

Best Practices for Teaching Fractions

For grades 3rd-6th

Zoom sessions: 8:30-11:00 a.m. and 12:30-2:00 p.m. ( 2-day event)

July 13–14

Best Practices for Teaching Integers & Operations with Rational Numbers

For grades 6th-9th

Zoom sessions: 8:30-11:00 a.m. and 12:30-2:00 p.m. (2-day event)

July 20–21

Best Practices for Teaching Proportional Relationships & Linear Functions

For grades 6th-9th

Zoom sessions: 8:30-11:00 a.m. and 12:30-2:00 p.m. ( 2-day event)

Space is limited and registration is required. Questions? Please contact Karajean Hyde , co-director of the UC Irvine Math Project.

The July TLC Grant application window is open.  The TLC Grant is an educational grant on behalf of the Trinity Lutheran Church Educational Endowment Fund (Reseda, CA). This grant has been established as a gift to the Church for the continuation of excellent Lutheran education in the Pacific Southwest District. This is a competitive grant based on the strength of the application and is open to all schools, K-12. More information on the purpose of the grant money is in the grant application packet. Since the inception of this grant in January 2016, $227,942 has been granted to 44 different schools in the district. I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to enhance the education you share with your students.

 

Please click here to be directed to the application form.  The deadline to submit your application is July 31 . Recipients will be notified in mid-August.

From TEC21:

TEC21 HAS EXTENDED REGISTRATION! The experience of rolling out emergency remote learning plans this spring reminded TEC21 facilitators of two very important things very quickly.

1. Our teachers need to be competent and confident in using technology to enrich their instruction.

2. Our teachers need a network of others to learn and grow from that is outside of their own buildings.

TEC21 employs some of the brightest minds in Lutheran Education to help prepare teachers for whatever is thrown their way. Last month, the TEC21 Facilitators Academy produced some of the best curriculum and learning activities to date, so don’t miss the opportunity to enroll your teachers. Consider teachers on your staff who you think could benefit from additional training.

 

Register your teachers here:  http://tec21connect.com/registration/ ! Many schools use Title money to pay for some or all of the registration fee. Click here to download a cover letter and a non-religious description of the program to submit to your Title officer: https://tec21connect.com/registration/title-ii-funds/ .    

                     

Click here to download the TEC21 flyer.

Chapel Talks and the National Lutheran Schools Week materials for the 2020-2021 school year are ready to go! Download them today on LuthEd !

The Early Childhood Cabinet is pleased to provide two newly updated and reformatted ECE resources for our EC community. The PSD Guiding Principles for Early Childhood Ministry is designed to assist church leaders as well as early childhood directors and staff in understanding the mission of our EC centers. The document includes position statements addressing philosophy, faith development, professional growth, developmentally appropriate practice and ethics. The PSD Early Childhood Curriculum Guide is now in a PowerPoint format and includes the foundational components of EC curriculum. Each of the curricular areas are addressed – spiritual, social-emotional, language and literacy, math, science, social studies and the arts – based on industry-wide best practices. These resources can be accessed on our School Ministries website – www.psd-schools.org .  If you would like to use the PowerPoint as a presentation for your staff, please contact Kim Violette at [email protected] and she can send it to you.

Each week, prayers of thanksgiving and prayers for teachers, administrators, support staff, pastors, students, and families of the Lutheran schools, early childhood centers, and churches of the Pacific Southwest District are listed. To include names on the list, please send information to [email protected] by noon on Wednesday of each week. This week we pray for: