Message from Mike: November 13, 2020

Message from Mike

November 13, 2020

In this week's edition:

Recognitions
World Kindness Day and Social Media
Transportation Update
Upcoming Holidays and Q3 Selections
COVID Case Notification Board
Community News
Upcoming Events

Dear Wonderful Lovejoy Community,

We are thrilled to share that Lovejoy ISD has been named # 15 in the Top 100 Places to Work by The Dallas Morning News! While our community has known all along that Lovejoy is a place unlike no other, we are excited to have the efforts of our Lovejoy ISD teachers, staff, parents and students recognized throughout DFW.

Over 240 companies and more than 60,504 employee surveys in the DFW area were analyzed to determine the top workplace winners!

While I was honored and thankful to represent the district in being named the top CEO in the large employee category, leadership is not a journey you can successfully navigate on your own. I am especially thankful for our Leopard teammates and our incredible students, parents and community that this award represents.

Recognitions

We are so excited to share the results of the 2020 All Region Band Contest. The following twenty Willow Springs Band members won spots in the All Region Band!

Jennifer Atkinson, Flute, 11th chair

Caleb Born, Clarinet, 5th chair

Christian Cazares, Clarinet, 17th chair

Emily Dillon, Clarinet, 9th chair

Liam Dunleavy, Trombone, 1st chair

Jack Kuhn, Trombone, 7th chair

Ethan Le, Percussion, 6th chair

Sofia, Li, Flute, 7th chair

Cooper Moore, Trombone, 6th chair

Joe O'Brien, Trumpet, 1st chair

Paari Palani, Horn, 8th chair

Adrian Phan, Tenor Saxophone, 1st chair

Max Ratleff, Percussion, 10th chair

Robert Schnurr, Tuba, 5th chair

Gabe Sophia, Horn, 7th chair

Xander Van Rijn, Alto Saxophone, 8th chair

Joshua Varughese, Bass Clarinet, 3rd chair

Aaron Wimbish, Trumpet, 1st chair

Addison Wood, Bass Clarinet, 6th chair

Kevin Zhang, Flute, 1st chair

The following students won FIRST CHAIR positions in All Region!

Kevin Zhang, Flute

Adrian Phan, Tenor Saxophone

Joe O'Brien, Trumpet

Aaron Wimbish, Trumpet (There were two trumpet rooms and we had the first chair in both rooms!)

Liam Dunleavy, Trombone

Though Willow Springs was one of the smaller schools entered in the contest, only one other school had more students make All Region Band than we did! We had more first chair positions than any other school!

Please join us in congratulating these students on this outstanding achievement!

Signing Day

Congratulations to eight phenomenal athletes and incredible students who are living out the Graduate Profile each and every day on and off the court, field and course.

These athletes comprise the 2nd largest signing class in Lovejoy High School history!

Aurea Carlisle - Southern Arkansas University Golf

Elizabeth Breiner - Rockhurst University Lacrosse

Cecily Bramschreiber - TCU Volleyball

Lexi Collins - Wyoming Volleyball

Brynn Egger - University of Central Oklahoma Volleyball

Kylee Fitzsimmons - Arizona Beach Volleyball

Callie Kemohah - Oklahoma University Volleyball

Grace McLaughlin - Houston Baptist Volleyball

Regional Champs and State Bound!

Congratulations to our Region II Cross Country Boys and Girls who are heading for that State Title in a few weeks! We are #LovejoyProud of your hardwork and dedication!

Congratulations Willow Springs TV News

Congratulations to our Willow Springs TV News on being named a finalist for the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) Broadcast Pacemaker Award! Willow Springs was announced as a Top 15 Finalist out of 50 very competitive entries! Click here to learn more! Winners will be announced on Saturday, November 21st.

Senior Pep Rally

Thank you to our outstanding Athletes, Cheerleaders, Majestics, Band, Choir, Guard and Fine Arts Team for making the Senior Pep Rally so special! What a great night to honor the Class of 2021!

Have great news to share about a Lovejoy ISD student(s), alumni, student group or staff member? Click here to submit information for future publication.

World Kindness Day & Social Media

Today is World Kindness Day and what a great day to remind us all about the power and impact of our words! We are fortunate to live in an amazing community dedicated to propelling each person to personal excellence through the Graduate Profile and our collective community Core Values!

Over the past few weeks, we have received reports regarding social media accounts that not only reference the Lovejoy name, but also contain logos and/or graphics associated with the district. We want to let our community know that these accounts are in no way associated officially with Lovejoy ISD nor reflective of our Core Values or Graduate Profile and we appreciate the members of our Lovejoy Family who bring these sites to our attention so that we may investigate.

Today, we sent a video message to our secondary Leopards reminding them that today is a good day to reflect on their social media accounts. We ask that they be mindful of the fact that their social media account is THEIR brand, and asked what they want to be known for today and in the future!

We continue to remain committed to providing our students with additional information around social media awareness, etc and offering our parents necessary resources and information on social media trends.

I hope you will join me today as we fully embrace world kindness day and help

spread LOVE and JOY not only in our actions but through our words as we show our entire community and beyond that, it is always a great day to be a Leopard!

Transportation Update

For the past several weeks, the Transportation Department has been working steadily to add additional routes to service our Lovejoy families. On November 2nd, the Transportation Department successfully implemented a new route for the Lovejoy Elementary attendance zone and projected additional routes for Puster and Hart zones would begin the week of November 16th.

Unfortunately, due to recent COVID related quarantines within the department, Lovejoy ISD does not have the adequate number of certified bus drivers to implement the new Puster and Hart Elementary attendance zone routes during the week of November 16th. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause for our families.

We will start the new routes, servicing both the Puster and Hart Elementary zones beginning the week of November 30th. We also want to remind all of our families that the addition of these two routes will have a domino effect on all of our current riders' pick-up/drop-off times and route numbers.

On Thursday, November 19th, the Transportation Department will be releasing new routing information for all families, with the planned implementation effective November 30th. Once this information is released online, families will need to visit the Bus Routes website to view updated information. Additional communication will be sent directly to routed families when the information has been released online and is accessible.

For any additional questions, please contact the Transportation Department at transportation@lovejoyisd.net or (469) 742-8009.

Upcoming Holidays and Q3 Selections

Help Us Keep our Leopards Healthy

In recent days, we have had a lot of questions about Lovejoy ISD's plans for instruction after the Thanksgiving Holidays. While LISD continues to plan for multiple scenarios, there are NO current plans to go virtual ONLY after the holidays.

While most of the COVID cases we are seeing in the district are occurring outside the school day, we are hopeful that with our community's help and vigilance, we are able to keep our Leopards healthy and safe during the break and keep our case count under the 10% campus closure threshold!