Back-to-School Letter From Dr. Davis-Leite

It is now August and we are getting close to that magical time called back-to-school! It’s personally my favorite time of the year! Many of you know me, but I would like to formally introduce myself. My name is Dr. Davis-Leite and I am very excited to be the new principal at Lakeview Elementary. I have worked at Lakeview for the past four years as the assistant principal and before that, I worked with Lakeview as a Portuguese DLI specialist for six years. Lakeview is my neighborhood school and the school that all three of my own children have attended. I LOVE LAKEVIEW! It really is my favorite place and I am thrilled to get to work with each child who attends here.

Emphasis on Reading – Becoming a “No Homework School”

One of my greatest passions is reading. I was an English teacher before moving into administration. My school-wide goal this year is to work with our amazing teachers to spark (or increase) a love of reading in EVERY child. The PTA and I have chosen a theme for this year, which is “Reading Makes Us Kind & Brave.” We will be having reading incentives and programs throughout the year, including a Principal’s Book Club, so watch for more information coming on that.

The pandemic has had a tremendous impact on all of us, but the greatest change we have noticed at school is a lack of excitement and engagement in students. I definitely understand why! It hasn’t been an easy few years for kids or adults! We all want to get students excited again as they come back to school. On the first day, we will have a red carpet in the morning followed by an assembly to talk to students about taking ownership of their own learning, being engaged, making mistakes, and focusing on growth. We will also talk about our reading programs for the year.

In an effort to prioritize what is most important, I have asked all Lakeview teachers to switch to making Lakeview a no-homework school. Extensive research by John Hattie has shown that homework in the elementary school has an effect of zero. What does make a HUGE difference for students is reading at home! So the only “homework” I want our students to have is to read at home every day. Kids are at school for a long time and they need a break in the evenings to play outside, be creative, eat dinner with their families, and get a good night’s sleep before coming back to school the next day. Please avoid asking for homework and support our teachers this year as they transition to making reading our only homework at Lakeview.

PTA

Our PTA president this year is Audrey Magdaleno. She is determined to make this the best year with more activities and events than we have had in the past. Historically, Lakeview has really struggled to have a large PTA. We can do more when more people get involved. If you would like to have your voice heard and get involved, please join the PTA and attend any meeting that you can!

Class Assignments

This Friday, August 5th, you will be able to enter into Powerschool and see your child’s teacher. As we have requested in the past, I would ask that you do not call or email wanting to switch classes. We do not make class changes unless there are extremely extenuating circumstances. Every teacher at Lakeview has so much to offer and we have carefully placed each child in a class using a lot of data and thought. We appreciate your support.

Back-to-School

Our Back-to-School night is on Monday, August 15th from 4:30 to 6:00 pm. The event is open house style, so you can come anytime and enter through the gym, using the door on the east side by the tennis courts. We will have important stations in the gym that we would like you to see before going to classrooms to meet teachers.

Classes start back on Tuesday, August 16th at 8:20 am. As I mentioned earlier, we will have a red carpet at the main entrance for students to walk in and be celebrated for the first day back-to-school. Parents and families are welcome to take their students to their classrooms that morning and drop them off. There will also be photo stations in the main hallway where you can take pictures. We hope it is a fun day for all of our students and families. Please note we will have early-out days at 1:10 pm for the first week of school (Aug 16-19) to allow for teachers to meet with parents.

Procedures

Morning Arrival

After the first day of school, students should always line up in the back of the school at 8:10 am. Teachers will pick up their classes around 8:15 and bring them through one of the three rear doors of the building, which will remain open for students arriving between 8:15 and 8:30 am. This is the same routine we have followed for the past two years. When it is raining or snowing, we will have every door in the front and back of the building open for students to enter through.

Breakfast

If students would like breakfast, they may enter the cafeteria through the west exterior doors between 7:45 and 8:05. The regular school schedule begins at 8:20 am and ends at 3:00 pm Monday-Thursday. Friday will be an early out day ending at 1:10.

New Security Measure – Building Access During the School Day

During the school day, all exterior school doors will remain locked and visitors will need to be buzzed in by our secretaries after communicating with them through the camera in the breezeway of the main entrance.

Kindergarten Testing and Class Assignments

There are some changes with kindergarten this year. We will have four sections of half-day kindergarten and one section of full-day kindergarten. Students will not be assigned to a class or teacher until all kindergarten testing is completed. Testing starts on August 16th and the first full day of kindergarten will be August 25th. Kindergarten parents: please watch for upcoming emails from me later this week.

Voluntary Donations

We are not allowed to charge a fee in elementary school for the regular day program. Each class or grade may ask for a donation to fund activities that are not covered by the regular school budget. We encourage you to be supportive of the donation request if possible. We emphasize that it is not required and your child will not be denied opportunities if a donation is not made but please know that it does help us. Even though we don’t charge fees, the state requires us to post fee waiver information. It can be found here: https://provo.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/6160-P1-School-Fees-and-Fee-Waivers-revised-1-7-2021.pdf.

For information on the free and reduced lunch program, please visit the district site here: https://provo.edu/child-nutrition/meal-applications/.

Social Media

Please use the school web page as a source of information: lakeview.provo.edu. The parent handbook is available there also. We would love to have you follow us on Facebook and Instagram. I will communicate with you throughout the year by email and social media and occasionally text message. I look forward to an outstanding year together! We can’t wait to see you all soon!

Dr. Davis-Leite