.jpg)
LAUREL – With just a few weeks remaining in this school year, Laurel-Concord- Coleridge’s administration and school board are making plans for the fall term.
With input from Superintendent Jeremy Christiansen and its three principals, the board made decisions that will impact the school calendar as well as staffing contracts for the 2025-26 year at its last meeting.
The board approved the 2025-26 school calendar which will include consistent early dismissals on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. This recommendation by Christiansen was based on feedback from students, faculty and families.
This year, early dismissals were at 1:10 p.m. every other Wednesday.
“This will better serve our students’ academic support needs, our teachers’ professional learning, as well as parents’ interest in a consistent schedule,” Christiansen said of the change.
The school calendar also reflects time set aside for parent-teacher conferences, although the format may change, at least for upper grades.
Faculty groups are collaborating to plan and prepare recommendations due to low attendance especially at the secondary level, Christiansen said.
Initial thoughts are to implement student-led conferences during the first semester, he said.
Then, during the second semester, secondary conference time will be dedicated to course registration involving both students and families.
“We intend to seek parental and student input as we look for alternative models of sharing and discussing student progress and learning needs with families,” Christiansen said.
Along with approving the school calendar, the board made a number of approvals for teacher contracts or reassignments for the upcoming school year.
Sarah Beckwith will be the new school counselor for all grades starting in the fall but won’t be new to LCC as she currently teaches 9-12 English Language Arts. She’s also a Laurel native and an LCC parent.
“Sarah brings over a decade of experience in secondary education and has consistently demonstrated a deep commitment to student growth, well-being and postsecondary readiness,” Christiansen said.
Beckwith is currently finishing her master’s degree in school counseling at Wayne State College.
Administrators held interviews earlier this month to fill Beckwith’s teaching role and also for an open position for 6-8 English Language Arts.
That position was held by Jennifer Van Meter who was hired to step into the role of LCC’s new high school principal this fall.
“The teacher shortage in Nebraska is a concerning and continuing issue,” Christiansen said. “While we had limited numbers of applicants, we found that the candidates themselves were of high quality.”
He anticipates offering contracts to fill the open English teaching positions later this month.
Jessica Recob will be joining LCC as a new halftime preschool teacher in the fall.
Projected preschool enrollment in the fall is 48 students which will allow for the continuation of a third section of half-day preschool for those ages 3-5, Christiansen said.
One factor for LCC’s strong preschool enrollment is the new Building Blocks daycare, he said.
“This is another example of how enrollment trends can and do fluctuate based on local child census numbers,” he said. “However, leading into this next year, we have accepted applications for at least a few families who have indicated that they are new and moving into our school community due to the new available and accessibility of childcare.”
Melissa Campbell was reassigned to teach kindergarten this fall which left the vacancy filled by Recob.
While the district has had much success in finding suitable candidates to hire to fill vacancies, one position may be contracted to an area Educational Service Unit.
A job posting for the district technology coordinator position has not yielded qualified candidates for the position and so Christiansen is seeking information about possibly contracting technology support with ESU 1.
Marcus Messersmith previously held the position but is leaving the school district at the end of this academic year.
The next school board meeting will be 7 p.m., Monday, May 12, at the LCC Middle School in Coleridge.
