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Please Note! School Administration Offices moved to 146 Maple Street as of August 7, 2007.
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Please Note! THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS WILL BE JUNE 17TH
AND THAT THIS WILL BE A HALF DAY!


Recent Reports:
The Achievement Gap in the Lexington Public Schools (presentation; January 30, 2008)
The Achievement Gap in the Lexington Public Schools (report; January 30, 2008)
The Achievement Gap in the Lexington Public Schools (Executive Summary; January 30, 2008)
NEW FY 09 Town Meeting Handout: School Budget, March 19, 2008
NEW FY 09 School Budget, Report to Town Meeting March 19, 2008
NEWSchool's Financial Review Committee,Second Progress Report, March, 2008
NEWK-5 Diversity Curriculum

Other Links:
School Cancellations
Transportation Information
NEWFinancial Assistance Program Overview
NEWFinancial Assistance Application
School Lunch Program
Superintendent's Bulletin - May 2, 2008
2007-2008 District System Goals
LPS Redistricting Information
FY 08 Budget Documents
Upcoming School Committee Meetings

Message from the Superintendent of Schools, Paul Ash
"Our Schools: NEASC Accreditation Visit
April 25, 2008"

Michael P. Jones, Ph.D., Principal of Lexington High School and Robert Collins, Department Head of the Social Studies Department and Chair of the High School’s Accreditation Steering Committee

On Sunday, May 4, at 1:30 p.m., the High School will host the first event, a panel presentation open to the public, of a four-day visit from a team of educators representing the New England Association of Schools and Colleges in its ten-year accreditation review of Lexington High School.

We realize that few people beyond the High School understand this accreditation process, and fewer still what we'd like to explain.

Lexington High School is one of the 655 public secondary schools in New England that belong to NEASC. This organization acts as an accrediting agency. Through the NEASC staff, its research groups, and the membership itself, standards and measurements of excellence have been developed to serve as a blueprint for state-of-the art-education. Members must provide evidence that they are meeting these standards and that they have a plan to improve their schools when they fall short. The standards are organized into seven categories: Mission and Expectations, Community Resources, School Resources, Leadership and Organization, Instruction, Curriculum, and Assessment.

For the past two years, LHS has undergone a self study in which the entire faculty and administration, often with the direct participation of parents and students, produced a report to the NEASC evaluating the level of its own adherence to the standards. Now, between May 4 and May 7, the visiting team will examine that report and, in extensive interviews with teachers, administrators, school committee members, parents, and students; and through class visits, shadowing of students, and extensive document research, will create a report of its own that will be forwarded to the NEASC Commission on Public Secondary Education, which, in turn, will act on it at one of their meetings in the fall of 2008. The result will be a determination of the accreditation status of the High School.

The most important aspect of this process, however, is not in the action of the NEASC, but rather in the way that the process has served as a catalyst for the exciting changes that are taking place at the High School.

The High School spent the 2005 – 2006 school year developing a new Mission Statement and statements of academic, social, and civic expectations. Using a grant from the Lexington Education Foundation, we hired a consulting firm to help us develop a thorough and efficient process of soliciting input from parents, students, teachers, and community members, and then drafting and adopting these new documents.

Next, we began a process of organizing a more collaborative professional community and developing a system of measurements to determine how well we are meeting our own expectations. The idea of a "standards-based" educational system is not entirely new to Lexington High School, but the process of transforming the school from "islands of excellence" along with its impressive awards and statistics (SAT, MCAS, and advanced placement scores, National Merit commendations, etc.) to a school that focuses on the complex and varied needs of all students has occupied, and will continue to occupy, our attention. All this has been directly or indirectly a result of our NEASC initiatives.

The report on Lexington High School from the NEASC will be published next fall and will be available to the public. We think the results of our efforts will speak for themselves. LHS is committed to continual improvement in offering the best possible high school education for its students.

Paul B. Ash, Ph. D.
Superintendent of Schools

Click here to download the full text of this article.

Previous Messages from the Superintendent of Schools, Paul Ash - "Our Schools" Series