9/12/25 Board Blast

The Board of Directors would like to share the following highlights from our last meeting:

Staff Back to School Retreat and Planning: Prior to the return to school our leadership and academic staff participated in a day-long professional development training focused on positively impacting culture and high-quality execution with the goal of kickstarting  another successful year. A few days later the teams reconvened and broke up into smaller groups to brainstorm and collaborate on more specific topics such as student experience and core values assemblies. The desire to continually make LA a high-quality learning environment is obvious, and we look forward to seeing the implementation of these thoughtful plans.

Summer Highlights: A tremendous amount of work went into preparing for the new year. Over the summer, our facilities team spent countless hours deep cleaning and improving our buildings and campus.  Our business office continued to manage expenses and analyze budgets to ensure financial stability, and the tech team made numerous improvements including upgrading the entire phone system and replacing a slew of devices across the buildings. Hats off to these teams who dedicated precious summer hours to ensuring Lincoln success.

Grant Award: Lincoln Academy was awarded a $105k grant! These funds can only be used toward bond principal and interest, but this frees up resources for other projects and ongoing needs. Ms. Lori Woods led this effort and it was only made possible by her patience and determination. This is a new, federally-funded grant that required significant coordination with the grant team to ensure eligibility and compliance. Huge thanks to Ms. Woods and the business team for sticking with it.

Update on the 72nd Project: The City of Arvada recently received design approval from the Union Pacific Railroad and the Railroad Commission to move forward with the long-planned underpass project at 72nd Avenue. Current projections indicate that construction will begin on April 30, 2026. The administration will continue to partner closely with the city to advocate for Lincoln and keep families informed about the project’s progress and any potential impacts, including traffic closures.

-The LA Board: Katie Lehr, Rob McCready, Lori Pantano, Kyle Pethe, Ashley Reynolds, Matt Tien