Translations: Arabic | Karen | Spanish | Vietnamese
Lincoln Public Schools Families,
While COVID-19 remains prevalent, we have more resources to reduce the severity and risk of spread. These include vaccines and boosters and understanding more about the transmission of COVID-19. This year’s Safe Return to School Plan considers these factors as we prepare for the upcoming school year. Please read the plan carefully as there are a number of changes. In addition, we will continue to work collaboratively with the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department to address any change in community conditions or outbreaks.
We are also including other important information and reminders as we approach the first day of school. To help keep you informed, we will continue with monthly update emails on the last Friday of each month throughout the school year. This is a change from last year’s weekly emails. We will communicate with you immediately if anything should change.
The complete updated Safe Return to School Plan can be found on our website: lps.org/safereturn. Highlights and changes in the plan include:
Face coverings remain OPTIONAL for everyone inside all LPS buildings and on all LPS buses. Individuals may wear a face covering based on their personal preference, and informed by their vaccination status and personal level of risk. Anyone who wants to wear a face covering while in our schools is welcomed to do so.
LPS may adjust face covering protocols as necessary after consultation with the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department (LLCHD). During the school year, face covering requirements may change for a specific school building, program, classroom or setting based on the number of positive cases, outbreaks, community conditions or risk of spread. We are taking a targeted approach to best address conditions and outbreaks.
Students and visitors entering any LPS facility are expected to conduct a self-screening for COVID-19 symptoms every day prior to arriving.
Every day ask yourself or your student the following screening questions prior to entering an LPS building:
Do you have any of the following symptoms?
If you answered YES, do not go into an LPS building. Instead:
Get tested for COVID-19
Students who test positive for COVID-19
Students who test positive for COVID-19 should notify the school health office as soon as possible and follow directions provided.
Lincoln Public Schools will continue to follow policies and protocols around illnesses as found on page 13 in the Important Information Handbook. In addition, LPS established the following requirements in consultation with and at the direction of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department.
Exclusion from an LPS building for illness
Following LPS policies around illnesses, if an individual has any symptoms the following is required before they can return:
Isolation and Quarantine
Each case is unique and needs to be addressed individually. This chart provides general guidelines around isolation.
Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 are expected to stay home for 5 days from the date obvious symptoms appeared (fever, cough, sore throat, muscle pain, diarrhea, loss of taste or smell) or the date the COVID-19 test was taken. Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 can return on day six if they have been fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and have symptom improvement. Individuals shall wear a face covering for an additional 5 days when they return.
Individuals who are exposed to COVID-19 through a close contact are expected to wear a face covering for 10 days after the close contact and should seek testing 5 days after the exposure. A close contact is someone who was less than 6 feet away from an individual who tests positive for COVID-19 for a cumulative of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period.
Starting August 15, anyone interested will be able to view the weekly total of positive COVID-19 cases identified in each building and across Lincoln Public Schools with the COVID-19 dashboard provided online. The information will be updated daily. We will no longer send out daily emails to staff and families about positive COVID-19 cases in buildings.
If you haven’t already, please verify your child’s information online through the parent portal, ParentVUE. This includes updating contact and emergency information, signing consent release forms, etc. We would appreciate you completing/updating the information before the first day of school. Note: this process is to be completed each year.
Please visit https://synergyvue.lps.org/ to access and log in to your ParentVUE account. Once you have logged in, select the Online Registration button in the upper right corner, and follow the prompts to update and verify your information. It is important that you complete this task as soon as possible.
If you have previously used your ParentVUE account, but can’t remember your password, you can reset it online at https://synergyvue.lps.org/. If you have not yet activated your LPS ParentVUE account, please contact the main office of your child’s school for instructions and an activation key.
If you have questions or need help with completing these steps, please contact your child’s school.
Sign up to receive text messages from your child’s school
In addition to receiving phone and email messages, you can sign up to receive notifications from your child’s school via text messaging when available.
What you need to do:
While verifying your child’s information through Online Registration in ParentVue, make sure your cell phone number is correctly listed and the Text Communication option is marked YES.
The federal program that allowed Lincoln Public Schools to serve school meals at no charge to all students ended. Because the program ended, we are encouraging all* families to fill out the Free and Reduced meal application online as soon as possible.
*Please note: If your family has been recently notified of Direct Certification Approval for the 2022-2023 school year, a Free and Reduced Meal application is not needed.
This application must be completed each year in order for families to qualify for free or reduced school meals. Families who do not complete the application will be charged normal meal prices for any school meals their child eats.
You can go to our website to fill out this quick and easy online application. If you do not have access to the online application, you can go to your child’s school office and pick up a paper application.
Additional information about Free and Reduced meals is on our website: https://home.lps.org/ns/free-reduced. If you have any questions, please call (402)436-1747 or email us at freeandreduced@lps.org.
You can find an updated student calendar on our website.
August 15 – early release for all students
August 16 & 17- early release for all students
August 18
August 30
If you are in crisis and need immediate assistance, these services are available any time of the day or night, any day of the week:
Additional community resources can be found at MyLink – a website (https://mylnk.app) and a mobile app (for Apple and Android – search MyLink). It can be downloaded in a wi-fi environment and then used when wi-fi is not available. Translations are provided in Arabic, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
ACES courses are academic connections courses which are taught in Career and Technical Education, Art, Music, and World Languages. Prior to this year, some of the middle school ACES courses used COM (Commendable), S (Satisfactory) and N (Needs Improvement) for grades. Starting this school year, Lincoln Public Schools will be using the A-F grading scale for ACES courses in middle schools.
Lincoln Public Schools is the second largest public school district in Nebraska, located in the heart of the plains, renowned for its long-standing legacy of educational excellence and tradition of rigorous academic achievement. The school district is growing and thriving, serving over 42,000 students in more than 60 schools and programs.
Lincoln Public Schools is committed to ensuring digital accessibility for all persons, including people with disabilities. Learn more