Panther Families,
Thank you for an outstanding 2024-25 school year! This was certainly an amazing one full of success and celebration. We are incredibly fortunate to have the student and family support we get in LeRoy.
In our final message of this school year, I want to focus on Our Student Achievement. There are so many things to celebrate, we always miss something. Here are a few really cool things going on in each of our buildings to recognize as we wrap up the year.
LeRoy Preparatory Academy
This spring, LPA students and staff planted their annual garden. This year, they were the recipient of a grant through the University of Illinois Extension that allowed them to expand their garden. A tall border pollinator garden with 12 different types of plants flanks their fruit and vegetable garden that includes okra, peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, basil, cilantro, parsley, kale, broccoli, mint, and much more. If you drive by throughout the summer, you will see the garden blossoming and a little bit of weeding by the staff and students.
LIFE Students
In early May, the LIFE Classroom celebrated at the El Paso-Gridley High School LIFE Skills Prom. This inclusive, fun, and special day included their peer buddies (Nellie, Macy, and Landon) helping them get ready by doing nails, hair, and make-up, and making superhero-themed desserts to match the prom theme. There was plenty of dancing, laughter, and time with friends. This annual event has become a capstone to the LIFE school year that kicks off with an amazing Special Persons Day each August.
LeRoy Elementary School
Our elementary staff has been working hard over the past year developing systems for positive behavior reinforcement. Next year, the building will kick off ROAR, which stands for Respectful, On Task, Attitude, and Responsible — core values that help build a positive and supportive school culture. Through ROAR, students are encouraged to demonstrate our Habits of Success in their daily actions. Positive behaviors will be recognized and rewarded with Panther Paw tickets, reinforcing the importance of good character and consistent effort. ROAR is part of a broad effort to transform student behavior and empower staff to foster a safe, respectful, and thriving learning environment. The vast majority of our students consistently meet expectations. Rather than focusing solely on correcting unwanted behaviors, this is a shift to celebrate and reinforce positive behaviors in the building.
LeRoy Junior High School
Spring is a big transition time to next year for all students. The greatest impact occurs in our Junior High with 6th graders coming in and 8th graders transitioning out. Our staff and students do an amazing job preparing for these transitions with well thought out and planned visits to the junior high, mentors for incoming freshmen, and ensuring throughout the year that students are ready for the next level. The 6th-8th grade age band is significant in academic growth, social development, and involvement. It is always an exciting time of year to see the growth of our students before they take these big steps.
We also want to celebrate our 11 individual 6th-8th graders that qualified for the IESA Track State Championships. Congratulations to Campbell Tubbs 7th Grade Hurdles State Champion and 100m Dash 3rd Place, Tyler Underhill 7th Grade Discus 5th Place, and the 7th Grade 4x200m Relay Team 6th Place!
Campbell Tubbs - Hurdles (State Champ) and 100m (3rd Place)
Tyler Underhill - Discus (5th Place)
Girls 4x200m Relay - Tubbs, Addi Cooley, Kinley Runyon, Fiona Smith, Underhill (6th Place)
Evan Haskett - 400m
Caleb Dunafin - 1600m
Girls 4x400m Relay - Avery Anderson, Cooley, Runyon, Smith, Tubbs
Boys 4x400m Relay - Hasket, Asher Reid, Evan Conn, Owen Koerner
LeRoy High School
This year ended as it began for our high school students with a lot of hard work, success, and celebration. Students across the board saw the fruits of their labor with an impressive performance through BACC student of the year awards, end of year performances, LIFE's Got Talent, athletics, scholarships, and much more. When comparing our students throughout the county and within the schools of the Heart of Illinois Conference (HOIC), we always stack up very well against the best. Just a few examples include our Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) Scholarship winner Bo Zeleznik who won one of three scholarships out of 19 McLean County area schools, our BACC Students of the Year who compete with students from 13 area schools (Tate Harden - Construction Trades Team Builder, Logan Codding and Kenly Downey - Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement, and Laila Hornke - Health Careers and Medical Terminology), and 4 of our students winning HOIC Scholarships out of 16 awarded from 13 schools (Kaitlyn Cox - Academic Scholarship, Bo Zeleznik - Male Athlete Scholarship, Tate Sigler - Dave Ferrenburg Memorial Scholarship, and Brandon Webner - Career and Technical Education Scholarship).
At the end of the year, we held our annual Senior Scholarship Awards Ceremony where $135,000 in locally funded scholarships was awarded. This does not even include scholarships awarded to students through the school they are attending or other private organizations. Scholarships were awarded to students attending 4 year schools, 2 year schools, Career and Technical Education schools, and going directly into the workforce. We had 23 of 57 Seniors win at least one of 53 scholarships awarded through 31 different scholarship programs. The support our community has for our students is incredible!
Finally, congratulations to our Lady Panther Softball team who are sole HOIC Small Division Champions and play in the Regional Championship TODAY at Home at 4:30pm. Congratulations as well to the Panther Baseball team who are Co-HOIC Small Division Champions.
At LeRoy CUSD #2, we are very proud to recognize and celebrate what we value through our Profile of Graduate - Academic, Career, Service Learning, Co-Curricular, and Extra-Curricular. This includes providing our students with opportunities to pursue the career interests of their choice whether it be through a 4-year university, 2-year college or technical school, trades, or directly to a workforce career. We believe in cultivating an Involved Community, Competitive Students, and Productive Citizens by providing as many different opportunities to learn as possible. We also believe in instilling grit and resilience in our students so they are prepared to successfully compete for a career after graduation. Our goal is for each student to graduate with a diverse profile so they are ready to compete for the career of their choice.
That’s a wrap on the 2024-25 school year!
Have a great summer! Thank you for your continued support of LeRoy Schools.
Go Panthers!
Jeff Baughman
Superintendent
Key Upcoming Dates
May 26
No School - Memorial Day
May 27
Last Day of Attendance for Students
May 28
Teacher Institute Day
August 13
First Day of Student Attendance
Involved Community - Competitive Students - Productive Citizens