Another successful school year is in the books for Mt. Lebanon School District! In June 2025, we launched our Leading the Way Strategic Plan that will set the course for the District for seven years. In 2025-26, we were tasked with achieving 32 goals in year one and completed all of them. Below are a few highlights from the year.

Leading for the Future: One goal was to develop a clear vision of the skills, knowledge and mindsets students should demonstrate at graduation to guide instruction, culture and student growth. During the 2025–26 school year, this work was developed through a collaborative process involving district faculty and administrators, PTA and student leaders, the board of school directors and the broader school community. The resulting Profile of a Learner defines the traits we aim to develop in students throughout their K–12 experience and demonstrate upon graduation.

Engagement: Fostering strong partnerships among students, families, staff and the community through transparent communication and opportunities for involvement remain central to our district’s mission. Our goals included expanding outreach to community members without children in our schools and creating additional opportunities for dialogue with families and residents.

This year, we strengthened community engagement by publishing articles in Mt. Lebanon Magazine, promoting the Mt. Lebanon Gold Card program for residents 62 and older, hosting two Steps with the Superintendent events, offering alumni tours for the Classes of 1965, 1975, and 2005, and hosting two business roundtables and a crossing guard breakfast. I also participated in the Mt. Lebanon Citizens Fire Academy.

We hosted four Superintendent Coffees to provide informal opportunities for community members to connect with district leadership and held two Lebo University evenings featuring sessions on technology, college and career planning, artificial intelligence and district finances.

Academic Excellence and Innovation: Another goal was to implement a comprehensive curriculum review, development, training and evaluation cycle for English language arts (6–12), social studies (K–12) and math (K–5). This process ensures curricula align with state and national standards, while providing teachers with a clear roadmap for instruction at each grade level and course. Through reflective, research-based analysis, the review cycle identifies strengths and areas for improvement to ensure our curriculum supports strong student learning and overall student success. Next year, we will implement a new K-5 social studies curriculum.

District Systems and Supports: In year one of our goal to develop a 10-year financial recovery plan to strengthen long-term district stability and improve our Moody’s rating, the district established an 8 percent unassigned fund balance target, revised policies related to budget planning and adoption, and communicated management changes and strategic priorities to Moody’s.

After six years of decline, the district’s Moody’s rating has stabilized. For the first time in six years, the district added $2.8 million from the 2025–2026 year-end surplus to the fund balance, increasing the unassigned balance to approximately $7.5 million (5.99 percent) and moving closer to the state-recommended 8 percent target. This was accomplished by a stop-spending initiative in the second semester and full support from staff to achieve cost savings where possible during the school year.

This progress was achieved without major program reductions, allowing the district to continue funding curriculum adoptions, maintain comparable staffing ratios, and support student programming. These improvements reflect the collaborative work of the board and district leadership to implement a proactive financial plan and strengthen long-term fiscal stability.

Safe, Supportive, and Inclusive Environment: Finally, we established a goal to develop intentional transition supports between grade levels (e.g., 5–6 and 8–9) to build relationships and reduce student anxiety. Next year, we will implement WEB (Where Everybody Belongs). This is a comprehensive transition program for sixth graders that complements the ninth-grade transition program we already use, Link Crew.

WEB will connect incoming sixth graders with trained older student mentors (leaders) through orientation, academic follow-ups and social events, reducing anxiety and preventing bullying.

We hope our community has a relaxing and fun summer vacation. We look forward to welcoming back students in grades 1-12 on August 18 and kindergarten on August 20.