Student and Staff 
Well-Being at the Center of LPS’s Strategic Plan

How well can students absorb new information if they are hungry or tired? If they don't feel well or safe? Lincoln Public Schools recognizes that for students to do their best learning, being well-fed, rested and feeling safe all makes a big difference. Though challenges of living today present both old and new challenges, efforts to combat these challenges are stronger than ever.

Thanks to work by LPS Nutrition Services, 23 schools now qualify for free breakfast and lunch for all students who attend. Locally sourced produce and dairy are utilized and the fresh fruits and vegetables program increases exposure to new foods for students. If you have a child in LPS, you may notice your student coming home with some fun materials about nutrition this fall, due to a fun LPS Wellness promotion around nutrition variety and school lunch. The materials encourage students to try new foods, no matter if they are eating traditional school lunch or bringing sack lunches from home.

Families are challenged to refocus on physical play after school beyond structured team sports outside of school. LPS has seen fitness losses for kids since COVID that haven’t been fully recovered and can’t be made up just by school recess and PE alone.  A great bright spot, however, is that LPS Physical Education classes continue to expand programs for inclusion of students for adaptive activity and Unified PE and sports.

School Health Offices are busy places, helping manage both daily needs of students with chronic health conditions and situations that occur within the school day. Within the LPS district, approximately 1,400 students have food allergies and about half of those are potentially life-threatening, not to mention diabetes, asthma and many other conditions.  Health office staff also manage the concussion protocols for all students returning to learning, immunization records and health screenings, between kids who fall sick during the school day. Those are some busy offices. Hats off to health offices.

With each passing year, student mental well-being is becoming more critical. LPS has continued to expand its resources of counselors, social workers and program supports to incorporate social-emotional learning into efforts throughout the day. Recognizing the impact of kindness, enhancing communication skills and helping students learn about online safety are just a few of the many supports.

Finally, LPS students spend hours of their days learning from and looking up to the LPS staff. Supporting staff well-being has never been more important than today, with all of the extra challenges that are faced by educators. LPS is continuing to expand the staff wellness offerings. This allows staff to feel supported and for them to be role models of well-being for students in school.

LPS is proud to partner with countless community groups, including Partnership for a Healthy Lincoln, to meet the needs of students and families to continue to work toward building a brighter future for our community.