Notes from Principal Briggs

Dear Families,

As with every year, it is hard to believe our school year is coming to a close.  As I reflect on this school year, we have many things to celebrate, and some areas for improvement.  I’d like to share some of those reflections with you.

Above the Line Behavior Program

We are completing our first year with this new program of approaching behavior at Schenk.  In many ways I feel this program has been a great success for about 95% of our students.  We still have a great deal to learn, and many of us will be returning to training this summer, to refine our skills.  It was amazing to see so many of our students accept responsibility for their misbehavior, and feel so good about making a plan to fix the damage they caused.  As we work to help our students learn good behavior in the same manner we teach reading and writing, I am confident that this is the way to continue.  Support staff spent a half hour a week in every classroom helping to teach the behaviors that we are looking for in our students.  Although we have a long way to go, I can’t help but wonder what changes we’ll see in our school, as these kindergartners grow into fifth graders, with this type of teaching every year.  We are still challenged by the 5% of students that do not seem to change their behavior after many attempts.  We will continue to work, together with parents, to find a solution that fits for those students.  Thanks for your support as we implement this very important change at Schenk. 

WKCE Test Scores

As teachers come together to analyze and learn from our WKCE scores, we always strive and set goals for improvement.  The drop in scores that we anticipated is very clear.  As you were aware last year, over 50% of our students were new to Schenk, due to boundary changes and mobility.  New students were not reflected in our reported scores last year, as they were not “full-academic year” students.  (To be counted as FAY, students must be in the school for the entire previous school year.)  This is the first year those students’ scores were counted.  We anticipated this drop, as it often takes students some time to adjust to a new school,  but expect that from this point forward, scores will do nothing but rise.  We have such a phenomenal group of students and staff that are working very hard and I’m extremely proud of their accomplishments.  We are aware of every student that is not proficient in any area, and are working diligently to design and implement interventions to accelerate progress.  I have seen tremendous success with students this year, and am thrilled with the work teachers are doing.  And as I always remind the teachers, when the scores are high and when the scores are low—it is one measure from one snapshot in time.  If you have any questions about your child’s individual WKCE score, please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher. 

Backpack Day

Ever since the district eliminated Ready Set Go Conferences at the start of the school year, we have been grieving it’s loss.  Upon reflection about how critical this initial relationship building is for our families, we have created a new opportunity for families in the fall.  We are calling it Backpack Day.  It is an opportunity to stop by your child’s classroom the Friday before school starts—August 31, from 8:30-9:30.  This will be an opportunity to meet your child’s teacher, see the classroom, drop off all your school supplies, find out where your class will line up, etc.  You do not need to be there for the entire hour, just stop by any time from 8:30-9:30.  (Don’t be late, as the teachers have a meeting to attend starting at 9:30, and everything will be locked up promptly at 9:30).  It will only take a few minutes, but we expect that it will make the first day of school go a lot smoother!  So, mark your calendars.  We hope to see you there!

Summer Routines

For our children that are attending summer school, I know that their skills will remain sharp for the fall.  For everyone else, I would highly encourage fitting in some time this summer for a regular routine of reading, math problems, and writing.  Summer is a time for being outside, getting lots of exercise, and having fun as a family.  However, it can be easier than you think to set aside a few minutes a day to keep those school skills sharp.  For car trips, bring along a good book!  Read stories under the stars, around the campfire, or before bed.  Take turns with the adult and the child reading.  Read every other page aloud.  Check your library for lots of fun new titles.  Create math problems to solve out of the everyday things you do.  “If every s’more has two chocolate pieces on it, how many chocolate pieces do we need for four people?”  It’s amazing how fun math can be when it is meaningful and important to the child.  And keeping writing skills sharp can be as easy as keeping a journal.  My kids like to make scrapbooks—the rule at my house is that the pictures and the writing need to be in place before any decorations are used.  It is very motivating for kids to document their summers—and think of what a great keepsake it will be in 20 years!  Regardless of your activities, I hope everyone has an enjoyable summer, and I look forward to seeing you in the fall!

Staff Changes

Since the last newsletter, there have been a few more staff changes.  Huge Congratulations goes out to our nurse, Rachel Gallagher, for being selected for a position with Department of Public Instruction as a School Nurse/Health Consultant.  We are so very sad to see her go, but are excited for her to have such a great impact on schools across the state!

I also mentioned that Nancy Caldwell’s position was ending at Schenk.  I am very pleased to announce that Nancy has been appointed the Principal at Kennedy Elementary School!  Please join me in congratulating her, and wishing her the best of luck!!

Stacey Pipson has also accepted a position in another district.  Her REACH allocation was reduced for next year down to .3.  We are sad that she was forced to look elsewhere to secure a full time contract.  We are so very sad to see her go!! 

We recently found out that Steve Lauck, one of our custodians is also retiring this year!  Congratulations to him, and the best of luck on retirement!

Three other folks that deserve recognition, are Adam Froemming, Nate Schmolze, and Carol Watson.  Nate and Adam have completed long term substitute positions with us this year and have done a fabulous job!!  Carol Watson has been doing Reading Recovery for us all year, as a placement with her University coursework to become a Reading Recovery Teacher Leader.  She completes that work in June.  It has been great to have her on staff, and we will certainly miss all of these folks!

If you have any further questions about this or any aspect of our school, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 204-1502 or sbriggs@madison.k12.wi.us.

**Jump back to Issue at a Glance**

Garden Help Needed This Summer!

Garden Help Needed This Summer!

 
If you haven’t already noticed how beautiful our grounds look, please take a moment to drive by!  We owe a HUGE thank you to our Door Creek Partners!  On Saturday, April 29, approximately 20 volunteers came to Schenk and pulled weeds, trimmed bushes, spread mulch, raked leaves, and picked up trash!  It was incredible, and they left our grounds in top shape!!  Now, we need families to help us keep it maintained this summer!  If you would be interested in signing up for a week this summer, please contact the main office at 204-1500, email sbriggs@madison.k12.wi.us, or stop by the office and sign up on the board by the calendar.  If you choose to sign up, we ask that you drop by at least once during the week to weed and water our flower beds.  Hopefully if we can get every week covered, it won’t be too much work for any one family.  There are still 10 weeks available to choose from!!  Thanks in advance for your consideration!!

Thanks to Tri-Star Mulch

A huge thanks goes out to Tri-Star Mulch for waiving the delivery fee for the 9 yards of mulch that we purchased for our flower beds.  The mulch looks fabulous, and the service was perfect.  They were very helpful, the driver delivered exactly at the time that we requested, and was helpful and courteous.

**Jump back to Issue at a Glance**

Mosaic

Have you heard that Schenk has been working all year on putting together a group for Families of Children of Color?  On May 22, we held our kick-off event, where we welcomed families to a picnic, unveiled the mission statement, and decided upon the name Mosaic for our group. 

How did this the idea for this group come about?  Schenk staff are very aware of the changing demographics of our school.  We want to make sure that we are meeting the needs of all of our families and children.  Although we have a wonderful PTA, our membership is not as diverse as we would like.  We’ve tried many strategies to attract and maintain a variety of parents, and will continue to do so.  However, we can’t continue to wait for that to happen.  We need to hear the voice of a more diverse group of parents.  AND, we want to be sure we are meeting the needs of all of our families. 

So, this winter, we invited a group of parents of color to a planning meeting.  We wanted this group of parents to determine how we would run a group for parents.  They were a phenomenal group of people that are very dedicated to equity and all children.  The wrote a mission statement (see below), and planned our May picnic!

Some parents have asked the question, “Why do we need separate groups?  Isn’t that segregating?”  And to that, I’ve answered that we cannot ignore the fact that children of color face some unique challenges.  If for no other reason than that this school is run by primarily white administration and teachers.  They don’t have the advantage of seeing “themselves” in their teachers.  It is no secret that across the country, black and brown children are overrepresented in suspensions, office referrals, drop out rates, and remedial classes.  We wanted to create a space where families can feel comfortable in a group where they are not the minority.  We wanted to be able to create a space where English Language Learners can speak their own language.  And we wanted to address the unique needs of families of color.  So, our goal is not to be exclusive.  However, we do value the unique  needs of all our families.  And, it is critical that we hear the voices of our families of color.  About their children, about decisions in the school, about curriculum, and about things we need to improve upon. 

So, watch for invitations next year to attend our Mosaic gatherings!  We hope they will be social, educational, and helpful for parents and our school!   

The mission of Mosaic is to collaboratively work with students, families, staff, and the community to embrace our cultural diversity and provide a voice that represents the views, hopes and dreams of all.

This is essential for the purpose of playing in integral role in:

• Bridging the academic achievement gap
• Empowering families to advocate for our student needs
• Creating a seamless student body while valuing individual diversity
• Ensuring culturally relevant curriculum development
• Increasing diverse parent involvement
• Supporting the social development of our children
• Engaging with our neighborhood community to access available resources

“It is not enough to prepare our children for the world; we also must prepare the world for our children.”

**Jump back to Issue at a Glance**

Learn how you can help fix the MMSD budget woes

• Many of you have been following the budget debate here in Madison over the last two months.  Sadly, this is not the first time that MMSD has had to cut the budget, however, it is the most dire, as cuts have come to directly effect schools and their neighborhoods.  There is growing support around the state to fix the funding system that forces school districts all across the state to make unpopular budget cuts.  However, nothing will get done until the legislature feels pressure from its constituents.  There are a number of relatively easy actions that can be taken to urge the legislature to solve this problem.

  Get educated.  While the intricacies of the funding system are mind-boggling, it is not difficult to grasp the concepts behind the system. 

  • Connect with others in Madison who are concerned about this problem.  Join with others by going to yahoo.com and searching for abcmadison.  Fill in the information to get on the e-mail list.
  • Visit the MMSD website, http://www.madison.k12.wi.us/.  Click on, “Take Action on School Funding,” under Hot Topics.  You will find information on legislative issues, links to recent newspaper articles about school funding, and writing letters to your legislator.
    

  Talk to your legislators and the governor.  The legislators who represent Madison support education finance reform.  Let them know that you appreciate this support, but want to know what they are doing to take a leadership role in reforming the finance system.  Governor Doyle has not taken a leadership role to solve this problem.  He needs to understand that the people of the state of Wisconsin support public education and want to see the problem fixed and he needs to do something about it.  You are an expert about your school and community.  Share your experiences with the governor and your legislators.

  Talk to your family, friends, and neighbors.  The problem can only be solved if a grassroots effort develops across the state.  Madison cannot do it alone.  Talk to others you know, especially people in other parts of the state.  Ask them to get involved in their community.  

  Reforming the funding system is no easy task.  It requires a long-term, sustained effort to focus the governor and the legislature to address the problem.  The more people express their concerns the better the chances of success.  Please take a few moments out of your busy schedule to learn more about how the state is impacting the quality of education in Madison and other communities around the state.  Then take action to help address the problem.

  Deb Gurke is a citizen representative of the Madison Metropolitan School District Communication Committee.  You can reach her at 608-238-2350 or dgurke@wisc.edu.

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Form to Restrict Student Information to Student Portrait Provider

April 2007

Dear Parent/Guardian:

Each year the District’s schools provide student portrait services to the parents of enrolled students.  The procedure involves sharing mailing information with the vendor under contract to the District for purposes of processing portrait package orders.  In order to do this, we must provide the vendor with the student’s name, mailing address, and school they attend.

The District and vendor have a written agreement about how the information may be used.  The vendor agrees the information would only be used for the single purpose of producing, distributing, and processing the portrait orders.  The agreement also indicates that the vendor is not to disclose personally identifiable information about a student to any other party without the prior written consent of the parent.  Further all information is to be deleted after the portrait package process has been completed at the end of the year with no copies or other retention of the personally identifiable information being maintained.

Unless you (1) sign below and return this form, or (2) have already indicated that you wish directory information withheld, the District shall release your student’s information described above to the portrait vendor on or near August 1, 2007, in order to prepare for the 2007-08 school year registration dates in August.

Regardless of your response to this form you will be under no obligation to purchase your student’s portrait packages.

If you have any questions about this request you may contact me at 663-4946.

Thank you,

Kurt Kiefer, Director
Student Enrollment Office

Return to:          Student Enrollment Office – Attn: Portraits
Madison Metropolitan School District
545 West Dayton Street
Madison, WI 53703-1995.

Unless you (1) sign below and return this form, or (2) have already indicated that you wish directory information withheld, the District shall release your student’s information described above to the portrait vendor on or near August 1, 2007, in order to prepare for the 2007-08 school year registration dates in August.

Student’s name (print): _________________________________________________________________

Student’s current grade:  ___________    Student’s current school: ______________________________

Name (print): _________________________________________________________________________

Signature: _______________________________________________    Date:  _____________________

Please note this is not the official form. It is for informational purposes only. Please contact the Schenk office if you require a copy of the official form.

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