April, 2008

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  "Madison Schools Committed to Equity and Excellence" is the title of a three page feature in the current edition of Teachers of Color magazine. The lead article, written by Lisa Black - Special Asst. to the Supt. for Race & Equity, profiles the multi-faceted MMSD Race and Equity initiative that began six years ago.

  Black writes, "Beginning with the development of an educational framework, innovative and progressive professional development, and local and national partnerships, the MMSD has experienced significant gains in closing the achievement gap."

  Sidebar articles are written by Supt. Art Rainwater, La Follette HS Principal Joe Gothard, Sennett MS Asst. Principal Deborah Ptak and Media Production Manager Marcia Standiford.

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  Renee Hoxie (left) and Kris Brown, library media specialists at Memorial HS, have been selected to receive the Wisconsin Educational Media & Technology Association's WEMTA/Highsmith Business Partnership Award for 2008. This award recognizes an exemplary K-12 library media program that has had a measurable impact on its users by marshaling resources to benefit the students.

  One of the reasons Kris and Renee were selected is their 'Gear Up@Your Library' program which provides additional after-school hours for students to use the LMC. Initiatives like this have helped to keep the Memorial LMC an integral part of the school's overall instructional program.

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  For the 3rd straight year, the La Follette HS Competition Cheer Team won the title at the State Cheer Championships. La Follette won the gold in the Division 1 Small Group competition displaying their excellence in stunts and cheers both with and without background music. A 3-peat for the La Follette Competition Cheer Team - way to go.
  

• EDTECH magazine features Mark Evans — MMSD Technical Services Director — in a current edition article titled, " Save Green by Going Green." The article highlights the efforts to reduce energy consumption and save money by investing in efficient technology equipment such as newer computers and monitors. It also highlights the efficiency associated with being paperless by discussing the electronic document management system (EDMS) the district is piloting with special education documents.

  Mark wrote in detail for last month's MMSD Today about the district's steps to reduce energy consumption in the use of technology. Click here to see that article.

• Pianist Hong-En Chen, a 10th grade Madison West student, won the Bolz Young Artists competition at Overture Hall in Madison in April. Two other Madison students were among the four finalists, all of whom performed with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. They were violinist Leah Latorraca, a 9th grade La Follette student, who earned 2nd place and her sister, Naomi Latorraca, an 11th grade La Follette student and a pianist.

• Accounting teachers Darrin Graham - La Follette, Linda Plourde - West, Dave Thomas - Memorial and Mareta Van Rens - East have been awarded Accounting Careers Awareness Grants of $2,500 each from the WI Institute of Certified Public Accountants Foundation.

  Because of the grants, students at all four schools will be able to participate in a simulation called "Mad City Money," attend a program about accounting careers and participate in a simulation to investigate fraud situations.

• The Madison School District is a partner that will benefit in a Teaching American History grant awarded by the U.S. Dept. of Education. Life During Wartime will provide direct professional development for 30 MMSD 5th-12th grade history teachers over three years — development that includes content-driven summer institutes, continued school year mentoring, and cutting-edge Web-based contact and support.

  CESA 5, the Wisconsin Veteran's Museum, Madison Area Technical College and UW-Madison are the other partners in the $940,000 grant.

• Alyssa Neblett and Ebony Balele, 12th and 11th graders at Memorial HS, won the 7th Annual 100 Black Men African-American History Challenge Bowl local competition. Alyssa and Ebony will compete for the national championship in Orlando, FL at the 100 Black Men National Conference in June.

• East HS English-as-a-Second-Language teacher Kyeong Kim is preparing for a summer 20-day study tour in Japan. Kyeong will be joining 15 other educators from across the nation in the study program conducted by the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA).

  During the study tour, the group will focus on understanding Japanese history and contemporary culture through the arts. Kyeong will pursue an independent study project to develop curriculum for her classroom, and she will share her experience with students, other teachers, and the community throughout the coming academic year.

• Allen Young (Business Procedures,) Nathan Powell & Rafael Alexandrian (Global Business) and Hayk Mkrtchyan (Economics,) all Memorial HS students, qualified for the national conference of the Future Business Leaders of America at the state conference in April. In the state competition, Young took first place on his topic of Business Procedures.

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  Memorial HS junior David Miller placed second at the Wisconsin SkillsUSA Conference held April 8& 9. David won the Olympic-sized silver medal for his extemporaneous speech on "Why it is important to be a member of SkillsUSA."

  SkillsUSA is one of the many career and technical student organizations found in Wisconsin middle and high schools. Others include Future Farmers of America, Future Business Leaders of America, Health Occupations Students of America, and DECA (marketing.)

  SkillsUSA holds an annual competition, which include skill events like carpentry, automotive servicing, automotive collision repair, welding, etc. The conference also includes leadership events.

March, 2008

• The school store at La Follette HS - the Lancer Zone - has received Gold Certification - the highest level - as a school-based enterprise from DECA, the international association for high school and college students studying business.

  The work at the Lancer Zone needed to apply for recognition for this outstanding achievement was done by students in the Marketing Management class taught by June Anderson.

  The school store, which has operated as a school-based enterprise for six years, will be recognized at DECA's international conference later this year.

• Madison West senior Natasha Holmes is one of two winners of the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award from the WI Dept. of Public Instruction and the WI Dept. of Commerce. Natasha received a recognition plaque from Governor Jim Doyle during National Entrepreneurship Week in late February.

  She designs and markets her own line of jewelry through a business called Natasha Nicole Jewelry.

• Victoria Straughn, a social studies teacher at La Follette, is the winner of the 2007 Teacher of the Year Award given by the Organization of American Historians for her contributions to improve history education.

  Among other achievements, Straughn is recognized for establishing a history museum and archives at La Follette. The archives functions as a research center for students and the public on Midwest high school history from 1963 to the present. She has also created a comprehensive women's history curriculum at the school.

• The Madison Metropolitan School District is ranked #57 in the nation on the list of The Top 100 Employers of the Class of 2008 by The Black Collegian magazine.

  The Top 100 list determines by survey the most active recruiters of college seniors for entry level jobs. The Madison School District is also one of only nine K-12 school districts to make the list.

  Click here for more information about Black Collegian's Top 100 Employers.

• Six Madison schools -- East, Emerson, Falk, La Follette, Mendota and Midvale -- have been awarded 21st Century Community Learning Center (CLC) grants from the WI Dept. of Public Instruction. The grants of five years for each new Center and three years for each continuing Center could total $2.725 million with evidence of satisfactory implementation.

  For Falk, La Follette and Mendota, the grants are new. The grants for East and Emerson are also new and come through a partnership with the Goodman Atwood Community Center.

  CLCs provide academic, recreational, cultural, and personal enrichment and support to students after school, before school, or during the summer. CLCs typically target their services to students with high academic needs and students from economically disadvantaged families.

• Hamilton Middle School won the top team award in the state Mathcounts competition earlier this month. In addition, three of the four members of the state team are MMSD students. Abraham Shin and William Xiang from Hamilton, and Laura Xu from Jefferson Middle School were among the top finishers from about 140 students.

  The coach of the state team is Loi Nguyen, a math teacher at Hamilton. The team will represent Wisconsin in the National Mathcounts competition in Denver in May.

• Memorial High School's Suvai Gunasekaran and her research project earned the runner-up award at the Capital Science and Engineering Fair recently held on the UW-Madison engineering campus. Gunasekaran earned a trip to showcase her research project at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta in May.

February, 2008

• Business education teacher Donna Kennedy of La Follette High has won the 2008 Governor's Financial Literacy Award. She's one of five individuals to receive the award which recognizes excellence in promoting financial literacy among Wisconsin citizens.

  Nominated by La Follette teacher June Anderson, Kennedy won the award for organizing the first Mad City Money Reality Store last fall. In this budgeting simulation for La Follette and Memorial high school students, they were inserted into a "real life" budgeting situation in order to develop their decision making/problem solving skills with respect to personal finance.

  Over 40 volunteers from numerous businesses and government agencies staffed the merchant stations to guide the students through this budgeting simulation.

• Three MMSD principals and an administrator have earned Wisconsin's 10-year Master Educator License in 2007, according to the DPI. Principals Linda Allen, Chavez Elementary; Sheila Briggs, Lead Principal; and Ed Holmes, West High, along with Mary Watson Peterson, reading specialist, earned the credential.

  The three principals were among the first cadre of Wallace Fellows, while Watson Peterson earned her credential through the WI Master Educator Assessment Process. All 31 Wisconsin educators who earned the license had to develop a portfolio that included work samples, a video of exemplary practice, student work, and other supporting information that document contributions to the profession and improved student learning.

• Jeff Maas, 2-3 grade teacher at Sandburg ES, was recently recognized as News 3's Topnotch Teacher for February. Student Hayden Boyce nominated Jeff for this honor.

  Jeff's career in the MMSD began in 1990 and has taken him to Lincoln, Falk, and Sandburg Schools. In regard to the many students his teaching has touched over the years, the reporter mentioned Jeff's "student-centered integrated approach to education" and "his passion for the outdoors." See the video report.

• Eleven of the 40 Wisconsin 12th graders selected as candidates for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program are from the Madison School District.

  They are: Erika Egner, Daniel Greenwald, Brian Ji, Maren Raab, Alex Trevino and Louis Wilson from Memorial High School, and Stuart Ballard, Ruth Davis, Reuben Henriques, Jacob Jensen and Laurel Ohm from West High School.

  These students are eligible to be named semifinalists and Scholars, one of the nation's highest honors for high school students.

• Madison East, Memorial and West High Schools are among 14 high schools in the state with one or more students in the class of 2007 earning a top composite score of 36 on the ACT college admissions exam, according to the Wisconsin ACT State Organization and the ACT.

  In Wisconsin, 18 high school graduates earned the 36 score. While the news release recognizes the students and the high schools, the Madison School District also recognizes all the schools — elementary, middle and high — as well as the students' parents and guardians for this honor.

  Five MMSD students out of the 18 were identified in September of 2006, when the students were honored at a celebration, which was reported on by both daily newspapers. See the first and the second report. A sixth Madison student scoring a 36 is a member of the class of 2008.

January, 2008

• Six of the 13 teachers given awards at the UW-Madison School of Education Awards program recently are MMSD staff members.

  Receiving the Rockwell Distinguished Education Awards are
  Jane Koval, physical education teacher at Van Hise, Barbara Perkins & Rebecca Zutter-Brose, phonologists at Muir, and
  Victoria Straughn, social studies teacher at La Follette.

  This award for cooperating personnel recognizes excellent teachers who have chosen to pass on their expertise by providing professional experiences for UW-Madison student teachers.

  Maria Del Rosario Covarrubias is the only recipient of this year's Nemec Distinguished Elementary Education Award. Maria, a 6th grade teacher at Jefferson, is recognized for her "commitment and distinguished service as a classroom teacher" as well as her "outstanding skills and commitment to her local educational community."

  Receiving recognition as an outstanding cooperating teacher is Brenda Blessing, a 4/5 teacher at Chavez.

• Joe Nigh, ESL counselor at East, received the prestigious Sanchez Award from Centro Hispano at their annual banquet in November.

  The Sanchez Award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated a long-standing commitment to promoting the academic achievement of Latino students.

  The nomination for Joe said he "spent thousands of hours tutoring and providing recreational programs afternoons, evenings and weekends for Latinos and other English Language Learners."

• Renee Bremer, Transportation Manager, has been certified as a Director of Pupil Transportation by the National Association for Pupil Transportation.

  This professional certification is the highest of four types offered and, according to the notification letter, Renee is the first person in Wisconsin to achieve this status and the 111th overall.

• Madison students are two of the eight in Wisconsin who achieved a 36, the highest possible composite score, on the June 2007 national test administration of the ACT.

  Dan Greenwald and Brian Ji, both from Memorial, are among the eight --out of about 22,000 Wisconsin students who completed the exam on June 9 — to reach the highest possible score.

  The ACT says students scoring a 36 on the test broken into English, math, reading and science segments "should have a choice of the widest possible range of future educational options."

• O'Keeffe and Spring Harbor Middle Schools are Exemplary Middle Schools in the Association of Wisconsin School Administrator's new Wisconsin Middle School of Excellence Award program.

  There are 90 schools so honored based on ratings on: collaborative leadership and professional learning communities; personalization and the school environment; and curriculum, instruction and assessment.

• Former and longtime MMSD staff member John Olson is the first recipient of the Kovaleski Professional Development Award presented by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.

  The Kovaleski Award is presented each year to an NIAAA member who possesses and has contributed to the vision of professional development and who has made significant contributions and demonstrated excellence in professional development at the local, state and national levels.

  Among many professional development initiatives, John is the chief writer and editor of "Athletic Administrators Reference Manual," a comprehensive resource book of the best practices and state-of-the-art professional methods and strategies for athletic administrators.

August, 2007

• Lowell and Sandburg Elementary Schools have achieved status as 2007 New Wisconsin Promise Schools of Recognition. It's the third straight year that Lowell has earned this honor, while it's the first year for Sandburg. New Wisconsin Promise Schools of Recognition must meet four criteria, including being among the highest poverty schools in the state, and student achievement on statewide reading and math assessments must outperform the state average. Congratulations to the students, staff and families of Lowell and Sandburg Schools.

July, 2007

• Michael Maynord, a graduating senior at La Follette High School, obtained the highest score in the state in the Trigonometry Star competition this year put on by the National Society of Professional Surveyors. Michael won $250 for the top finish and advances to the national level for a national competition test.

June, 2007

• Sennett Middle School is one of just 20 schools given the 2007 Governor's School Health Award. The award is given to schools in recognition of their effort to develop programs, policies and resources that support students' academic achievement and long-term physical health.

  The following is from Sennett about their wellness efforts.

  This year Sennett made Wellness one of our School Improvement Plan goals. We think of wellness in terms of staff and students' minds, bodies and souls.

  We've implemented a school breakfast program in between morning classes, trained more students for our social action drama group Voices of Youth, partnered with the Chris Farley Foundation and done PTSO presentations on a variety of prevention topics including internet safety, AOD prevention and intervention, and gang prevention.

  Our homebase curriculum occurs on Tuesday and Thursday and looks at getting to know yourself, working as a team, decision-making and problem-solving skills in the areas of harassment and diversity.

  Staff have signed up for the online Presidential Challenge, have competed against other MMSD schools in a pedometer challenge, begun a walking club and used our permanently set up gym equipment to work out. The entire school has wellness as a focus.

May, 2007

• Lincoln ES 5th grade teacher Marc Kornblatt has won a playwriting competition for a new theater company in Mineral Point called the Alley Stage. Because of the win, his play Last Days of a Translator will be presented on the Alley Stage from August 2 to 31. Marc has written numerous plays that have been produced around the US and he's authored several popular children's books.

  

• Judy Emmrich — Huegel ES and Lisa Stein — Shorewood Hills ES have completed the three-year Teaching Fellows professional development program with the Dialogues with Democracy project. This intensive content-focused program in American history develops the fellows' historical thinking and history teaching that support more effective and engaging teaching and learning of history content.

• Career Education winners. The work of Cindy Koehn and Rafael Gomez in career education has earned Cherokee MS the Wisconsin Careers Excellence Award from the UW-Madison Careers Center on Education and Work. The honor recognizes Koehn, an instructional technology and career education teacher, and Gomez, a school counselor and career education teacher, for successfully integrating the WISCareers website in their career curriculum.

  WISCareers offers teachers and counselors access to online career development workbooks and classroom lessons coded to DPI and national standards and competencies.

• Two videos produced by MMSD's Media Production have been recognized with Awards of Achievement by the WI Association of PEG Access Channels.

  Both videos were for MSCR; "After School Show — Elementary" and "Postcards" were among the top 31 programs in the state. MMSD-TV — Cable Channels 10 and 19 — is one of the many Public, Educational and Government access TV facilities in Wisconsin.

  

• Nine MMSD students are among the 121 named All-State Scholars for the 2006-07 school year. Scholars' selection is based on their overall high school grade-point average and ACT or SAT scores. The students will receive honors scholarships of $1,500 which may be renewed for an additional three years.

  MMSD selections represent 60% of the 15 students chosen for All-State status from Congressional District 2. The students are:

  • Andrei Baiu, West
  • Mark Kelly, West
  • Matthew Meisner, West
  • Rima Kharbush, Memorial
  • Mallery Olsen, Memorial
  • Sakura Takemitsu, Memorial
  • Emily Latorraca, La Follette
  • Derick Stace-Naughton, La Follette
  • Claire Lynch, East

March, 2007

• MMSD has been awarded a major multi-year grant by DPI to support its Community Learning Center (CLC) after-school program at 5 schools. The first year of the grant will provide $375,000 to (a) sustain existing CLCs at Lake View, Lincoln, and Wright and (b) establish new CLCs at Glendale and Hawthorne. The grant is expected to provide 5 years of support for the new CLCs and three years of support for the existing CLCs, with as much as $1,475,000 expected over the full grant period. The CLCs will be managed by MSCR and will engage 27 partner organizations in delivering program services to children, youth and adults in the communities adjoining these 5 schools.

• Ginny Kester, a Social Studies teacher at West High School, has been named a winner of the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation award for teachers.

  Kester is one of 100 Wisconsin teachers "chosen for their superior ability to inspire a love of learning in their students, their ability to motivate others, and for their leadership and service within and outside the classroom." Kester receives a $1,000 award, as does West High School.

• The Wisconsin Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (WAFCS) Teacher of the Year Award was presented to Dottie Winger of Madison East HS at the WAFCS state conference on March 2.

  Winger was nominated for her innovative Health Science Occupations program at East which has courses ranging from "Introduction to medical occupations" through certification as a Nursing Assistant.

  WAFCS recognizes exemplary teachers who "run outstanding educational programs that utilize cutting-edge methods, techniques, and activities to provide the stimulus for and give visibility to family and consumer sciences education."

  Winger has been active in the area of Health Occupations since taking the position at East in 1998. She has spoken at many state and national conferences, and has co-authored curriculum for the WI Department of Public Instruction.

January, 2007

• Eight MMSD high school students have been selected as candidates for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program. They are Claire Lynch from East, Elaine Brow, Sarah Jarjour, Mallery Olsen, Madhuri Setaluri and Sakura Takemitsu from Memorial, and Samuel Bell and Mark Kelly from West.

  The program exists to recognize and honor some of the country's most distinguished graduating seniors based on their accomplishments in academics and leadership, and their involvement in school and the community. The Scholars will be named in May.

• Matthew Meisner, a senior at West HS, has been selected as one of 300 semifinalists of the Intel Science Talent Search, the oldest and most prestigious science competition in the nation. Matthew receives $1,000 with an additional $1,000 going to West. He will learn later this month if his research project is one of 40 chosen for finalist status.

  Matthew has participated for two years in the High School Science Research Internship program of the MMSD and UW-Madison. In his research project with Professor Anthony Ives in the Dept. of Zoology, Matthew's research compared the foraging habits of a native and an introduced species of wasp that parasitize aphids which grow on soy beans.

  The abstract of his research and all the interns from this past season can be seen by clicking here.

• Susan Hobart, a 4th grade teacher at Lake View Elementary, and Patricia McDonald, a Social Studies teacher at East High School, have earned national board certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

  National board certification is a standard of teaching excellence not easily attained. A growing body of research shows that educators who earn national certification use classroom practices that have a positive impact on student achievement.

  Congratulations to Hobart and McDonald, two of 73 Wisconsin educators recently earning this standard, and are among 402 educators in the state who hold the 10-year national certificate.

• Ilari Shafer, a 2006 graduate of Memorial High School, is one of the two Wisconsin students named Advanced Placement Scholars and one of 106 in the nation so honored by The College Board. The awards are presented to the male and female student in each state with grades of three or higher on the greatest number of Advanced Placement exams and have the highest average grade on all AP exams.

  The AP program offers students the opportunity to take challenging college-level courses while still in high school and to receive college credit, advanced placement, or both for successful performance on the end-of-course AP exams. Eighty-five percent of MMSD students who took AP exams passed, compared to 67% in the state for 2004-05, the most recent data year.

December, 2006

• Laurie Fellenz, Band Director at Cherokee Middle School, is the winner of the January Top Notch teacher award from WISC-TV. A feature will air on News 3 during the week of January 8. Fellenz was nominated by her students at Cherokee. Congratulations, Laurie.

November, 2006

• Malcolm Shabazz City High School is the recipient of the 2006 Outstanding Institution Award presented by the Wisconsin State Human Relations Association in recognition of their commitment, dedication and excellence in human relations education.

  The award was presented November 16 at the Statewide Equity and Multi-cultural Education Conference in Wisconsin Dells.

  Shabazz CHS works with disenfranchised youth — directing them toward life-long learning and social advocacy.

• The Madison School & Community Recreation (MSCR) Junior Leader Program has received a 2006 Silver Star Award from the Wisconsin Park & Recreation Association (WPRA).

  The Junior Leader program is a job training program for high school students held in cooperation with UW-Extension, Edgewood College, MATC and the University of Wisconsin. Youth receive extensive training on topics such as diversity, team building, leadership skills, working with youth, activity planning and other job skills.

  The program serves students who may be interested in a career that works with youth, and an opportunity to gain valuable work experience. Upon training completion, students are placed in a paid summer position within one of MSCR's summer elementary programs. 2007 applications will be available January 29.

  The award was presented on November 8 at the annual WPRA conference in Green Bay.

October, 2006

• The Madison West Rocket Club has won another NASA Student Launch Initiative grant. A team of 10 West students will work on a research project that will lead to a series of 1 mile (and possibly higher) flights. This is the fourth SLI grant in three years for the West Rocket Club. The NASA SLI program is highly competitive, with only 10-12 grants awarded each year.

July, 2006

• Congratulations to Sherman Middle School for receiving a Bronze Governor's School Health Award. The school is commended for having the policies, programs, and the infrastructure that supports students in developing lifelong healthy behaviors.

  Principal Ann Yehle said, "Our Health and Wellness Committee earned this recognition. They are over-the-top in regards to what they've accomplished in the past year."

• Madison has one of the four college-bound students in Wisconsin who achieved a 36 — the highest possible composite score — on the April national test administration of the ACT. The student is Elaine Brow, a senior-to-be at Memorial HS, and the daughter of Mary Ann and David Brow.

  About 22,500 Wisconsin students completed the ACT college entrance exam on April 8, 2006.

June, 2006

• More success for Cody Rebholz (see May, 2006 below.) Cody placed 2nd in the nation in the Related Technical Math Contest of the annual SkillsUSA Championships last week in Kansas City. Cody recently graduated from Memorial High School, and he credits the whole school climate there for a good all around education.

• Bryce Lampe of Madison East High School has won the Wisconsin State TrigStar Exam competition for the second consecutive year. Congratulations to Bryce and to the East Math Department which helped prepare Bryce.

  TrigStar is an annual sequence of local, state and national competitive exams sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers in which high school students exercise principles of trigonometry through land and site survey applications.

May, 2006

• La Follette High School senior Lauren Brown has been selected for the Scholar Athlete Award by the WI Interscholastic Athletic Association. Only 32 students are chosen for this award each year, only four girls from among the largest high schools. Brown is class valedictorian and has won 10 letters in track, volleyball and basketball.
• Otistine Williams, a teacher at the Transition Learning Center - an alternative program, was recently notified of her acceptance to the Korean Studies Workshop, funded by the Korea Foundation. The Workshop is designed to enhance mutual understanding between the people of Korea and the United States. As a participant, Otistine will go to Korea from July 26 - August 9.

• Madison Memorial senior Cody Rebholz took home an Olympic type gold medal in last months SkillsUSA State Contest. Cody was entered in two contests, but when a track meet kept him from going to the first night's preparation meeting for the Auto Servicing contest, he was only able to compete in the Related Technical Math contest. That turned out well as he was able to top all the competition and become the State Champion.

  Cody is looking forward to the National SkillsUSA contest to be held in June in Kansas City, MO. Memorial automotive teacher Jim Sainsbury is the local SkillsUSA Chapter Advisor.

• Huegel 4th Grader wins first place in AAA Wisconsin Poster Contest

  Lindsey Olsen, 4th grader at Huegel Elementary, has won first place in the 62nd Annual AAA National Safety Poster contest for the grade 3-5 category.

  The purpose of the contest is to reduce traffic and pedestrian crashes. Students could illustrate posters about night time visibility, helmet safety, buckle up or alcohol awareness.

  Olsen's poster was selected out of 250 entries. Her poster is featured in the May issue of AAA magazine.

• Memorial HS senior Molly Rideout says she was "shocked" by TDS Telecom Jim Butman's surprise announcement that she was awarded a $10,000 scholarship for her essay in the 2006 TDS National Essay Contest. Rideout's entry tells the story of a sister in the states and her brother in Iraq communicating via a "path device" that allows users to communicate by thought. Rideout is pictured with her English teacher at Memorial, William Rodriquez.
  

  School News Weekly: Memorial Essay Contest Winner

April, 2006

• MSCR Black Hawk Spirit Club Wins Award

  On April 27th staff and students from the Black Hawk Spirit Club were honored with the Community Group Volunteer Award from at the United Way Volunteer Awards, Rise and Shine Breakfast. Black Hawk Principal Mary Kelley, Club Leader and Black Hawk teacher Jennifer Peters, and 4 youth representatives of the Black Hawk Spirit Club sat anxiously through the majority of the morning's festivities before hearing their name called as an award recipient.

  The award came complete with an engraved crystal award to display at the school and $1,000 check for the school. The Spirit Club was recognized for their outstanding dedication to serving their community throughout the school year.

  The Black Hawk Spirit Club is made up of 40 Black Hawk Middle School students and three adult leaders. They have done numerous community service projects throughout the school year including raking leaves for elderly members of the Black Hawk neighborhood, a food drive for a local food pantry, singing carols to residents at a local senior center, making cards and visiting with patients at the Veterans Hospital, raising funds and purchasing stuffed bears for patients at the UW Children's Hospital, and doing a towel drive to add comfort to the lives of animals at the Dane County Humane Society.

  The work of the Black Hawk Spirit Club has gone a long way in helping to create a positive perception of young people in their community. They plan to use the money to expand their community service efforts for the next school year.

• James Buchanan, West High School Applied Technology Department Chair, was awarded the Wisconsin Technology Education Association (WTEA) Award of excellence this spring. The award was presented to James Buchanan (pictured at left) in recognition of his "outstanding service and commitment to Technology Education... This is a great honor for you to be recognized by other Technology Education teachers as an exemplary teacher within the State of Wisconsin." Jim was a pioneer within our district in the development of curricula for Desktop Publishing, Media Literacy and technology integration into academic subjects while teaching at Sennett Middle School. Included in these efforts was his development of a daily news program, Sennett News Network (SNN), which was completely managed and broadcast live on television to every classroom by students. Recently, the Woodworking and Auto Mechanics Programs at West High School have experienced an exciting rejuvenation under his leadership as evidenced by the waiting list of 100+ students trying to register for his classes.
  

April 14, 2006

• MMSD teacher Erik Shager has received the Eau Claire Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence from the State Bar of Wisconsin. Shager teaches at the Brearly St. Work and Learn Center (WLC). He received the award for his efforts in developing a curriculum emphasizing social issues and Supreme Court cases both current and past.

  WLC is an alternative high school that provides a four-semester sequence of academic courses and related work experiences that emphasize a core academic curriculum for each semester.

April 4, 2006

• West High School business teachers Linda Plourde and Melanie Thiel received the Red Apple Outstanding Advisor award at the DECA state conference recently. The award is given to outstanding DECA advisors based on nominations from parents, administration, alumni and students.

  Nineteen West students qualified at the state conference for the international DECA conference in Dallas April 29 — May 2. More information from the Wisconsin State Journal.

April 3, 2006

• Lincoln Elementary School 5th grade teacher Marc Kornblatt is receiving the Nemec Distinguished Elementary Education Alumni award this spring from the UW-Madison School of Education. This award is presented annually, according to the School of Education, "to an outstanding graduate of our elementary education program."

March 20, 2006

• At the annual MSCR Chess Championship recently, Xiaoming Wang, Stephens Elementary 5th grader, won 1st place in the K-5 category, and Sam Bell, West High 11th grader, won 1st place in the 6-12 grade category.

  Seventy children participated in the tournament which is for children in grades kindergarten through 12.

March 13, 2006

• Two students from Madison East are among 200 graduating students who have won scholarships from the Kohl Educational Foundation.

  Nicole Rockweiler has been awarded a $1,000 Excellence Scholarship for demonstrating excellence in the academic arena and high motivation to achieve, and having displayed a broad range of activity and leadership outside the academic setting.

  Thaddeus McCants will receive a $1,000 Initiative Scholarship for demonstrating exceptional initiative in the classroom and showing strong promise for succeeding in college and beyond, but has not yet received other academic-based scholarships.

March 9, 2006

• Three business teachers — Darrin Graham, La Follette HS, Dave Thomas, Memorial HS and Mareta Van Rens, East HS — have been awarded Accounting Careers Awareness Grants from the Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants Educational Foundation. They are three of 10 teachers in the state to receive the grants, which will be used to purchase new software and textbooks for accounting students.

March 2, 2006

• The National Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network has selected the Madison School District to receive honorable mention for the Furlong Award for Making a Difference.

  This award is for organizations "who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to making a difference in the lives of people with food allergies."

  The Madison district was nominated by an elementary student's parent who had a great experience transitioning her food-allergic child to kindergarten. The parent also wanted to recognize the work that the district's Health Services staff has done over the last couple of years to develop a new guideline on life threatening food allergies and provide staff education about it.

February 28, 2006

• Nine Madison students have been selected as candidates for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, one of the nation's highest honors for high school students. Each year, about 40 students from each state are identified as candidates based on exceptional scores on the ACT or SAT assessments.

  The nine Madison seniors and their high schools are:

  • Carter Foulke, Memorial
  • Brian Lee, Memorial
  • Adeyinka Lesi, West
  • Neil Liu, Memorial
  • Edson Makuluni, Memorial
  • Paul Quintans, West
  • Melanie Rawlings, Memorial
  • Ilari Shafer, Memorial
  • Corey Watts, West
• Aaron Champagne of Madison West has been selected as a recipient for the U.S. Senate Youth Program. As a result, Aaron receives a $5,000 college scholarship. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Senate and the Hearst Foundation.

• Shabazz High School teacher Tina Murray and her Project Green Teen are the subject of a feature article in the February edition of Badger Sportsman magazine. PGT is a new service learning class at Shabazz and has advanced water conservation efforts and fly-fishing among the 20 teens taking the class.

  The article features the students working to plant a prairie buffer on the Vilas Lagoon near Lake Wingra in Madison.

• Two teams from Madison West's Rocket Club have been invited to participate in NASA's national Student Launch Initiative. Only the top 25 teams out of 600 from across the country were selected at a competition last year in Virginia.

  In the Student Launch Initiative, student Rocket Club teams develop an experimental payload for a rocket traveling to 5,280 ft. above ground, and design a reusable vehicle to launch the payload. Congratulations to club advisor Christine Hager and the West Rocket Club.

February 17, 2006

• Another successful "Souper Bowl" was held on Saturday Feb. 4th. This annual fundraiser for Habitat with Humanity has become a community-wide tradition. Attendees enjoyed the soup, bread, fellowship and entertainment, and also took home a handmade ceramic bowl created by student artists.
• The second in a series of Straight Talk presentations is scheduled for February 22nd, 6:30-8:30 pm, at the Memorial High School Theater 300. This installment focuses on alcohol abuse among teens. The evening's presenters are UW Professor Kristi Obmascher, who teaches a UW class on binge drinking, Scott Caldwell from the UW Adolescent Alcohol/Drug Abuse Prevention Program, along with representatives of the Madison Police Department, Dane County Task Force on Narcotics and MMSD Alcohol and Drug Prevention Coordinators.
• All schools will be closed on February 24th for the Southern Wisconsin Educational In-service Organization (SWEIO) convention.
• At a recent gathering of Aristos grants recipients, this year's scholars provided a show-and-tell about their very innovative projects. Aristos grants have gone to support a wonderful range of work in our district, from the integration of museum visits into the Arts curriculum to creating a café atmosphere in a high school library.

  Rita Applebaum, coordinator of the Aristos Program, and Jodi Bender Sweeney, of the Foundation for Madison's Public Schools, announced that Mr. & Mrs. Terry Kelly have made a generous donation to the Aristos program to encourage continued innovation.

January 19, 2006

• WISC-TV's Alanna Rizzo and Police Chief Noble Wray were two of several "celebrity servers" at the 16th annual Lapham Elementary Holiday Luncheon. Local media personalities, state and local politicians along with many members of the Madison Board of Education were there to help out. Over 600 students, their families and community members were served up turkey with all the trimmings.
  
  

November 18, 2005

• On October 24th, Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz visited Nuestro Mundo and Frank Allis Elementary Schools. The mayor visited all first grade classrooms. In one of the Nuestro Mundo classroom he used the simultaneous translation equipment in order to listen in English to a classroom's discussion in Spanish. Mayor Dave said he looks forward to seeing Nuesto Mundo expand in the future.
• After over 20 years of serving the students at Falk Elementary, Food Service worker Margie Schwantes said goodbye to children and staff as she retired recently. But it was not a quiet goodbye. Margie Swantes Week was marked by much media fanfare and an all-school assembly. Now it is the Board's turn to add our thanks to this exceptionally dedicated employee. Best wishes to lunch lady extraordinaire, Margie Swantes.
• "It was a banner year for MMSD football," according to the Wisconsin State Journal. West High, with a 7 and 2 overall record topped the Big Eight Conference. Memorial High took the City championship with a 7 and 3 record. MMSD players also garnered their fair share of honors at the Madison Shrine Club All-City Football banquet. West had nine first-team selections. West's Lamario Johnson earned the Ray W. Huegel Memorial Award as the city's outstanding back and Memorial's Dan Mahaffey received the Ray Sennett Memorial Award as the city's top lineman. His coach, Fred Hable, earned the Arthur W. "Dynie" Mansfield Award as the city coach of the year. Congratulations to players and coaches for their hard work.
• In addition to being included in the Nehemiah Development Corporation's list of Madison's top Black educators, Diane Crear, Special Assistant to the Superintendent for Parent and Community Relations, received the Harry and Velma Hamilton Branch Service award from the Madison Branch of the NAACP for her service and dedication to that organization at their Freedom Fund banquet on October 21st. Congratulations to Diane on these well-deserved distinctions.