Remind—School Closing Notification for Parentss 2
Wisconsin School and Accountability Report Cards 5
Taste Test Lunch Menu Offerings at NES 7
Inside This Issue
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Volume 40, No. 2
November 2016
Elementary Parent-Teacher Conferences, grades 4K-5, will be held on November 23,2016 or by scheduled appointment during the weeks of November 14-18, 2016. Par-ents/guardians will receive notification of conference appointments.
Strengthening the relationship between home and school is just one of the goals of Parent-Teacher Conferences. With quality communication in place, our learners will more fully reach their potentials. Students are welcome to accompany their parents or guardians to conferences. All parents are encouraged to attend.
There will be no school for students in the School District of Maple Monday through Friday, November 21-25, 2016.
Skyward Family Access is available for you to monitor your students’ progress throughout the school year. The link can be found on the school district website at www.nw-tigers.org. If you are having
trouble accessing your account, please contact the District Office at 715-363-2431, Extension 2250.
Elementary Parent/Teacher Conferences
School Closing Procedures
Occasionally, it is necessary to close or cancel school because of weather. The Superintendent makes the deci-sion to close school after consulting with the Director of Transportation, bus drivers and county officers regarding weather conditions. If school is canceled before classes begin in the morning, the announcement will be carried on the following local radio stations: KDAL (610 AM; 95.7 FM), WNXR (107.3 FM), WEBC (560 AM; 105.1 FM), and television stations WDIO-10, KBJR-6 and KDLH-3. It would be advisable for parents to tune in to one of these sta-tions as this procedure is followed for both district-wide closings as well as the closing of individual schools within the district.
If classes are already in session and it is necessary to close the schools or if individual schools must be closed be-cause of maintenance problems such as no water or no heat, the announcement of school closing will be made on the same stations.
Extremely low temperatures by themselves are not usually a reason to close school. School buildings are warm and comfortable, and a nourishing meal is available for children on such days.
Parents/guardians are urged not to call the school to ask if the school will close. This ties up the telephone line and prevents its use in case of an emergency.
You, as a parent, may decide that the weather is too severe to send your child to school (especially a younger child). Please send a note with your child stating that reason upon their return. Your decision in this mat-ter is respected by the school district administration.
If the school district is closed because of bad weather, all athletic, after-school and evening events are also can-celed.
Influenza Information
Who decides to close schools for health reasons? The state health officer, the local health officer, and the local school adminis-trator all have the authority to close an individual school or schools for health and safety reasons.
When is school closure due to influenza appropriate? As long as the severity of illness is similar to seasonal influenza severity, the main consideration when deciding to close schools is whether illness and absenteeism impede school functioning. There is no established threshold above which schools should consider closure, however most recent school closures in Wisconsin have in-volved absenteeism rates above 30%. It is worth noting that Wisconsin schools occasionally close during seasonal influenza out-breaks when absenteeism reaches these levels. Mitigating factors that can affect the decision to close schools include:
Whether absenteeism rates are increasing, stable or decreasing How closely ill students and staff adhere to exclusion guidelines
and stay home until 24 hours after fever resolves without the use of fever-reducing medications
The proportion of students who are at high risk of serious compli-cations from influenza infection (e.g., pregnant teens, develop-mentally delayed students, students with chronic respiratory problems or neurologic disorders, etc.)
Proximity to and mixing with other affected schools, including during bus transport
Number of ill staff who are absent and availability of substitute teachers
Level of concern in the community if schools stay open, or if schools close
Does school closure reduce influenza transmission? The bene-fits of school closure in terms of reducing disease transmission will depend on many factors, including the extent of social mixing outside of school. When a large proportion of the school community has influ-enza-like illness it is reasonable to expect that closure will decrease exposures and interrupt some transmission, and that along with the passage of time and recovery of ill students, this should help absen-teeism rates decline to more manageable levels.
Are you utilizing Family Access to view your student’s attendance, grades, schedule, food service balance, progress, assignments, and emergency information? Family Access is a free service operated through a secure internet-based website and is available to all parents with children enrolled in the district. As the School District of Maple continues it’s transition to being “paperless”, it is very important that you use Family Access to stay informed about your student’s progress in school.
If you have misplaced your login and/or password information for Family Access, please contact the district office at 715-363-2431.
Wisconsin’s accountability system reports on the performance of all public schools and districts, including charter
schools, and private school participating in a parental choice program.
Beginning in 2011-12, a comprehensive accountability index replaced the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)
sys-tem. The index approach uses multiple measures and classifies schools along a rating continuum. The ratings
de-termine the level of support a school receives, ranging from rewards and recognition for high performing schools to
state intervention for the lowest performing schools in the state. Accountability scores, ratings, and a 5 star rating
system (as of the 2015-16 report cards) are reported annually in the School and District Report Cards.
Accountability report cards include outcomes in four priority areas:
Student Achievement
measures the level of knowledge and skills among students in the school, compared to
state and national standards. It includes a composite of reading and mathematics performance by the “all
stu-dents” group in the Wisconsin Student Assessment System (WSAS) for all tested grades in the school.
Student Growth
describes how much student knowledge of reading and mathematics in the school changes
from year to year. It uses a point system that gives positive credit for students progressing toward higher
perfor-mance levels, and negative credit for students declining below proficiency. This area focuses not on attainment,
but the pace of improvement in student performance, no matter where students begin. All improvement is treated
as a positive. Schools with high performance and little room to grow are not penalized.
Closing Gaps
shows how the performance of student groups experiencing statewide gaps in achievement and
graduation is improving in the school. It recognizes the importance of having all students improve, while focusing
on the need to close gaps by lifting lower-performing groups. Specific race/ethnicity groups, students with
disabili-ties, economically disadvantaged students, and English language learners are compared against their
comple-mentary groups.
On-Track to Graduation and Postsecondary Readiness
indicates the success of students in the school in
achieving educational milestones that predict postsecondary success. It includes the graduation rate for schools
that graduate students, or the attendance rate for other schools. It also includes measures of third-grade reading
and eighth-grade mathematics achievement, and ACT participation and performance, as applicable to the school.
Accountability scores are provided for each priority area. Student Engagement Indicators are measures outside
the four priority areas that affect student success and the soundness of the index. Each indicator has a goal, and
schools/districts that fail to meet that goal receive a point deduction from their overall score. Schools/districts can
meet the goals with a one-year or three-year rate. Goals were set by looking at statewide data and establishing
thresholds that identify schools contributing the most to lowering Wisconsin’s overall performance in the areas
be-low.
Test Participation
(minimum 95%) - The lowest group rate of all students and subgroups is used for this indicator.
1.
Absenteeism
(below 13%) - Related to attendance, the school’s absenteeism rate is the percentage of
stu-dents whose individual attendance rate is 84% and below.
2.
Dropout Rates
(below 6%)
Schools not meeting the threshold for any Student Engagement Indicator will have points deducted from their
in-dex score. For Test Participation, if the rate is less than 95 percent, but at least 85 percent, five points are
deduct-ed from the school’s overall score; for rates less than 85 percent, 10 points are ddeduct-eductdeduct-ed. If the absenteeism rate
in the school is 13 percent or more, 5 points are deducted from its score. The goal for every middle and high
school is to have a dropout rate of less than 6 percent. If the school does not meet that goal, 5 points are deducted
from its score. The resulting overall accountability score will determine the Accountability Rating a school receives.
Results from this years’ School Performance Report will be posted on the District’s webpage this month.
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District Offers A Senior Tax Exchange Program (Step)
The Senior Tax Exchange Program (STEP) policy allows seniors an opportunity to volunteer in our schools and receive tax relief. The School District of Maple Board of Education recognizes and welcomes the many gifts and talents our senior citizens have to contribute to our school system including:
Any senior citizen 62 years of age or older who receives social security and has taxable property within the School District of Maple is eligible to apply. A STEP application indicates the type of work and amount of hours desired. This information is matched with a staff member’s request for assistance. An interview and background check will precede actual participation.
The school district will accept up to 15 applicants per year. The compensation of $5.00 per hour (with the maximum amount earned up to $400.00 gross) will be distributed annually in the form of a two-party check made out to the worker and the appropriate county treasurer for vol-unteer hours between January 1 and November 30. The district verifies the hours volvol-unteered and calculates the amount earned toward the tax bill on December 1. Any hours worked after November 30 will be applied toward the following year’s tax bill.
A brochure and application form is available upon request by calling Dr. Sara Croney, Superin-tendent, or Peggy Janigo, Executive Administrative Assistant, at 363-2431, Extension 2264 or by email at pjanigo@nw-tigers.org.
Reading to a child Clerical work Grounds keeping Tutoring
Shelving books
Preparing bulletin boards Assisting with computers And much more
REMINDER!
Food Service Payments Can Now Be
Made Online Via E~Funds
Go to www.nw-tigers.org
Diplomas to Veterans
In addition to issuing high school diplomas under the conditions outlined in district high school graduation policies, school boards now have the authority to award high school diplomas to veterans who meet specific requirements.
1999 Wisconsin Act 73, s. 118.33 (a) (1) which became effective April 26, 2000, allows a school board to award a high school diploma to a person who meets all of the following criteria:
is at least 65 years old;
attended high school in the district or attended high school in this state and resides in this district;
left high school before receiving a high school diploma to join the U.S. armed forces during a war period under s. 45.001 (5).
served on active duty under honorable conditions in the U.S. armed forces or in forces incorporated as part of the U.S. armed forces. award a high school diploma to a person who received a high school equivalency diploma under s. 115.29 (4) after serving on active
duty under honorable conditions if the person meets the conditions of par. (1) 1-3. (c) award, upon request, a high school diploma to a person who has died, but who, before dying, satisfied the conditions of par. (a) 2-4.
Headline
Activity Bus Guidelines
67
thBudget Hearing and Annual Meeting Held
The School District of Maple’s proposed budget and programs for the 2016-17 school year were explained at the Budget Hearing and Annual Meet-ing held on September 26 2016.
The district's budget is developed according to the Wisconsin Uniform Financial Accounting Requirements (WUFAR) based on Fund Accounting. A Fund is defined as an account that has its own beginning and ending balance from which funds are received and expended.
Instructional staff for the 2016-17 school year includes early intervention services (EIS) and special education at the Iron River and Northwestern Elementary Schools (subsidized with flow-through dollars). The District is continuing with the 4-year-old kindergarten program using community partner sites as well as on-site programming at Northwestern Elementary School. The areas of art, music, and physical education will be staffed to support, maximize and balance elementary itinerant classes. Courses offered at the high school and middle school will remain basically the same as in 2015-16.
A new program in 2016-17 is the “Tiger’s Den” before and after school childcare, for students in grades Kindergarten through 8th grade during the school year, weekdays that school is not in session (except for holidays), and when summer school is not in session. Also new is the implementa-tion of “Virtual Maple” providing on-line learning opportunities for families that live within the School District of Maple boundaries, including home-based education.
As part of the Wisconsin PI 34 requirements to provide highly qualified teachers in the district, a comprehensive and rigorous teacher-mentor pro-gram is conducted for all newly hired instructional staff. In addition, staff development days are used to review, evaluate, and align curriculum to insure that the school district is meeting the new Accountability for Schools system as set forth by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
In addition, we are in the second year of implementation of the 5-year Strategic Plan, which was developed to establish a vision and set goals for the School District of Maple. This plan was created by board
mem-bers, administration, instructional staff, support staff, parents and/or guardians, and area businesses and community members.
The total school budget was reviewed and it was explained that the dollar amount of the budget would decrease approximately 2.9% over the 2015-16 budget. This will result in a tax levy decrease of 2.8% from the actual amount levied in 2015-16.
Brandon Willger, CPA for CliftonLarsonAllen LLP of Rice Lake, Wis-consin, briefed the public with a summary of the audit as outlined in the 2015 Informational Booklet. He stated that the district received an “unmodified opinion” or highest audit opinion that can be earned for the 2015-16 fiscal year, explaining that the financial records of the District were very well maintained and that there were no issues or concerns presented with district funds, financial policies or
proce-dures, and that the manner in which the staff keeps and reports their financial records are exactly as it should be and the District’s finances have been well main-tained for a number of years.
Page 6 N E W S O F Y O U R S C H O O L S
1. Activity bus routes operate only on major highways with central drop-off points for each community for those students who do not live along the route.
2. NO fee will be charged to ride the activity bus.
3. All regular school rules and policies apply to after school transporta-tion on the activity buses.
4. Activity buses will run Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday only for the Fall, Winter, and Spring Sports season and other activities. 5. Beginning Thursday, September 1, 2016 activity buses
departed-Northwestern Elementary School at 5:55 P.M.; departed-Northwestern Middle School at 5:55 P.M.; and Northwestern High School at 6:00 P.M. 6. Beginning Tuesday, March 7, 2017, activity buses will depart from
Northwestern Elementary at 5:40 P.M.; Northwestern Middle School at 5:40 P.M.; and Northwestern High School at 5:45 P.M.
L to R: Paul Staffrude, Director of Finance/Business Manager for the District and Brandon Willger, CPA and Manager at CliftonLarsonAllen, LLP of Rice Lake, WI review the 2015-16 completed auditor report in preparation for the Annual Meeting.
IMPORTANT NOTICE!!!
The committee for the Chemical-Free
Grad-uation Party will be holding its 22nd Annual
Fruit Sale Fundraiser,
and we are asking
for your help
to make this sale a success.
Orders can be picked up at Northwestern
High School on
Tuesday, December 20th
from 2:00-4:00 p.m
. or you can call
715-363-2434, ext. 2000, to make arrangements
for a different pick-up time if that does not
work for your schedule. Pick-up will take
place at the north end of the building,
Entrance “J”.
Are you interested or curious about the meals available to your students? Here’s the opportunity to taste them for yourself!
New for 2016 Elementary Parent/Teacher Conferences we will be showcasing some of the lunch menu items offered to your student! We are inviting all Parents/Guardians to taste test our delicious and nutritious meals available to your child(ren) before or after your conference with the teacher. If your conference is scheduled for another time, we encourage you to stop by and participate.
Where: Northwestern Elementary School
Dates: Monday and Tuesday, November 14 and November 15
Time: 3:45 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
An optional short survey will be available for your input. Jody Botten, Director of Food Services, will be available to answer any questions or listen to suggestions.
Also on Monday we will have Mrs. Leighton available to assist completing the free and reduced meal application if needed. We look forward to seeing you!!
Taste Test Lunch Menu Offerings!
On Friday, November 4, Jason Church, Wisconsin native and NCAA Inspirational Award Re-cipient, spoke with Northwestern Middle School (NMS) students on perseverance and the power of choosing a positive attitude. Purple Heart Recipient Captain (Ret) Jason Church
presented a powerful and moving testimony. Captain (Ret.) Church was a platoon leader attached to the 2nd Infantry Division of Fort
Lewis, Washington. He lost both legs due to an IED explosion in the Horn of Panjwai in Afghanistan in 2012. Today, he is part of the Wisconsin Veteran Outreach Program and goes around to many different schools shar-ing his experience and how his life has trans-formed since this tragic incident.
Mike Ketola, NMS Social Studies Teacher, was presented with the Iron River VFW Auxil-iary Post 10197 Teacher of the Year Award for 2015. He was nominated for the award by one of his students in the spring of 2016 while Mr. Ketola served overseas in Korea. Several local veterans were part of the presentation.
Wisconsin Secretary of the Department of Financial Institutions Lon Rob-erts visited Northwestern High School (NHS) on Tuesday, August 30, 2016 to meet with the Superintendent, Dr. Sara Croney, Jody Forsythe, Marketing Education Teacher and DECA Advisor, Ryan Teal, Social Studies Department Chair, and Northwestern High School Principal, Mark Carlson to talk about financial literacy efforts.
The Department of Financial Institutions houses the Office of Financial Literacy, which is instrumental in sponsoring the financial literacy grant program (through which the School District of Maple received a grant in 2014) and the Governor’s financial literacy award program (which last year honored Jody Forsythe).
Mr. Teal, Mrs. Forsythe, and Mr. Steve High, former NHS Principal, were instrumental in securing a Financial Literacy Grant through the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Secretary Lon Roberts Visits Northwestern High School
Pictured left to right: Secretary Roberts, Superintendent Croney, Principal Carlson, Mrs. Forsythe and Mr. Teal
Captain (Ret.) Jason Church Visits Northwestern Middle School
Teacher Receives Award
Iron River VFW Auxiliary Post 10197
Headline
“Virtual Maple” Up and Running!
Page 8 N E W S O F Y O U R S C H O O L S
The School District of Maple has contracted with the same companies that provides curriculum to such well-known Wisconsin providers as the Wisconsin Virtual School, the Wisconsin Virtual Academy and is used for homeschool learning. The School District of Maple realizes that par-ents make the choice to homeschool or open enroll their children for a variety of good and well thought out reasons.
Our goal is to provide you with the same types of freedoms you currently enjoy by providing you with the same or similar type of curriculum you are getting elsewhere, but with the benefit of being connected to your local school district. You will really not have to do anything different from what you are doing, but by being reconnected to Maple schools, you would be able to take advantage of many services and programs you don’t necessarily have access to by being enrolled in a virtual school in another part of the state or by independent
homebased education. Some of those things could include: on-site nursing services, career and college planning, par-ticipation in various clubs and activities, “blended” curricular opportunities and sports.
Please feel free to contact Mark Carlson, Principal at Northwestern High School, if you have any questions at 715-363-2434, ext. 2015. The School District of Maple is “big enough” to provide opportunities for all to grow, but small enough where everyone matters!
We hope to be able to “reconnect” with those who are currently homeschooling or open enrolled to a virtual school in the far corners of the state. You can continue to enjoy all the freedoms you currently enjoy with the benefit of being able to take advantage of everything our various schools have to offer during the school day and after school hours.
Access School Webpages!
The quarterly “News of Your Schools” District newsletter provides the public with information on the business aspects of the school district in-cluding current educational issues relating to the District and Board of Education inin-cluding mandatory public postings, new policy information, and educational mandates and programs. A link is provided on the District homepage at www.nw-tigers.org to access the quarterly newslet-ter.
Also, a friendly reminder that a link is provided for each school in the District for accessing information pertinent to each individual school in-cluding newsletters and student activities. Just click on the school listed below to access the building site.
· Iron River Elementary School
· Northwestern Elementary School
· Northwestern Middle School
· Northwestern High School
Do you have appointments or shopping that needs to be done? You can still enroll your child for full day-care during the upcoming breaks from school on a part-time or daily basis!
The School District of Maple’s Tiger’s Den provides before and after school youth care for all children age 5 through 13 years. The program is available from 6:00 a.m. to 8:05 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on all days that school is in session and 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on days when classes are not in session. .
The Tiger’s Den before and after school program will provide an excellent atmosphere to enrich your child’s day. Daily structured activities are balanced with the free time that children need after a full day of school. Children will have access to the school facilities such as the play-ground, gymnasium and library. We will have lots of fun and enriching activities including crafts, games and puzzles designed to keep kids
busy while at the same time providing a safe, supervised environment.
Monthly rates for guaranteed space are available, as well as first come, first serve part-time rates and drop-in care for preregistered children.
Please see the Tiger’s Den tab on the School District of Maple’s webpage at www.nw-tigers.org for rates and additional information. Please contact Bethany Crail, Director of Child Care at 715-815-7221.
Pertussis Information (Whooping Cough)
What is pertussis?
Pertussis is a contagious bacterial disease that affects the respiratory tract.
Who gets pertussis?
Pertussis can infect persons of all ages, but is most serious in infants and young children.
How is pertussis spread?
The bacteria are spread by contact with the respiratory droplets from an infected person through coughing. Exposure usually occurs after re-peated indoor face-to face contact. Household spread is common.
What are the signs and symptoms of pertussis?
In infants and young children, the disease begins much like a cold with a runny nose, possible low grade fever and a mild but irritating cough for 1-2 weeks. The illness progresses to spells of explosive coughing that can interrupt breathing, eating and sleeping and is commonly fol-lowed by vomiting and exhaustion. Following the cough, the patients may make a loud crowing or "whooping" sound as they struggle to inhale air (hence the common name "whooping cough"). The severe coughing spells can last for several weeks to two months or longer. In older chil-dren, adolescents and adults the symptoms are usually milder and without the typical whoop.
What are the complications associated with pertussis?
In infants less than 6 months of age, the most common complication is bacterial pneumonia
(17%) followed by neurologic complications such as seizures (2.1%) and encephalopathy (0.2%). Loss of weight from nutritional disturbance and dehydration is also a complication from the disease. More than half of the infants with confirmed pertussis require hospitalization.
How soon do symptoms appear after exposure? Usually 7-20 days.
When and for how long is a person able to spread pertussis?
Pertussis is most contagious in the early stage of the illness before the onset of the explosive coughing spell. The spread of pertussis may be up to three weeks or more after cough onset. The spread period can be reduced to 5 days after the initiation of an appropriate course of antibi-otics administered in the early stages of illness.
Is there treatment for pertussis?
There are four antibiotics recommended for the treatment of pertussis that will shorten the period of communicability. Your doctor may chose one of these antibiotics for treatment. The appropriate antibiotics include either a 5-day course of azithromycin, a 7-day course of clarithromy-cin or a 14-day course of either erythromyclarithromy-cin or trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX). Persons with pertussis should be isolated from school, work or similar activities until they have completed at least the first 5 days of an appropriate antibiotic therapy. The remaining doses of antibiotics need to be taken as prescribed.
How can the spread of pertussis be prevented?
Treatment is recommended for well persons who are close contacts (especially household
contacts) of the case to prevent or reduce the severity of illness. Any untreated contacts of a case that develops a persistent cough should be tested for pertussis. Confirmed or suspected cases of pertussis that do not receive appropriate antibiotics should be isolated for 3 weeks.
