Relive East and West Graduations online at:

EAST: https://thecube.com/event/737096

WEST: https://thecube.com/event/737097

West Bend Community Television Rebroadcast Schedule:

http://www.ci.west-bend.wi.us/Community-Television/ 

• Tuesday, June 13th: 6pm - Replay East Graduation / 8:30pm - Replay West Graduation
• Wednesday, June 14: 12pm (Noon) - Replay East Graduation / 2:30pm - Replay West Graduation
• Thursday, June 15: 7pm - Replay East Graduation / 9:30pm Replay West Graduation
• Friday, June 16: 12pm (Noon) - Replay East Graduation / 2:30pm Replay West Graduation
• Sunday, June 18: 12pm (Noon) - Replay West Graduation / 2:30pm Replay East Graduation

Last night, the West Bend East Baseball team celebrated the 15th anniversary of winning the WIAA State Championship! We brought back the 2002 East Suns Baseball team for a special recognition ceremony, prior to last night's game.

Notable 2002 Team Stats:

• Overall record: 28-4
• 16-0 in North Shore Conference play
• Defeated Baldwin-Woodville 7-3 in the State quarter-finals
• Defeated Whitefish Bay 6-0 in the State semi-finals
• Defeated Muskego 7-6 in the State Championship Game

The 2002 West Bend East Suns Baseball Team:

• Head Coach: Doug Gonring
• Assistant Coaches: Craig Larsen, Curt Schroeder
• OF: Andy Schneider
• P: Luke Sternig
• 3B: Adam Wiedmeyer
• P/3B: Josh Boyer
• P/OF: Andy Kastner
• P/IF: Ryan Rohlinger
• Mike Chianelli (team member who has since passed away)

The end of the 2016-17 academic year has arrived, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to say a heartfelt THANK YOU.  As I conclude my first year serving this wonderful community, I am pleased with the accomplishments of West Bend School District staff and students, and the support that we have received from our great community.

Thank you to our students for everything that you teach us as administrators, teachers and staff. Your creativity, enthusiasm and dedication is inspirational. Your accomplishments throughout the year are a source of great pride. Continue to practice kindness, leadership and celebrate the diversity that makes each one of you so special!

Congratulations to our 2017 graduates! You have reached an important lifelong milestone and have a blank slate ahead of you - one that I know each one of you will paint full of experiences, life lessons and achievements that shine just as bright as each of you. I’m proud of your accomplishments and wish you nothing but the best as you continue your journey into adulthood!

Thank you to our parents for your unwavering support and involvement. I recognize and appreciate the important role you play in your child’s education. From helping with homework or career planning, attending events, volunteering at the school, providing leadership in PTOs, or attending parent teacher conferences and keeping connected with school staff: your involvement makes a difference.

Thank you to our amazing staff:  administrators, bus drivers, educational assistants, learning coaches, maintenance staff, support staff, school nutrition staff, teachers, and those in educational services center office.  Each of you makes a difference as we strive for our ambitious aim of Excellence for All.  There are so many lessons to be learned both inside and outside of the classroom, and you provide students with many opportunities to blossom into inspired and engaged citizens and community members. I am so grateful for the care, support and guidance that I see demonstrated every day.

To our community members and business partners, I am thankful for your involvement and support in our schools. The commitment demonstrated reinforces my belief that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world.  

Students, staff, parents, community members and businesses are all an important part of the West Bend School District. Thank you for your continuous support and contributions to making our schools the great places they are to learn and grow, work and be.  Wishing all a safe and fun summer!

Erik Olson

Three cheers for Badger 8th grader Eleri Extence, she has been selected to participate in the:

WI School Music Association (WSMA) State Honors Project this October!

Recently, Eleri competed in a series of auditions which involved more than 1,200 band, choir, and orchestra students from across the state. Of the 1,200 that participated, 300 students were selected for the State Honors Project! In fact, Eleri is the FIRST West Bend middle school choir student to earn this honor! 

Eleri is quite an accomplished musician, having performed solos at Solo Ensemble, Badger Unplugged, the Badger Talent Show, and Badger Show Choir. 

WAY TO GO, ELERI, WE'RE PROUD OF YOU!

May 18, 2017

West Bend High Schools along with West Bend Police Department and other community agencies will be holding a “Mock Traffic Crash” today, May 18, 2017 at 1 p.m.

During the morning, announcements will be read to the students regarding the program and “Mock Obituaries” about the students who are participating.

The “Mock Traffic Crash” will have students from the high school ROLE PLAYING a crash caused by a drunk driver.  In this “Mock Crash” the West Bend Police Department, West Bend Fire Department, Flight for Life helicopter, Washington County Sheriff’s Department, Washington County Medical Examiner, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Myrhum-Patten Funeral Home will be part of the event.  You will hear sirens and see the police and fire departments responding with their equipment and working around the “Mock Crash Scene”.  This is not a real accident, it is a teaching tool used to show the students the consequences of driving drunk.  No one will be hurt when you see them loading people into the ambulance or Flight For Life helicopter.  

This event will take place on the corner of River Road & Decorah Road across the street from the school.  Traffic will be redirected to go around the “Mock Traffic Accident” scene.

If you have any questions or concerns, please call me at 262-335-5545.

Sincerely,
 

Tracey Conners

Principal

Greetings families and community members:

As we approach the conclusion of the 2016-17 school year, I’d like to take this opportunity to update you on the accomplishments and progress that we have made throughout the year.  It’s been a very busy and successful year for the District! My key messages in this update will cover the following:

• Updates on Strategic Plan Objectives
• Noteworthy Leadership Accomplishments

I’ve always been inspired by Stephen Covey’s philosophy of “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” When we began this journey together last summer, it was important for me to ensure that all voices were heard in order to gain an understanding of where we are as a school system and a community. I shared the mantra of “Believe,” a statement that compliments our District’s Vision of Excellence for All and our Mission of Preparing All Students for College Readiness AND Career Successes. I believed in our great teachers, staff, administrators and Board, our students and parents, and community partners to work together in order to continue the District’s reputation of fostering a successful and thriving learning institution.

STRATEGIC PLAN OBJECTIVES

As you recall, one of my first priorities was to immerse myself in a listening and learning process that enabled me to identify strengths, opportunities for improvement, and hope for the District for the next 5 years. The ideas and outcomes generated from those listening sessions, paired with the work completed by District leadership teams, will help to develop and shape the strategic foci for the 2017-18 school year. This strategic plan aims to provide clarity, direction and focus for our District. For the 2016-17 school year, below are the strategic objectives that the District has been working on.

What follows is a high-level update on what we have accomplished in each of the five key strategic objectives, and what we continue to make significant progress on.
 

Learning Strategy:

• Goal teams were established to continuously improve curriculum, instruction and assessment by providing strategic and systematic direction, decisions, and action plans resulting in an increase in student growth and achievement. Goal teams include: District Curriculum, English Language Arts (ELA), Math, Science, Social Studies, Music, Art, World Language, Physical Education, Career and Technical Education, School Counselor, Talented and Gifted, Reading Teacher/Specialist, Summer School, Response to Intervention (RTI), Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS).
• As a result of the tireless efforts across the District, students have been able to achieve and grow as learners and individuals in pursuit of our Mission of Preparing All Students for College Readiness AND Career Success. In our quest for Excellence for All, we have been able to learn, celebrate and improve together to provide students with a learning experience that as a community, we can be proud of. 
• Two District-wide professional development data summits were held on November 23, 2016 and February 13, 2017. The purpose:
  • Work collaboratively to develop knowledge, skills, and competencies required for progress monitoring our assessment results, as a way to determine if we are on track to meet our school and District goals.
  • Meeting the “Study” and “Act” process steps for individual school goals and District strategic plan
  • Update the Board on our progress on school goals and District annual goals
• During the winter of 2017, a directive was issued to form and lead a team to analyze the District’s current Balanced Assessments System, and provide subsequent recommendations for improvement. That process is currently in its final stages, and the Assessment Review Team is scheduled to present its findings this month.
• In collaboration with the Board, revisions were made to the following Curriculum & Instruction policies: 330, 331, 361, 424.
• Professional development opportunities for our staff are essential. In May 2017, we started the process of identifying learning opportunities to support development and began shaping a two-day Summer Institute, scheduled for August 2017, where District staff can select from a variety of learning tracks which support their professional growth, and align with our District Vision and strategic objectives.   

Culture & Climate Strategy:

• In the spring of 2016, the District launched its first Employee and Engagement Satisfaction Survey. Results were released in December 2016 and each site created and deployed a goal team comprised of staff to implement action plans designed to increase on-site satisfaction. This process is ongoing.
• Aligned with the pay and benefits feedback expressed in the Employee and Engagement Satisfaction Survey, the Human Resources Department reviewed pertinent regional data and completed a comprehensive wage study for all workgroups. Presented to the Board, it was recommended that our first strategy should continue to be to “meet the market” in order to recruit and retain top talent. To further define our compensation philosophy, the District is undertaking a study of our Administrative and Teacher salary frameworks. These two studies will involve staff members to create salary frameworks that motivate and inspire our staff to achieve our ambitious aims.  The results of these studies will be completed and presented to the Board in October 2017.
• Recognizing that employee recognition is critical to employee satisfaction, the District Recognition Committee has been working hard this Spring to develop and deploy a greater focus on a culture of recognition, which will be launched for the 2017-18 school year, one that closely aligns with our District’s core Mission and Values.
• Systematically, the Human Resources department focused on streamlining its communications across the District, using the internal HR Intranet site as its “home base” to increase efficiency of communicating key human resources topics, and in a timely manner.

Community Engagement Strategy:

• Deployed and conducted a communications audit that included 200 parents, staff and community members in January 2017, with the goal of identifying strengths and opportunities for improvement as it relates to both internal and external communications.
• Hired a full-time Communications Manager in April 2017 to lead the strategic development of a comprehensive Communication and Engagement Plan that engages, develops partnerships and supports educational process and programs, aligning with the District’s overall strategic objectives.
• Developed a partnership with the Washington County Workforce Alliance with support of the United Way, which seeks to provide a sustainable pipeline of appropriately trained and work ready individuals to support the needs of business and industry in Washington County. This strategic partnership aligns perfectly with our District Mission of Preparing All Students for College Readiness AND Career Success.

Safe & Orderly Strategy:

• To ensure the safety of all students and staff across our District, a systematic process was created in October 2016 to establish baseline data on safety issues. Elements of that process include:
  • In conjunction with the West Bend Fire Department, create an assessment strategy utilizing the facilities management software package for each building
  • Assigned inspectors to each building, to assess all rooms throughout the District
  • Documented and issued work orders to resolve code violations in (ranging from minor to severe). This process is ongoing
  • Scheduled District-wide follow-up inspections for Summer 2017
  • Review current technology and systems to support safety and security in all buildings. This process is ongoing
• A Digital Citizenship Goal Team was created with the object of developing updated curriculum designed to ensure student safety online.

Effective & Efficient Strategy:

• We continue to utilize a zero-based budgeting process to efficiently and strategically allocate resources. The District’s enhanced budget development approach includes input from the Board and leadership team, focused on prioritization of student learning, human resources, and strategic priorities. A review of the 2016-17 District Budget, and the presentation to the Board can be found here.
• Depending on the year the budgeting process typically spans 10 – 12 months. We are currently working on our 2017-18 budget; with the State of WI’s projected completion date of October 2017.
• Developed an annual strategic planning process to guide the District in setting long-term direction supported by action plans that provide short-term direction to accomplish our goals. Noteworthy enhancements include engaging community in an environmental scan to inform 2017-18 strategic direction, analysis of student, stakeholder, and workforce requirements, and implementation of District strategic goal teams made up of teachers, staff, and administrators charged with developing annual goals and plans for realizing goals.
• This year, progress was made against the 25-year capital improvement plan in terms of:
  • Board and Facilities Committee approval of project list for capital budget, (project list sourced from 25-year plan)
  • Project-specific bids were submitted, and work has been scheduled for Summer 2017
• This year, we made progress against the 5-year technology plan in terms of:
  • Developed a plan for applying and utilizing the Federal E-rate Category 2 Program
  • Implemented and updated our network monitoring system to increase the ability to provide safe and secure access to information technology resources
  • Goal of: “Provide digital equity to all students in grades 2-4 with access to digital tools and devices” met one-year ahead of schedule in Technology Plan

NOTEWORTHY LEADERSHIP ACCOMPLISHMENTS

2017 Wisconsin Fast Forward:

In addition to the work completed by the strategic goal teams, a noteworthy accomplishment for the District this year was the submission of the Fast Forward Application to Wisconsin Center for Performance Excellence on March 23, 2017. Why was this significant? Submitting this application allows us to answer three meaningful questions:

1. Are we doing as well as we could be?
2. How do we know if we are doing as well as we could be?
3. What should we do to improve, and how do we accomplish that?

To better align with to our District Values, our goals for completing this process are two-fold:

1. Continuous improvement of the value the District provides to students, parents, community members, Board members and business partners
2. Improve overall operational performance

We anticipate receiving feedback on our application from state leaders within the next few weeks.
 

Jeridon Clark Hired as Principal of East and West High Schools:

Thanks to the great feedback from community forums and panels, in March we hired Jeridon Clark as principal of West Bend East and West High Schools. We are impressed with Jeridon’s strong leadership and the energy he brings to our administrative team, and look forward to have him begin his tenure in July.

I’d like also to take this opportunity to thank Tracey Conners, Director of Elementary Education who has served as interim principal for the 2016-17 school year. Thank you for your great leadership, Tracey!
 

Recruitment Underway for Assistant Superintendent:

Currently, we are mid-way through the process of recruiting for an Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning. Community feedback has been an instrumental component of this process – it has allowed us to bring focus and clarity as to the ideal profile for this position. We are currently narrowing down our list of candidates, and a decision will be made within the next month.

Last week we celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week! We are blessed to have wonderful staff that is dedicated to inspiring, empowering and transforming the lives of the students in our District every day. I want to acknowledge and thank our staff across the District for their hard work and commitment to realizing Excellence for All.

In closing, you can expect a more detailed review of our accomplishments this year, and our vision for the upcoming 2017-18 school year in our Annual District Report, which will be distributed this summer. Let’s make the few remaining weeks that we have left together, great!

Sincerely,

Erik T. Olson
Superintendent

Thanks to generous family foundations, corporations, community organizations, civic organizations, and the COLUMNS Foundation, West Bend High School Seniors will be awarded more than $680,000 in scholarships and awards! The Scholarship/Awards Night was held on Monday, May 1st at the Silver Lining Arts Center.  Congratulations to the following students:

On Thursday, March 16, more than 1,000 high school juniors from the school districts of West Bend, Slinger, Kewaskum, Hartford, Living Word Lutheran, and Kettle Moraine Lutheran will attend the Washington County College & Career Fair from 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. at the Washington County Fair Park and Conference Center. 

With a “passport” in hand, students will spend an hour and a half discovering information related to their college and career interests by visiting close to 100 booths staffed by representatives from business, industry and post-secondary learning institutions so that they can better understand the connection between school-based learning and the skills required for workplace success.

Public and private universities from across the state along with, technical colleges, trade schools, branches of the military and apprenticeship programs will be at the College & Career Fair to showcase post-secondary learning options. Employers from across the county will also be on hand to represent a variety of careers and skills necessary for career success in their industries.

The Washington County College & Career Fair is hosted by the West Bend School District, in partnership with other area school districts and the Washington County Workforce Alliance. This unique opportunity is designed to engage businesses, industries, and educational institutions with the workforce of the future to support the West Bend School District mission of Preparing All Students for College Readiness AND Career Success.

Six representatives from West Bend East and West high schools Key Club attended the Wisconsin Upper- Michigan (WIUM) District Convention in Green Bay this past weekend. Four WBHS members of the future leadership board attended, including Victoria Hunt (President), Hunter Shutz (Vice President), Timmy Kissel (Treasurer), and Kathryn Aldstadt (Bulletin Editor). Two freshmen members also attended the conference, including Marissa Gerritson and Abby Ksioszk. Members attended training and leadership sessions throughout the weekend and the WBHS club earned three awards. Victoria Hunt received the Distinguished Club President Award. Kathryn Aldstadt received the Distinguished Club Bulletin Editor Award and the Outstanding Junior Award. The WBHS Key Club currently has 80 members ans has provided approximately 1,200 hours of service to our schools and community since February 2016.