News and information from the DeForest Area School District.

    • Academic calendars for 2017-18 and 2018-19
    • Inclement weather decisions
    • Speak Up survey
    • DASD elementary boundary advisory committee
    • Business volunteers needed for elementary school Junior Achievement and high school FBLA regional competition
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Academic calendars for 2017-18 and 2018-19
The DASD academic calendar for 2017-18 has been finalized. One major change to note is the move from nine early release days to three full days for staff development, or what we refer to as Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). 

Student achievement continues to be dependent on educational professionals collaborating and assessing student progress.  Like the previous early release days, the three full days are scheduled throughout the school year to provide teachers with blocks of time to work together in their PLC. On these days teachers will be:
  • Aligning curriculum
  • Developing common assessments
  • Analyzing data to inform instruction and interventions
  • Sharing instructional strategies
  • Participating in professional development as a PLC group
A tentative 2018-19 calendar has also been completed.  DASD staff will review this calendar next fall to determine if minor adjustments need to be made.  Families should be able to plan on the major start/end dates, as well as the major holidays and breaks. 

Calendars are available on the DASD website > District > Calendars
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Inclement weather decisions
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As we move through the winter months, please take a few minutes to review information on our website that describes  our process for determining school closures or delays and how notices are communicated.

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Speak Up survey for DASD families
Be a part of the conversation! Through January 13th , DASD is participating in the Speak Up national research project. Speak Up is the first survey designed to help parents share their ideas directly with our District and national policymakers. As key stakeholders, Speak Up provides parents with a mechanism for expressing their views to the administrators at their child(ren)'s school and district about key issues impacting their child(ren)'s education. 

Since 2003, Speak Up has collected and shared the views of more than 4.5 million students, teachers, and parents from all 50 states, as well as internationally.
By participating in Speak Up, parents are expressing their views to a wider audience of local, state, and national policy makers as well as the business community-and contributing to the national dialog about science, technology, and preparing students for the 21st century workforce. 

In DASD, we'd like to hear from you as we continue to revise long-range technology plans, investigate new technology tools, and work on digital literacy with our students.

The online survey is quick and easy--it takes about 25 minutes.  To take the survey visit:  http://www.bit.ly/SU16survey and click the blue parents button! Please be sure to enter your zip code as that will allow your answers to be shared with the District. 
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DASD elementary boundary advisory committee
DASD has formed an advisory committee to develop a recommendation for the Board of Education regarding elementary school boundaries for the 2017-18 school year and beyond. 

The focus of the committee is to address projected residential growth within the DeForest Area School District boundaries and the need to maximize the capacity of our elementary schools.

The representative group of elementary school parents, pre-school parents, teachers, and district administrators are meeting from November to February to develop a recommendation for consideration by the Board of Education.

You can follow the committee's process on the DASD website. Meeting notes, presentations, and supporting documents are available shortly after each meeting.

Thank you to the 35 parents and staff who are giving their time and effort to this important decision-making process.
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Business volunteers needed
DAHS is looking for judges for the FBLA Region V competition on Feb. 4, 2017

DeForest Area High School will host the 2017 Regional Leadership Conference for nearly 30 local FBLA chapters in the surrounding Madison area on Saturday, February 4, 2017.

Judges are needed for several of the events.  DAHS student and Wisconsin FBLA Region V Vice President, Macy Benisch is asking DASD parents/guardians to consider volunteering to help judge the competitive events. Event judging will take place on February 4, from 7:45 am until approximately 12:00 pm, at DAHS. Breakfast, lunch and judges gifts will be provided to all volunteers. Events include both testing or performance events by individuals or teams in various categories of business and/or marketing.

More information is available here. You may also contact FBLA adviser Chris Smith at casmith@deforestschools.org, or Macy at wifblaregion5vp17@gmail.com.

DASD looking for Junior Achievement volunteers

As a DASD parent/guardian, you may be interested in helping our elementary school instructional program as a Junior Achievement (JA) volunteer in our elementary schools. JA offers programs in work readiness, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship. Our school district uses the elementary program for all students in Kindergarten (JA Ourselves), 1st grade (JA Our Families), and 2nd grade (JA Our Community). Here is more information about these programs.

Several business volunteers are needed to implement the program for over 800 of our students. If you are interested in learning more about Junior Achievement and how to help, contact Sue Pulvermacher-Alt at salt@jawis.org, OR sign up online at  www.juniorachievement.org/web/ja-wisconsin/volunteer now.
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DeForest Area School District
Debbie Brewster, School/Community Relations Coordinator
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DeForest Area School District
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