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🗓 MARK YOUR CALENDAR: UPCOMING EVENTS 🗓 |
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February 15 - No classes (JK-12)
February 16 - Elementary Conferences (4:30 - 8 pm)
February 19 - Winter Walk to School
February 22 - School Board Meeting (7 pm)
February 22 - April 30 - ACCESS 2.0 for ELLs testing (SK-12)
February 23 - Middle School Conferences (4:30 - 8 pm)
February 25 - High School Conferences (4:30 - 8 pm)
March 2 - High School Conferences (4 - 8 pm)
March 4 - Middle School Conferences (4:30 - 8 pm)
March 8 - Trimester Three schedule begins (elementary only)
March 8 - PTA Council Meeting (6 pm)
March 8 - School Board Meeting (7 pm)
March 9 - 11 - ACT Testing
March 16 - 18 - ACT Testing
March 12 - No classes (JK-12)
March 22 - May 14 - Forward Exam (grades 3-8, 10)
March 22 - May 14 - DLM Testing
March 22 - 25 - ACT Testing
March 29 - April 2 - Spring Break
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📩 A LETTER FROM LEADERSHIP 📩 |
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Hello Wauwatosa Community,
As I approach my one year anniversary in the Wauwatosa School District, I've found myself reflecting on how much things have changed - and how they've remained the same - in the last 12 months.
Of course, there have been so many changes! From navigating hybrid and virtual learning to wearing masks and honoring personal space, this year has certainly tested our resilience. And sometimes, it feels like as soon as we get comfortable, something else changes.
But even as we've navigated through this pandemic and the changes that it brought, there have been heart-warming consistencies that I'd like to celebrate. Our staff and students have maintained an incredible sense of optimism. Given the challenges of this year, it would have been easy to get frustrated, become angry and give up. But they did not. With determination and grit, our community pushed ahead and made the best of a very difficult situation. And as we did this, we consistently encouraged one another and lifted each other up. That isn't to say there weren't challenges - because there were! But despite these, I've experienced a real sense of community and caring among our staff and students. And, importantly, we continue to work toward a common goal: providing our students with a high-quality education and equipping them with the skills they need to be successful.
Yes, there are many different opinions, and sometimes it might be challenging to work together or even listen to other perspectives. But when you have the courage to push yourself outside of your comfort zone, you get comfortable with being uncomfortable... and that's where real growth happens.
I wish you happiness and continued growth in the coming months.
Marta Kwiatkowski
Wauwatosa School District
Assistant Superintendent of Business Services
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2021-22 New Student Registration (JK-12), STEM + Montessori Lottery is Now Open! |
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New student registration for the upcoming 2021-22 school year is now open for all students. Students who are already enrolled in the district do not need to re-register. To minimize touchpoints and support physical distancing, new student registration will be completed online via Infinite Campus. Families in need of additional support during the registration process may make an appointment with their student’s school and receive help in-person.
The application period for Wauwatosa STEM (WSTEM), Underwood STEM (USTEM), Middle School STEM (MSTEM) and Wauwatosa Montessori School is Monday, February 1 - Friday, February 19, 2021. Enrollment into these schools and programs is done by lottery. Students must be registered with the district prior to submitting an application. Applications for STEM programs and Montessori must be submitted via Infinite Campus no later than 4 pm on Friday, February 19, 2021.
The chart below outlines the available number of seats in each program/school, at each grade level.
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Wauwatosa School Board Approves AVID Contract and Implementation Timeline |
On Monday, February 8, 2021, the Wauwatosa School Board approved the AVID contract and timeline that was presented by the District.
With this approval, the District will move forward with its plan to implement the AVID framework in our schools over the next several years and add the AVID course to secondary students' elective options.
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Wauwatosa School Board Selects School Exec Connect to Support Superintendent Search |
The Wauwatosa School Board is pleased to announce that it has selected School Exec Connect to support its search for a Superintendent. A total of eight firms responded to the RFP and the Board interviewed three finalists. The Board finalized its partnership with School Exec Connect on Friday, February 5, 2021.
On Wednesday, February 10, 2021, the Board held an inservice to discuss a timeline and other logistical details with School Exec Connect. The community will be encouraged to actively participate and engage in the search process in the coming weeks through an online survey and focus groups. Details about those opportunities will be provided in the near future.
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Save These Dates: 2021-22 At-a-Glance Calendar |
The 2021-22 At-a-Glance Calendar has been published on the District website and can be found in the Quick Links section of each school's site.
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Black History Month Reading Suggestions |
This month, members of our community are encouraged to learn about the experiences of Black individuals throughout history. To support this learning, we've compiled several book suggestions!
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Tosa East Launches Spring Open Shop Saturdays |
Wauwatosa East High School's shop and Makerspace is complete and students are ready to show it off! Join students from Tech Ed and Project Lead the Way for an open house event on Saturday, February 20, 2021 from 9 - 11:15 am. Students will show the status of current projects, while giving the community an inside look at the renovation.
The Makerspace and shop will also host additional FREE events in the coming months including workshops for kids and adults.
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Tosa Connected Coordinator Kenda Roman explains what diversity means to her and outlines the different types of diversity we can explore. And, as part of Black History Month, Ms. Roman encourages our community to celebrate by engaging in family-friendly activities.
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Wauwatosa West High School Students Take Home 16 Scholastic Art + Writing Awards |
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Wauwatosa West High School students brought home a total of 16 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards from this year's competition, including five Gold Keys, two Silver Keys and nine Honorable Mentions.
Gold Key award winners will advance to the next round of competition in New York and include:
Paige Elliot, grade 11, Photography, Speak Your Truth (above, left)
Veronica Vespalec, grade 12, Photography, Free in the City (above, right)
Sky Greer, grade 9, Comic Art
Sky Greer, grade 9, Sculpture
Sky Greer, grade 9, Mixed Media
Honorable Mentions and Silver Keys have been recognized as having some of the best art works in the state. Silver Key award winners include:
Sky Greer, grade 9, Digital Art
Elizabeth Strand, grade 12, Painting
And the following individuals received honorable mention awards:
Anastazja Branski, grade 12, Art Portfolio
Nai Chaloub, grade 11, Drawing
Paige Elliot, grade 11, Photography
Paige Elliot, grade 11, Photography
Sky Greer, grade 9, Drawing
Eve Lazarski, grade 9, Digital Art
Elizabeth Strand, grade 12, Painting
Veronica Vespalec, grade 12, Photography
Johnnie White, grade 11, Painting
This year, the art museum will hold a virtual exhibit which can be viewed online.
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Wauwatosa East Students Create Beautiful, Thought-Provoking Art |
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Wauwatosa East's first semester AP Art students have been hard at work creating meaningful pieces of art that truly communicate their wide range of perspectives, experiences and opinions. Above is a small sampling of this work, and more can be found in the slide deck linked below.
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Longfellow Middle School Students Raise Funds for Down Syndrome Association of Wisconsin |
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Longfellow Middle School's Friendship First Club recently made a $170 donation to the Down Syndrome Association of Wisconsin (DSAW). The funds were raised via a mask fundraiser held at the school. Masks were made and donated by the mother of Longfellow Middle School's Administrative Assistant, Jimmy Littrell. Then members of the Friendship First Club sold the masks to their fellow students in an effort to raise funds for DSAW. Some of the donated masks were too small for Longfellow students, and they were donated to nearby elementary schools as part of Kindness Week at the end of January.
The club is led by Longfellow teacher Mary Westphal and supported by Elizabeth Hoffman.
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West + East High School Students Excel at Annual We the People Competition; Advance to Nationals |
This year's annual We the People state competition - an academic competition where students study the constitution and perform a mock Congressional Hearing to demonstrate their knowledge - was held virtually and was attended by both Wauwatosa West and Wauwatosa East students.
Wauwatosa West finished as the State Champions and Wauwatosa East finished runner-up earning a Wild Card spot to the National Finals. Both teams will move on to the National Competition at the end of April.
Students on Wauwatosa West's team include Sarah Anderson, Ella Archambo, Leah Bjorgo, Jenna Boekenhauer, Miles Coppage, Zoe DelVecchio, Catherine DiCastri, Nora Engbring, Lea Guttormson, Mackenzie Jacobi, Andrea Justin, Cooper Krause, Tricia Kroll, Rachel Leville, Emily Linehan, Donovan McGann, Ronan Piontek, Ryan Reynolds, Nora Rommelfanger, Marissa Rueda, Justin Schmidt, Elizabeth Schuldt, Ella Schwantes, Alivia Smith, Benjamin Soboleski, Adele Steliga, Serena Stem, Jude Whale, Savannah Williams. Chad Mateske coaches the Tosa West team and is supported by several student mentors including Olivia Casper, Will Meier, Joe Byrne, Maggie Schilling, Stephan Milicic, Olivia Bree.
Students on East High School's team are Aidan Anich, Madeline A. Bartz, Greta Dietzler, Gabriela Duarte, Nadia Eull, Nathan Foley, Julia French, Meera Gajria, Owen Gendrich, Audrey Georg, Sophia Heffner, Alex Joseph, Mason King, John Koch, Micah Korb, Abigail Loeffel, Isabel Margerie, Clare Nistler, Lidia Perez, Anya Ranft, Anneke Shiller, Lamar Smith, Kidron Staples, Norah Tait, Stella Vermeulen, Ryan Westphal, Lauren Wunderlich. Taylor McDaniel coaches the students at East High School and is supported by Audrey Andera, Grace Hudson-Mairet, Ella Laatsch, Isa Lentz, Jack Stuart, Nora Tanel.
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Whitman MSTEM Teams Win Awards in the 2021 Future City Regional Competition |
Whitman MSTEM was represented by six teams at the STEMForward Regional Future City Virtual Competition on Saturday, January 31, 2021.This year’s challenge, Living on the Moon, asked teams to design a futuristic lunar city and provide examples of how the city uses two Moon resources to keep its residents safe and healthy.
The semester-long project started with all MSTEM students planning for and building a lunar colony. They then expanded their colony by looking forward to a future lunar city (at least 100 years in the future). Teams researched and wrote essays, built models, maintained a project plan, crafted creative scripts and recorded presentation videos. The teams that qualified for the regional competition participated in special awards presentations on Saturday, January, 23 and then competed in a final Q&A session on Saturday, January 30.
Crescent Cove, a Whitman 7th grade team, took 3rd place overall out of 42 teams and 17 schools at the competition. Crescent Cove team members (Lucy Deutsch, Calli Dahlgren, Avery Bott, Isabelle Mast) also won the Architectural Major Award special award. A photo from the group's video presentation video is included above.
Nova Artemis, also a 7th grade team (Maddie Ullsperger, Eliza Gray, Emily Scott), won the Best Transportation System special award. The 8th grade team Haworthia Peak (Mya Dobb, Alexander Keene, Chloe Standal, Kinley Schmidbauer) won the “Best Healthcare System” special award.
Other Whitman teams qualified for and participated in the Future City Regionals including:
- Aruna (6th Grade): Keira Grunsnick, Alaina Kunz, Kaia Kunz, Ciara Lemcke-Flores.
- Lake Pagos (8th Grade): Anthony Defrancisco, James Delacruz, Sean Gaez, Anna Pekkarinen, Emmett Strand.
- Starlight Falls (7th Grade): Anayah Foster Aune, Isabel Taormina, Madason Terrell.
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Wauwatosa Bowling Team Scores a Perfect 300 and Earns a Spot at Nationals |
Last month, the Wauwatosa Bowling Team, a co-op with Wauwatosa East and West High Schools, Wisconsin Lutheran and Kettle Moraine Lutheran, bowled a perfect baker 300 game. A baker game is when multiple bowlers combine to bowl a single game. This accomplishment earned the team a place on the National Honor Roll and an MMM spot at Nationals in June.
Members of the team include Evan Lowe, (West), Dartanion Sellers (East), Kyle Muth (West), Terrence Ball (West), Andrew Frazier (West), Brady Metzner (West) and Jesse Hawkins (West). The team is coached by Monica Austin and Dave Mastopietro.
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Wauwatosa Elementary Orchestra Tells "The Story of the Beginner Orchestra" |
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Last month, the Wauwatosa Elementary Orchestra created a virtual, live winter concert experience for our 4th and 5th grade orchestra students. Students were able to perform for their families at home, while interacting and playing along with a live performance of the concert story, "The Story of the Beginner Orchestra." The orchestra teachers performed the story on Wauwatosa West High School's stage and had families Zoom in to watch the performance live. A middle and high school orchestra teacher were the narrators for the performances. |
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Tosa West Grad Earns 20 Under 20 Recognition |
PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs (SRL) has named its inaugural 20 Under 20 award recipients, and among them is 18-year-old Wauwatosa West High School graduate Anyiah Simone Chambers.
PBS NewsHour SRL's honorees are described as exemplary young journalists and storytellers who covered life-changing events through their work with PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs. These students have produced poignant video pieces in 2020.
Chambers' video provided insight into her experience as a poll worker during the February primary election. At the time of the video, Chambers was unable to vote, because she was just 17. As part of this experience, Chambers dealt with long lines and extra challenges due to COVID-19, but she said it was important to her to give back to her community. Chambers is currently a freshman at Kentucky State University and a recent recruit to the U.S. Army.
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📰 EXTRA! EXTRA! WSD IN THE NEWS 📰 |
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Each month, we post updates on active construction projects related to the 2018 facilities referendum and capital improvements. Find the most recent updates below. |
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Wauwatosa School District | 12121 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa, WI 53226
Ph: (414) 773-1000 | www.wauwatosaschools.org
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