Greetings West Wolves and Parent/Caregivers,

Last week was an incredible week! On Wednesday of last week we hosted Black Professional Career Exploration. Our commons was filled with Black professionals connecting with our students, parents/caregivers and communities about their journey to where they are today. They encouraged our youth and helped them dream about their futures. Read Your Heart Out helps develop and build strong partnerships with schools, families, and the local community. The event helps support understanding and build background knowledge around African American history, culture, values, philosophy, and experiences. Friday, our Sun Prairie West Wolves got to be apart of this amazing event! Take a look at some of the beautiful moments that were captured below. Here's to another great week!

Jen Ploeger- Principal- jrploeg@sunprairieschools.org

Chai Lee- Associate Principal- cmlee1@sunprairieschools.org

Chad Whalley- Associate Principal- ctwhall@sunprairieschools.org

It's hard to believe the time is already upon us. Teacher/Parent/Caregiver conferences are this week!

Thursday 2/16 4:00pm to 8:00pm

Friday 2/17 7:30am to 11:30am (no school for students on Friday)

If you have not yet heard from your student's teachers you should be hearing from them today with opportunities to sign up to connect for a conference. The timing of conference this time around is a little different as we just started the semester. There will not be as many grades in the gradebook so this is a perfect opportunity to talk about our student holistically. What brings them joy? What helps them thrive? Its a great opportunity to build a connection with the teacher or deepen a connection that is already there. See you then in person or on Zoom!

As we look forward to the next couple of months a couple important dates to put on your calendar.

• Tuesday, March 7th- JUNIOR ONLY DAY. Our juniors will be taking the ACT. 9th, 10th and 12th graders will NOT come to school that day so that our juniors can focus and rock out this test.
• Wednesday, March 29th- FRESHMAN AND SOPHOMORE ONLY DAY. Our 9th and 10th graders will be taking the ACT Secure the new state assessment for 9th and 10th graders that also prepares them for the ACT. 11th and 12th graders will NOT come to school that day.
• Friday, May 26th- This date was originally scheduled as a professional development day. With the snow day last week it is now a student attendance day. Please mark your calendars and plan for students to be AT school this day!

Check-out the announcements that are currently running on our TVs in school and that were sent to your students last week of upcoming events/opportunities.

Check out this week's events and activities here!

As we finish our winter sports season and look forward to the spring season we wanted to inform you that Mr. LaRon Ragsdale has resigned. We wish him the best in his future endeavors. Please contact Mindy Ripp mjripp@sunprairieschools.org or Eric Nee eanee@sunprairieschools.org with any athletic related questions.

Fighting Heart Disease, Together.

Join your friends, your family, our community members and the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness – in-person or virtually** – for our 12th Annual National Wear Red Day celebration! This is a FREE event!

Wear Red Day is a day of awareness and education; a time spent together learning how to identify, live-with, and survive heart disease. As Black women, cardiovascular ailments represent the number one threat to our healthy lives. On February 18th, from 11am - 2:30pm, our community will come together to get more informed, more empowered, and more inspired to refuse to let heart disease make a deep-impact on our lives.

Register yourself and the other important Black women in your life! After a 2-year in-person hiatus, reunite with our community of Black women at the Goodman Community Center; remember to come dressed in your red best! When we come together, we create and sustain a communal sisterhood where Black women and girls can live healthy, happy and thriving lives.

Please consider taking a moment to celebrate a staff member that has had a positive impact you so far this year! This may be someone that you have connected well with, you have seen working hard, has tried something new or you just want to pause and recognize for all of their work as we launch SP West. You can fill out the form as many times as you would like to recognize different staff. They will receive an email with your note and, if public, will be included in our staff Newsletter next week! https://tinyurl.com/SPWestStaffShoutOut

Did you know that Sun Prairie is now the proud home to an adapted sports league? The students thrived playing soccer in the fall and now have begun their floor hockey season. Come out and support your Wolves and our cross town Cardinals as they compete and have a blast this season.

Bus Driver Recognition Week - February 13-17, 2023

February 13-17, 2023 is School Bus Driver Recognition Week in the State of Wisconsin. We encourage families to go the extra mile to show appreciation to the men and women that work hard to get our students to and from school safely every day. Please take a moment to thank them or consider having your child make a token of appreciation.

Your kind words, cards, etc., will surely make the driver’s week brighter!

Wolves! Here are two opportunities for you to help shape our Black History Month celebration. Design a slide to be used on our TV showcase and win prizes. Nominate music to be played in the commons before/after school. Sorry parents/caregivers these two are aimed at students but please encourage your student to participate!

Over the next several weeks we will be including different vaping education resources here in our Newsletter to help educate students, parents/caregivers, staff and the community on the dangers of vaping.

Vapes are unsafe whether a nicotine vape or THC vape and all are prohibited from school property (including adults attending events). The possession, consumption and distribution of vapes on school property or at school events comes with a consequence up to and including: in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension and recommendation for expulsion.

In Sun Prairie and in surrounding areas young people have been sent to the ER for reactions to vape cartridges. Is your student interested in confidential support around vaping? Reach out to your social worker Ms. Sirianni or Ms. Fahey.

How does Nicotine affect the brain?

Did you know that you have the opportunity to graduate from SPASD with BOTH your High School diploma AND your Associate's Degree? The Early College STEM Academy is an incredible partnership between SPASD and Madison College. Focused on preparing students in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math it allows students to take classes full time at Madison College while still being a West Wolf. The program is focused on providing opportunities for groups historically underrepresented in STEM including: first generation college students, students of color, female and gender expansive students, etc. For more information please reach out to Craig Smith at cmsmith@sunprairieschools.org.

The main entrance door closes at 4:00pm. Athletes that may leave and come back please enter through door 24. Also a reminder that the building closes at 4:00pm. At that time all students need to exit the building or be with an adult.

As we launch 2nd semester we had a fantastic meeting of our Parent/Caregiver Partnership meeting last week. Our Parent/Caregiver Partnership is a group for ALL Wolf Parents/Caregivers. While High Schools don't currently have formal SCOs, the partnership between schools and parent/caregivers is as critical while we are preparing to send your child off to life after High School as it was when we were welcoming them into kindergarten. Look for upcoming Parent/Caregiver partnership dates and new opportunities at additional times outside of the evening coming in next week's Howl.

Last week we had a round table conversation on the successes of 1st semester and areas of focus for second semester. We celebrated all of the incredible work that has been done to launch the school year and have a strong first semester. We all agreed that two areas of focus for second semester are bathrooms and students being in class from bell to bell.

• Class Bell to Bell: We are continuing to work to create a culture in which ALL students are in class from bell to bell. This includes: Having a pass every time you are out of class; using the 2 minute warning "ding dong" sound to move quickly to your next class; staying in class until the bell rings; working with your teacher if you need a break within the 85 minute block, taking a break in the den area and then returning to class. I will be focusing 2nd semester on a student principal advisory board to help continue to get feedback from students across our student body on how we can continue to build a culture of care in which students are seen, known and valued in the classroom.

• Bathrooms: We know that we currently have students engaging in unsafe behavior in bathrooms (vaping, missing portions of class, vandalism) which makes it difficult for other students to feel safe and comfortable using the bathroom. We have already taken steps to address this including new floor assignments for our Youth Advocates and daily huddles of our "floor team". We also are in the process of finding additional ways that parents/caregivers can come partner with us for supervision as we have an incredible and very large building with limited staff. More to come soon!

• If you see something that shouldn't be happening... SAY SOMETHING to any adult in the building and they will get it to the right place. Go to a trusted teacher, trusted office staff, youth advocate, dean, AP, Principal JP, anyone. This includes any vandalism in bathrooms or other locations. Together we can take care of this beautiful facility and leave a legacy for the generations to come.

A few reminders as we start 2nd semester:

• Parents/Caregivers be sure to use the pick-up/drop-off lane for dropping off and picking up your scholar. DO NOT pull into the student lot or the staff/visitor lot as this causes congestion and potential accidents.
• Handicap stalls are ALWAYS reserved for vehicles with a license plate or placard. Never pull into a handicap stall to wait for someone you are picking up or dropping off. We have had several instances where our scholars are unable to be picked up by their accessible vehicle because other vehicles were in those spaces.
• Students: make sure you have your parking pass and parking in the student lot.
• As we start 2nd semester we will be rebooting parking lot enforcement including tickets. Please reach out with what questions you have.

Bus Delays and Emergencies

Please remember that buses may be slightly delayed when we are experiencing snow and icy conditions. Anything within 5 minutes of the scheduled arrival time is considered “on time.”

If your child’s bus is delayed and/or evacuated for any reason (bus breakdown, emergency, etc.) students must stay with the driver and wait for further instructions. If another bus is dispatched, students are to ride that bus and only get off at their assigned stop.

Bus Tags- Every day.

A reminder that students need to show their bus tags to drivers every day to get on the bus. If you need a new bus tag please see Ms. Detert in the front office. You can also pull up your transportation tab in IC.

As we prepare to start the year we are in need of awesome subs to help take care of our students when staff are out. Are you looking for a new opportunity? Do you know someone looking? Can you help spread the word? Please help us get the word out so that we can ensure that our students have the very best people supporting them even on days staff (teachers or support staff) need to be out. Having an ample supply of fantastic subs is also a great way to support our staff by allowing them peace of mind when they are out. Contact mtiseli@sunprairieschools.org with any interest/questions or contacts.

• Support Staff Substitutes

• Substitute Teachers