The Sun Prairie Area School District (SPASD) is pleased to announce the appointment of two new members to the Board of Education. We welcome Colleen Uhlenkamp and Steve Urso, who bring valuable perspectives and experiences to their roles. Read more about the candidates HERE.

The agenda from the public meeting and information about all the candidates can be found HERE. The Sun Prairie Media Center’s recording of the meeting can be found HERE.

We're excited to launch our new video series, Like No One Else: Student Stories. In this series, students from across our district share their unique experiences and opportunities, offering a personal glimpse into their journeys. Watch our Facebook page for a new student each week.

The Sun Prairie Area School District would like to thank the community for supporting our operational referendum. Your vote of confidence in our District is a testament to the value you place on education, the care you have for our students and staff, and the vision you have for our community.

In addition to stabilizing the budget and addressing structural deficits, we were able to give our Professional Educators a salary increase of $3,400. This brings our District above the Dane County average for educator pay and assists with our efforts to recruit and retain high-quality staff.

We are committed to being responsible stewards of your tax dollars and to ensure that every investment benefits our students. We will continue to communicate how we are using referendum funds. Watch for updates soon about the expansion of some programming for our students.

Did you know that we have a website that hosts the District's referenda history?

We know that property taxes can sometimes be difficult to understand. For 2024, the School District’s tax levy went up by 12.6%. This increase is mainly due to things out of our control, like increased enrollment, inflation, and higher costs for special education and language services. Even with these challenges, we were able to keep the mill rate at $10.16, the level promised in the referendum materials.

The November 2024 referendum, which voters approved, gave the District $3 million to increase teacher pay. This money has already been disbursed to staff. To keep the mill rate at $10.16, we will roll the referendum money into the tax levy, with the first-year roll-in totaling $2.5 million. For a home valued at $300,000, the 2024 referendum results in an increase of $90 in the first year, $174 in the second year, and $168 in the third year. After that, there will be no additional referendum-related increases. Tax increases may result from other factors, such as enrollment, a new biennial budget, or property value increases.

After the five-year period, the total tax impact will be $1.44 per $1,000 of your home's value. We are committed to keeping the mill rate at the levels we promised. For more information, please visit our website at sunprairieschools.org/ref2024.

The SPASD Board of Education uses a Coherent Governance system that helps clarify and guide Board members’ roles and responsibilities. This system of best practice gives Board members the tools to make good decisions and effectively govern the District. It includes:

• Student Results Policies

• Operational Expectations

• Governance Culture Policies

• Board-Superintendent Relationship Policies
  
  

The School Board leverages these policies to provide direction and oversight to the administration and District.

What the School Board Does

The School Board is in charge of developing District policies and checking to be sure those policies are being followed. The Board works on behalf of the community by making sure the District:

• Makes progress toward student achievement goals set in the Student Results and Operational Results

• Is compliant with the values in the Operational Expectations

Working with the Superintendent

The School Board sets its expectations for the School District through Student Results Policies and Operational Expectations Policies. The Board evaluates the superintendent each month against these expectations through Board Monitoring Reports according to the Board’s Annual Planning Calendar. These Board Monitoring Reports are the mechanism through which the Board holds the superintendent accountable and evaluates his performance. The Board will have evaluated the superintendent fourteen times against their expectations by the end of this school year. Please see all reports, administrative screencasts, and the Three-Year Board Monitoring Summary to understand better the School District’s and superintendent’s performance.

Read Monitoring Reports to date for the 2024–2025 School Year.

Learn more about Board governance by watching this video from two years ago.

Elementary (Kindergarten–5th grade) Results

Our elementary schools are making progress in improving results for our students. Check out this in-depth video about where our elementary schools are now, where they have been, and our plans to continue to improve.

School Report Cards

State report cards are a complex tool we use to gauge our District’s performance. In this video, we break down the most recent report card for our District, what the results mean, and how we use the data to inform our decisions. It is important to note that the state report card is just one of many tools we use to help us track our progress.

Student Policy & Student Services

We receive a lot of questions about student behavior and how we create a learning environment where every student can learn. Check out this video to learn more about what the District is doing to make sure learning environments are conducive to learning for all students and to minimize disruptive behaviors in those learning environments.

Special Education

One of the big challenges in education is that students have a wider and more complex variety of needs than ever before. Check out this video from our Student Services Department to learn more about how we support students with disabilities through Special Education services and our Adult Transition program.

The 2024–2025 school year brought us our highest student enrollment numbers in the history of SPASD. Our Third Friday Count in September showed that we have grown 187 students from last year. Another 73 students have enrolled in the District since the student count date, putting our total at 8,668 students, which is 260 more than last year.

District administrators have comprehensively reviewed our enrollment and long-term growth projections. You can see the situation report, video, MDRoffers Consulting and UW–Madison’s Applied Population Lab presentations from 2023, and other details HERE.

Questions have arisen about the property growth around Royal Oaks Elementary and whether this is causing Royal Oaks to be over capacity. At the 2024 Third Friday Count, Royal Oaks had an enrollment of 435 students. This is an increase of 15 students from the 2023–2024 school year. The “target” maximum capacity at Royal Oaks is 459 students, and the maximum is 502 students.

We understand that our community may have questions about C. H. Bird Elementary, especially when reading on social media about challenges with student behavior or other barriers to success. We are working hard to make improvements to address these concerns. The leaders and teachers at C. H. Bird are committed to creating a safe and caring school where every student can learn and grow every day. Because this goal is not being met consistently, we have developed a focused plan to speed up progress.

This plan is part of our District’s dedicated effort to improve the learning environment at C. H. Bird Elementary. It was created with input from C. H. Bird's leadership and all District departments, and it includes more coaching and extra support from District leaders at the school.

After reviewing the school’s current systems, we have identified key actions to ensure that improvement happens faster, giving every student the opportunity to succeed:

• Senior District leaders—including Dr. Stephanie Leonard, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching, Learning & Equity; and Dr. Nick Reichhoff, Assistant Superintendent of Operations; will oversee and monitor the plan to ensure progress.

• A skilled principal with experience helping schools like C. H. Bird will work part-time as an on-site coach for the leadership team.

• A former District leader has returned to assist with filling open positions and supporting student behavior alongside the school leadership team and the Human Resources Department.

• Several Student Services coordinators will help strengthen C. H. Bird's newer Special Education and Student Services Teams.

• A full-time New Teacher Mentor will be located on-site to help early-career educators at the school.

• Veteran District staff will coach all staff members on creating and maintaining safe and supportive learning environments.

• Additional support will be provided to educators leading the improvement of school wide behavior systems.
  
  

This plan reflects our commitment to providing every C. H. Bird student with a supportive environment where they can thrive.

The Big 8 Conference recently celebrated the fourth annual MLK Basketball Showcase, honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through education-based athletics and community building. Boys’ and girls’ basketball teams, coaches, and athletes from across the Big 8 Conference gathered last Wednesday at Sun Prairie West High School to reflect on Dr. King’s vision of unity and inclusion. Events included a trivia challenge and a Q&A panel with SP West Girls Basketball Coach Ronda McLin, Madison Superintendent Dr. Joe Gothard, Sun Prairie Director of Systemic Equity & Inclusion Dr. Michael Morgan, the 100 Black Men of Madison’s Dr. Floyd Rose, and Sun Prairie Police Officer Tommy Foy. The event emphasized personal growth, belonging, and resilience, aligning with the values Dr. King championed as a Civil Rights leader.

The event continued on Saturday with the Basketball Showcase. All Big 8 Conference girls varsity teams competed at Sun Prairie West, while the Big 8 Conference boys varsity teams competed at Sun Prairie East. This meaningful celebration combined spirited competition with opportunities for learning and reflection, leaving a lasting impact on all involved. The Big 8 Conference is proud to support events that honor diversity and uplift the brilliance within its schools and communities. Special thanks go to the teams, coaches, and partners who made this showcase a success and to the SP East and SP West athletic departments for their work hosting this event in our District.

The event was also featured by WMTV15 News. Their story is below:

We recently held a Hmong Caregiver Advisory Group meeting, where families raised important questions about Hmong representation within the District. While we have a growing number of Hmong staff members, we continue to work toward reflecting the diversity of our students and the wider community. Increased representation helps support our Hmong students' leadership and academic excellence.

We launched Hmong Student Monthly Luncheon Meetings for high school students at Sun Prairie East and Sun Prairie West. These luncheons allow students to connect, share experiences, explore their identities, and develop leadership skills. Our first meeting was a great success, with students discussing their experiences and challenges as Hmong individuals. With support from peers and community leaders, students are learning to advocate for themselves, strive for academic excellence, and empower one another. We look forward to continuing this engagement throughout the year.

The School Board’s Community Voices group helps Board members gain a better understanding of the expectations and perspectives of the diverse community they serve. The Board is looking for collaborative and future-focused community members who will engage in constructive conversations with our School Board members and work toward solutions and partnerships in supporting our students and families.

Apply to be a part of this group. Applications are due March 7, 2025.

We recently had the pleasure of hosting the Sun Prairie Chamber of Commerce Coffee Chat. This event provided a fantastic opportunity for networking and strengthening relationships with fellow Chamber members and local business professionals.

The gathering was a wonderful chance to share ideas, collaborate, and learn more about the amazing work happening across our community. By fostering these connections, we are not only building stronger partnerships but also supporting the growth and success of businesses and organizations in Sun Prairie.

We are grateful to the Chamber and all who joined us for this engaging event, and we look forward to continuing to work together to make our community thrive!

Once again this year we have earned EPA's ENERGY STAR for 15 of our facilities. This includes all of our schools, the District Support Center, and the Hilltop Campus as a whole. To earn this certification, an organization must have a minimum ENERGY STAR score of 75, which means that a building needs to be more energy efficient than 75% of similar properties nationwide. Our scores ranged from 82 to 98, with our geothermal buildings averaging a score of 96.

One standout worth noting is Royal Oaks Elementary School. While that school is served by a traditional HVAC system, it also has an energy champion teacher, Patrick Bencher, who has raised money for a solar array and a wind turbine and has run energy savings behavioral campaigns. These efforts have resulted in an ENERGY STAR score of 98, which matches the rating of our highest ENERGY STAR buildings, Token Springs and Meadow View Elementary Schools, and puts Royal Oaks in the top 2% of similar buildings nationwide.

No student may be unlawfully discriminated against or harassed because of the student’s sex (including gender identity, gender expression and nonconformity to gender role stereotypes), color, religion, profession or demonstration of belief or nonbelief, race, national origin (including limited English proficiency), ancestry, creed, pregnancy, marital or parental status, homelessness status, sexual orientation, age, or physical, mental, emotional or learning disability. (SPASD Policy JB)