District Office Newsletter
New Year Edition
Dear SSD Community,
The Class of 2024 - Shorewood’s 100th graduating class - received their caps & gowns a few days ago. I got mine, too, and I am very much looking forward to honoring our graduates, and this proud moment for the District, on June 9. The District’s centennial celebrations will continue with the 2024 All-Alumni Reunion & SHS Centennial Celebration kick off on July 6. Lake Bluff Elementary School’s centennial year will begin in September.
As the end of the school year approaches, I am filled with gratitude and admiration for our students, staff, and families whose dedication to one another makes equity, growth, and excellence for all possible for our students. We have much to celebrate in SSD!
It is with pride that I commend our entire student body for all they have learned this year; not only with their studies, but also with each other as they engage in so many events and meaningful activities that enrich our community. At the start of every School Board meeting, I read the Overarching Result for the Shorewood School District: Our students are leaders who challenge themselves to grow and achieve academically, pursue their passions, navigate change, learn continuously and contribute to the common good. I have witnessed much evidence of this as I have visited classrooms and met with students throughout the year. Shorewood students are the best!
I appreciate the continued support Shorewood families have shown throughout the year. Your engagement is a cornerstone of your child’s education and I look forward to finding more ways to partner with you in the future. Special thanks to those of you who participated in our “Let’s Talk About” series, linkages, and budget workshops this year. I have enjoyed meeting you and learning about how to make our school district better.
I know you will join me in expressing thanks to the Shorewood employees for their heartfelt dedication to students every day of the year. I’m continually impressed and appreciative of the hard work, professionalism, and expertise of Team SSD. It is the people who make Shorewood a great place to learn and work, and I feel so honored to be here. I am optimistic about what is in store for our students and school community.
This summer we will start a long-term visioning process to be followed by strategic planning. Stay tuned for these and other opportunities to work with us.
Sincerely,
Laurie Burgos
New Direct Admit Wisconsin Program
Direct Admit Wisconsin is a new initiative offered by the Universities of Wisconsin to proactively offer admission to qualifying high school students between their junior and senior years. Direct admission removes the traditional application process and uses data provided by the high school to admit students to universities. Current Juniors will be the first class of students eligible for this opportunity. Families who do not want to participate will have the ability to opt-out prior to June. Students who are on track to complete the credits required for admission – 4 years of English, 3 years of math, 3 years of social science, and 3 years of science – will receive an admission offer through Direct Admit Wisconsin. Participation in the program will streamline the acceptance process into participating UW universities at no cost to students or families. Participating universities include UW-Green Bay, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Parkside, UW-Platteville, UW-River Falls, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Stout, UW-Superior, and UW-Whitewater. Offer letters will be sent to qualifying students in July 2024. You can learn more about the Direct Admit Wisconsin program here: wisconsin.edu/direct-admissions
Look for more information from your high school counselors prior to the end of the school year.
K-8 Language Arts Curriculum Adoption Update
A committee of teachers, reading specialists, multilingual teachers, special education teachers, and school principals have been reviewing K-8 Language Arts curriculum materials this year. They are in the final stages of recommending a program for adoption to the Board. The process has involved reviewing programs that align with priority areas identified by Shorewood staff. These priority areas include alignment to academic standards; coherent lesson/unit structure; an age-appropriate balance of print and digital resources; assessment tools that measure progress and mastery of standards; diversity and inclusive materials; differentiated materials to meet all learners’ needs; and teacher professional development support. The chosen program will provide learners with high-quality literacy instruction rooted in research-based practices, aligned to state standards, and focused on student engagement. As a result, all students will be proficient readers and writers who develop lifelong skills that lead to future success and opportunities. The committee will make a recommendation to the Board in May with a plan to implement the new curriculum during the 2024-25 school year.
Update to the 2024-25 Instructional Calendar
We have great news to celebrate and share with you this month! As you may already be aware, our district has previously been identified as disproportionately identifying black students with a disability label of Other Health Impairment (OHI). What does this mean? This means that for several years, our data has shown that we were over identifying black students as having disabilities in the area of OHI as compared to white students and students of other racial backgrounds. Now, through our district’s focus on and commitment towards equity over the last several years as part of our continuous improvement efforts, we have made significant strides in reducing disproportionality overall, but in this area in particular. In fact, we were just notified that we are no longer considered disproportionate!
How will this change our continuous improvement and the equity focus of the district? It won’t change anything because we know that equity work is the right work and we are starting to see the positive outcomes that our commitment to equity is having. This data demonstrates that the work that we have been doing has been creating positive change for our learners and community! We are improving in our ability to understand learners and how we have created systems that may have historically marginalized people from various backgrounds and groups. While we are thrilled to see such a positive change over the last four years in particular, we know that equity work does not end and there is more to be done to break down long standing systems that have marginalized learners.
We are celebrating this news, but also recognize that while we are no longer considered in need of improvement by the state in this area, we still see areas where we can improve. We will continue to focus on ensuring that ALL of our learners receive the best possible educational experience as we continue our work towards more equitable and inclusive learning communities where ALL of our learners are seen, heard, represented and respected.
Parents United
Do you have a child with ADHD or do you think your child might have ADHD? Are you looking for strategies to help foster success for your child at home or school? Join us for the last Parents United event of the year: Ferrari Brain with Bicycle Brakes. Please use this link to register for this virtual event on May 7th with Dr. Patrick Mattek. ALL are welcome regardless of whether you have a child with special needs or not.
Can’t make this event? There will be events next year too so if you haven’t already checked out Parents United, we hope that you make plans to join a future learning opportunity next year!
As a district with the guidance of our ICS framework, we have been working on growing our C3 teams (co-plan, co-serve, co-learn). C3 teams are teams that work to align staff across various areas to share expertise, address student needs proactively within the core curriculum, and build the capacity of all educators to accelerate learning at a high level for all students. These teams will continue to grow as we are in year one of planning and implementing how teams will progress.
With growth comes opportunities to reflect on how we can work to better collaborate with our colleagues to build our collective efficacy and understanding, provide proactive planning for our learners, and design curriculum that is engaging and inclusive for all. We have spent quite a bit of time looking at research that has a high effect size to show student growth. In particular we have planned together as a staff around different strategies and looked to see how they can be used as a teaching strategy in our classrooms. Staff have taken the learning back into their classrooms and then worked on sharing out how those strategies were implemented and elicited feedback from their colleagues. We will continue to work on how to best structure our C3 planning time with an asset based focus on how staff can plan together using all of their skills and knowledge to meet the needs of students.
The Recreation Department hosted the Bowling Centers Association of Wisconsin and Shorewood High School was part of the Wisconsin Vintage Alleys Tour. SHS has one of the only known bowling lanes on a Wisconsin high school campus and the group was thrilled to make a stop to Shorewood for an afternoon of bowling!
SIS Teacher Wins 2024 Excellence in Science Teaching Award
Kelly Steiner was recently recognized by the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers (WSST) for her outstanding work with Science Education in Wisconsin. WSST recognizes teachers of science annually for their achievements. The Excellence in Science Teaching award is given each year to people who have made outstanding contributions to the improvement of science education in Wisconsin.
SHS Creative Writing Class Partners with Atwater Kindergarten Class!
Creative Writing students from Shorewood High School visited with Atwater Elementary School's K-5 class. The kindergarten students in Ms. Anderson's class generated story and character ideas and the high school students brought them to life by writing children's stories.
Atwater Gets a Special Visitor!
SIS Orchestra Performs at Lake Bluff!
The orchestra students from SIS showcased their talents for the students and staff at Lake Bluff Elementary. Ms. Honigman, the orchestra director, organized solo performances from each section to help third-grade students understand the instruments that comprise the Shorewood orchestra. Third-grade students who are interested in joining the orchestra had the opportunity to select their preferred instrument.
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Attending a sporting event or after school activity? We want to see your photos! There is a lot that happens in the SSD community, and we enjoy using photos of our students in newsletters and communication. You can email your photos to mcampbell@shorewood.k12.wi.us
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