Thank you to everyone who participated in Parent/Caregiver/Teacher/Student Conferences! It was fantastic to see you in the halls and on Google Meet. You, our student's parent/caregiver are your child's first teacher and as we enter the final years of their K-12 experience that partnership is vital. Thank you for connecting with us. If you were unable to connect with us this week that's OKAY! Parent/teacher conferences can happen any time. Give us a call (608)478-1700 or send your student's teacher an email to continue the conversation.

This week we continue our Black History Month celebration with SPIRIT WEEK and our ANNUAL BSU SHOWCASE!!! We also celebrate our incredible Student Athletes and Co-Curricular Scholars who are THRIVING in so many ways right now, don't forget to check out the Spotlights at the end of the Newsletter to see the amazing things happening.

In this week's Newsletter there are some important announcements regarding parking as we need to change some habits in order to keep everyone safe. Additionally there are some important upcoming deadlines for SOPHOMORES, JUNIORS and SENIORS. Don't miss! (Deadlines this week and next). Finally, we look forward to seeing you at our Parent Partnership this Wednesday at 6:00pm.

• Upcoming Events
  
• Daily Announcements
• February- Black History Month
• Parent Partnership Meeting
  
• Parking Expectations- IMPORTANT
• Sophomores- Early College STEM
• Sophomores and Juniors- Start College Now and Early College Credit Program (ECCP)
• Seniors- Local Scholarship Deadline Approaching
• Beauty and the Beast!
• Classroom and Student Spotlights!
• In Case you Missed It!

• February 1st-29th- Black History Month

• February 21st- Parent/Caregiver Partnership Meeting
  

• February 23rd- Community Soul Food Dinner 5:30-7:00pm- East

• February 27th- Hip Hop Gallery Walk- 6:00-7:30pm- Prairie View

• March 12th- Juniors (11th Grade) ONLY- ACT Testing
• April 9th- Freshman and Sophomores (9th and 10th Grade) ONLY- Pre-ACT Secure Testing
• May 18th- Junior and Senior Prom

Have you ever walked by the screens while in the building at West and thought, I want to make sure my student knows about that? Here are our student announcements so that parents/caregivers can have the same information to remind and encourage student involvement.

This week our Black Student Union is hosting both a Spirit Week and our annual BSU showcase. Here's the dress up schedule for the week:

Our BSU students have been working hard preparing for this year's Showcase! Check out these highlights from last year's BSU Showcase:

Today band students from East and West were at UW Madison working with composer Omar Thomas. The students worked through his piece based off of the Black National Anthem: Lift Every Voice and Sing.

Checkout this awesome upcoming opportunities to celebrate 50 Years of Hip Hop and Black History Month

Our next Parent Partnership meeting is THIS week on February 21st. This is an opportunity to share what is going well for your student at West, areas of growth and we will be digging into our SP West 100 Day plan for feedback.

A few important parking reminders and expectations as we continue to have situations that are unsafe for students.

• When dropping off students ONLY use the RED Student Drop Off Zone. We are seeing many parents/caregivers dropping students off in the YELLO Bus Loading Zone, Student Parking and Visitor Staff Lots. This creates situations in which there are moving cars where others are trying to park, blocked parking spots and student being nearly hit by cars when trying to walk through designated areas.
• Do NOT pull into light blue designated accessible parking, or block these spots, for any length of time if you do not have a government issued tag/license plate. We have students that require the use of these spots and on a regular basis are having their access limited due to others blocking or being in the locations.
• The DARK BLUE service road behind the building is for Emergency Use only. Prepare for these gates to begin being closed as we have seen an increase in individuals using this back road at the end of the day in an attempt to avoid traffic. Unfortunately this creates unsafe circumstances and a student was nearly hit last week.
• The gray circle near the end of the staff parking and service road is designated for specialized transportation pickup only. The only pick up that should take place in this location is specialized buses and parent/caregivers working with their student's IEP team.
• Finally, students a reminder to park in your student designated parking spot in the GREEN LOT.

We are working to have an increased presence in these locations with our School Resource Officer and Administration to enforce these important safety measures, warnings and tickets may be issued for infractions.

We know that drop-off, pick-up and parking can be difficult and busy times at a comprehensive High School. Please ensure that you are planning ahead with appropriate time. If we all work together the system will work and keep everyone safe.

Sophomores- the deadline for Early College STEM Academy is coming up THIS WEEK! Apply TODAY!! Reach out to Mr. Smith or your counselor for more information.

In addition to the Early College STEM Academy there are additional opportunities for our students to take courses at our local colleges, including UW Madison- FOR FREE while still at SP West!. Start College Now and Early College Credit Program (ECCP) allow juniors and seniors (THIS YEAR's SOPHOMORES AND JUNIORS) to take college courses for courses not offered in SPASD. THE DEADLINE IS QUICKLY APPROACHING ON MARCH 1ST FOR FALL COURSES. APPLY TODAY! See Mr. Craig Smith or your counselor for more information.

Seniors! The deadline for the local scholarship is QUICKLY approaching- Feb 28th. Apply TODAY!!!

Mark your calendars and buy your tickets TODAY for Beauty and the Beast this Spring!

This week we had our first Student Senate meeting. Approximately 25 students representing the beautiful diversity of our student population met to discuss our hopes for the group, to get to know one another and to learn about how systemic school improvement happens. We discussed the structure of the school district, Scorecards, SP100 plans, school goals, action steps, etc). During this week's meeting this group will be diving into setting our priority areas for our time together.

The Multilingual Department hosted an educational field trip to UW Credit Union. Students learned about credit building, financial literacy, and career pathways in finance for the LatinX community.

This Thursday we sent our Boys State Swim qualifiers off in style with an SP West Send Off parade. They swam with Wolf Pride this weekend. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Our SP United Wrestlers were REGIONAL CHAMPS! We are now sending 5 of our SP United Wrestlers to STATE! Wish our State Bound Wrestlers GOOD LUCK: Christopher Anderson, Parker Olson, Isaiah Horan, Sophia Bassino, and Jaxon Johnson. Congratulations

This past Saturday, SP West was full of students and jazz! The evening included a student showcase concert with clinicians. For over 30 years, the Sun Prairie Jazz Festival evening concert has showcased jazz bands from around the state and musician/educators from around the country. This year's clinicians included:

• Jim Piela - alto saxophone
• Preston Pierce - saxophone
• Erika von Kleist - saxopho
• Dan Wallach - alto/bari saxophone
• Derrick Gardner - trumpet
• Darren Sterud - trombone
• Reggie Thomas - piano
• Ethan Philion - bass
• Rick Haydon - guitar
• Jim Huwe - drums

Congratulations to our BIG EIGHT CHAMPION Boys Basketball Team! Our boys take on SP East here at the Wolf Den on Tuesday night for the last game of the regular season and then move into the playoffs as a 3 seed.

This weekend our forensics students participated in Love on the Prairie hosted by the historical society.

If you don't already, please follow SP West on Facebook!

STATEMENT OF NONDISCRIMINATION

No student may be unlawfully discriminated against in any school programs, activities or in facilities usage because of the student’s sex (gender identity, gender expressions, and non-conformity to gender role stereotypes), color, religion, profession, or demonstration of belief or non-belief, 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. Harassment is a form of discrimination and shall not be tolerated in the District. It is the responsibility of administrators, staff members and all students to ensure that student discrimination or harassment does not occur.

(SPASD District Policy JB)

If a student or parent/guardian would prefer to have this information translated into Spanish, please contact us at 608-834-6620. Si un estudiante, padre ó guardian prefiere tener esta información traducida en Español, por favor contactenos en el 608-834-6620.

If a student or parent/guardian would prefer to have this information translated into Hmong, please contact us at 608-834-6630. Yog tus me nyuam lub xiv los yog niam thiab txiv/tus neeg muaj cai saib xyuas tus me nyuam xav tau qhov ntawv ntawm no ua lus Hmoob, thov hais rau peb paub rau ntawm 608-834-6630.

Information from previous Howls that's too important to miss!

On Friday we celebrated students with an email to the student and their parent/caregiver for 1st semester excellence:

• 3.0+ GPA: 890 students were recognized for earning a 3.0 or higher GPA 1st semester
• Improved GPA: 531 10th-12th grade Wolves were recognized for improving their culminative GPA based their 1st semester grades
• 90% Attendance: 422 students were recognized for having a full day attendance of 90% or better for all of 1st semester
• Improved Attendance: 192 students were recognized for improving their attendance by at least 5% from 1st to 2nd quarter.

Tomorrow these Wolves will receive a small snack during SP30 as a celebration.

See the links below to register for Strength & Conditioning and Traffic Safety

The Traffic Safety and Behind the Wheel are ONLY open to students who are CURRENTLY (Spring 2024) in grades 9-12. Although the law allows students who are 14.5 to be involved in Drivers Ed, we limit registration/participation to students currently in grades 9-12 due to the demand.

Inspired by the classic game of Monopoly, this unique challenge is designed to spark your imagination and reward you with awesome prizes. Westopoly will begin January 22nd and run until March 22nd. Westopoly is designed to challenge students with tasks related to the library, the school, and the community. Students who wish to participate should register here or by scanning the QR code.

How to Play: Roll the dice daily and move around the board. Complete the task you land on and gain (or lose!) tickets.

Once the program is complete students will have the opportunity to enter their tickets into a drawing for prizes from:

• Kwik Trip

• I’m Board

• Beans n Cream

• Timbers’

• and more!

Stop by the library or email Ms. Dahl at bedahl@sunprairieschools.org for more information.

Our annual state wide exams are approaching. Mark your calendars:

• March 12th is our ACT testing day which is a JUNIORS (11th grade) only day. No school for 9th, 10th and 12th graders that day.
• We will follow that up with our Pre-ACT Secure Testing on April 9th for Freshman (9th) and Sophomores (10th) graders ONLY. April 9th is a no school day for 11th and 12th graders.

Once a month the library partners up with Melissa from the Sun Prairie Public Library to offer Creativity Time! Creativity Time allows students to participate in a library led craft, so far we have done: magazine strip art, TikTok ghost painting, luminaries, jar animals, and book hedgehogs.

On January 11th during WIN time we will be making yarn crafts. Sign up in Flexi under Ms. Dahl. You don’t want to miss out on this craftastic time!

Is your student looking for ways to get ahead in studying for the ACT? Here are a couple resources:

FREE - all students have access to Methodize in their Xello accounts. Methodize offers free study guides and practice tests

For Cost - ACT Prep Plus. Offered by CESA 5, students can register for prep sessions throughout the year.

As we reach the halfway point in the year a few parking lot reminders:

• When dropping off or picking up students use the designated drop-off/pick-up lane OUT SIDE of the student parking lot. We have had many parents/caregivers waiting for students IN the student parking lot, this blocks students in causing students to be late to work, etc. Additionally, student drop-off/pick-up should not take place in the visitor/staff parking lot at the front of the school, this additionally causes congestion.
• While waiting to pick up a student DO NOT pull into handicap parking lots if you do not have handicap plates or placard. We have had many instances of families picking up students that need access to these spaces to load the student and their wheelchair and they cannot access them because others are using the space for waiting.

We know that with a student population of ~1400 students drop-off/pick-up can be a very busy time and waiting can cause frustration. However, if we all work together and follow the system everyone's needs will be met. Thank you!

Since 1980, every three years over 20,000 Dane County youth in grades 7-12 are surveyed regarding their opinions, concerns, attitudes, behaviors and experiences to provide educators, community agencies, parents, policy-makers and funding bodies the data needed to inform grant writing, program development and public policy. The last survey was administered in 2021.

Dane County school districts, including SPW, will be administering the Dane County Youth Assessment to all students on 2/13/2024. Please review the links below for more details on the survey, participation options and who to contact for questions.

Parent consent HERE

Consentimiento de los padres AQUI