School District of Howards Grove

Greetings Parents & Guardians-

Welcome to the November Edition of the Parent & Guardian Newsletter. This one is packed with tons of important information, so please take the time to look over the various articles.

But before you dig into all the important information enclosed, I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude for your partnership, trust, and support. Your dedication to your children's education and well-being is inspiring and deeply appreciated.

Wishing you and your family a joyful and peaceful Thanksgiving.

Sincerely,

Shannon Kilton

Superintendent

skilton@hgtigers.com

The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) released the report cards for every publicly funded school and district in Wisconsin. These report cards include data on multiple indicators for multiple years across four Priority Areas (Achievement, Growth, Target Group Outcomes, and On-track to Graduation). DPI categorizes schools on the following scale:

• Significantly Exceeding Expectations- 5 Stars
• Exceeds Expectations- 4 Stars (School District of Howards Grove)
• Meets Expectations - 3 Stars
• Meets Few Expectations- 2 Stars
• Fails to Meet Expectations- 1 Star

While this is only 1 measure of our success and there is always room for improvement, but we are proud to report:

The School District of Howards Grove received 4 STARS from DPI for Exceeding Expectations.

How do we compare to surrounding schools? Check out the chart below showing the area school district scores.

Thank you to everyone that took the time to share their feedback on our fall survey to all parents & guardians! This is our first survey like this, so it is our baseline data for future goals and improvement efforts. We hope to continue this survey to help us collect data on our efforts to make the district the best it can be. Here is a summary of the data that was collected from the survey.

Parent & Guardian Survey Results

Northview Parent Experience

Middle School Parent Experience

High School Parent Experience

To help our families plan for the 2025-2026 school year, the School Board approved the calendar for next year. This calendar is shared on the website under the "For Parents" section, and here is an easy access link to the 2025-2026 school year calendar.

Check out the amazing things happening in our schools!

Enjoy!

High School

Middle School

Northview

Thanks for providing us feedback in the Summer School Survey. Unfortunately, as you will see in the picture below, it was nearly split down the middle for parents. Our teaching staff, which is integral to the success of our summer school offerings, did prefer OPTION 1, so please plan accordingly for the dates highlighted below. Please note- due to construction at Northview next summer, the majority of summer school programming will occur at the CURRENT middle school building.

Children of all ages do better in school when they start the day with a good breakfast. Research has shown time and again that students who eat breakfast are ready to learn. Schools that implement breakfast programs see improvements in attendance and behavior. At Howards Grove High school in accordance with the National School Breakfast Program we are serving breakfast daily before school and at Nutrition break for $2.25. For those that qualify for Free/Reduced prices for lunch, will also qualify for Free/Reduced breakfast as well. Breakfast choices consist of whole grain breakfast sandwiches, fruit and juice, yogurt or string cheese, cold cereals, and breakfast bars- as well as all ala carte items.

We are seeing great success in the breakfast program at the high school and would love your feedback on extending these options at the Middle School. Middle School Parents- please give us feedback on the link below.

Middle School Breakfast Feedback

Our participation in the school lunch program at Northview has been lower than typical in an elementary school. As a result, we'd love some parent feedback on the lunch program at Northview.

Northview Lunch Program Feedback

Do you ever wonder if it is more cost effective to pack lunch vs. buying school lunch? Are you tired of packing your child’s lunch?

Howards Grove Schools charges $3.50 for school lunch at Northview, and $3.80 for school lunch at Middle and High Schools. Howards Grove Schools’ lunches are part of the National School Lunch Program. These nutritious lunches include whole grains, milk, fresh fruits and vegetables that your kids will eat.

Below are four packed lunch examples that would provide a comparable amount of food items we see kids bringing from home. Costs for these lunches were pulled and averaged directly from Piggly Wiggly in Howards Grove and Walmart online 11-06-24.

PACKED LUNCH EXAMPLE 1: Smuckers Uncrustable PB & J =$1.05 Vegetable: Baby Carrots & Ranch Dip, 2.75 oz =$1.47 Fruit: Motts Original Applesauce Cup =$0.46 Dessert: Snack pack Chocolate Pudding Cup =$0.27 Drink: School Milk=$0.50 Grand Total: $3.75

PACKED LUNCH EXAMPLE 2: Turkey & Cheese Sandwich: 2 slices Home Pride wheat bread (20 slices for $3.27) =$0.33, 2 oz Sarah Lee Honey Roasted Turkey Breast: (At $9.63 per lb)=$1.21, 1 slice of Kraft Singles Cheese: (At $4.98 for 24 slices)=$0.21 Vegetable: Baby Carrots & Ranch Dip, 2.75 oz =$1.47 Fruit: 1 banana =$0.19 Dessert: Snyder Pretzel Sticks =$0.27 Drink: Juicy Juice Apple Juice Box 6.75 oz juice =$0.37 Grand Total: $4.16

PACKED LUNCH EXAMPLE 3: P3 Portable Protein Pack Turkey, Almonds Colby Jack Cheese, for a Low Carb Lifestyle, 2 oz Tray = $2.12 Vegetable: Baby Carrots & Ranch Dip, 2.75 oz =$1.47 Fruit: Motts Original Applesauce Cup =$0.46 Dessert: Snyder Pretzel Sticks =$0.27 Drink: Juicy Juice Apple Juice Box =$0.48 Grand Total: $4.80

PACKED LUNCH EXAMPLE 4: Lunchables Uploaded Turkey and Cheddar Sub Sandwich Meal Kit with Pringles, Hershey's Kisses, Absopure Water and Kool-Aid Tropical Punch Single =$4.32 Vegetable Baby Carrots & Ranch Dip, 2.75 oz =$1.47 Fruit: 1 banana=$0.19 Grand Total: $5.98

The average cost of these four packed lunches is $4.67 per lunch and does not include napkins, utensils, and condiments. The price savings per day of buying school lunch ($3.60- average of lower grade - upperclassmen prices) vs packing lunch is at a minimum $1.07 per lunch x 180 school days = a cost savings of $193.00 per year per child when you buy school lunches. This does not even put a value on your time,which if it takes you an average of 15 minutes to pack a lunch.

Save money, save time and always make sure your child has a healthy, hot lunch option. School Lunch makes a lot of CENTS!

At the November School Board Meeting, the Board approved minor changes to our district safety plans.

1. District Safety Plan- For staff immediate response in the event of an emergency. Designed by event. Step by Step process.

2. Postvention Plan- For administrative team after the event. Details roles and responsibilities. Sample communication letters to staff/families/students/media.

3. Reunification Plan- For all staff and administrators. Details roles and responsibilities. Step by Step process.

Our district safety team meets monthly to ensure we have all the necessary plans in place to respond to potential emergency situations in our schools. Most recently, we have been working on our reunification plan, which would be used in the event we needed to evacuate a school and reunify our students with their parents/guardians in the event of an emergency situation.

Here are some of the details that would be used in reunification in the event a school or district had to evacuate.

In the event there would be an emergency situation or an incident that occurred during the school day, we would implement an evacuation. This process involves families being brought together with their student(s) as quickly as possible is called reunification. We would use this process in the event of inclement weather, power outage, hazmat, or if a crisis occurs at the school. Students are moved off-site when school officials determine students and staff should not re-enter the building until it is rendered safe. Off-site locations that may be used for reunification are the following: Other Howards Grove School District Buildings, Harms Bus, and Lakeland University. School officials will choose the best reunification site at the time of the incident depending on the circumstances of the emergency. Our main priorities in a reunification are student safety and accountability.

Below are guidelines that would need to be followed in the event of reunification:

A reunification process protects the safety of all students and staff. If a parent/guardian is notified that a reunification is needed, you must bring your identification to the relocation site. Students are released only to authorized individuals and a sign-out procedure is followed. There are no exceptions to this rule. The process will take some time, please be patient. Parents will then be provided with information on the relocation site. Please do not come to the school as we will need to provide access to emergency personnel during this time.

Understand that emergency pickup procedures are different from routine pickup procedures. We appreciate your cooperation through this process, our first priority is student and staff safety.

While we're on the topic of School Safety, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight our School Resource Officer, Travis Auch. Officer Auch joined our team last year after the retirement of our long-time SRO, Officer Scott Niemi.

Here are some of the training certificates that Officer Travis has to help us support our students. In addition, Travis Auch is participating in some play-based groups at Northview to help build relationships with our students.

In addition to support offered by Officer Auch, students in our district, especially the high school, are very fond of our very own police/therapy dog, Copper. He is a popular presence among our students as he trots around our schools. There is something about petting a dog that always puts a smile on a student's face!

In a district our size without our own police department, we are very fortunate to have access to a School Resource Officer. Please note- the district uses Fund 80 to cover the costs of Officer Auch, which is a community fund which also means, his costs are NOT coming out of the funds to educate our students and pay our teachers. This is also why you will see Officer Auch at our football and basketball games, as he is a community resource.

Our Fall Sports Season has successfully come to a close and we are starting up with the winter season. Congratulations to our Fall All Conference Winners & Special Congratulations to Nina Goedeke, as our State Cross Country Qualifier- the first girls state qualifier since 2016!

Boys Soccer:

1st Team - Nolan Madson

2nd Team - Will Johnson

Honorable Mention- Jameson Schmidt & Carson Thiel

Cross Country:

1st Team- Ashlyn Miller & Nina Goedeke

2nd Team - Liam Swearingen

Honorable Mention - Odin Scultz

Girls Volleyball:

1st Team - Ashlyn Graf & Soraya Benton

2nd Team - Sallieann Burrows

Honorable Mention - Gretchen Winter & Brianne Vandoske

Football: (Defense)

2nd Team - Owen Bramstedt, Mason Stoeckigt & Keaton Milbrath

Honorable Mention - Nathan Doebert & Jack Bartz

Football: (Offense)

1st Team - Conor Cruz & Mason Stoeckigt

2nd Team - Aaron Schorer

Honorable Mention - Keaton Milbrath & Trent Grunewald

Thank You!

• Thank you to everyone who joined us for our November Family Food Nights at Log Cabin Inn and Tom’s Drive In! Your continued participation and generosity allow us to advance our mission of supporting our amazing students, teachers, and families.

• On Friday, November 15, dozens of families joined us for Family Night with the Wisconsin Herd. We were able to raise a meaningful amount of funds in support of our students and teachers. It was a fun time for a great cause – a true slam dunk!

• Northview students had an amazing time exchanging books, dressing up in costume, and dancing the night away at our Fall Festival! Thank you to all who joined us for this fun filled evening, and a special thank you to our first and second grade families for supplying delicious treats and refreshments!

Save the Date

• Monday, December 2: Family Food Night at Log Cabin: Mark your calendars for our final Family Food Night at Log Cabin. This is a great opportunity to enjoy a delicious meal and show our appreciation for the amazing support they have provided the PTO over the past two years. Please stop by, bring your family, and help us thank Log Cabin for their generous contributions. We can’t wait to see you there!

• December 7th & 8th – Winter Market! Join us for our 2nd Annual Winter Market at the Howards Grove High School. We will once again feature nearly 50 local vendors. Discover unique hand-made crafts and specialty items perfect for holiday gifts! Follow us on Facebook for more details as the event approaches.

• Monday, December 9 - PTO Meeting: Join us for our monthly PTO Meeting at 5:00pm in the Northview Library. Everyone is welcome! Free babysitting is provided if requested within 72 hours of the meeting. Please contact hgpto@yahoo.com for more information.

• Month of December – Holiday Sale: The PTO is excited to once again partner with local businesses to make your holiday preparations a piece of cake! Keep an eye out for more information on our annual Holiday Sale, which will include delicious treats and handpicked gift boxes. Stay tuned for more details coming soon!

Learn More About the PTO!

Take advantage of the opportunity to give back and support your school community by joining the PTO. Interested in learning more, reach out anytime via email or check us out on Facebook!

• Email: Reach out to Stacey Yager, PTO President, at hgpto@yahoo.com for any questions you may have.

• Facebook: Follow us on Facebook (Howards Grove PTO) for all the latest information!

The School District of Howards Grove does not discriminate in the employment of staff on the basis of any characteristic protected under State or Federal law including, but not limited to, race, color, age, sex, creed or religion, handicap or disability, marital status, genetic information, citizenship status, veteran status, military service (as defined in 111.32, Wis. Stats.), sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, arrest record, conviction record, use or non-use of lawful products off the District’s premises during non-working hours, or any other characteristic protected by law in its employment practices. (Board Policy 4122)