Rocket Roundup

All staff are invited and encouraged to attend the annual Employee of the Year/Educational Foundation of Neenah (EFN) awards event to celebrate their colleagues who are recipients for the past year. The event will be held on Monday, Oct. 7 at 3:45 p.m. at Bridgewood Conference Center. The event will include appetizers and a cash bar with the awards program beginning at 4:15 p.m.

This year's Employees of the Year include:

Elementary Teacher of the Year - Jessica Martine, Spring Road Elementary
Middle School Teacher of the Year - Betsy Jacobson-Holtz, Neenah Middle School
High School Teacher of the Year - Jen Hager, Neenah High School

Special Services Teacher of the Year - Jeff LaPlant, Neenah Middle School

Operations/Maintenance Employee of the Year - TJ Severson, District Groundskeeper
Administrator of the Year - Mike Elkin, Neenah High School
Administrative Asst./Technician/Exempt Employee of the Year - Andy Dubey, Neenah High School
Educational Assistant of the Year - Kelsey Keller, Coolidge Elementary
Team of the Year - Tullar Elementary School Staff

The EFN Award recipients are:

Alliance Charter School - Erica Cates and Stephanie Gorski

Clayton Elementary - Beverly Stearns

Coolidge Elementary - Ashleigh Jones

Hoover Elementary - Heather Hocks

Horace Mann Elementary - Stefanie Monroe

Lakeview Elementary - Jill Bowden

Spring Road Elementary - Lauren Lange

Taft Elementary - Hope Wreath

Tullar Elementary - Jennifer Kangas

Washington School of Early Learning - Renee Poeschl

Neenah Middle School - Rina Hill and Jennifer Kuenster

Neenah High School - Lisa Reimer

There will be an optional all-staff meeting on Thursday, September 26 at 4 p.m. to provide an update on the 2025 health insurance proposal that will be presented to the Board of Education at its Oct. 1 meeting. The meeting will be held via Google Meet at the link below. The meeting will be recorded and sent out the following day as well. The meeting may be accessed at this link at the time of the meeting: https://meet.google.com/rfx-otgr-xxs

Homecoming events are set throughout the District for the week of Sept. 30-Oct. 5, beginning with an open house to the community on Monday, Sept. 30. Community members are welcome to visit the new high school from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Self-guided tours will be available with students and staff in place to answer questions and provide assistance. Visitors can enter through the main entrance to walk through the building at their own pace.

The annual Homecoming parade is set for Friday, Oct. 4 at 5 p.m. in downtown Neenah. The parade will follow the same route as last year (see map below), beginning on Clybourn St. on Doty Island and heading south on Commercial St. before turning west on Wisconsin Ave. and ending at Doty Ave. The parade is followed by the football game at 7 p.m. at the high school when the Rockets host the state's top-ranked team, Kimberly.

Please take a moment to review the Professional Learning Day Schedule for September 27. The day will focus on site-specific initiatives, medical training, and grade-level and department collaboration.

The nurses have been getting a lot of questions regarding the PLD Medical Training and who needs to attend.

All staff need to attend unless you are a new hire and you attended on August 14. We have revamped the medical training and all school staff should attend together with their home school. This includes certified, non certified (including EAs). The only staff that does not need to attend is facilities as they will have training at a later date.

A phishing email that has been circulating among public school staff in Wisconsin. This email requests you to verify public information about your school or district. The content of this email may include the following information:

Please be advised that these emails are not from the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and are malicious in nature.**

Do not click any links in the email or reply to the email. Please delete the email from your inbox and move on with your day.

**If you have submitted any information requested from this email, please let the IT department know.

We would like to let you know about some upcoming changes to Google Meet meeting access default settings. Starting October 7, these Google Meet Host Control default settings will change. Please note, you will still be able to go in and adjust the settings as needed. Starting on October 7 all meetings by default will be set to Host must join before anyone else. This means that a host or co-host must start a meeting before others can join.

Additionally, all meetings will be set to Restricted rather than Trusted for Meeting access type. This means that only individuals added directly through a Google Calendar invite be able to automatically join after the host starts the meeting. All others will be directed to the waiting room and the host will let them in.

In addition, attendance tracking and meeting recordings will be off by default. If you would like to get a meeting record, you will go into Host Controls and turn on Attendance tracking for the meeting. It can be found below the meeting access type in the Host Control Settings.

The fitness centers at Neenah High School, Neenah Middle School and Horace Mann Elementary are available for staff use. All staff that plan to use the facilities must watch the video and complete the rules and regulations form at the end of the video before they are given access. Please allow 3-5 business days for fob access to be added.

Food and drink, other than water, are not allowed on fitness equipment or in the fitness rooms. Staff must enter through designated doors and will only have access during the fitness facility hours. Please see this information below.

School Year Fitness Center Hours of Use:

Monday-Friday: 5-7 a.m. and 4-9 p.m.

Saturday-Sunday: 5:30 a.m.-9 p.m.

Doors to Enter:

Horace Mann Elementary: Door 10

Neenah Middle School: Door 3 (Main Entrance) or Door 10

Neenah High School: Door 19 (Staff Entrance)

IMPORTANT: Some days before and after school may be busy with student groups. Please note that all student groups have priority. If you would like to know what the student group schedule is, please contact Steve Camber or Judd Eastman.

This week's Rocket Roundup post from the Equity and Inclusion coach provides tips for helping students deal with anxiety. All students experience anxiety at one time or another in the school setting. Giving opportunities to self-regulate is one universal accommodation that can aid one student or even a whole class to access learning better. There are also other universal accommodations we can make to our instruction and learning materials to lessen anxiety for neurodivergent students. Click here for more

Staff members who would like to request collaboration time with Equity and Inclusion Instructional Coach Rachael Schley may click here to fill out the request form.

By Prevea Nurse Practitioner Sarah Bleier, APNP, FNP-C

Some of us have been unlucky enough to start our sick season already. This is a good time to talk about over the counter (OTC) options for symptom management. I recommend purchasing one ingredient medications because you can choose which symptoms you are treating, and you decrease the risk of taking duplicate doses of the same medication. Click here to read more

With the new school year beginning, our wellness team is expanding! If you have a passion for health and wellness, we would love to invite you to be a part of our Wellness Committee. All Wellness Champs share a common goal, which is to ignite and maintain a culture of wellness at his or her worksite and to encourage and inspire others to do the same.

This person will attend monthly meetings and play a larger role in planning and implementing programs at their building, serving as a liaison for the Wellness Coordinator. If you are interested in joining our team or have any questions, please reach out to Sara Mercer at sara.mercer@neenah.k12.wi.us. We would love to have your unique perspective and expertise on board. A healthy staff leads to a thriving district, and we believe that with your participation, we can make a positive impact on the well-being of our entire Neenah School District community.

The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center is offering NJSD employees the opportunity to purchase tickets to upcoming shows, in some cases before they become available to the general public. Some of these performances offer a savings compared to individual tickets purchased through Ticketmaster.

Shows available include:

Mamma Mia! (Sun., Dec. 22 at 1 p.m. - offer available until Oct. 3)

Disney's The Lion King (Sun., Jan. 19 at 6:30 p.m. - offer available until Oct. 16)

Some Like it Hot (Sun., March 16 at 1 p.m. - offer available until Jan. 16)

A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical (Sun., May 4 at 1 p.m. - offer available until Feb. 27)

MJ The Musical (Sun., June 8 at 6:30 p.m.)

Click here to access the ticket offers. Use the promo code NJSDSTAFF when ordering. You must sign in or create a Ticketmaster account prior to accessing the offers. You may also contact the ticket office at 920-730-3760 to work with a ticket agent.

What better time to ask yourself how social media is impacting your mental health than on World Mental Health Day. Social media has become a part of our daily lives and has both advantages and disadvantages and can positively or negatively affect our mental health. If you are wondering if your relationship with social media is healthy or unhealthy or if you are concerned about someone you love, this session from our EAP Partner LifeMatters on Thursday, Oct. 10 from noon-1 p.m. is for you.

The session will define social media and assess its use in your life, identify advantages and disadvantages of social media, help you understand social media use and its connection to mental health, offer some simple strategies for having a healthier relationship with social media, give tips how to talk with children about online activity and explain how to leverage Empathia benefits to help yourself and others.

To join the training session:
1. Go to https://prohealthcare.webex.com/prohealthcare/k2/j.php?MTID=t0bcf75bbfeeb8a75bed9ba5ec60d182b
2. Enter your name and email address.
3. Enter the session password: ZkhjpwA2U86
4. Click "Join Now".

Applications for PBnJs Mental Health Fund grants are due by October 9.

The Patrick Began Neenah Joint School District (PBnJs) Mental Health Fund has received over 200 applications and approved over $110,000 worth of grants since 2017. The PBnJs grant has supported SEL programs, presenters, fidgets, registration fees for mental health related training, safe space supplies, and too many other ideas to mention. If you feel you need something for your students or colleagues related to mental health, please apply!

If you or a colleague has an idea to address the mental health needs here at NJSD, fill out a PBnJs Application. It is a brief application process. All you need to do is know how your grant request would benefit our students or staff socially, emotionally, or behaviorally and how much it costs.

Just note that the PBnJs grant is for mental health needs. If your request is for something within the budget of your school, through Special Ed monies, or from your department and is only marginally related to mental health, we will not be able to approve the grant. Also, note that any requests for furniture, such as chairs, will need to be approved by Facilities, so please check with Angela Zanto in the facilities office before applying.

We have had grants supported that are over $10,000 and we have had grants supported for less than $100. If you are unsure if your grant fits the criteria, feel free to contact Dr. Mike at maltekruse@neenah.k12.wi.us. If you are interested in giving to the PBnJs fund, you may do so through the Oshkosh Community Foundation by clicking on the link here.

Thank you for all you do!!!

Neenah Middle School will host a Trick or Treat Community Event on Sunday, October 20 from 2-4 p.m. to gather to celebrate Halloween in a fun and engaging way for our students and families.

We invite you to participate by either hosting a table for your club or sports team, where you can provide an activity, a mini craft, or delicious treats for "trick or treaters." This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your group's talents and connect with families in a festive atmosphere. Please fill out this form to secure your table.

Alternatively, we encourage you to bring your children in their costumes to visit the different booths and enjoy the various activities we’ll have set up throughout the event.

Contact Hannah Brown at NMS if you have any questions about signing up to host a table. Thank you for your support in making this event a memorable experience for our community!

The Educational Foundation of Neenah (EFN) is now accepting grant requests for new and innovative programming for NJSD classrooms. Grant requests should use the EFN Grant Request Form and may be sent directly to Dan Goggin at gogginlaw@msn.com by October 4.

The newly-formed Neenah Dance team has apparel for sale through an online store. Click here to browse and order dance team apparel.

(NJSD staff members admitted free to all regular season events by showing staff ID)

Thursday, September 26

Girls Golf - FVA Meet, 8 a.m. (Chaska G.C.)

Boys Volleyball - Home vs. Sheboygan North, 7 p.m. (NHS Competition Gym)

Boys Soccer - Home vs. Appleton East, 7 p.m. (NHS Soccer Field)

Saturday, September 28

Girls Swimming and Diving - Home. Neenah Invite, 9 a.m. (NMS Pool)

Boys Soccer - Home vs. Sussex Hamilton, Noon (NHS Soccer Field)

Tuesday, October 1
Boys Volleyball - Home vs. Kimberly, 7 p.m. (NHS Competition Gym)