Mission

Every Student, Every Day

The mission of the North Crawford School District is to ensure high levels of learning for every student, every day by providing a safe and supportive environment, collaborative culture, and rigorous academic expectations to prepare our students today for the challenges of tomorrow.

Vision

The North Crawford School District will:

• Commit to the academic, social, and emotional success of every student

• Focus on inclusion for all students

• Develop family, community and business partnerships

• Seek out and adopt best practices for enhancing learning

• Commit to continuous improvement and growth, through a process of self reflection

• Value and respect all members of our school community

• As a district we commit to supporting our students through the framework of R.I.S.E.

The North Crawford School Board recently developed the school district goals for the 2024-25 school year.

1. By the end of the 2024-25 school year, the district will increase the percentage of students meeting or exceeding proficiency in both mathematics and reading by 10% as measured by district-level screeners and/or state assessments for each grade level. For grade levels where proficiency meets or exceeds 80%, the district will maintain or further enhance growth to ensure continued academic progress.
2. The North Crawford School District will improve communication and engagement to increase enrollment, community participation, and stakeholder engagement.
3. The North Crawford School District will develop a comprehensive staff retention plan by actively engaging our staff to understand key factors influencing staff retention and create effective strategies to improve it.
4. The North Crawford School District will develop a strategic financial plan to address current and future facilities and maintenance needs, as identified in the district’s 10-year Capital Improvement Plan.

We welcome several new staff members this year to North Crawford, as well as a few returning staff who will be in new positions this year. We are humbled that our staff continue to choose North Crawford as their place of employment.

New Staff

Alexis Wilson - 4K Teacher

Alexia Jones - Elementary Educational Assistant

Emily Kinserdahl - Elementary Educational Assistant

Tiffany Leirmo - Elementary Educational Assistant

Matthew Bakkum - High School Social Studies Teacher

Luke Burkum - High School ELA Teacher

Nicole Nelson - Bus Driver

Returning Staff in New Positions

Erin Kruizenga - 5th Grade Teacher

Emily Powell - Elementary Special Education Teacher

Erin Stormoen - Elementary Educational Assistant

Cortney DuCharme - Intervention Support

Krystal Huber - Middle School ELA Teacher

Jackie Pettit - High School Math Teacher

Curby Heister - Transportation Director

District staff will be busy this year implementing two new district initiatives in early literacy and K-12 mathematics. The district will be implementing Wisconsin Act 20, the state's response to improving early literacy within Wisconsin. This new legislation requires school districts to adopt recommended literacy curriculum, provide literacy training to staff, collect student literacy data, adopt and implement literacy screeners, identify students in need of additional instruction, develop personal reading plans for students, and provide literacy coaching to staff and students. While this is certainly a large undertaking for staff, North Crawford is positioned very well to implement these requirements, as we have already been doing many of these things in our district as best practices in literacy instruction. Thank you to our district Reading Specialist Jamie Bearrows, and Elementary Principal Amanda Killeen, for their hard work in leading this district implementation.

A second academic initiative the district is undertaking this year is the adoption of a new math curriculum, called Illustrative Mathematics. Illustrative Math is a problem-based curriculum, and is designed to help students apply their learning to real-world problems and scenarios. The curriculum is known for its focus on mathematical literacy, collaborative approach to problem-solving, and emphasis on student understanding of mathematical concepts. Our staff have been receiving training on the implementation of the new curriculum. Thank you to our district Mathematics Instructional Coach Kristen Klein, and Principals Amanda Killeen and Rob Sailer, for their leadership in the adoption of Illustrative Math.

The North Crawford custodial/maintenance team was hard at work this summer making sure our building and grounds are looking beautiful for the return of staff and students. All of the rainfall through the first half of the summer kept the crew busy maintaining the grounds with mowing and trimming. Indoor summer maintenance included scrubbing and waxing floors, shampooing carpets, refinishing the gymnasium floors, painting, washing windows, and overall deep cleaning of classrooms, offices, restrooms, and locker rooms. Thank you to our custodial/maintenance team of Danny Eitsert, Lori O'Donnell, Brian Swiggum, student summer help Livhe Chamberlain and Andrew Munson, and Facilities Director Eric Hady.

While there certainly weren't the extensive construction projects that we experienced last summer, there was one large project that was completed in the month of August. The district septic system was redesigned and relocated. Several new tanks were added to the system, as well as new pumps, new filters, piping, and a new valve system. These upgrades should position the district well for the next 20-30 years. We appreciate our local contractors, John Anderson Plumbing and Excavation; Showen Excavation; and McCormick Electric for their work on completing this project in a timely manner.

The North Crawford Transportation Department stayed busy over the summer months. Whether it was running bus routes for summer school, trips for summer rec, or student activities, our staff and vehicles stayed busy through the summer months. The last few weeks have been spent making sure the buses are ready to go mechanically, finalizing our staffing, and working on bus routes for the new year.

The district recently approved the purchase of two new electric school buses from Lion Electric. The district hopes to take delivery of the buses late winter. The majority of the cost of the buses will be funded through the federal government's infrastructure money. We are excited to be a leader in southwest Wisconsin in the implementation of the electric buses.

Curby Heister is our new Transportation Director for the district. We are still actively recruiting for drivers to serve as route drivers and trip drivers. The district provides paid training, paid licensing, sign-on bonuses, and driving bonuses. If you are interested in becoming a bus driver, please reach out to Curby Heister at cheister@ncrawford.k12.wi.us or at (608) 624-3484.

While most of the district staff were enjoying a summer vacation, the North Crawford child care center staff were hard at work this summer providing child care services to area children ages 0-4. The center also implemented Camp Crawford this summer, a 4 week summer camp for our younger school-age children in the district. Our district's child care center continues to be focused on providing quality care and support for our families and youngest learners. To learn more about our child care program, to enroll a child in the program, or if interested in employment in our child care, please contact Directors Nicole Harris at nharris@ncrawford.k12.wi.us or Shianna Schultz at sschultz@ncrawford.k12.wi.us.

The fall athletic seasons are well underway and are gearing up for their season opening games in the next week. The varsity football team is coming off a conference championship in 2023, and hopes to follow that up with another strong season. For the first time in many years, the football team has enough players to play a JV schedule. The varsity volleyball team is looking ahead to another tough schedule, with several key players returning to this year's squad. The team has their eyes on a conference championship this season. The cross country team has been logging early morning miles as they prepare for their upcoming season opener. The boys and girls teams are looking to push again this year for a top of the conference finish. Our middle school athletic teams are just getting going with practices, and look forward to a competitive and fun season.

Thank you to Athletic Director Jeff Murphy and all of our fall coaches for your dedication to providing positive experiences for our North Crawford student athletes. To view the schedules of our fall athletic teams, click the link https://www.ridgeandvalleyconference.org/public/genie/703/school/5/.

The North Crawford School District is still actively searching for employees to fill the following positions. If you are interested in employment at North Crawford, please reach out to Tina Volden in the District Office at (608) 735-4318.

Substitute Teachers

Substitute Support Staff - kitchen, custodial, office, daycare

Substitute Route and Trip Bus Drivers