Randall Update January 9th, 2026

Randall Weekly Update - Week 19

🤝🙋🏻‍♀️📞Transparency and Communication

Since I started in summer as Principal at Randall, I want to reaffirm our school’s open-door policy and our commitment to transparency, trust, and communication. My door is always open to parents/guardians, and I encourage you to come directly to the school if you have questions, concerns, or hear rumors that cause uncertainty. Meeting face-to-face allows us to share accurate information, listen to one another, and work together in the best interest of our students. Open, honest communication helps us build bridges, strengthen partnerships, and ensure our school community remains supportive, respectful, and united. To that end, if you have questions about the current format of recess at Randall or questions about anything else, please reach out to me directly and I gladly welcome the conversation.

📊💻 Winter iReady Diagnostic

As a general reminder, iReady is an online program for reading and math that will help our staff determine each student’s opportunities for growth, personalize their learning, and monitor progress throughout the school year. The upcoming Winter iReady Diagnostic will measure student growth compared to the Fall Diagnostic. More specifically, it provides two personal measures for each student that we use to set goals. Each student will have a Typical Growth measure, which is how much a student is expected to grow in one year, and a more challenging Stretch Growth measure, which is how much they need to grow to put them on a path to proficiency. Please encourage our students to try their best on the diagnostic so that we have the most accurate data and picture as possible. Once the diagnostic is complete, we will provide families with a copy of the progress report

🎓🏫 UW Madison Badger PreCollege

Designed for students completing grades 4–12, Badger Precollege supports educational and social growth by fostering curiosity and expanding academic interests. Each of our summer programs offers classes in a variety of subjects — ranging from engineering, computer science and business to music, art and law — and is held on the UW–Madison campus for commuter and/or residential students.

Regardless of their choice, students will enjoy an engaging and challenging academic experience, learn more about the college experience and meet new friends — all at a top-ranked university. Explore all Badger Precollege summer 2026 classes at the link below. Choose a subject you already know and love, or pick something new to explore in a low-risk environment.

The application period for all summer programs opens on January 12, 2026. Classes fill up on a first-come, first-served basis, so identify your favorites now and apply early to secure your spot. Link HERE

I look forward to continue working with you and our students throughout the 2025-26 school year. It is my goal to be as clear and supportive as possible. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly at agarcia@randall.k12.wi.us with any questions or concerns.

Thank you,

Alexandra Garcia-Bankowski

Principal

• Monday, January 19th - Friday, January 23rd - K -5 & 6th - 8th Grade Winter iReady Diagnostic Test 💻
• Tuesday, January 20th - Boys Basketball @ Wheatland - 4:00
• Wednesday, January 21st - Ski Club - 4:00
• Thursday, January 22nd - Boys Basketball vs. Yorkville - 4:00
• Monday, January 26th - No School for Students - Staff Professional Development Day

Hello Randall families & Happy New Year!

We have jumped right back into learning and started a new topic this week in our social/emotional curriculum, Character Strong. The topic that our students will be exploring over the next few weeks is perseverance! This week was very much an intro to the topic and what it means. We talked about how we may not use the term "perseverance" very often, but we persevere all the time by trying again and again when something is hard for us. Some of the examples students gave were learning to ride a bike without training wheels, crossing the monkey bars, doing a front flip on a trampoline, learning to swim, skating, certain academics, etc. We ended class with a coloring page for students to bring home and tell their families about the word and its meaning. :)

In junior high, half of our 8th graders completed their Xello lessons this week in Mrs. Vanderloops Academic Leadership class! Xello is a great tool for our students to start using in junior high that will end up following them to high school. It explores different colleges and careers and it individualizes each student's account based on their strengths and interests. We plan to host a Career Fair in the spring for our 8th graders to continue learning about different career fields from professionals that can answer their questions. It was a wonderful success last year and I look forward to this event again.

As always, please reach out with any questions or concerns!

Mrs. Roth

Randall School is pleased to announce the launch of the SPEAK UP, SPEAK OUT confidential tipline as part of our school safety efforts. Tiplines are used to identify threats to schools, and for concerns impacting school age youth such as bullying, drug use, suicidal thoughts and more. Schools that promote and use tiplines have less violence overall. The SPEAK UP, SPEAK OUT (SUSO) tipline is run by the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Office of School Safety. Parents and students, this tool is available for anyone to use to help keep the Randall Community safe!

Randall students will engage in learning about how to advocate for their own (and others') safety and well-being over the next month in partnership with our counselor, Mrs. Roth, as well as other members of our student services team. We encourage you to speak with your child about the importance of communicating when/if they feel that their safety may be compromised.

Here is a LINK to an informational flyer about Speak Up Speak Out.

Thank you in advance for all of your support!