eCampus Academy Update
Watertown Unified School District | November 2025
At eCampus Academy, we are committed to ensuring that every student is engaged in learning, achieving academically, and developing the skills needed for life beyond school. This fall, our team is taking a closer look at how we measure and support these important areas by gathering and analyzing data each trimester to guide our ongoing work.
Engagement reflects the daily habits and behaviors that help students meet grade-level expectations and move confidently toward graduation. We are monitoring attendance through Skyward to understand reliability and consistency in learning, and tracking student agency; how often students complete their weekly advisor check-ins on time, to gauge responsibility and connection to their personalized learning plans.
Academics remain at the heart of what we do, honoring our tradition of rigorous and relevant learning. We are reviewing credit completion data to ensure steady progress toward mastery and analyzing how many students are meeting their individual academic goals outlined in their Personalized Learning Plans. This helps our teachers and advisors tailor support and celebrate growth.
Life Readiness captures the broader purpose of our work; preparing students for college, career, and community. We are tracking participation in experiences such as Youth Apprenticeship, employability skills workshops, dual credit or career-aligned courses, and service learning opportunities. These experiences help our students apply their learning in meaningful, real-world contexts and become leaders beyond the virtual classroom.
As we move through the trimester, our staff will use this data to celebrate successes, identify opportunities for growth, and refine our practices to ensure that each learner is inspired, supported, and ready for what comes next. Together, through tradition, innovation, and transformation, we continue to build a vibrant learning community where every student can thrive.
As we move forward, we encourage you to nurture a love of reading at home by dedicating at least 20 minutes each day to reading. This simple habit can have a profound impact on your child's development and long-term success.
Thank you for being an essential part of our eCampus family.
In Community & Education -
Jason Bull
If you’ve ever wondered whether The Magic School Bus's Ms. Frizzle was inspired by a real person, we at eCampus think we’ve found her. Cathy Houchin, our remarkable Specialist Teacher, has been the driving force behind so many of our students’ most memorable learning adventures. Whether she’s leading virtual lessons from ship near Antarctica alongside her 92-year-old father, turning bananas into pianos in a STEM lab, sharing her love of music with her students in a peppy rendition of dueling ukuleles, or building Minecraft worlds with her students, Cathy embodies the spirit of curiosity and courage that defines our learning culture, modeling to her students and colleagues what a life-long learner looks like.
Before joining eCampus, Cathy spent over 24 years teaching music in the Webster Elementary and other WUSD schools, where her creativity and love for learning earned her national recognition as a Discovery Education Network Teacher. She has represented both Wisconsin and Discovery Education on stages at national technology and education conferences, inspiring countless educators to bring innovation and joy into their classrooms.
This November, Cathy will be representing our school community once again—first at the Meta Educator Summit in Menlo Park, California, where she was invited to explore the future of AI and VR in education with a small group of educators. The following week, she’ll fulfill her civic duty at the Dodge County Annual Budget Meeting as a voting member of the Board of Supervisors where she acts as Chair of the Taxation committee and is an active member of the Judicial & Public Protection committee.
From classroom magic to community leadership, Cathy continues to show what it means to “take chances, make mistakes, and get messy.” We are proud to have our very own Ms. Frizzle inspiring the next generation of fearless learners at eCampus Academy.
Congratulations Cathy on your continued success and recognition and thank you for the high bar you set for our learning community.
Mark your calendars!
Morning Meetings (weekly)
4K- 2nd Grade Morning Meetings with Mrs. Hail Tuesdays at 9:00am - GoogleMeet Link
3rd - 5th Grade Morning Meeting with Mrs. Retzlaff Wednesdays at 10:00am - GoogleMeet Link
November Events
November 3- October Monthly Artifacts Due
November 14- STEM Day at eCampus Office - more details below
November 21- Student Learner Profiles Due on Google Drive (email will be sent on 11/5)
November 24- Pizza Hut Reading Logs Due (previously signed up)
November 26-28- NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving Break
Looking Ahead into December
December 1 - November Monthly Artifacts Due
December 4- 4K-12th Grade Wisconsin State Capital Field Trip (information coming soon)
4K Learners
No artifacts or updates on their learner profile are due in November. The next time that your learner will be assessed in all areas will be in December. I hope that together we will see growth from when the September assessment was administered.
Fall Academic Groups- Ending Dates
Thank you to all of those who are participating in the Fall Academic group offerings. We hope that you are finding them beneficial for your learner(s), and are seeing the skills being taught transferred into their coursework. All groups will conclude before Fall Break. Stay tuned on the specific dates depending on the group.
Fall STEM Day - Friday, November 14th
This is an in-person event offered to all 4K through 5th grade eCampus students, and their families. This event will start at 9:00 am and end at 11:00 am. There will be a variety of stations that your learner can explore ranging from science, technology and engineering. You do not need to stay for the whole duration of STEM day, as it’s more of an open house format. You and learner can spend as much time as they would like exploring!
Field Trip RSVP and Background Checks This Year
In order to RSVP for any in-person field trips we will use received payment as your RSVP for the trip. This means that we will not count you/your child(ren) as coming to the trip until payment is received. You may bring your payment for any trip into the eCampus office or mail it to our office Attention Jenna Retzlaff at 111 Dodge Street, Watertown WI 53551.
All adults riding the bus and attending bus field trips with us will be required to have a background check done. If you plan on attending any bus field trips this year we would highly recommend that you fill out a form now and bring it in or mail it to the ESC so that you can be approved to attend. Background checks are good for one whole academic year.
Academic Calendar Notes
You may notice that there will be NO SCHOOL days listed during the month. eCampus Academy learners follow the Watertown Unified School District calendar. However, you can absolutely continue learning during that time or halt learning, whatever you see fit for your family.
🎓 Get Free Help Completing Your FAFSA!
College Goal Wisconsin is bringing free FAFSA completion workshops to communities all across the state—both in-person and online! Friendly experts will be available to guide you step-by-step through the FAFSA, with help offered in English, Spanish, and Hmong. Don’t miss this chance to get your financial aid questions answered and be entered to win a $1,000 scholarship just for attending!
Click the website below to see a calendar events and register.
Yearbooks
The 2025-2026 yearbooks can be purchased online through the Herff-Jones website: http://bit.ly/2WFzrGD. The WHS order number is 3818 (if needed).
This year, the yearbook fee will be $55. This is the only way to purchase a yearbook for this school year. Please plan accordingly as no extra yearbooks will be ordered.