SPASD In Focus Newsletter | Oct. 25

We are already eight weeks into the school year, and it’s been inspiring to see our students engaged and growing in their learning. Parent-teacher conferences are taking place, providing a valuable opportunity to connect, celebrate progress, and discuss ways to support each student’s continued success. You are an essential partner in your child’s education, and we deeply value your involvement. As we move deeper into the year, please continue to help your student by maintaining strong routines and consistent attendance—both are key ingredients for academic success and overall well-being.

Please join me for coffee on Friday, October 31st, 9:00–10:15 a.m., at the District Support Center, Room 106, 501 S. Bird Street.

With appreciation,

Dr. Brad Saron, Superintendent

Last spring, we conducted a communications survey to better understand how well we are connecting with our community. One area we want to strengthen is how we listen—only 61% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they have opportunities to share their perspectives, feedback, questions, or concerns with us. 15% had no opinion, and 24% disagreed or strongly disagreed. We want to improve that together. Our goal is to make it easier for you to share your voice and for us to listen and respond effectively. Watch for new opportunities to connect and share ideas.

Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts about the Sun Prairie Area School District’s Annual Report. Your feedback will help us improve how we communicate with our community. (This survey takes less than 3 minutes.)

The Annual Report is a progress report to our community from the 2024–2025 school year. This report shares both the highlights from the school year and the opportunities ahead. It tells the story of our School District—our committed educators and staff, our incredible students, and the families and caregivers who walk beside us every step of the way.

We often get asked why we send our publications to the community. The School Board has expressed a specific expectation that the District share information with our community, including through the Annual Report. Over 60% of our community members and taxpayers do not have kids in our schools. Though this report is available online, it has a broader reach if we send it to all homes in the District, ensuring that this information is readily available to our community. We use bulk mailing, which is a more cost-effective way for us to reach our entire community, including those who do not currently have students in our schools, than targeted mailing. In addition, we are constantly looking for ways to be more efficient and cost-effective.

After Katey Kamoku stepped down from her Board position to focus on her family and career, Vice President Bryn Horton stepped in to serve as Acting President. On October 13th, the Board held a reorganization vote, during which Diana McFarland was elected as the new Board President and Bryn returned to her role as Vice President. Thank you to Bryn for filling in during this transition time.

Sustain Dane, in partnership with the City of Sun Prairie, Green Box Compost, and Sun Prairie School District, funded by the USDA, kicked off a school composting pilot program in September. Students at Token Springs and Royal Oaks are now composting in their own cafeterias. The West High School kitchen production staff is also diverting their food scraps to compost. We are excited to announce that all three schools started the kick-off with students and staff on the first day of school.

Here are the amounts of food scraps that have been diverted from the landfill to Green Box Composting in the first month of the program:

• West High School Production Kitchen: 950 lbs.
• Royal Oaks Elementary School: 460 lbs.
• Token Springs Elementary School: 430 lbs.

The food scraps are composted into fertile compost that will be diverted to local farms and gardens. We are excited for this program to continue throughout the school year. If you are interested in composting at home, an 18-month pilot program will provide 150 Sun Prairie households (renters included!) with a curbside composting service for a subsidized rate of $10/month. Learn more about residential composting and sign up on the City website!

The most recent communication includes a letter from the School Board sent to the Community sent on 10/9/25:

As your elected Board of Education, we understand that our community is still awaiting answers from the Board’s employment investigation surrounding Sun Prairie West High School.

At this time, we do not have any further updates from our last communication, as the investigation remains ongoing. While we know it is difficult to wait for answers, the amount of time the investigation is taking is a direct reflection of its scale and thoroughness, and reflects how seriously we take this situation.

We appreciate your patience as we await the outcome of the investigation. The Board will continue to update the community as we learn more. For prior updates, visit our website.

If you have information related to this investigation, please reach out to the police department first and then the Board’s investigator, Attorney Sam Hall, at SHall@crivellolaw.com.

We are sharing an update regarding the federal government shutdown that began on Wednesday, October 1st. Some members of our community have expressed concern about how the shutdown could affect our School District.

The shutdown will have a limited impact on our schools in the short term. Some federal funding for schools had already been delayed in recent months, and the vast majority of our District’s funding comes from state and local sources. In fact, only about 3% of our revenue comes from the federal government, and those dollars are primarily designated for specific programs such as Title I, Special Education, and Early Education services.

This means that teaching and learning will continue as usual in our classrooms, and families should not expect to see disruptions to our day-to-day school operations in the near future.

If the shutdown continues for several weeks, we could begin to feel its effects more directly. Although Title I and IDEA funding will continue to be available for the time being, the longer-term future of programs like Head Start is less certain. We will monitor the situation closely to ensure that we are prepared to address any emerging needs.

We know that our local food pantries are being used at a greater rate right now due to our military and other federal workers not receiving paychecks. We are coming together as a community to collect food donations. Please help where you can.

No student may be unlawfully discriminated against or harassed because of the student’s sex (including gender identity, gender expression and nonconformity to gender role stereotypes), color, religion, profession or demonstration of belief or nonbelief, race, national origin (including limited English proficiency), ancestry, creed, pregnancy, marital or parental status, homelessness status, sexual orientation, age, or physical, mental, emotional or learning disability. (SPASD Policy JB)