FPS 2023-24 #11 | 1/25/24

What an exciting time of year as we celebrate our mid-year growth in learning and engagement, while setting goals for the remaining year with our learners and staff. We are also deep into the planning that goes into the 2024-2025 school year…and beyond! It has been exciting to share with you over the last six or so months the Franklin Forward work we have been committed to in Franklin. This has included our team completing: a ten year facilities study, an enrollment study to learn the impact of new home growth in Franklin on student enrollment through 2040, and evaluations of our programming to ensure our Coherence Plan has the facilities and space to match our goals and learner interests.

February marks the opportunity for this work to come together more broadly with our entire community in Franklin through Community Engagement Sessions. This is a great opportunity for FPS residents to learn more about our twenty year plan for Franklin Public Schools in current and future phases. It is important for us to hear feedback on the current plans and learn where you, our residents, see value and support. November 2024 could be an opportunity for Franklin to take the next steps to meet the growing needs of our learners, staff, families and community, but we need to learn more from you first. Please consider attending one of the Community Engagement Sessions listed below.

Perhaps the Community Engagement Sessions will not work for you or you would prefer learning more at your own pace, please consider visiting our Franklin Forward website which contains presentations to our School Board. You could also review School Board meeting videos to hear more. Finally, you can expect to see a survey from FPS in your mailboxes in April. This will ensure we are getting feedback from everyone in our community.

Thank you for being involved in the work of Franklin Forward in one of these ways as your opinion matters and your support is appreciated.

Glad to be Part of a Better Community,

Annalee Bennin, FPS District Administrator

Click here for the 2023-24 Full District Calendar in PDF format.

Click here for the 2024-25 Full District Calendar in PDF format.

Click here for our website District Calendar page where all of our calendars can be subscribed to! Follow the steps at the top of the District Calendar webpage for how to subscribe.

Due to the number of interested FPS School Board candidates, a Spring Primary needs to be held in February prior to the Spring Election in April. The Spring Primary will take place on Tuesday, February 20th. There are (7) candidates running and the top (6) will move on to ballot positions for the April 2nd Spring Election, running for (3) FPS School Board seats.

The (7) candidates are listed below in the drawn ballot position order with (i) denoting an incumbent.

• Jay Pereira
• Jaclyn Gaffney
• Maqsood Khan (i)
• Angela Kallay
• Ann Sepersky (i)
• Angela Bier (i)
• Jon Peccarelli

To see voting locations and other information for February 20th, please view the city website here.

Ben Franklin Elementary held an assembly last week to review the BOBCAT way and then classrooms broke off to partake in team building activities.

Beginning today, the FPS Family Communication Survey is now open to receive feedback from families around our 1-way, 2-way and passive communication efforts in Franklin Public Schools. When you go to the form, you will be asked to sign into the survey similar to other forms we utilize by entering your child's 6-digit student ID number and date of birth in order to verify yourself as a parent or guardian within FPS. The survey only needs to be completed once per parent or guardian and not once per child. Please click here or on the banner below to complete the survey once per parent/guardian before next Thurs, February 1st at 11:59pm.

It is with a heavy heart that we share the unfortunate news that our FHS Boys Soccer Coach, Tomi Markovic, passed away last week after battling a recurrence of pancreatic cancer. He was surrounded by family and friends during his final days. Coach Tomi has led the FHS Boys Soccer program since the 2020 season. Tomi was an FHS alum (‘94) and his father started the boys soccer program at FHS.

The services for Coach Markovic will be held this Saturday, January 27th at Sacred Heart Croatian Catholic Church in Milwaukee (917 North 49th Street | 414-774-9418). Visitation will take place beginning at 10am with a mass schedule for 1pm and lunch to follow. You can view a full obituary here.

All families received an email Monday morning around 8am informing you that the FPS Summer Learning Program registration is open! Similar to last year, this year’s Summer Learning Program will be a 4-day program Monday through Thursday. This condensed program helps us to properly staff the program and provide the flexibility for families and students to enjoy their summer while not missing out on the learning opportunities we offer. Registration is open from Tuesday, January 23rd through Sunday, February 11th @ 11:59pm and please note that like last year, registration is NOT first-come-first serve. All information including our Summer Learning Registration Guide and the registration form(s) are on our Summer Learning Program webpage here!

Also linked up on our Summer Learning Program page is information on this summer's offering for KIDS CAMP through our Community Education & Recreation Department. Note that registration for KIDS CAMP is not until later this spring, but you can start planning ahead with the details! :)

Last week, we held the 46th Annual District Spelling Bee! Congrats to 7th grader Rehan for winning after a whopping 44 rounds of words! Rehan, along with top qualifiers Nethraa, Simon, Afanio, Colin, Nevaan, and Prithvi all advance to the CESA #1 Regional Spelling Bee in February. Good Luck!

Advanced Placement Research is a college-level course offered at Franklin High School that allows students to demonstrate academic writing and research skills. Through this course students embark on a year-long research process in which they explore an academic topic or problem based on personal interests. One research topic this year will be conducting a non-experimental study that focuses on collecting qualitative data. The research will be conducted as an ethnographic study and data will be collected in the form of interviews before and after the movie Zootopia is shown to the children. The study will focus on exploring how Malayalee children and non-Malayalee children perceive different forms of discrimination in the movie.

The study will take place on Friday, February 2nd at 6pm in room C234 at FHS. If you have a child aged 7-12 who would be able and willing to participate in this study, please complete the form here prior to arriving. If you have any questions, you can reach out to Saera Joseph (FHS student) and Mary Piwaron (AP Research Instructor).

It's a celebration of cultures and everyone is invited! On Thursday, February 15th, 2024, come to FHS Multicultural Club’s FREE event, filled with food, activities, and performances. This year the annual event, which has previously hosted over 600 attendees, is even bigger and better than before! From a Dabke dance group to a Hmong performance, expect to celebrate countless cultures of the world.

Check out the student-designed poster below to show all your friends and family, and please contact Mai Alessaly at mai.alessaly@franklinsabers.org and Sruti Palla at sruti.palla@franklinsabers.org with any questions or inquiries. If you’d like to be involved in the event yourself, please let us know by January 20th. Hope to see you there and don’t be afraid to put on your party hats and join the celebration!

The 16th Annual K-12 Fine Arts Gallery Night will take place at Franklin High School on Thursday, February 22nd from 5:30-7:30pm. This is a family friendly event to have an ‘Art Experience’ and everyone is invited to attend! We ask that all students be supervised by an adult. There will be multiple student demonstrations on a variety of art media. A slide show highlighting student artwork will be available as well and students will be recognized by their teachers for their work. Come join us!

Franklin Public Schools hosts screenings for 3-year-old children on language, cognition, social-emotional, adaptive, and physical development. This program combines a play-based observational screening of children with a “Child Fair” for parents to learn more about child and family-related services in our area. Click here or the accompanying flier to learn more and to register!

The 2023-24 Winter/Spring Rec Guide is now available online here and registration for Franklin families opened on Tuesday, December 5th! We have a bunch of new programs including Basketball Camps, Athlete Performance Training, more cookie decorating with FHS Alum Abby Martin, Kayak Trips, Adult Gym Classes and more! Sign up early as spots are limited!

At the January 24, 2024 School Board Meeting, the FPS School Board approved (139) open enrollment seats for the 2024-25 school year. Online applications for open enrollment are accepted beginning Monday, February 5th through Friday, April 30, 2024 @ 4pm. For all other open enrollment information, please view our webpage here which includes the breakdown of open seats by grade level and directions to follow for those wishing to open enroll. For any questions, please contact Heidi Engel, FPS Auxiliary Service Coordinator by email or phone (414) 525-7634.

Student Council members at Robinwood Elementary created a read-aloud video of the bestselling “One Word for Kids” book that challenges kids to choose one word that could help them to have the best year ever. Classrooms showed the video and then after each student picked a word, they created bracelets of the word they will live up to this year.

Join Forte Youth Productions as Harvard's beloved blonde takes the stage by glittery pink storm! A fabulously fun journey of self-empowerment and expanding horizons, this musical is filled with humor, wit and sass — leaving audiences seeing pink!

Part of Forte’s youth musical series, this show will be performed by students ages 12-18 from FPS and throughout the Greater Milwaukee Area.

Friday, January 26th @ 7 pm

Saturday, January 27th @ 7 pm

Sunday, January 28th @ 2 pm

@ The Saber Center for the Performing Arts at FHS

Running time approximately 1 hour without intermission.

Tickets $12-$15 GET TICKETS HERE

The first show in the new “Franklin Community Series” at the Saber Center for the Performing Arts is debuting in late February! Escape to Verdant Valleys and Heathery Highlands. Step back in time to the Land of Saints and Scholars. Lose yourself in the alluring Angels’ magical melodies Feel your heart pound to raucous rhythms of the champion Celtic Knights Dancers. Immerse yourself in Ireland’s infectious influences across the Wild Blue Ocean to the Amber Waves of Grain and Beyond. Headed by the powerhouse creative team direct from Ireland and featuring award winning Irish and World Champion Singers, Dancers and Musicians. Celtic Angels Ireland is a theatrical feast for all ages. Tickets and information are on our ticket information page here!

All of the information regarding the FEF Spring Events can be found at their website. Click here or on the calendar graphic below to head there if you are looking for more info on events that are further out!

It's that time of the year again! Would you like to recognize a peer with a special message and treat? Purchase one of our valentine packages and our Foundation Volunteers will do the rest for delivery on February 14th. Valentines can only be delivered to FPS staff. All funds raised go to support FPS grants, scholarships and our student assistance fund.

Mark your calendar for March 16th for our semi-annual sale at FPMS. With over 120 consigners, we'll be selling everything from children's clothing, books, games, toys, baby items and more. We have a "Donation Hour" after the sale is closed for nonprofits and schools to "shop" the sale for free. Besides FPS schools, organizations that benefit from the sale are Kids Matter Inc., Street Angels Homeless Outreach, Next Door Milwaukee, Robyn's Nest at Children's Hospital, Ladies of Charity, Father Gene's, St. Vincent DePaul, and many MPS schools.

Congratulations to FPS School Board Member Debbie Larson for being honored and recognized at the annual Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB) State Convention yesterday serving 20-years as a Board Member in Franklin Public Schools.

The International Academic Competitions (IAC) has scheduled the regional competitions for History, Geography, and Science for Elementary (3rd grade & Under, 4th and 5th Grade) & Middle school grades (6, 7 and 8) at Brookfield, WI on January 27th. The venue for the competition is Brookfield Central High School.

• More details for how this works and is structured are available at the IAC website here.

• Students must have prerequisite for registering to this competition - Qualification to attend regionals by taking the Online Regional Qualification Examination at https://orqe.iac-exams.com/

• Once a student qualifies, they can register online here to participate in the Regional Finals.

We are always looking for people to join our amazing support systems for students! Here are some current opportunities available in FPS:

• KIDS CLUB ASSISTANTS
• GO RITEWAY BUS DRIVERS (school & charter available)
• COOK 2 @ FHS (3-5 hours per day)
• SUB FOOD SERVICE POSITIONS (on call)
• SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS (on call)

In addition to the positions listed above, here are other SUPPORT POSITIONS we are looking to fill (Custodial, EA, Fitness Instructor, Coaches, Youth Sports Officials, and more!)