Greetings Wolf Pack!

Welcome to Fall Break! Thank you for all that you have done to support the Wolf Community during the beginning of the year. We are excited to embrace fall break this week and then to get right break to thriving for excellence each day. We hope that you have a restful 5 days and look forward to coming back together as a community after the long weekend.

We apologize for the delay in some of the supports and next steps supporting students in class from bell to bell that we were expecting to share at the end of last week. Unfortunately we have had some unexpected absences due to illness on our admin team which has slowed down the roll out, we hope to roll it out next week.

This week Smore upgraded their editor platform! You will still be able to read the Howl in your email weekly but if you click "View in Browser" in the small link above there is now an interactive table of contents that will take you to the different sections of the Howl. Also, if you view it in the browser you can translate the full Howl into any Google supported language!

No Howl next week due to Fall Break! Look for the next Howl December 3rd.

Here's what's in this week's Howl:

• November Monthly Celebrations
• Native American Heritage Month
• Homelessness Awareness Month
• Military Family Appreciation
• Upcoming and Athletic Events
  
• Daily Announcements
  
• Online School Store
• Course Request Season is Approaching!
• Academic and Career Planning
• Big Band Dance
• Child Find Notice
• Red Cross Blood Drive
• Classroom and Student Spotlights:
• Empty Bowls Dinner- 2nd year a grand success!
• Lily Rosenthal- USA Athlete!
• Ean Ackley- Student of the Week
• Girls Basketball Ready for Year 2
• State Swimmer Highlights
• Equity Vision, One West, Non-Discrimination
  

In Case you Missed It:

• Cap and Gown Donations
• Second Quarter- Back to Basics
• Winter Sports
• 5th Hour Tutoring
• ASVAB Testing
• Closed Campus and Security
• Parent Partnership Meetings
• Senior Caps and Gowns
• Attendance, Closed Campus, Vandalism
• Senior Cap & Gown Information
• Lunch Advisory

Jen Ploeger- Principal- jrploeg@sunprairieschools.org

Chai Lee- Associate Principal- cmlee1@sunprairieschools.org

Ed Ford- Associate Principal- ebford@sunprairieschools.org

We continue to celebrate Native American Heritage month with celebrating, acknowledging and honoring our Native American community.

As the weather turns colder in November we think of those in our community that are in housing transition. Please see the opportunity below to help support our community members in housing transition.

Military Family Appreciation. Military Family Appreciation Month is a time set aside to recognize important members of our military service, the military family.

Military families know what it means to serve. Every day, they get up and support our service member, standing by during long trainings and deployments. They know the risks, but you accept this life of service anyway. Thank you for your service. Here are SPASD resources for military families.

• November 22nd, 23rd, 24th- No School- Thanksgiving Break
  
• December 2nd- Big Band Dance at 7:30pm
• December 11th- No School- Professional Development Day
• December 13th- 6:00pm- Parent Partnership Meeting
• Monday December 25th-Monday, January 1st- Winter Break

Have you ever walked by the screens while in the building at West and thought, I want to make sure my student knows about that? Here are our student announcements so that parents/caregivers can have the same information to remind and encourage student involvement.

New merch link is open now! Order your Wolf Wear Today!

It is hard to believe that it is almost December! This means that course selection is coming up! Now is the time to start to review your student’s transcript and graduation requirements. In preparation, here is what you need to know:

• NEW Sun Prairie Course Guide will be available before Winter Break

• Course Expo

• SP East - January 11, 2024 from 5-7pm

• SP West - January 9, 2024 from 5-7pm

• Students will receive support in choosing courses from teachers in January

• Students can schedule individual appointments with their counselor at any time, if they need support

• Students will submit course selections in Xello early February

Please continue to look for more detailed information in December.

Dear Sophomore Students and Families,

During SP30 on Monday all Sophomore students heard a presentation about how to reach their academic and personal goals while in High School. The presentation included topics such as:

• Credits

• Graduation Requirements

• Academic Help

• Transcripts (What is it? How to read it.)

• Standardized Testing and Scheduling

• Academic and Career Opportunities

You can find the presentation HERE or on our Student Services website.

Come join us as we turn the East High School Commons into a dance club. Our Annual Holiday Big Band Dance is Dec 2 at 7:30pm and will feature Jazz Bands from both East and West High School. Tickets are $12 or $10 for students. We will even have a live Swing Dance Lesson beginning at 7:15!

Sun Prairie Area School District is required to locate, identify, and evaluate all children, with disabilities, including children with disabilities attending private schools in the school district, and homeless children. The process of locating, identifying, and evaluating children with disabilities is known as child find. This agency conducts the following child find activities each year: The school district has a special education screening program to locate and screen all children with suspected disabilities who are residents of the district and who have not graduated from high school. Upon request the school district will screen any resident child who has not graduated high school to determine whether a special education referral is appropriate. A request may be made by contacting Jennifer Apodaca, Director of Student Services, Sun Prairie Area School District, at 608-834-6520, or by writing her at 501 S. Bird Street, Sun Prairie, WI 53590. Read our Annual Child Find Notice here.

Last Tuesday's Empty Bowls Dinner at SP West was a great success! ProStart students served soup and desserts they made in class to guests; ceramics students made bowls that were available for purchase; business & marketing students promoted the event and led tours of the school for guests; and orchestra students provided music for the event. Proceeds went to benefit Sunshine Place. What a great example of our staff and students working together across subject areas to give back to our community! Thank you to all the amazing students, staff, and guests who made this event possible! #SPMovesTogether

CONGRATULATIONS to Lily Rosenthal , who has made the USA track and field team that will be competing in Thailand from Nov. 27-Dec. 8!!

Ean Ackley was highlight this week as ESPN Madison's Student Athlete of the Week!

Checkout this article showcasing our SP West Girl's Basketball team- Ready for Year 2!

Sun Prairie West junior guard Naveya Jackson was named honorable mention all-conference by the Big Eight following the 2022-23 season.

Sun Prairie West junior Makenzie Hawk was named honorable mention all-conference by the Big Eight following the 2022-23 season.

Here's a recap of our girls State Swim showing from HNGNews: The Wolves were up first as the 200 medley relay was the second event of the swimming portion of the state meet. Junior Hattie Hessling handled the backstroke, sophomore Sophie Diers took care of the breaststroke, junior Lydia Zenobi took on the butterfly, and freshman Mackenzie Hastings swam the freestyle. Combined, they put up a time of 1:51.45 for 20th of the 24 teams in contention. Germantown won the event with a time of 1:41.55.

Sun Prairie West junior Hattie Hessling swims the backstroke portion of the 200 medley relay at the 2023 WIAA girls swimming state meet, hosted at Waukesha South High School's Natatorium on Friday, Nov. 10 and Saturday, Nov. 11.

Calahan Steed

Sun Prairie West sophomore Sophie Diers swims the breaststroke portion of the 200 medley relay at the 2023 WIAA girls swimming state meet, hosted at Waukesha South High School's Natatorium on Friday, Nov. 10 and Saturday, Nov. 11.

Calahan Steed

If you don't already, please follow SP West on Facebook!

STATEMENT OF NONDISCRIMINATION

No student may be unlawfully discriminated against in any school programs, activities or in facilities usage because of the student’s sex (gender identity, gender expressions, and non-conformity to gender role stereotypes), color, religion, profession, or demonstration of belief or non-belief, 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. Harassment is a form of discrimination and shall not be tolerated in the District. It is the responsibility of administrators, staff members and all students to ensure that student discrimination or harassment does not occur.

(SPASD District Policy JB)

If a student or parent/guardian would prefer to have this information translated into Spanish, please contact us at 608-834-6620. Si un estudiante, padre ó guardian prefiere tener esta información traducida en Español, por favor contactenos en el 608-834-6620.

If a student or parent/guardian would prefer to have this information translated into Hmong, please contact us at 608-834-6630. Yog tus me nyuam lub xiv los yog niam thiab txiv/tus neeg muaj cai saib xyuas tus me nyuam xav tau qhov ntawv ntawm no ua lus Hmoob, thov hais rau peb paub rau ntawm 608-834-6630.

Information from previous Howls that's too important to miss!

Do you have a Sun Prairie West graduation cap and gown in good shape, lying around and you are looking to get rid of it? Please consider donating for our new senior students who are unable to purchase a cap and gown. If so, drop off at our main office and thanks for considering. Any questions, please contact student services school social worker, Susi Sirianni, sesiria@sunprairieschools.org

As we head into 2nd Quarter we are focusing on "Back to Basics" as we had a very strong start to the school year. This quarter we are focusing on students feeling seen, known and valued in the classroom so that students are in class from Bell to Bell, we see an end to vandalism and theft out of locker rooms. Over the last few weeks we have seen an increase of students in the hallway, vandalism (specifically in boys bathrooms) and thefts (specifically in boys locker rooms). We are finalizing next step plans to address these three areas and be on the look out for additional communication coming in a separate email later this week with more detailed information regarding supervision of these spaces, consequences and our development of a positive reward system.

If you have a student in PE that is interested in a school locker for additional safety for their valuables, please have your student visit the front office. We have had incidents in the last week of locks being removed from PE lockers. We are currently in the process of working as an admin team in collaboration with our SRO and PE teachers to stop these thefts, however, if your student would like a regular locker to use as well they are more than welcome to check one out. We have plenty available.

Winter Sports seasons are right around the corner starting either next week or the following week. It's not too late to join! Reach out to Ms. Ripp, Ms. Beaver or Mr. Nee in Athletics for more information.

This year we are offering the ASVAB Career Exploration Test on Friday, December 15. It is a no-cost career planning tool. The ASVAB offers information about all options after high school for college-bound students and those interested in other pathways. It is a great opportunity for those who are not sure about what they want to do after they finish high school. This test will be available to any sophomore, junior or senior. The test will be administered by Education Service Specialists and school personnel. The test takes about 2 hours to complete and scores will be provided after. Student scores will NOT be released to the military unless requested .

The ASVAB is designed to help students:

• Learn more about themselves and the world of work.

• Explore occupations in line with their interests and skills.

• Discover all the ways to enter the career fields they are best suited for

• Develop an effective strategy to achieve their career goals.

If you have any questions please reach out to Ms. Saldana (cmsalda@sunprairieschools.org), school counselor.

Please use the QR code or this LINK to sign up by December 5, 2023 or sign up in Student Services

Throughout the year we review data through many different lens and data cycles. One of the data points that we review on a consistent basis is behavior data. Updates in here in the Howl and in SP30 are based on that data, as well as, updated systems/structures and focus on certain behaviors. This week we want to highlight/remind/reteach around two areas: Closed Campus and Security.

A reminder that SPASD is a CLOSED CAMPUS district. Why are we closed campus? There is a term "in loco parentis" that applies to schools which means: in place of parents. Between 8:05am and 3:45am we as a school are responsible for the health and well-being of our students. Our closed campus policy is focused on student safety and liability. While the students are in our care we focus on their safety and cannot do that if they are not in our building. Additionally, if there were to be some sort of emergency (fire, etc) and they have left we have no way of knowing that they were not already in the building. Students that are leaving campus during the school day will be followed up with by a principal or dean of student with progress discipline.

Continuing to focus on the safety of our students, it is imperative that students are only entering and exiting through the front door of the school during the school day (if they are signed out for an appointment). The SPASD behavior matrix specifically references propping side/back doors as creating a safety hazard as is allowing someone to gain unauthorized entry (entering a door that it is not the front). This includes asking someone else to allow you to enter. Opening and/or entering side doors poses a significant safety hazard for the 1500+ people that learn and work here daily and will come with a consequence up to and including a suspension. As we tighten up around this issue this INCLUDES the athletic entrance, students should not be leaving or entering through the Athletic entrance during the school door.

We are excited to bring back our Parent/Caregiver Partnership Monthly Meetings every SECOND WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH 6:00pm-7:00pm at West. This opportunity is open to ALL West Wolf Parents/Caregivers and is an open dialog about what is going well, what we can improve on and how we can partner together. Accomplishments of last year's Parent/Caregiver Partnership include:

• Providing dinners for teachers at Parent/Teacher Conferences
• Creation of our SP West Equity Vision (in partnership with staff and students)
• Improvements to the Howl
• The development of this year's Cell Phone Policy
• Implementation of Dine-In Only
• Problem solving of current issues

See you Wednesday night!

If Seniors did not turn in a paper order form for caps/gowns on Oct 17th, they can still order online at mwscholastic.com. Paper order forms will no longer be accepted. Please see our Graduation FAQ with more questions.

Students! Would you like to join the discussion of what is going well on our food options at SP West and what we could do better? Fill out this quick survey (students only) to be a part of our new Lunch (and Breakfast) Advisory. First meeting will be next week.