DECEMBER 21, 2022

As we close in on Winter Break, I wish for you and your family to use this gift of additional time with family and friends to create new memories and cherish the traditions of the season. We are grateful to serve you and your family and look forward to celebrating the new year with your child(ren) after break.

With gratitude,

Annalee Bennin

FPS District Administrator

As a reminder, the 2023-24 District Calendar can be found in PDF format here and linked into our district calendars on our website here. All of our calendars are able to be subscribed to! Follow the steps at the top of the District Calendar for how to subscribe.

Please note the following in regards to the ECC District Office:

• If you are interested in picking up Board Member candidacy paperwork next week Tues 12/27 or Wed 12/28 between the hours of 7am and 3pm only, please visit the front vestibule of the ECC District Office.
• Board Member candidacy paperwork is due to the ECC District Office by Tuesday 1/3 @ 5pm. We will have normal office hours on Mon 1/2 and Tues 1/3 (extended to the 5pm deadline). If neither of those days work for turning in paperwork and you need to drop off paperwork on Tues 12/27 or Wed 12/28, please email communications@franklin.k12.wi.us so we can arrange a meet time since the offices are closed to the public.
  

This information was originally shared with families but we are re-sharing it here as a reminder since we have some impending bad weather predicted for our area later on Thursday into Friday. The following is how the district will handle Weather Related Closings (Snow/Cold Days) this school year. The state of Wisconsin requires a minimum number of instructional hours during the school year. Our 2022-23 school year calendar currently has (1) built in day as part of our planning for a Weather Related Closing. This means that in the event we have a first Weather Related Closing this 2022-23 school year, the day will be treated as a “No School Day” for all students meaning no required work, virtual or otherwise, will be planned.

Following a first Weather Related Closing, we will communicate with families what any subsequent Weather Related Closing days will look like or how required instructional hours will be met (i.e. virtual days, adding days on at the end of the school year, utilizing other hour makeup options, etc.).

HOW ARE CLOSURES DETERMINED?

When inclement weather is approaching or evident, we work to make a school closure determination and communicate this to families by 6 am at the latest. When our local weather authorities begin discussing the possibility of severe weather, FPS District Administrator Annalee Bennin will consult with various sources, including area superintendents, National Weather Service (Milwaukee/Sullivan Office), and road reports.

If schools are closed, all after-school activities, including athletic competitions, practices and FPS Community Education & Recreation activities, will be canceled unless otherwise communicated. Please know that the safety of our students and staff is our top priority. We will always make decisions out of caution and, at the same time, communicate with you as early as possible.

HOW CAN FAMILIES AND STAFF EXPECT TO RECEIVE INFORMATION ABOUT CLOSURES?

The following are the ways we communicate the closing and where you can expect to see information:

• Parents and Staff will be sent an email, phone call and text message alert.

• Students will be sent an email at their @franklinsabers.org account (4K, 5K, & up through 12th grade)

• Closing information will be posted to our district and school webpages (in the “News” feeds).

• Closing information will be posted to our district social media channels (be sure to like or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram if you don’t already!).

• Closing information will be shared with local media so that our information is included in the weather updates that occur on local news (CBS58, FOX6, TMJ4, WISN12)

Last district newsletter, we shared about a team of 10th grade students from Franklin High School that took on a blankets service project for the community. Gabriella Gingras, Keagan Cloud and Zachary Guenther developed this service project as a way to make blankets for the Hope House in Milwaukee. The trio collected fleece donations and then held a blanket assembly event at the Franklin Public Library on Thursday, December 15th for volunteers to come help make blankets. In total, the volunteers crafted together (9) blankets that were donated to Hope House.

"Overall, the service project was an extremely rewarding and fulfilling experience," shared Gabriella. "We were grateful to have the opportunity to make a difference in our community!"

Shared below are a few photos from this event. Thank you to the students and volunteers for helping with this cause!

In Spring 2022 we asked families to provide us input around traits, dispositions, and values they felt were most important to instill in all Franklin Public Schools students during their 4K-12 experience.

We had over 100 families express interest in being a part of this important work and had many more parents/guardians share what they deemed most important to include in our “Profile of a Graduate.”

Below you will see a visual representation of the traits shared as part of the survey responses:

The Franklin Public Schools Profile of a Graduate represents our commitment to the development and growth of each student in the college, career, and life-ready skills they will need to be successful. The Profile of a Graduate provides transparency to all community stakeholders regarding the skills they can expect to see from every Franklin Public School graduate and promotes collective ownership of each student’s success. Finally, the profile will be used to drive change within our district through the alignment of beliefs, programming, and experiences that help students grow in these skills and dispositions.

Our next steps with this work include getting parent, staff, and student input around what they believe are the most important outcomes we want for our students as a result of going through our school system.

Our goal is to complete a draft profile of a graduate statement by June 2023.

If you would like to get involved, please watch for more opportunities to provide input through your school’s PTA/PTO. We will also hold an additional Profile of a Graduate parent/guardian stakeholder meeting on March 21, 2023 from 4:30-5:30pm at the ECC.

After the success of our Back-To-School Milkmen Game right before school started, the Franklin Educational Foundation looked into hosting another event in the (somewhat) middle of the year! The FEF has been selected to be the nonprofit of the Milwaukee Wave vs Kansas City Comets soccer game for Sunday, March 12th. The game is at 4:05pm at the Panther Arena in downtown Milwaukee. We would love to get as many Franklin families and staff together for this fun event! Secure your tickets at this link here.

The previous newsletter contained information regarding the rising numbers of children needing to be home from school due to illness. Children’s Wisconsin recently shared this update with a similar message regarding the volume of sick children both in our community and at pediatric hospitals across the country. Additionally, the medical team at Children’s Wisconsin shares some good reminders for keeping our students and families as healthy and well as possible including:

• Talk to your children about covering their coughs and sneezes

• Remind everyone to wash their hands often

• Keep your children home when they are sick

• Help fully protect your child(ren), yourself, and those around you by staying up to date on vaccinations.

• To help prevent the spread of COVID-19 at school, parents can order a free package of five rapid antigen tests for their household each month at Say Yes Covid Test!

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expanded use of the new Omicron COVID-19 boosters from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna for kids as young as 6 months of age. Work with local pharmacies or your pediatrician to make sure that your child is up to date on COVID vaccines.

As we return from Winter Break, please remember that if your child is sick and/or tests positive for COVID-19, it is important that you report symptoms and information to our nursing services team by completing our FPS Attendance/Absence Form. Please utilize our FPS Communicable Decision Tree for families to help you decide on the course of action when your child is not feeling well.

Snuggle up with some eBooks from our school library over winter break! There are hundreds to choose from for readers of all levels. We have many ebooks including readalongs, picture books, chapter books, non-fiction, magazines and a collection of always available graphic novels. You can access them from any internet connected device.

Students K-12 and staff can access our eBooks by using the links below, selecting their school, and clicking SORA under “Learning Resources.” Students should use their district login and password (First.last and Sabers####, K-1 students please use your Sabers## password). Full directions for accessing eBooks in Sora are located here. Please connect with staff in your school library if you have any questions. Happy reading!

• Click Here to access our catalog
• Or go directly to the overall SORA eBook collection here

Click the graphic below to head to franklinwi.myrec.com to see the recently posted WINTER RECREATION GUIDE! Residents and non-residents can register now for a variety of activities throughout the winter season.

Children's Wisconsin has recently opened the Craig Yabuki Mental Health Walk-In Clinic. This clinic provides same-day care for children and teens ages 5-18 who are experiencing urgent mental health issues. This clinic is designed to offer and alternative to traditional urgent care and emergency room services. For a more detailed overview of the clinic, please see the associated flyer or these slides. To schedule a walk-in visit, go directly to their website here.

Did you know that if your child or someone in your family has unique needs, you can register them and their information with the Franklin Police Department to assist first responders should they ever need to respond to a situation involving the individual? Go here for more information and thank you to the FPD for providing this service.

Parents, Guardians, and Staff are set to automatically receive our District and Building Newsletters. If you are a community member that would like to receive any of our newsletters, please complete our SUBSCRIBE FORM.

(Note: Any imagery containing students, staff, events, or FPS logos shared by FPS are the property of Franklin Public Schools and are solely for district use. Reproduction or reuse of these images without written permission is not allowed.)