Climbing Together - 1/13
An official update from Superintendent Ben Barton
Happy New Year, Hilltoppers! While I know we're already a couple weeks into 2026, I hope you all had a great winter break and holiday season.
We've got a few important articles below, including an update on adding all-day 4K Preschool to our district. Please read through the information to stay informed and, as always, thank you for your time, commitment, and partnership in making our schools such special places.
In this edition:
👩🏻‍🏫 All-Day 4K update
đź’» Last call for Virtual Academy board interest
📆 Upcoming event reminders
Update: All Day 4K Preschool
Last night, the Board of Education formally approved the addition of a full-day 4K Preschool program here at the School District of Onalaska. We included the background of how we got here in a Climbing Together newsletter back in December. Click here to read that article.
What does this mean?
Children are eligible for 4K Preschool if they turn 4 years old on or before September 1, 2026. Starting in the 2026-27 school year, our three elementary schools - Eagle Bluff, Irving Pertzsch, and Northern Hills - will begin offering Monday through Friday 4K Preschool. Our current plan is for the schedule as well as transportation to align with K-5.
Our district currently only offers half-day 4K Preschool, which requires specific bus routes to accommodate students’ pre and post schooling care. Because of this, the 4K Preschool boundaries are different from our K-5 boundaries - meaning, under the current boundaries, some students would attend a different school for 4K Preschool than they would for kindergarten. We are working to align these boundaries so that they are consistent from 4K-5.
Some families may still have interest in a part-time program through our district. We are planning to continue providing a high-quality half-day option through collaborations with select community partner sites. More information to come on this at a later date.
What’s next?
The enrollment process for our district, which includes incoming 4K Preschool students, doesn’t start for a couple months. That said, we want to ensure 4K Preschool families have all the information they need prior to enrollment. If you plan to or have interest in enrolling your child in 4K Preschool within the School District of Onalaska this fall, we encourage you to fill out this contact form. We will use the information you provide to keep you as updated as possible, as well as let you know when the enrollment period opens.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to 4K Preschool Program Director Jen Kalis (kalis.jennifer@onalaskaschools.com) or Director of Instructional Services Lish Olson (olson.lalisha@onalaskaschools.com).
Open Enrollment
A reminder that open enrollment begins on February 2, 2026!
Open Enrollment is a program that provides families the ability to have their children attend a public school in a district other than the one they reside in. Here in Onalaska, we're proud that our numbers show we continue to be a district of choice and one of the few in the area with positive open enrollment as more students outside our district are attending our schools than students within Onalaska leaving for others.
A couple important notes when it comes to open enrollment:
- If your children are currently open enrolled, you do not need to open enroll again. You would only need to do this if you had a sibling or another child that would be new to one of our schools this year.
- If your children are currently enrolled in one of our schools, but you move outside our boundary and thus change their primary address, you would need to open enroll if you wanted your child(ren) to continue attending one of our schools.
The open enrollment application is administrated through the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and closes on April 30, 2026. More information, including the application once live, can be found here: https://dpi.wi.gov/open-enrollment
Virtual Academy Governing Board
In our last issue of Climbing Together, I shared the district's exploration of a new program that would provide students and families interested in virtual learning with an option to do so here in Onalaska.
As we continue exploring this opportunity, I wanted to make one final request for families who may be interested in serving on a governing board. As a reminder, adding an option like this would require our district to establish the program as a charter school, which would be overseen by a governing board.
If you have even slight interest in serving, please let us know by completing this form. Submitting your interest would not commit you to serving on the board if the program were to move forward. Rather, it would allow us to connect with you, discuss the model, and explain what serving on the board would entail.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions.
Bash at the Dash
The Onalaska Education Foundation is holding its first ever Bash at the Dash event! The fun-filled night will include great food from local favorites, casino games, live music, and a huge silent auction. Proceeds from the event benefit the OEF which provides grants and other support to our schools. By going to this event, you're also helping out our district!
Get $5 off your ticket by purchasing before Jan 15! You can do so by using the QR code in the poster below or by visiting: http://laxcommfoundation.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create...
