Greetings Wolf Pack!

It is hard to believe that we are already 1/4 of the way through the school year and half way through Semester 1. With the end of 1st quarter we are at our next progress report. This progress report DOES have athletic consequences for our winter sports that are just starting up. Any student that has an F or Incomplete will be ineligible to play for a significant amount of time. Connect with your teachers, finish those summative assessments and ensure that you are passing ALL classes today!

As we enter November we also enter Native American Heritage Month. National Native American Heritage Month is celebrated each year in November. It is a time to celebrate the traditions, languages and stories of Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and affiliated Island communities and ensure their rich histories and contributions continue to thrive with each passing generation. This November and every month, we celebrate the culture and heritage of these remarkable Americans who deeply enrich the quality and character of our Nation.

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

• Upcoming Events
  
• Parent Partnership
  
• Closed Campus and Security
• Daily Announcements
  
• ASBAB Career Exploration Test
• Student Services- Grade Level Meetings
• Winter Sports
• Mid-Semester Grades and Athletics
• 5th Hour Tutoring Reminder
• Game of Tiaras Tickets
• Student Corner- FBLA
• Student Corner- Did you know?
• Equity Vision, One West, Non-Discrimination

In Case you Missed It:

• Attendance, Closed Campus, Vandalism
• Senior Cap & Gown Information
• HBCU Festival
• What I Need
• Lunch Advisory
• Parking Enforcement

Jen Ploeger- Principal- jrploeg@sunprairieschools.org

Chai Lee- Associate Principal- cmlee1@sunprairieschools.org

Ed Ford- Associate Principal- ebford@sunprairieschools.org

• November 7th- End of 1st Quarter
  
• November 8th- Parent Partnership
• November 9th- Grades due by teachers
• November 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th- Game of Tiaras Performance- SP West PAC
• November 10th- Progress Reports Posted
• November 22nd, 23rd, 24th- No School- Thanksgiving Break

We are excited to bring back our Parent/Caregiver Partnership Monthly Meetings that will begin on November 8th from 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!

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.

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.

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

During the month of November, Counselors and the College Career and Life Readiness Coordinator will be meeting with Freshman (November 17th) and Sophomores (November 13) during advisory in the Performing Arts Center for their Academic and Career Planning Meeting. Students will gain knowledge about what they need to know in order to reach their academic and personal goals at SPWHS. Specifically, students will get information on graduation, how credits are earned, GPAs & transcripts, academic help, future planning tools, and other academic opportunities/advising.

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.

As we approach our First Quarter / Mid Semester Summary grading period, we thought it would be helpful to explain how grades impact students that are involved in athletics and clubs at grade reporting periods.

Grades are run for eligibility at the following times: FIRST QUARTER (Mid Semester Summary), FIRST SEMESTER, THIRD QUARTER (Mid Semester Summary), SECOND SEMESTER, as stated in our Extra-Curricular Rules and Regulations Handbook. These grading periods include SP30 grades.

The mid semester summary grades will be posted in Infinite Campus on November 10th. That means that the athletic department will share grades with coaches on or around Monday, November 13th. Our winter teams will start their seasons on November 6th and 13th so these can affect our students right away as their seasons are getting underway.

If a student receives an "F" at one of the above mentioned grading periods:

Students are automatically ineligible for athletics for 15 school days and nights. The suspension begins after the student receives notification of the failing grade. For example, if grades are posted on a Friday to the parent portal, their suspension will begin the following Monday, or the next school day.

If a student receives an "INC".....

for a grading period, and their grade is posted as such on the parent portal, they are also ineligible. However, they do have an option for the first 10 school days and nights to bring their grade up to passing. If they complete the work and get a passing grade on the 1st day of the suspension they are cleared immediately. If they do not complete the work within the 10 days of probation, they remain ineligible for the entire 15 day suspension, the same as if they had a failing grade.

Progress Report Grading Period: During a progress report grading period, students are placed on "probation" for 10 school days and nights if they receive and F or INC. They are still eligible to compete. However, they need to show they have brought their grades up to passing by the end of the probation, or they will become ineligible.

***A student's grade should not be changed by a teacher due to athletic ineligibility. Once a failing grade is posted on the parent portal, it is final and the above mentioned suspensions take place. Grades should not be changed and the student should not be permitted to make up work after the posting unless there has been an error by the teacher posting an incorrect grade.

Grade eligibility is explained in our code meetings as well as in our rules and regulations handbook that both the parents and students sign and agree to. Coaches also receive multiple grade reports and explain to their teams at the start of and during the season the importance of being a student first.

Our fall play, Game of Tiaras runs this week/weekend: November 9th, 10th and 11th at 7:00pm and November 12th at 2:00pm (with ASL interpretation). Buy your tickets today!

Our students shone at the Wisconsin Fall FBLA Leadership Conference. Last year we had 1 and this year there were 11. Our kids did a great job representing the school.

Did you know that last week we had students attend the fall FBLA leadership retreat, attend the National FFA conference AND SPASD hosted the annual MSAN conference? More pictures and details to come from FFA and MSAN. If you aren't plugged into a club or activity yet, check them out! Incredible opportunities for awesome experiences.

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.

We had an incredibly strong start to the year in regards to attendance, closed campus and vandalism, we also know that October brings testing boundaries and the need to reset as we have seen an increase in students in the halls, students leaving during lunch and vandalism.

Attendance: Please checkout the slides below that teachers and students went through together this week in SP30. We are focusing on lunch/3rd hour this week. ALL students will be eating on the first floor in the commons or distributed dining areas. We need to ensure that students that are in class while others are at lunch are able to focus on learning. We have a new supervision plan to remind/redirect students to stay on the first floor in one of those three areas.

Closed Campus: A reminder that we are Dine-In Only this year which means that we continue to be a closed campus as well as we are not ordering in food. Leaving campus without being called out is a violation of school rules and a serious safety concern. Students are also NOT to visit their car during the school day, once you are here you're here!

Vandalism: We saw an uptick in vandalism in bathrooms (specifically boys) recently but that has been improving. A reminder that if you see something to say something. We have an INCREDIBLE building we need to take Pride in as a PACK to take care of. This week we saw an increase of trash being left in stairwells, please clean up after youself.

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.

Registration is now open for the annual HBCU Festival hosted by Alfred Street Baptist Church out of Springfield, VA:

Register HERE

Friday, November 17th from 4pm-8pm

Saturday, November 18th from 9am-4pm

Festival benefits include:

• All accredited HBCUs invited to participate

• On-the-spot admissions decisions (virtual and onsite)

• Instrumental and vocal music auditions (virtual and onsite)

• Seminars on preparing for the college admissions process, financial aid and scholarships, and student life

• Essay/personal statement writing assistance and interview coaching

• Student prizes and giveaways

Since 2003, this one-of-a-kind college fair has connected more than 60,000 attendees to academic institutions. In 2022, nearly $4M in scholarships were awarded to the high school seniors in attendance; many of whom were first generation college students.

SP30 is held from 10:08-10:38 on Mondays and Fridays throughout the school year. Students are expected to use that time to complete any lessons that are assigned in Xello and also to check their email for the daily announcements. Students can always check the Google Classroom for more information.

WIN Time is typically held during the SP30 time block (10:08-10:38) on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. This is different than SP30 as students have a choice in where they can go on those days. WIN Time stands for What I Need Time and is meant to help students do the following:

• make up formative and summative assessments
• make up missed labs
• ask a teacher for help with an academic topic
• be in a quiet space for extra study time
• have review sessions before summative assessments
• use the recording studio for course projects
• and more

Students may also sign up for WIN Time and can expect to find opportunities for extracurricular club meetings, spaces where teachers facilitate games or competitions, or sometimes a place where staff will teach students skills that may be fun and unrelated to their content area (example: learning to play ukulele).

No matter what a student might want to do during WIN Time, they MUST sign up in FlexiSched. The expectation is that each student should go directly to the classroom that they signed up for in FlexiSched. On those days, students MUST report to that specific classroom to be counted towards attendance.

Please understand we want all of our students to be successful at Sun Prairie West and that the SP30/advisory and WIN Time are important pieces to help them achieve that goal.

Lastly, if a student does not go to the SP30/advisory (typically on Monday and Friday) or the WIN Time (typically Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) classroom (this will vary) they signed up for, they will be marked absent, even if they are in the building. Building procedures and district policy state that students' whereabouts must be accounted for at all times. If students are not where they should be, they will be marked absent to reflect this as record.

I appreciate your time in reading this. Caregivers/parents/guardians - please speak with your student about the importance of SP30 and WIN Time. Students - please adhere to these procedures to ensure you have a successful year at SPWHS!

As always, please reach out with questions or concerns if needed. Have a great day!

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.

A reminder to ensure that students are parking in their correct spots each day. If someone else is parked in your spot please stop up to the front office to fill out the form. No students should be parking in the front lot or near door 24. Parking will be enforced throughout the week with warnings and/or tickets being issued.