FEBRUARY 25, 2022

Our Safety Committee is hard at work preparing for a mock reunification drill this spring. Reunification is a critical aspect of crisis response and is the process of reuniting children with their families in the event of a crisis. More importantly, it is our responsibility to maintain the chain of custody and care of every student every day. Successful planning and implementation of a highly effective reunification process requires a partnership with our police and fire department. I am proud to share that we have such a partnership. Along with our emergency service providers, staff members, and parent and student volunteers, we are planning to simulate a reunification in May.

We will be using this simulation as an opportunity to learn more about the best procedures for reunification to include site-specific considerations into the district safety plans. More information will be provided in early spring regarding our reunification planning process. Following our simulation, we will evaluate the reunification process and make changes or updates where needed.

School safety is our priority and is an evolving process. We will continue to be diligent in improving our safety practices for your children. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to your building principal.

Have a great weekend,

Dr. Judy Mueller

District Administrator

As a reminder, the District Calendar and all building calendars can be found 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. You will also see our 2021-22 AND 2022-23 Calendar Events in your own calendar app on your device!

​​Congratulations to our three National Merit Scholar FINALISTS! We shared with you a few months ago that Shriya Punati, Nicolas Dittmar Greaves, and Pallavi Kandipati were National Merit Scholar Semifinalists. We are very proud to say they have now moved on and all (3) individually are part of the 15,000 students nationwide that are National Merit Scholar Finalists! The next part of the process will pick 7,500 students as National Merit Scholars this spring. Congratulations and good luck!

From National Merit: "The National Merit® Scholarship Program honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies. Of the 1.5 million entrants, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores (calculated by doubling the sum of the Reading, Writing, and Language, and Math Test scores) qualify for recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference. The selection of 7,500 Merit Scholarship winners from a group of more than 15,000 Finalists is now in progress.”

Congrats to the boys swim, dance, and cheerleading teams on your successful state qualifying seasons! As we continue to move through February, we have more teams competing at the regional and state levels. Click here or on the image to view details for this weekend's WIAA Basketball Regionals for Boys and Girls Teams AND information on next week's WIAA Wrestling Team & Gymnastics State Meets.

As we close out the month of February, we wanted to share these two examples for how some of our students and teachers are recognizing Black History Month.

The first is this week's Saber Roar which focuses on Black History. Please note that this week's Saber Roar is shorter than usual due to the Ice Storm of 2022, but the Saber Roar students who worked on this piece still wanted to release this for others to view:

At the elementary level, Mrs. Haley Busniewski's 5th grade class is using their circle time at the beginning of each class to discuss the significance of an important historical figure. Students ask questions and learn interesting facts about the figure and after the discussion, the 'trading card' type dossier is added to the collection of other figures that have been studied. Click on the images below to see some examples from one of their circle times.

Our FHS Spring Musical now has ticket pricing and information on our Saber Center for the Performing Arts website here.

Inspired by the twisted genius of Roald Dahl, the Tony Award-winning Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical is the captivating masterpiece from the Royal Shakespeare Company that revels in the anarchy of childhood, the power of imagination, and the inspiring story of a girl who dreams of a better life. Packed with high-energy dance numbers and catchy songs, children and adults alike will be thrilled and delighted by the story of the special little girl with an extraordinary imagination.

As our Superintendent search process keeps moving, we want to inform you about two things to be on the lookout for in the next couple of weeks.

First, in partnership with our search firm, School Exec Connect, all families will be sent a survey to complete next Tuesday, March 1st.** The purpose of this survey is to collect feedback on the characteristics and qualities you are looking for in the next district administrator.

• **As of 3pm on March 1st: **We are waiting for some final scheduling items so we can send everything to families in one communication. We now hope to send this on Wednesday, March 2nd.

Following that, we will be communicating more about upcoming offerings for an Open Forum and selected Focus Groups. Please continue to check our Supt Update page on our website for the newest information. As these events come together, we will communicate with families either through email, building newsletters, or the bi-weekly district newsletter.

Would you like to speak to a Franklin school board member in person? Two board members will be available 30 minutes before regular meetings to speak with you informally. Board members can also be reached by email or phone.

DASHBOARD UPDATE & CHANGES

We began reporting positive case numbers in early January as a way to keep families informed of how the surge of COVID-19 cases was impacting our school buildings. Now that positive cases continue to trend down, we have returned to sharing the dashboard on Fridays only. In addition to providing you with the number of active cases* on the previous school day for your building, we are now providing the total number of new cases at that building over the past seven days. This updated dashboard provides all the information on how COVID-19 is impacting our buildings and driving mask protocols.

*students currently excluded from school due to a COVID-19 infection as displayed above

Click for a larger image if needed

ON-SITE TESTING - New Location!

Beginning on Monday, February 28th, we will be making some changes to the structure of On-Site Testing by Summit Clinical Labs in the district.

• Testing still continues at Franklin High School on school days from 7am to 3pm for staff and students.
• The Forest Park Middle School main office is now has testing available for district students, families and staff from 7:30am to 3:30pm.
• Please note that testing is not offered at the ECC District Office anymore as of Monday 2/28.

Please review this document for other up-to-date details and questions you may have about how testing works.

After two years without being able to run a Summer Respite Camp, Easterseals Camp will be back up and running this summer to serve individuals with disabilities ranging from age 7 to 21. Camper registration is open and can be viewed online at eastersealswise.com. In addition, Easterseals Camp is looking for candidates ages 16 or older with at least 1 year of relevant work experience/education working with individuals with disabilities and/or leading recreation activities preferred. Our employment opportunities offer a fun-filled seasonal, summer position with full-time hours. For more information or to apply, you can view the flyer near this announcement or please visit eastersealswise.com or email laurend@eastersealswise.com

Our registration is now open for next school year for new families to the district and next year’s 4K. You can find all the necessary details on our website here. Please note that students already enrolled in our schools do not have to have a new registration completed. You may utilize the “Create Account” and “Forgot Password” buttons on the registration page to complete your registration or gain access if you have created an account in the past. Please help us share that registration is open with any new families to the area or those with younger children that would be entering 4K or 5K!

Looking for a past issue of the District Newsletter?

Check the ARCHIVE page here.

We pride ourselves on being...

• A Better Place to Learn
• A Better Place to Work
• Part of a Better Community

Email: communications@franklin.k12.wi.us
Website: http://www.franklin.k12.wi.us
Location: 8255 West Forest Hill Avenue, Franklin, WI, USA
Phone: 414-529-8220
Facebook: facebook.com/franklinpublicschools
Twitter: @fpsdistrictwi

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