NOVEMBER 22, 2022

It is hard to believe we are looking out our windows at the first snowfall of the season! Whether you love it, could do without, or fall anywhere in between, I would argue there is not much better than watching our young learners (and those of all ages) get excited for the snow. They are eager for their time outside to build and play in the snow. That energy is also contagious in our schools.

We hope the energy of the long weekend ahead with your child(ren), family and friends is just as contagious. A book I once read, and often refer to, is The Power of Moments by Chip Heath. A quote that I feel pulls the main essence out of the book and to which I refer to when I have time with my family or friends…or am feeling like I have missed time with them is around the moments. How do we create them? What makes them memorable? How do we define them so they don’t happen ‘by chance’?

Chip Heath wrote, “our lives are measured in moments, and defining moments are the ones that endure our memories.” Consider setting a goal to create a ‘moment’ over the next number of weeks that endures the memory of all that participate. These are the moments you will talk about for years to come. This long weekend may give you the opportunity to carefully plan a ‘moment’ with those you love. Enjoy the moments you share over this long weekend and we will see students back at school on Tuesday.

With gratitude,

Annalee Bennin

FPS District Administrator

The 2023-24 District Calendar was recently approved by the FPS Board of Education and can be found in PDF format here and linked into our district calendars on our website here.

While very similar to the pace of this school year, you will notice some alterations to the 2023-24 calendar:

• Beginning in the 2023-24 school year, all 4K events and days are fully aligned with the full district calendar.

• The first day of school for all students 4K-12 will be on Tuesday, September 5th (the day after Labor Day).

• For those who observe them, the Easter and Good Friday holidays fall within the scheduled Spring Break. No additional days off will be observed.

• Please be aware the 2023-24 calendar is very tight. This calendar only has (1) built in closure day. In the event we have (1) closure day, FPS will communicate options for making up subsequent closure days (if needed) which may include adding days at the end of the school year so we can meet the minimum number of instructional hours per the Wisconsin Department of Instruction.

Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our calendars on our webpage so you have events from your building and/or the district readily available on your device or app of calendaring choice! Note that in order to have the days off of school for the district, you should be sure to subscribe to the FPS District Calendar.

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.

Last Tuesday, November 15th, the Wisconsin Department of Instruction released its 2021-22 state report card for every publicly funded district and school in the state. Note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no state or district report cards were issued for the 2019-20 school year.

Overall, there are no changes to the methods used to determine the priority areas, scoring, or rating cut scores for the 2021-22 Wisconsin Department of Instruction report cards. As a reminder, last year’s report card (issued November 2021) should be considered a NEW BASELINE SCORE, and should not be compared to earlier versions of the state report card.

We are proud to share that the 2021-22 State Report Card for Franklin Public Schools shows that we again received an accountability ranking of Exceeds Expectations. This high rating supports the hard work and dedication of our students, families, and staff through very turbulent and unprecedented times over these last few years. Some of the highlights from the 2021-22 report card release include:

• Four schools (Country Dale, Pleasant View, Southwood Glen, and Franklin High School) received ratings of Significantly Exceeds Expectations (5-star). FHS raised their rating from last year’s Exceeds Expectations (4-star) to Significantly Exceeds Expectations (5-star).

• Two schools (Ben Franklin and Robinwood) received ratings of Exceeds Expectations (4-star).

• Forest Park Middle School received a rating of Meets Expectations (3-star).

• Franklin Alternative Youth Program (House of Correction) was ranked as Satisfactory Progress, as the program does not receive an overall star rating.

For more details and to view the FPS district and school report cards, please visit this page here.

Friday and Monday, we shared with FHS Seniors, FHS families and staff details about the 2023 Graduation Ceremony. We are pleased to once again partner with American Family Field to host our ceremony. You can see the official announcement here with all date, time and known details at this point.

In the last newsletter, we shared family engagement data from our Spring Survey. This newsletter, we are sharing details about recent staff and student engagement data we have collected.

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT DATA

Students in grades K-12 are surveyed multiple times throughout the year to help staff gain an understanding of where we can provide more support for students. Teachers review data trends and adjust social/emotional supports accordingly in our classrooms.

STAFF ENGAGEMENT DATA

At Franklin Public Schools, we seek feedback from our staff members throughout the year through engagement surveys, focus groups, and 1:1 rounding conversations. This feedback helps to guide our continuous improvement and employee retention efforts.

Both data collections offer a high level look at how staff and students responded to individual statements. Please note that when viewing the data linked below, the percent (%) listed represents those that responded favorably as "agree" or "strongly agree."

Click on either image below to see the data collected from June 2022:

Both in our schools and in the community, we are seeing a variety of germs causing increasing numbers of illnesses among children and adults. This is leading to many of our students being home from school. The United States has seen an early and high spike in cases of illness caused by RSV, which typically causes cold-like symptoms that can be more serious in younger children or children with chronic diseases. Cases of influenza have also been higher in the US, and the state of Wisconsin is starting to experience increases in influenza illness as well.

What can you do to help keep you, your kids, and others healthy and prevent the spread of illness?

• Keep kids home when they are sick. Adults should also stay home when experiencing symptoms of illness. This includes staying home from work, school, and other community outings.

• Talk with your kids about cough etiquette and hand washing (see attached image).

• Limit exposure to high risk individuals, including infants, elderly, and those with chronic illnesses. This will help protect them in case you are sick.

• Make sure you and your child(ren) have gotten your flu shot and are up to date on COVID vaccines. Note: Some local pharmacies, such as Life Change Pharmacy, can give kids 5 and up flu shots and/or new COVID vaccines with no appointment necessary.

• For kids who are sick but don’t need to be seen in person, local health care providers are encouraging families to use MyChart, Live Well, or other virtual options to connect with your provider. If your child is having difficulty breathing, is unable to speak, or has gray or blue coloring to their lips or nail beds, go to the Emergency Department or call 911.

Check out the student produced "Saber Roar" Thanksgiving special below. Happy Thanksgiving!

Click the graphic below to head to franklinwi.myrec.com to see the newly posted WINTER RECREATION GUIDE! Resident registration begins next Thursday, December 1st!

Looking for a new path or know someone looking for work? Check out some of the offerings below that we have for working within and with Franklin Public Schools.

FRANKLIN REC LOOKING FOR BASKETBALL REFEREES The Franklin Rec Dept is currently looking for Basketball Referees for kids ages K-8th grade! Games will run on Saturdays beginning December 3rd through Sunday, February 12th from 9am-3pm (Note that the only Sunday of play is Sunday, February 12th and there is no play on Saturday, February 11th). Even if you can't make it all the weeks, please email leah.voss@franklin.k12.wi.us for more info on how to apply. Thank you!

Thank you to all of our volunteers, students, families and local businesses that helped to make the "Educate In Style" fashion show a HUGE success! Be sure to follow our Franklin Educational Foundation Social Facebook Page (here) over the next week to see more images and thank you shout-outs from the event!

To see more about the Franklin Educational Foundation happenings,
click here for their website!

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(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.)