FPS 2023-24 #10 | 1/11/24

Happy 2024! Winter was not only welcomed on December 21st but has now officially made its visual appearance in Franklin and the greater Milwaukee area. The excitement of our learners, especially in the elementary schools, to see the snow and share their snow stories is always fun! January also brings the turn of semesters for the middle and high school. As our high school learners gear up for their exams next week, our middle school learners look forward to new encore experiences for second semester. It is a busy and exciting time of year.

Most importantly, I hope you and your family and friends had a memorable and rejuvenating Winter Break. We are excited to have our learners back in the schools and to welcome the second half of the 2023-2024 school year.

With gratitude,

Annalee Bennin, FPS District Administrator

Click here for the 2023-24 Full District Calendar in PDF format.

Click here for the 2024-25 Full District Calendar in PDF format.

Click here for our website District Calendar page where all of our calendars can be subscribed to! Follow the steps at the top of the District Calendar webpage for how to subscribe.

Due to the number of interested FPS School Board candidates, a Spring Primary needs to be held in February prior to the Spring Election in April. The Spring Primary will take place on Tuesday, February 20th. There are (7) candidates running and the top (6) will move on to ballot positions for the April 2nd Spring Election, running for (3) FPS School Board seats.

The (7) candidates are listed below in the drawn ballot position order with (i) denoting an incumbent.

• Jay Pereira
• Jaclyn Gaffney
• Maqsood Khan (i)
• Angela Kallay
• Ann Sepersky (i)
• Angela Bier (i)
• Jon Peccarelli

To see voting locations and other information for February 20th, please view the city website here.

The FPS School Board met in December and discussed during a Future Facilities Work Study the next steps as part of Franklin Forward. District Leadership and the FPS School Board will be presenting Community Engagement Opportunities where families and members of the Franklin community can come listen, learn, and engage around long-range facility planning for the future of FPS.

The upcoming sessions are:

• Thursday, February 15th - 8:30 am @ ECC District Office
• Tuesday, February 20th - 6 pm @ ECC District Office
• Thursday, February 22nd - 10:30 am @ Franklin City Hall (as part of the Senior Dine event)

In addition, we are developing a spring community survey to share information more widely and to invite feedback from all members of the community in regards to long-range facility planning. We will share more information as that survey is ready to launch.

For all updates about Franklin Forward, we invite you to visit our webpage where we are parking all the details, slide decks, and other updates related to our long-range facility planning. You can view the webpage here or by going to www.franklin.k12.wi.us/franklinforward

Beginning today, the FPS Family Communication Survey is now open to receive feedback from families around our 1-way, 2-way and passive communication efforts in Franklin Public Schools. When you go to the form, you will be asked to sign into the survey similar to other forms we utilize by entering your child's 6-digit student ID number and date of birth in order to verify yourself as a parent or guardian within FPS. The survey only needs to be completed once per parent or guardian and not once per child. Please click here or on the banner below to complete the survey once per parent/guardian before 11:59pm on Thursday, February 1st.

Families can expect Summer Learning Program 2024 information in our next newsletter in two weeks (January 25th)!

Last Friday at an all school assembly, Pleasant View Elementary School students and staff honored Principal Ashley Imperiale with a special surprise! Ms. Imperiale has been going above and beyond “wearing many hats” lately as she has helped to fill in for various staff in the classroom and around the building where needed. She does it all with a smile and never shows stress or anxiety and she fosters great relationships with all students. Students colored in hearts, wrote her appreciation messages, and showed “love” during the assembly. She had no idea this was happening and was very surprised! Thank you for all you do for the Pleasant View community, Principal Imperiale! #BetterCommunity #BetterPlaceToWork

We shared in your school building bulletins on Monday reminders on how FPS handles school closures due to weather (#Timely!). We have also put this information on our website here in case you need to reference it at any time.

In addition, if we have an unscheduled school closing, please be sure to check our online lunch menu at https://franklin.nutrislice.com/ for the most up to date lunch information. Thank you.

Please see this message that was shared with FPS district staff before winter break from FPS District Administrator Annalee Bennin. This message shares the announcement of Robinwood Principal Jeannine Bombien is our new FPS Student Services Coordinator and that Dr. Randy Daul has been hired as Interim Principal for Robinwood for the remainder of the year. Congratulations to Mrs. Bombien on her new role and welcome to Dr. Daul to Robinwood and Franklin Public Schools!

Forest Park Middle School had a special guest on Wednesday! Former Green Bay Packers Safety and Pro Football Hall of Fame 2022 inductee LeRoy Butler visited with 6th graders to share some special stories. He shared the struggles of growing up with a disability, how his mom was his hero and advocate, and how teachers helped him so much along the way as he achieved his dream of playing in the NFL. Mr. Butler visited with students after the assembly and asked to take a special photo with teachers. Thank you to Mr. Butler for sharing your stories that inspire our young students.

It's a celebration of cultures and everyone is invited! On Thursday, February 15th, 2024, come to FHS Multicultural Club’s FREE event, filled with food, activities, and performances. This year the annual event, which has previously hosted over 600 attendees, is even bigger and better than before! From a Dabke dance group to a Hmong performance, expect to celebrate countless cultures of the world.

Check out the student-designed poster below to show all your friends and family, and please contact Mai Alessaly at mai.alessaly@franklinsabers.org and Sruti Palla at sruti.palla@franklinsabers.org with any questions or inquiries. If you’d like to be involved in the event yourself, please let us know by January 20th. Hope to see you there and don’t be afraid to put on your party hats and join the celebration!

Both in our schools and in the community, we are seeing an increase in viral illnesses (coughs, fever, etc) among children and adults. Specifically, our respiratory illnesses are on the rise and symptoms such as cough may linger longer than expected. Children with lingering coughs may attend school if they feel well enough as long as it does not interfere with their ability to learn and their surroundings. Please ensure any students with fevers above 100.4 stay home until they are fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication. If your child is sick, please continue to follow this decision tree on how to best approach illness when it comes to making decisions about sending your child to school or not.

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 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.

• 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.

Advanced Placement Research is a college-level course offered at Franklin High School that allows students to demonstrate academic writing and research skills. Through this course students embark on a year-long research process in which they explore an academic topic or problem based on personal interests. One research topic this year will be conducting a non-experimental study that focuses on collecting qualitative data. The research will be conducted as an ethnographic study and data will be collected in the form of interviews before and after the movie Zootopia is shown to the children. The study will focus on exploring how Malayalee children and non-Malayalee children perceive different forms of discrimination in the movie.

The study will take place on Friday, February 2nd at 6pm in room C234 at FHS. If you have a child aged 7-12 who would be able and willing to participate in this study, please complete the form here prior to arriving. If you have any questions, you can reach out to Saera Joseph (FHS student) and Mary Piwaron (AP Research Instructor).

The 2023-24 Winter/Spring Rec Guide is now available online here and registration for Franklin families opened on Tuesday, December 5th! We have a bunch of new programs including Basketball Camps, Athlete Performance Training, more cookie decorating with FHS Alum Abby Martin, Kayak Trips, Adult Gym Classes and more! Sign up early as spots are limited!

Join Forte Youth Productions as Harvard's beloved blonde takes the stage by glittery pink storm! A fabulously fun journey of self-empowerment and expanding horizons, this musical is filled with humor, wit and sass — leaving audiences seeing pink!

Part of Forte’s youth musical series, this show will be performed by students ages 12-18 from FPS and throughout the Greater Milwaukee Area.

Friday, January 26th @ 7 pm

Saturday, January 27th @ 7 pm

Sunday, January 28th @ 2 pm

@ The Saber Center for the Performing Arts at FHS

Running time approximately 1 hour without intermission.

Tickets $12-$15 GET TICKETS HERE

The International Academic Competitions (IAC) has scheduled the regional competitions for History, Geography, and Science for Elementary (3rd grade & Under, 4th and 5th Grade) & Middle school grades (6, 7 and 8) at Brookfield, WI on January 27th. The venue for the competition is Brookfield Central High School.

• More details for how this works and is structured are available at the IAC website here.

• Students must have prerequisite for registering to this competition - Qualification to attend regionals by taking the Online Regional Qualification Examination at https://orqe.iac-exams.com/

• Once a student qualifies, they can register online here to participate in the Regional Finals.

We are always looking for people to join our amazing support systems for students! Here are some current opportunities available in FPS:

• KIDS CLUB ASSISTANTS
• GO RITEWAY BUS DRIVERS (school & charter available)
• COOK 2 @ FHS (3-5 hours per day)
• SUB FOOD SERVICE POSITIONS (on call)
• SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS (on call)

In addition to the positions listed above, here are other SUPPORT POSITIONS we are looking to fill (Custodial, EA, Fitness Instructor, Coaches, Youth Sports Officials, and more!)