Tuesday, November 27, 2018

November 26th Weekly Blog (Tuesday Edition)

School Safety....No "Purpose Corner" this week - In this video, I discuss school safety reminders and updates to our safety processes. There is not a "Purpose Corner" as we are in preparations for our inquiry group share-outs which will be occurring on the 14th and 21st of December.

Please click here to access this 2:50 video

Raptor System - The Raptor system is a district-wide safety tool that is being implemented at all schools. in case you did not see the note from our district it is below for your convenience. West High School will require all individuals to check-in using the "Raptor" system when you enter the building every time. This is now our official check-in and check-out system. I ask that all community members be courteous to our front desk staff as they implement these procedures per my directive. If you have an issue or concern please contact me, Principal Ryan Patt, directly. Thank you.

Dear parents and guardians,
We would like to make you aware of a security upgrade at all of our schools. Beginning Monday, Nov. 27, all visitors who enter a school building during normal school hours will be required to check into the school office and present a valid Identification ( Drivers License, State Issued ID, Military ID, or Consular ID ).  Upon arrival, your identification will be scanned using the Raptor Visitor Management System. This software was purchased using funds provided by the State of Wisconsin School Safety Grant. Raptor provides immediate, real-time background checks on individuals to identify sex offenders and deny them entry. Once a visitor has been scanned, the system will print a visitor ID badge that is worn by the visitor for the duration of their visit.  We ask that the visitor present their ID each time they visit and a new visitor badge will be printed. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding with this new procedure and know that you share our desire to keep our students and our buildings safe. Thank you.


We Are Waukesha!! - This Saturday, December 1st at North High School the School District of Waukesha will be having its "We Are Waukesha" event. This is an opportunity to for any and all community members to check out our schools and what they have to offer for their children prior to registration for the next school year. Please spread the word around the community to attend this event to learn more about our schools. I will be in attendance to represent Waukesha West and would be excited to have families who have only a bit of interest in checking out Waukesha West to come and say hello so we can chat. please spread the word!



" Welcome to West!" - We will be having our "Welcome to West Night" for all current Waukesha West families and prospective families on Monday, December 10th,  2018 from 6:00 - 8:00 P.M. The night will allow all in attendance to choose from a variety of break out sessions for acquiring information prior to scheduling for next year. Please check out the flyer below for an overview and click on this link to get a closer look at the information about the sessions that are available. Look forward to seeing you there!





Grades & Fees - Monday, November 5th marked the end of Quarter 1 and grades for the first quarter have been posted.  This grade along with the grade from Quarter 2 will be used to ultimately determine a grade for Semester I which will be posted the end of January.  Please log in to your Infinite Campus Parent Portal to view your student's grades. While you are in your Infinite Campus Parent Portal, please review your student's fees.  All 2018 - 2019 fees were due October 1st.  Please use the online RevTrak Portal accessible through Infinite Campus to pay your student's fees as soon as possible.  Outstanding fees are subject to collections by our Business Office. Thank you!

"See It Live - Please see the flyer below regarding our upcoming district-wide "See It Live" day. West will be participating in this day. To sign up for the day, parents are to access our "Peachjar Flyers" button on the bottom left of our school website main page. Select the flyer below and click on the "Register" button on the top of the flyer.



Challenge Day Momentum - I will continue to update some of the things we will be doing to keep our momentum from Challenge Day! I encourage anyone to access the Challenge Day website to learn more about it. https://www.challengeday.org/


  


Principal Advisory Council - Below are the names of the individuals on the Principal Advisory Council for 2018-2019. We met most recently on Wednesday, November 14th and will continue to meet monthly throughout the school year. Please access the minutes for more information about our discussions for this school year and connect with any of the listed representatives prior to our upcoming meeting with any questions you have or clarifications you need. The meeting minutes are linked here:

Cheryl Jeffers
cmjeffers@yahoo.com
Bret Reichert
br@wi.rr.com
Bridget Clementi
clementi101@wi.rr.com
Deanna Krell
dkrell@wi.rr.com
Deshondria Baggett
dbaggett@wi.rr.com
Gail Young-Lane
jlane1@wi.rr.com
Jon Eckmann
Jon@promarkpainters.com
Kim Keller
kim.keller@wecenergygroup.com
Krista Bitzan
smileyfish76@hotmail.com
Lawrence Oberbruner
loberbruner@gmail.com
Lee Ann Jaskolka
Ljaskolka@wi.rr.com
Lori Johnston
ljohnstongd@gmail.com
Marilyn Toshner
mtoshner71@gmail.com

Archived Announcements (Link) Please access this link to find all of the information in our daily announcements from previous weeks.

Preview of this week: Please check the calendars here: West Main Page Calendar (Link)

Monday, November 12, 2018

November 12th Weekly Blog

Veterans Day - I would like to thank all staff members, parents, community members, and alumni who are Veterans of our armed forces for your service to our country! This past Saturday Waukesha held it's 7th annual "Operation Honor" to honor our Veteran's in the Schuetze Recreation Center gymnasium. My family was honored to attend and we're proud to see Waukesha West students volunteering their time to serve our Veteran's for their meal and assisting with the programming. I encourage all community member to mark the date on their calendar for next year and come on out to thanks those who have served.







School Resource Office (SRO) - I am very fortunate to work with local law enforcement on a daily basis in an effort to keep our school and students safe. I would like to thank Officer Dave Gawrisch for his two-plus years of service to West High School as our SRO. We wish him well as he has been promoted within the Waukesha Police Department and will begin that new phase in his career in the upcoming weeks... there is not a better officer in the city and of course, he is an outstanding individual! With that, I would like to welcome SRO Jason Trimborn to West High School as he begins his four-year journey as our liaison officer. Jason is also an outstanding person and we look forward to implementing his vision for the SRO position at West High School!




Purpose Corner - This week on "Purpose Corner" I discuss our "FRAVID" group and their connection to our Pineapple Chart and how that positively impacts our classroom instruction.


Please click here to access  this 2:37 video 

Grades & Fees - Monday, November 5th marked the end of Quarter 1 and grades for first quarter have been posted.  This grade along with the grade from Quarter 2 will be used to ultimately determine a grade for Semester I which will be posted the end of January.  Please log in to your Infinite Campus Parent Portal to view your student's grades. While you are in your Infinite Campus Parent Portal, please review your student's fees.  All 2018 - 2019 fees were due October 1st.  Please use the online RevTrak Portal accessible through Infinite Campus to pay your student's fees as soon as possible.  Outstanding fees are subject to collections by our Business Office. Thank you!


" Welcome to West!" - We will be having our "Welcome to West Night" for all current Waukesha West families and prospective families on Monday, December 10th,  2018 from 6:00 - 8:00 P.M. The night will allow all in attendance to choose from a variety of break out sessions for acquiring information prior to scheduling for next year. Please check out the flyer below for an overview and click on this link to get a closer look at the information about the sessions that are available. Look forward to seeing you there!




School Report Card - As you may be aware, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has released the 2017-18 state School Report Cards for all public schools in Wisconsin as of today.  I’m sharing our score with you for this past school year as we are proud of the increase we have seen due to an enhancement in student skill levels that have occurred over time because of the investment of our staff, students, parents, and community members. The criteria of this Report Card does not take into account all of the outstanding things that happen at West High School on a daily basis, but it is a measure that we celebrate if we have an increase. To give you a context, our state Report Card score for the 2015-2016 school year was 65.9 which “Meets Expectations” and for the 2016-2017 was 74.2 which “Exceeded Expectations according to the state. You can access the Waukesha West School Report Card here.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any further questions.



Student Accomplishments - West High School has almost 900 out of our approximately 1,200 students involved in an extracurricular club, activity or sport. We also have students who are involved in different sport and activities that are not offered at our school and they achieve outstanding accomplishments. I want to recognize West High School Junior Avalynn Friedrichs in recently becoming a National Champion! Avalynn Friedrichs, was unanimously voted as the Senior Equitation Finals  National Champion for ages 14-17 at the National Academy Championship Horse Show in Murfreesboro, TN on Sunday, November 4th after 3 days of competition with competitors from across the country.  This prestigious award includes a $1,000 scholarship to William Woods University as well as other awards.  Avalynn's hard work and dedication to the sport she loves has been rewarded as a National honor, Congrats!!



One Act Play - Congratulations to the cast and crew of the One Act play "Numbers" for advancing out of a very tough sectional this past Saturday and qualifying for State. The State One Act contest will be held in LaCrosse on November 15-17. Congrats to all of the West End Players who are involved! Please enjoy the act below.



Please click here for this 36:02 video


Christmas Clearing Council - West High School clubs and activities have consistently partnered with the Christmas clearing council to support students and their families in our community during the holiday months. If you are interested in financially supporting local families please consider donating to the Council and continue to look for West students leading fundraising efforts for the CCC. A little more about the CCC... the Christmas Clearing Council of Waukesha County (CCC) promotes and coordinates giving to families in need during the Christmas season. They provide a clearinghouse that matches these families with area groups, families, businesses, and individuals who wish to help people less fortunate on a person-to-person basis. In 2017, the CCC coordinated giving to more than 1,900 families and nearly 4,400 children in Waukesha County.



Challenge Day Momentum - I will continue to update some of the things we will be doing to keep our momentum from Challenge Day! I encourage anyone to access the Challenge Day website to learn more about it. https://www.challengeday.org/



  


Principal Advisory Council - Below are the names of the individuals on the Principal Advisory Council for 2018-2019. We will be meeting this Wednesday, November 14th and will continue to meet monthly throughout the school year. Please access the minutes for more information about our discussions for this school year and connect with any of the listed representatives prior to our upcoming meeting with any questions you have or clarifications you need. The meeting minutes are linked here:


Cheryl Jeffers
cmjeffers@yahoo.com
Bret Reichert
br@wi.rr.com
Bridget Clementi
clementi101@wi.rr.com
Deanna Krell
dkrell@wi.rr.com
Deshondria Baggett
dbaggett@wi.rr.com
Gail Young-Lane
jlane1@wi.rr.com
Jon Eckmann
Jon@promarkpainters.com
Kim Keller
kim.keller@wecenergygroup.com
Krista Bitzan
smileyfish76@hotmail.com
Lawrence Oberbruner
loberbruner@gmail.com
Lee Ann Jaskolka
Ljaskolka@wi.rr.com
Lori Johnston
ljohnstongd@gmail.com
Marilyn Toshner
mtoshner71@gmail.com

Archived Announcements (Link) Please access this link to find all of the information in our daily announcements from previous weeks.

Preview of this week: Please check the calendars here: West Main Page Calendar (Link)


No Blog Next Week! I will be back on November 26th!!

Monday, November 5, 2018

November 5th Weekly Blog

Purpose Corner - This week on purpose corner I recap the professional development our staff continues to participate in and where it supports our Theory of Action and our journey to implementing AVID schoolwide.


Please click here to access this 2:04 video

West is back on Twitter!! - Well, we have never had a huge footprint on social media but we are looking to use it for showcasing the outstanding things we experience at West High School by going public more often!! If you go to the West website and scroll down you will see our newly posted Twitter feed. I highly recommend the first two videos from the feed which show the send-off for our state bound girls volleyball team and the celebration of our students of the month coming to our main office to get their certificate. 



This is not a video link, please go to https://sdw.waukesha.k12.wi.us/WestHS to access this video through our Twitter feed!

Referendum Information - The School District of Waukesha has provided information regarding the proposed referendum in a variety of media throughout the past year or so. Feel free to access the video below for factual information regarding this referendum. Thank you.


Please click here for this 1:41 video

Girls Volleyball - The Girls Volleyball team ended their magical state tournament run this past weekend at the Resch Center in Green Bay after losing in the semi-finals to eventual repeat state champion Burlington. The girls knocked off #1 seeded and conference rival Mukwonago to earn the first-ever trip to state for a West girls volleyball team and then took down another conference rival and #1 seed Arrowhead 3-1 in an outstanding match. Congrats girls on a phenomenal season!

View image on Twitter


Varsity Football Team - The mighty Wolverine Football team fell to the #1 seeded Brookfield Central Lancers this Friday night. The Wolverines were the second lowest seeded team left in the entire state at #6 after upsetting two higher seeds on their way to being one of the final eight teams left in Division 2. Congrats on an outstanding season! 



Girls Swim - The Girls Swim team has one of the best Sectional performances in school history this past Saturday! State qualifying individuals include: Alivia Farber Sectional Champion in both the 100 and 200 Free; Claire Wright 3rd in the Breaststroke. State qualifying relays were: 200 Medley of Becca Beam, Claire Wright, Megan Beam and Alivia Farber (New School Record!) 400 Free Relay: Becca Beam, Megan Beam, Kayla Hauser and Alivia Farber (New School Record!) 200 Free Relay: Kayla Hauser, Ava Mueller, Maddie Richter and Boos. Congratulations and good luck next weekend at STATE!!



One Act Play - Congratulations to the cast and crew of the One Act play "Numbers" for advancing out of a very tough sectional this past Saturday and qualifying for State. The State One Act contest will be held in LaCrosse on November 15-17. Congrats to all of the West End Players who are involved! Please enjoy the act below.




Christmas Clearing Council - West High School clubs and activities have consistently partnered with the Christmas clearing council to support students and their families in our community during the holiday months. If you are interested in financially supporting local families please consider donating to the Council and continue to look for West students leading fundraising efforts for the CCC. A little more about the CCC... the Christmas Clearing Council of Waukesha County (CCC) promotes and coordinates giving to families in need during the Christmas season. They provide a clearinghouse that matches these families with area groups, families, businesses, and individuals who wish to help people less fortunate on a person-to-person basis. In 2017, the CCC coordinated giving to more than 1,900 families and nearly 4,400 children in Waukesha County.



Challenge Day Momentum - I will continue to update some of the things we will be doing to keep our momentum from Challenge Day! I encourage anyone to access the Challenge Day website to learn more about it. https://www.challengeday.org/



  


Archived Announcements (Link) Please access this link to find all of the information in our daily announcements from previous weeks.

Preview of this week: Please check the calendars here: West Main Page Calendar (Link)