September 28th Weekly Blog

 Purpose Corner - This week I dive deeper into our TOA as promised from my blog post last week! 

Family Connect Conferences - On Wednesday, September 30th from 4:00 - 7:30 P.M. we will be having our virtual "Family Connect" conferences. We will be continuing on with our recent format for these conferences by having them as an appointment only with a focus on family connection. The format of the connection time will be 7-minute conferences with teachers leading the conference by asking these two questions:

1. Is there anything you would like me to know about your family that will help and support the continued success of your student at West?

2. What do I need to know about your student academically and/or personally in order for your student to have a successful learning experience in my class?

You can access the sign-up genius link here or through our website for scheduling a conference. It was also sent to families via email. All teachers will be sending out a common link for families to access their virtual conferences for the time they signed up. During conferences, if the teacher still has open times available on the sign-up genius, families can access the link provided by the teacher to engage in a virtual conference if needed. Teachers would let you into the virtual room if they are not reaching out and connecting with families or students during unscheduled time. 

National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists! - West High School is proud to recognize three of the four students from the School District of Waukesha, Class of 2021, who have been named Semifinalists in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program:

Alec Boland

Travis Hytry

Ethan Ammerman

This year there are approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 66th annual National Merit Scholarship Program with the opportunity to continue in the competition for 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million.

 

The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

 

Next steps? Semifinalists must submit a detailed scholarship application and provide information regarding academic records, school and community activities, leadership abilities, employment, honors, and awards.

 

Finalists are selected in February.

Additional information can be found on the National Merit website.

Best of luck moving forward in this process Wolverines!!!

Theory of Action (TOA) - Below is our TOA which I read in the above "Purpose Corner" video.

 

COVID Process - Now that we are having to deal with isolation and quarantine processes that come along with living in the COVID era, I wanted to share a district  FAQ document that may help families understand that all the processes that West High School follow, come from our district and are not individually created by West. My role is to consistently follow these processes along with every other school in our district. 

School District COVID Dashboard - Our school district does have a COVID dashboard that is public for anyone to follow.

 

Please click here to access this link

COVID-19 Testing - Please access the information below regarding COVID-19 testing:

Link to Waukesha County COVID-19 Testing Information

 

Principal Advisory Committee - The Principal Advisory Council for 2020-2021 has been set and has met with me virtually on Wednesday, September 16th. We will be meeting next on Wednesday, October 21st. Please contact any one of the representatives (below) with feedback and/or questions about anything West related. Please access the meeting minutes linked here:

Angela Schaaf	angelamschaaf@gmail.com
Cheryl Jeffers	cherylmjeffers@gmail.com
David Clark	superdavefive@gmail.com
Deshondria Baggett	deshondriabaggett@gmail.com
Karen Anderson	kammom@att.net
Kathleen Phelan	Talldoc@wi.rr.com
Michelle Kuokkanen	mkuokkanen@yahoo.com
Carri Marlow	carrimarlow@yahoo.com
Mercedes Rawson	Rawson96@wi.rr.com
Patti Bloom	pbloom27@wi.rr.com
Rebecca Flaherty	Becflaherty@gmail.com
Susan Fogelstrom	beezerpup@gmail.com

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

GO WOLVERINES...WHOOP!!

September 21st Weekly Blog (Tuesday Edition)

 Purpose Corner - Welcome to my first blog post for the 2020-2021 school year! In the video below I preview my blog, welcome new families, thank our community for a great start, and describe our parent communication process!

Please click here for this 2:27 video

Family Connect Conferences - On Wednesday, September 30th from 4:00 - 7:30 P.M. we will be having our virtual "Family Connect" conferences. We will be continuing on with our recent format for these conferences by having them as an appointment only with a focus on family connection. The format of the connection time will be 7-minute conferences with teachers leading the conference by asking these two questions:

1. Is there anything you would like me to know about your family that will help and support the continued success of your student at West?

2. What do I need to know about your student academically and/or personally in order for your student to have a successful learning experience in my class?

These conferences are in the place of traditional student/teacher conferences where grades and work completion were predominately discussed. Grades and work completion are just as important as they have always been, but technology allows families to track these things and communicate more efficiently with teachers. So, I have purposely changed the format so that connections can continue to be made to support student success. Why?... see the snippet below of this March, 12th 2019 Ed Week article on why relationships matter as in captures and reaffirms my thought process.

"People sometimes mistake a kind of casual familiarity and friendliness for the promotion of really deep relationships that are about a child's potential, their interests, their strengths, and weaknesses," said Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Southern California who studies the effects of emotions and mindsets on learning.

"A lot of teachers ... have really strong abilities to engage socially with the students, but then it's not enough," she said. "You have to go much deeper than that and actually start to engage with students around their curiosity, their interests, their habits of mind through understanding and approaching material to really be an effective teacher."

A reminder to all parents that the sign-up genius link for these conferences will be coming out this Thursday, September 24th. Once you have signed up, teachers will be sending you a link to the virtual conference. 

Principal Advisory Committee - The Principal Advisory Council for 2020-2021 has been set and has met with me virtually on Wednesday, September 16th. We will be meeting on a monthly basis. Please contact any one of the representatives (below) with feedback and/or questions about anything West related. Please access the meeting minutes linked here:

Angela Schaaf	angelamschaaf@gmail.com
Cheryl Jeffers	cherylmjeffers@gmail.com
David Clark	superdavefive@gmail.com
Deshondria Baggett	deshondriabaggett@gmail.com
Karen Anderson	kammom@att.net
Kathleen Phelan	Talldoc@wi.rr.com
Michelle Kuokkanen	mkuokkanen@yahoo.com
Carri Marlow	carrimarlow@yahoo.com
Mercedes Rawson	Rawson96@wi.rr.com
Patti Bloom	pbloom27@wi.rr.com
Rebecca Flaherty	Becflaherty@gmail.com
Susan Fogelstrom	beezerpup@gmail.com

West "Theory Of Action" - Our (Theory Of Action) TOA is what drives our professional development plan for us as an organization. It is data-driven and looked at on a yearly basis and adjusted accordingly. This year we focused our leadership work and professional development plan utilizing principles learned through the book "The 4 Disciplines of Execution." I will expand more on this through my "Purpose Corner" video series in future blog posts: Below is our TOA:

School District COVID Dashboard - Our school district does have a COVID dashboard that is public for anyone to follow.

 

Please click here to access this link

COVID-19 Testing - Please access the information below regarding COVID-19 testing:

Link to Waukesha County COVID-19 Testing Information

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

GO WOLVERINES...WHOOP!!

Final Blog of 2019-2020 (Tuesday & COVID-19 Edition)

Weekly Video Update - Thank you Seniors/Graduates!! We all wish that this year had been different but sometimes things are out of our control! My hope is that you have rolled with these punches and stayed positive when it is so easy to focus on what has been lost. You all have your future ahead of you and I encourage you to relish in the possibilities of what that can be for you and always push through obstacles as you have this year!! Godspeed! This week I say thank you to Seniors/Graduates, provide reminders on important dates coming up, provide a preview of the celebrations in this blog, and talk about the start of next school year?

Please click here to access this 3:05 video

West Celebrations & Recognitions!! - As the year comes to a close I wanted to share with you some of the videos and presentations that have been created to celebrate our graduates along with other aspects of building life that occurred this past school year. Please click on any one of the links below to access the compilation:

2020 Graduate Slide Show

Senior/Graduate Honors & Awards Night

National Honor Society Virtual Induction

West End Players Year-In-Review

Waukesha West Choirs 2020 Tribute

West Choir - The Road Home

Art Showcase

West Orchestra Tribute 2020

Waukesha West Athletic Awards 2020

Waukesha West Band Tribute

ACT 30+ Club

Senior/Graduate Pickup/Dropoff 

Attn: Seniors & Graduates

June 2nd, 2020 will be the pick-up and drop-off date for all graduates! Below are the timeframes you are to be at West for picking up your items as well as returning what belongs to West:

Last names (A-G) - 9:00 - 10:00 A.M.

Last names (H-N) - 10:30 -11:30 A.M.

Last names (O-Z) - 12:00 - 1:00 P.M.

From 1:00 - 2:30 P.M. We will have open time for those who could absolutely not make their designated timeframe, however, we ask that you do all you can to adhere to your timeframe for keeping a safe and efficient flow to this process. 

In order to help us retrieve all of your items as well as provide us with information to expedite this process, we are requiring all graduates to fill out the "Senior/Graduate Pickup Day" form. This form will be critical to help us find your items as we will be looking through the entire building to get your things, the information you provide will make this much smoother... thank you!! Through this form we are also seeking information regarding graduation orders, so please answer this question as well. This form must be completed by Tuesday, May 26th, 2020, and linked below.

The  Map (linked below) shows our traffic flow for this process and provides you the numbered stations you may need to stop at. If a station does not apply to you, there is plenty of room to cautiously drive on. All stations will be clearly labeled. We ask that all drivers adhere to this map and follow the traffic flow to avoid issues and keep this process going smoothly. 

*This is a drive-by process and we ask individuals to stay in their vehicles unless a specific circumstance arises of which our staff will ask for your assistance! Our staff will be social distancing and will have the individual choice to wear masks. 

*We ask that all are patient during this process, as it is new to us and we will be working to make things go smoothly.

Principal Patt

Senior/Graduate Pickup Day Form

Senior/Graduate Pickup Day Map

Grades 9,10 & 11 Pickup/Dropoff 

Attn: Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors

June 8th & 9th, 2020 - On this Monday or Tuesday will be the pick-up and drop-off dates for all 9th,10th, and 11th-grade students! Below are the timeframes you can be at West for picking up your items as well as returning what belongs to West. Students in any grade can come during their designated time (by alpha) on either day for pickup/dropoff.

Last names (A-G) 9:00 - 10:00 A.M.  (June 8th or June 9th)
Last names (H-N) 10:00 - 11:00 A.M.  (June 8th or June 9th)
Last names (O-Z) 11:00 - 12:00 P.M.  (June 8th or June 9th)

The  Map (linked below) shows our traffic flow for this process and provides you the numbered stations you may need to stop at. If a station does not apply to you, there is plenty of room to cautiously drive on. All stations will be clearly labeled. We ask that all drivers adhere to this map and follow the traffic flow to avoid issues and keep this process going smoothly. 

*This is a drive-by process and we ask individuals to stay in their vehicles unless a specific circumstance arises of which our staff will ask for your assistance! Our staff will be social distancing and will have the individual choice to wear masks. 

*We ask that all are patient during this process, as we will be working to make things go smoothly. Finally, if you had items in someone else's locker, you will need to reach out to that person directly to retrieve those items. Thank you and contact me with any questions.

Principal Patt

9th - 11th Grade Pickup Day Map

Graduation Update - Last week I previewed that the time for the West graduation ceremony which is scheduled for Saturday, July 18th will most likely change, because of streaming ability. It is currently scheduled for 11:00 A.M. and when I find out a final time I will communicate it out with all graduates and their families. 

Fee Update - I have sent the following information to all families previously about fees, here is another chance to look at it:

Due to the Virtual Learning environment, the school district is crediting the following fees to your student's Infinite Campus account.  If you have a surplus balance, the surplus will be automatically applied to 2020-2021 Student Fees when assigned in August.  

• Seniors with a surplus balance will receive a check mailed to the primary household in July after books and iPads are turned in.
• Field Trips- Field Trips are being credited to Infinite Campus as the list of students and amounts are turned into the business office.
• Parking Passes- Spring Parking Permit purchases will receive a $60 credit
• Athletic Fees- The entire $150 athletic fee will be credited to Infinite Campus for those students that participate in only Spring Sports (athletic coaches who collected additional funds for equipment/apparel are working with our athletic department to refund these fees) 
• Lifeguard Training Course- The $85 course fee for the Spring Semester Lifeguarding Course will be credited to Infinite Campus
• Pay to Ride Transportation- 60% of Second Semester Pay to Ride Fees will be credited to Infinite Campus

Rental Assistance Resource - Please see the information below from the State of Wisconsin. If you have any further questions regarding this information please contact our school social worker, Mrs. Cathie Callahan, at ccallahan@waukesha.k12.wi.us

Housing Instability - Please see the information below if you or any families you are aware of with students within the School District of Waukesha are experiencing housing instability.

End of Year Letter - 

AP Pacesetter Recognition for 2019 - The Wisconsin Advanced Placement Advisory Council (WAPAC) recently announced the 2019 Advanced Placement Pacesetter Awards. WAPAC is comprised of Wisconsin secondary and collegiate educators that are dedicated to expanding access to Advanced Placement (AP) coursework and rigorous learning for all students. The Pacesetter Awards are unique to Wisconsin. They recognize schools for promoting both access to and excellence in AP courses. Schools are acknowledged for their efforts at three different levels. West High School was recognized at level 1 which is the highest level! Approximately 140 schools meet the criteria for recognition at one of the levels. West was 1 of 24 schools to receive level 1 distinction which puts us in the top 17% of all schools that qualify. This is a community celebration!!

U.S. News Best High Schools - According to U.S. News & World Report, West High School was ranked 1,189 out of 17,792 high schools nationally who qualified, putting us in the top 7% of high schools in the nation! We ranked 32 out of 551 high schools statewide putting us in the top 6% comparatively in the state of Wisconsin! The entire Waukesha West community contributes to this distinction and we need to celebrate it while keeping our growth mindset! Way to go West!

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