DECEMBER 2017 EDITION

Keeping you connected to all of the great things happening in our schools. 
 
One of Sun Prairie's recruitment strategies includes a program to help current non-certified staff earn their certification in hard to fill teaching areas. The district, in partnership with Edgewood College, has established a "Grow Your Own" Teacher Program to develop a diverse pipeline of teachers from the Sun Prairie School District community. The program, now  in it's 3rd year, has recently added three (3) additional participants, for a total of four (4) students.

"The Grow Your Own program helps us recruit, prepare and retain a greater number of teachers of color and male teachers interested in elementary education. The best human resources can be found within our own school community." the district's' Employee Relations Manager, Tracey Caradine says. "The district believes in the power of a diverse teaching workforce and recognizes that some of the best candidates can be found within our district."


Grow Your Own program participants: Ronald Caito (front row on left), Rick Shumaker (front center in yellow shirt) and Lakeisha Gavins (front row in purple shirt) and Dennis Wright (not pictured). This group is supported by many on this journey including school board members, principals and school district administration pictured above.
New math curriculum

We have introduced a new math curriculum this year;  Bridges at the elementary level and Carnegie at the middle school level. Our staff have been busy learning the new curriculum so that they can teach it, and our students have been busy using it.

If you are a parent and want to help your student with their math homework or better understand how the new curriculum is being used, we have created some videos that you can view to assist:

Watch our new video on how to support your elementary school student at home with math.

Watch our new video on how you can support your 6-7 grade student at home with math and how to access online materials.
Seussical was a HUGE success!

The High School production of Seussical was a  HUGE success! About 4,000 people attended the show over two weekends in November. In addition, over 1,000 elementary school students attended a special showing. The students did a great job with this show and the costumes were so bright and fantastic! We hope that you were able to see the show but if you did not, 
a short  video clip HERE.

 


School Space Planning Committee
 
The Sun Prairie Area School District is the fastest growing district in the state of Wisconsin!
While our two new elementary schools are under construction and will open for the 2018-19 school year, we continue to monitor enrollment growth and consider next steps at the secondary level. We are forming a Secondary School Space Planning Committee and are looking for community members to apply:
  • The committee will begin to meet on Wednesday, February 7, 2018.  
  • Meetings will be held the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month from 6:00-8:30 p.m.  
  • This committee could meet a minimum of six months and potentially up to a year and a half.
As a community member, please consider filling out the application if you are interested in participating.  Please view the Secondary School Space Planning webpage where you can fill out the survey. Please complete the survey by January 5, 2018.

We would like a diverse, representative sample of our community on the committee, and while we will have a limited number of voting members, the public will be invited to attend the meetings.  There will also be opportunities offered for community participation and input throughout the process.  If you have any questions, please contact one of the following people:
Safety training (A.L.I.C.E) 

The Sun Prairie Area School District recognizes that staff and students 
need to be well trained to respond to active threats in the most effective and appropriate manner. District staff collaborated with the Sun Prairie Police Department and the Dane County Sheriff's Office, and reached out to several other school districts and the Wisconsin School Safety Coordinators Association to learn which program would best meet our needs.

The district selected the nationally recognized A.L.I.C.E. training program, the number one active shooter civilian response training. A.L.I.C.E. is Alert, Lockdown & Barricade, Inform, Counter & Swarm, Evacuate. We currently have a five member team of certified trainers and in January, we will expand the team to ten.  Over the past two years, staff in all district facilities have been trained in the A.L.I.C.E. protocols and in turn, staff have trained our students. District personnel, the Sun Prairie Police Department, and the Dane County Sheriff's Office work together to provide training and drills. We are proud that we are successfully conducting drills to assess the understanding and implementation of the procedures.

Our goal is to ensure that students and staff members are prepared for life beyond the school setting.  Feedback from parents/guardians, and community members indicates that our students have become much more aware of how to keep themselves, and others, safe in any environment.  

If you would like to learn more about having your business or organization trained in A.L.I.C.E., please contact Josalyn Longley.

If you are a parent/guardian and would like training for your parent/guardian organization, please contact Shelley Joan Weiss.
Points of pride


Our Educator's have been working with staff from the Teachers College visiting from New York.

Creekside teachers and students learning about writing strong essays with a Teachers College staff developer.
Sp onsored by the VFW, these Patrick Marsh students won the Patriot's Pen Contest. They each submitted an essay showing their knowledge of a patriotic topic and received a plaque and a cash prize. 

High School assistant principals Nicole Toepfer and Chad Whalley took a group of students to the MSAN Conference in Ohio (Minority Student Achievement Network). They heard speakers, toured colleges, and took time for action planning based on Sun Prairie's equity data.

Sports and activities highlights

Our sports and activity programs had an amazing Fall season. We are really proud of these students.  #Cardinalpride
Girls Cross Country: Big 8 Conference Champions,1st place at WIAA Sectionals and WIAA State Champions!
 
Boys Cross Country: 3rd place at the Big 8 Conference, 2nd place at WIAA Sectionals and 5th place at WIAA State. 
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Football: This team ended the season undefeated as the Big 8 Conference Champions. They  battled in four games to win an appearance in the WIAA State D-1 Championship vs Kimberly where they lost. 

                                                                                              



Girls Golf: They took 4th at Regional, qualified for Sectionals where they took 8th place with no qualifiers.



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Boys Soccer:  They took 5th place in the Conference, won the Regional Final vs East and were the WIAA Regional Champions. They lost in the sectional Semi-Final vs Madison West.


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Girls Swim: They took 3rd place in the JV Conference, 2nd place at the Varsity Conference and at the WIAA Sectionals, took 4th place as a team and Sophie Fiske took 1st place. At WIAA State, the team finished in 9th place and Sophie Fiske took 3rd and 4th place.
 


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Girls Tennis: They took 4th place in the Conference Meet hosted by Sun Prairie. In Sectionals, the team qualified in 1st place, Doubles (Erin Vertz and Grace Hilber) took 2nd place and Latsami Sysouvanh took first place in Singles. Lauren Bruemmer and Latsami Sysouvanh qualified for State and the Team lost to West.
                                                                                                                 


Volleyball:  They took 1st place at the Cardinal Invite Tournament,  Big 8 Champions at Conference, won the WIAA Regional Final,  won the Semi-Final and lost in the WIAA Sectional Final.
More congratulations are in order!

Congratulations to the girls cross country coach Matt Roe who was selected by the Wisconsin Cross Country Coaches Association as the recipient of the 2016-17 National Federation of High Schools Coaches Association girls cross country coach of the year award for Wisconsin.   READ MORE . . .




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Congratulations to Football Coach Brian Kaminski! He is the Big 8 Conference Coach of the Year! Also, congratulations to Coach Kavanaugh who is the Assistant Coach of the Year!   READ MORE  . . .

 

 
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The National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) is pleased  to announce that Eric Nee, director of athletics and activities at
Sun Prairie High School, has been recognized by the association as a Certified Athletic Administrator. READ MORE . . .

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Sun Prairie Area School District| 608-834-6500 | sunprairieschools.org