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At WEM we practice BUCS PRIDE.
We are a Respectful, Responsible learning community dedicated to a
Safe and Positive learning environment for all individuals.
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It is officially spring! Who else is happy to see the snow melting and hear the birds singing? If you're looking for something fun to do, get out the sidewalk chalk and try the Double Dutch Bus Challenge. Watch the video of Mrs. Heinz's 8th-grade physical education classes to learn how. You can watch another video of the School-Age Child Care kids doing it too.
Things are busy as always at WEM schools. Read on to learn more. We will start as always with a school board meeting summary from Chairperson, Gary Michael. Don't miss the article about Snow Week written by WEM senior, Riley Haefemeyer. Learn what's new in Community Education; check out our job openings, and much more.
Do you have feedback or ideas for future e-newsletter content? I invite you to contact me. Please spread the word to others you think might like to be added by forwarding this email and/or directing them to the e-newsletter subscription sign-up page on WEM's website. Thank you, and enjoy!
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Margo Kulseth, MLIS
Communications Coordinator
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March School Board Meeting |
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There were no visitor comments. Please remember we welcome comments from community members. However, at this time, you must email any comments before 5:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting to: visitorcomments@wem.k12.mn.us.
The board reviewed the March Donation Report and recognized Partners in Education (PIE) for a donation of meals to our teachers during parent/teacher conferences. Our teachers work long hours during conferences with no ability to get a good supper, so this was a very thoughtful donation and greatly appreciated.
Parent/teacher conferences are such an important aspect of your student’s education. I know I found out a few things during our conferences this year that my live-in students did not happen to volunteer when we asked how school is going. This year, conferences were virtual, which actually seemed to work really well, although for junior and senior high school students, we were not able to speak to each teacher separately. Please provide any feedback to the administration on your conference experience for future reference.
The board also recognized the WEMEA selected Teachers of the Year. Congratulations to Sandy Mielke, Ashley Landru, and Janet Jones! Well deserved! They will be honored at a breakfast event at the end of the school year.
Highlights from the reports included: the new elementary entrance was opened officially for students on March 16; MCA’s are scheduled at the high school for April 21-22; Prom is coming up on May 1 and to be held at Chankaska Creek and Winery. The senior class trip will be May 5 at the Grand Slam in Burnsville. Graduation plans are underway, along with Night of Excellence, and there were updates on athletic sign-up numbers as well as community education events. See the linked reports for more details.
Filing dates for school board vacancy will be May 18 to June 1. I encourage all those interested to file for the vacant position on the board, and I suggest contacting a board member if you are on the fence and want to learn more about what the position entails.
Action items completed at the meeting included the approval of the 2021-22 Academic Calendar. One exception was made to the calendar. The board thought it was important to allow for at least one snow day instead of requiring all snow days become e-learning days. Some weeks ago, board members received a comment from a concerned parent. She pointed out the joy that a snow day can bring to students and did not want to see them completely disappear. So we made sure that voice was heard at the meeting, and we have added in a snow day, with one exception; it actually has to snow!
The board voted down an approval of Board Consensus of Budget Adjustments for 2021-22. The board had a work session on March 11 to discuss possible budgetary cuts. The board consensus at that meeting determined a total of $416,700 of cuts would be made, with an official vote at the regular board meeting. The cuts' initial vote did not pass (two yes - Michael, Bowman, three no - Rezac, Schnieder, Velishek). An amended budgetary cut of $361, 000 did pass (three yes - Rezac, Schnieder, Velishek, two no - Michael, Bowman). The adjusted amount included the removal of $55,700 from the list of cuts to be made. This cut would have shifted the fifth grade from three sections to two sections but was eliminated from the list.
Finally, several personnel and coaching approvals all passed which you can see in the agenda if you are so inclined.
At the upcoming April 8 work session, we are planning to discuss potential reductions to the food service systems in an effort to reduce our budget.
We also plan to come up with ideas that might help increase our enrollment. I encourage you to send any thoughts you might have to encourage increased enrollment! Our budget issues are not significant now, with the cuts we have installed. Therefore, if we were able to increase enrollment by 20-30 students we would be sitting well looking into the future. It is time that WEM started increasing enrollment instead of going the other way. With the building improvements, the quality teachers we have and the smaller class sizes we offer at WEM, we think we can draw in students from surrounding areas. Your ideas and thoughts around that issue is encouraged and appreciated!
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Gary Michael, Chairperson
Note: WEM School Board meetings can be viewed live via Zoom video conferencing, and the recordings for past meetings are available on the website. The agendas and accompanying documents are also available online.
Upcoming Meetings:
April 8, 2021, 6:00 p.m. Work Session
April 26, 2021, 6:00 p.m. Regular Meeting
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Support your local food shelves. The Junior High Student Council is running a “boxed” food shelf drive in the Morristown 5-8 building until the end of the month of March 2021. All donations are accepted, but they are really looking for boxed non-perishable food items as they want to set a record with a domino run! Thanks for your support. Contact Pam Heinz with any questions.
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The WEM FCCLA, under the leadership of Mary White, had a successful blood drive at The Village in Waterville on March 17. They collected 49 units of blood. Thank you to The Village for the use of their facility and to everyone who donated or helped organize the event.
Pictured are WEM seniors, (front row) Allison Rients and Toryn Richards, (back row) Ellie Ready and Lindsay Condon.
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By Riley Haefemeyer, WEM Senior
For many of us seniors, this year has been anything but enjoyable, from dealing with hybrid and all distant learning models to not having a real senior Homecoming. In an attempt to shine a little light on the dark year, the staff decided to incorporate a Snow Week to go along with our FFA Week during the last week of February. Snow Week consisted of many different activities and fun dress-up days.
We had many students selected to the Snow Week court but as always could only have two winners from each grade. Freshman winners were Ahmad Alladin and Lindy Caldwell. Sophomore winners were Gavin Krantz and Jessica Hilpipre. Our junior class winners were Kyle Schmitz and Paige Atherton. Finally, our Snow Week King and Queen were Kolin Rients and Lindsay Condon.
Monday consisted of each advisory building and decorating a snowman. The winner of that competition was Ms. Kelley’s senior advisory.
Tuesday was teacher pie trivia which consisted of asking Mr. Cooley, Mr. Korty, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Boran questions about each other. If they answered incorrectly then it was a pie to the face. By the end, all four teachers had a pie to the face at least once. Questions included:
- True or false, Mr. Smith met his wife at a John Mayer concert?
- True or false, Mr. Boran was the tallest person in his family by 7th grade?
Wednesday was the outdoor Ag Olympics. This included sled pulls, carrying bags of salt, and a quick feet tire sprint. Freshman through senior advisories competed against their own grade level advisory. Eventually, the first rounds of Ag Olympics concluded by getting two winning advisories from each grade. After we had two winners from each grade, we had the first place times compete against each other and the second-place times compete against each other, which gave us four winners. Overall, Mr. Walker’s junior class advisory came in first.
Thursday was the cornhole tournament. We were able to have twenty games going at a time. A special thanks to Kamp Dells for letting us use their boards.
Friday was a busy day. We had a medallion hunt, a talent show, and finished the cornhole tournament. The medallion was found by Mr. Cluever’s advisory and the winners of the cornhole tournament were Ethan Bartelt and Bryce Bohlen. Pictures and videos of the festivities can be found on the WEM FFA Facebook page, and pictures of coronation can be found on the WEM Facebook page.
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Summer School-Age Child Care (SACC) |
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Registration is NOW OPEN for Summer School Age Child Care. WEM School Age Child Care is a certified child care program for children entering Kindergarten through age 12. We offer children the chance to make the most out of their time out of school with opportunities to explore new interests, learn new skills, and develop new friendships.
Summer S.A.C.C. begins on Tuesday, June 1, 2021.
Hours of Operation:
Monday through Friday
6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Location:
Waterville Elementary School
Our mission is to nurture and educate children in a safe and positive environment that will promote social skills, physical development, and intellectual growth through age-appropriate play, projects and activities in accordance to the “Minimum Standards for School-Age Care Programs,” provided by the Minnesota Community Education Association (MCEA) as well as the guidelines set by the Minnesota Department of Human Services and Minnesota Department of Health. Fostering a solid foundation for lifelong success by focusing on the 4 key areas of WEM's Bucs Pride: Respectful, Responsible, Safe, and Positive.
WEM SACC provides a wide range of different activities throughout the summer. Children will participate in activities focused on their social, cognitive, physical, emotional, and language development. Children will get opportunities to do: arts & crafts, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities, reading, play games, sports, dramatic play, outside activities, and more. We will spend time helping children learn more about social skills, building self esteem, and other character building skill sets.
We believe flexible and affordable school-age child care programs are essential to support working families and provide enrichment and care for students to support our communities.
SACC is staffed by caring individuals who have experience in various fields. Background checks, first aid, CPR training, and continued staff development through workshops and training are required of all staff. WEM SACC maintains a student-to-staff ratio of no more than 15:1 and a maximum group size of 30 to insure the ability of quality supervision for our students.
We are thrilled to see all of our returning children and meet some new faces as well!
Click on the link below for additional information and to fill out the enrollment form.
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School-Age Child Care students playing Nok Hockey.
March 2021
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By Principal Bobbie Jo Bastian
The elementary building is shaping up in Waterville! Our new addition is now occupied, and our new offices are nearing completion. With this, we are ready to implement some changes to entering and exiting the building.
At this time, our new elementary entrance on Paquin Street will be open for limited use. We will be using it for pick-up and drop-off of bus students as well as students that are picked up or dropped off during school hours. Doors are locked during school hours. Please use the call button at the entrance for assistance to enter.
District buses will once again utilize Paquin Street for bus loading and unloading, as they have in years past. Elementary students utilize the new elementary entrance to enter the building. We will continue to use the new turn-around on the east side of the elementary for student drop-off and pick-up before and after school.
Thank you so much for helping us to implement these new changes. We are so excited to be one step closer to completion with the elementary construction! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the school.
Editor's note: For ongoing photos of the construction, please follow the WEM Facebook page.
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Travis' Trades Fund has been started in honor of Travis Van Houdt. Travis was a senior at WEM High School and passed away on December 22, 2020 following an automobile accident. Criteria for the scholarship is that students must plan to pursue employment, obtain training, obtain certification, and/or obtain a degree within the trades (construction, landscaping, manufacturing, etc.). Application details for this and other local scholarships can be found in the list of scholarships on the high school page of our website. They are due to Mrs. Wold on Friday, April 2, 2021.
To donate to the fund, checks can be made payable to WEM School with a memo that the donation is going to Travis' Trades Fund and sent directly to the school. Cash donations are also accepted. For more information related to making donations or upcoming fundraising events, join the Facebook group named Travis' Trades Fund.
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Early Childhood Screening and Preschool |
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Early Childhood Screening is for children ages 3, 4, and 5 and is required before kindergarten. To sign up, parents should call the elementary office at 507-362-4439. The next event is scheduled for April 16, 2021.
In addition, the WEM Public Schools Kindergarten Connection is a preschool program available to all children that will be entering Kindergarten in the fall of 2022. As space allows, we will also include children who will be entering Kindergarten in 2023. Classes will be held from September 2021 thru May 2022. Details and registration forms are available on the Community Education page of our website. |
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WEM Partners in Education (PIE) organized walking tacos and dessert for staff during parent/teacher conferences, but due to the spring snowstorm, the food was served the following day, March 16.
Stay up-to-date by following the WEM PIE Facebook page. Meetings are held virtually the fourth Monday of the month at 5:00 p.m., one hour before the school board meeting. If you would like to get involved with PIE, contact Patty Salmon.
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The boys' and girls' track team members are selling Buccaneer gear, including many kinds of clothing and other miscellaneous items such as tumblers, stadium chairs, stadium blankets, bags, and face masks. Please help support our team by visiting the online shop. There are also WEM Buccaneer items not specific to track and field.
If you are interested in some new Bucs gear, feel free to shop around. Orders will be shipped directly to you.
The store closes April 5th. Happy Shopping!
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Drivers' Education classroom sessions are taking place now. The next session is scheduled to start in June. Behind the Wheel training will also be done this summer.
Spring/Summer soccer registration is open online. Find more information on the website for Waseca Soccer Club.
DNR Firearms Safety Certification via the Official MN Hunter Safety Course is required of anyone born after December 31, 1979 to purchase a hunting license in Minnesota and to participate in the High School Clay Target League. Students must complete the online course and register for the field day. Students must also attend in-person field days. From time-to-time, the Waterville area has field days, which we will try to advertise; however, sites may also be found on the MN DNR site.
Students who are interested in shooting with the WEM Trap Team, please fill out the google form that was sent out on February 23 to get your invitation to register for the league. The cost is $130. Registration on the WEM Payschools site is open now.
You can also opt into participating at the conference and state level by joining the USA Clay Target League. Most people do. This involves tracking your scores for conference honors and being able to participate in the state trap shoot competition in Alexandria in mid-June. This is an additional cost.
The Morristown Gun Club located behind Ahlman's is open now on Sundays for shooting if interested. Please visit their website for shooting times, shooting requirements, and options.
Lastly, the deadline to join the WEM Trap Team is Sunday, March 28, 2021. There are no exceptions. Hope to see you on the range! Contact Mr. Androli with any questions.
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March 26 End of quarter 3
March 29 Beginning of quarter 4
March 29 Spring athletics begin
March 30 ACT test for juniors
April 2 No school
April 2 Local scholarship applications due for seniors
April 4 Easter
April 5 No school
April 8 School Board work session
April 16 Early childhood screening
April 20-21 MCA testing
April 26 School Board meeting
April 29 Career day
April 30 Junior High dance
May 1 Prom
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WEM has several job openings, including the following:
Applications are available on the website or by calling the district office at 507-362-4432.
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WEM SD #2143
500 East Paquin Street
Waterville, MN 56096
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