McKinley Monthly
April 2019
Dear Families,
You should have received the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) letter that I sent home to families via Tuesday Folders on March 5th. This is one measure of accountability that the federal government demands of us. Our standings are based upon the report that the state of Wisconsin provides based upon our Forward Exam scores. ESSA also asks that we work to engage all families in the conversations around student performance as a continuation of the transparency that we wish to foster. As such, I want to invite everyone to our 2nd listening session April 23rd, from 6-7:30 p.m. Childcare will again be offered through Right at School for potty trained and older children who sign up at this link.
The Wauwatosa School District adopted an Equity Plan in 2017-2018. The focus is equity--and often I receive questions as to what that means in the context of our educational mission. Our hope is to strengthen partnerships and ensure that the Wauwatosa School District is a place that welcomes and supports all staff, students and families. This school year we began our listening sessions. Some of you participated in our first listening session on December 6th. From the first session we learned that the community had no idea what we were doing as a school staff to deepen our understandings of ourselves and the impact we have on children, given our own experiences and backgrounds. Part of my commitment to the McKinley community is to be better at communicating the work that we are engaged in outside of the daily teaching of students.
At McKinley we have an equity team that helps set our yearly school goals by looking at our academic and behavioral data. Over the past three years (since the onset of our equity team) we have kept our academic standings at the same high level while closing traditional test performance gaps and behavioral incident discrepancies. Our most recent equity team meeting covered the following topics:
Current goals and how they might be perceived when looked at from different lenses;
Our own biases--implicit and explicit;
Anti-Bias Building Blocks curriculum being piloted in several classrooms, and how it might be expanded in the future, noting that as a district we are looking at the Social Studies State Standards at the elementary level and how this program fits the behavioral standards;
Recognizing that we cannot be effective in implementing the curriculum if we do not do the work first ourselves;
Approaching staff development in regard to equity in a positive aspirational way (encouraging communication, recognizing barriers).
The listening sessions are led by district equity coach Tracy Carus. I am present, but there as a listener, not a participant. The hope is that the community will inform us about key experiences so we can build common understandings; learn about needs by collecting feedback; respond to stakeholders’ questions in order to build trust and transparency; involve audiences with diverse perspectives in our continuous improvement work; and, activate participation in school improvement efforts by understanding how policies or programs present barriers.
If you have any questions about the listening sessions, please do not hesitate to contact me. We hope that you can join us April 23rd to keep this conversation active!
Happy Spring!
Mrs. Hoffmann
! * ! * ! * ! * ! * ! * McK Attendance Line 773-1502 * ! * ! * ! * ! * ! * !
Dates to Remember
Please mark these dates on your calendar:
April 2 - World Autism Day - Wear Blue
April 2nd through 30th - Art Show at the Wauwatosa Public Library
April 9 - Math Night 5:30-7:30
April 10 - Elementary Band Festival
April 11 - Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Day (Tornado Drill)
April 13 - Adult Social
April 14th - All City String Festival
April 18 - Neighborhood Meeting Regarding New School Design 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
April 19 - No Classes
April 22 - No Classes JK-8 (Teacher in-service day)
April 23 - Family Listening Session #2 6:00 - 7:30
April 24 - Change to a Monday Schedule
April 26 - High Interest Day
** High Interest Day Forms - Due Tomorrow **
Neighborhood Meeting #2 -- Site Design Charrette
Dear McKinley Elementary Families -
We hope you can join us this week for the second of three neighborhood meetings as we gather community input in the design visioning of the new McKinley Elementary to be constructed as part of the voter-approved facilities referendum.
Neighborhood Meeting #2 -- Site Design Charrette
Groups will discuss possible site layouts per the parameters/ requirements for each site.
McKinley Elementary
Thursday, April 18
6 -7:30 p.m.
Please enter through the main doors on N. 89th St.
Learn more: You can learn more about the design process at www.wauwatosaschools.org/referendum
McKinley Messengers Shoe Drive
McKinley Messengers Shoe Drive - April 3rd-12th
The McKinley Messengers are teaming up with the Salvation Army to collect as many pairs of shoes as possible to donate to the Maskani Place apartments on Center Street in Milwaukee.
Please consider donating gently used (no holes) shoes. All sizes are wanted. We are working towards “SHOEING” 120 kids.
There will be a box outside of each classroom that you can put your donated shoes in. There will be a prize for the class that collects the most pairs of shoes!
See the flyer for more info!
Chess State Champs
Top boards were Ishaan, Max, Henry, Derius, and Kate.
Elementary Band Festival
June 24 through August 23
Hosted at Washington
6:30am-6pm
$250/wk; $60/day
**Early Bird Registration - $225/week if signed up before 5/3**
Registration opens for Summer Camp 2019 on Friday March 22!
Register Now for the 2019 Walk/Run
Saturday, May 4, 2019, 8 a.m.
The Annual May event is at Hart Park; communitywide 5K added
Sign up Now! www.tosaefw.org
Winter Make-Up Days
Due to the cancellation of school as a result of Winter Storm Warnings resulting in significant snow and near-record cold, we need to make some adjustments to our school calendar to ensure the District meets the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) required hours of instruction.
As such, please note the following ways we will be making up the time:
- All students will have school May 24 (scheduled as an inclement weather make-up day).
- Because there are different requirements for instructional minutes at the high school level, all high school students will also have a virtual learning day on April 22.
- Students will access teacher lessons and assignments via their Chromebooks from home. Further details are being developed and will be communicated once final.
- This will remain a no-class day for elementary and middle school students, as scheduled for Professional Learning.
- High school students will have semester exams pushed back one day second semester. Exams will be June 12,13, and 14, 2019. Specific exam information will be developed and shared with high school staff, students and parents.
- East High School -- lunch hours will be shortened by 5 minutes and the end of the school day extended by 5 minutes beginning Monday, Feb. 11 through the end of the semester. This is at East only to make up for an extended lunch period earlier in the year. This will allow for only juniors to be in the building when taking the state ACT on February 20 at both East and West.
- East and West will have all students in attendance during the ASPIRE testing sessions for freshmen and sophomores. Previously, this was a late start for juniors and seniors.
This plan is subject to change if we have additional days lost due to severe weather in the remaining 2-3 months of winter.
Graduation will remain on Sunday, June 9, 2019, for East and West High School.
Thank you for your patience as we worked out the details of what we feel is the least disruptive solution.
Ms. Kumferman's Korner
News from your School Social Worker
A big Thank You to everyone who participated in the Cake Walk during Family Fun Night. McKinley Messengers raised over $500, some of which will be going to purchase emergency snacks for students in need at McKinley. McKinley does not have a breakfast program, so sometimes students need a bite to eat in the morning, forget a snack or we help provide them when there is a financial need. As part of the process, I coordinate the purchasing of snacks with our district’s 18-21 year old student program. These students have developmental disabilities and they go on various outings with their program coordinator to experience real-life situations to build daily skills. They will shop for and purchase our snacks at Sam’s club and deliver them to our building. We think this is a great way to collaborate with others to meet all of our needs. Thank you to everyone who contributed to making this a success!
5th Grade Academic and Career Portfolios/Conferences
All 5th grade students have been working hard for the last three months to complete their Academic and Career Portfolio (ACP) as part of their preparation for transition to middle school. Amanda and I have been teaching weekly guidance lessons where we are focusing on career exploration, managing study skills, making friends in middle school, building our support system, and setting goals. We will finish this process after spring break, and parents/guardians will be invited to attend a 30-minute conference during school hours where your child will present his/her portfolio. Conference sign up will be available for late April and into May. If you are unable to attend the conference at school, your child can share his/her ACP with you at home. We will still require them to share it with us at school as part of their assessment. We hope the students learned a lot about themselves throughout this process, and hope that they feel better prepared to move on to middle school! Thanks for your support in these endeavors. Please watch for the notice about conferences that will be coming soon!
Plastic Cap Collection
New Visitor/Sign-in System
Office Max / Office Depot Gives Back
* * Tosa Cares * *
Tosa Cares is a local, non-profit organization located in Mount Zion Lutheran Church that helps families with food donations and so much more. Here are the dates for the monthly food distributions. You are encouraged to contact Linda Ertel before you come either by email Tosacares@gmail.com or phone 414-861-4725, or you can just show up on one of these dates.
2019 dates:
April 27th
June 15th
August 10th
October 5th
November 23rd
Tosa Cares is also always looking for donations of food, or cash. There are three permanent donation sites/times which you can find on their website: tosacares.org
Here is a list of the most needed items:
- Cereal
- Nonperishable fruits, vegetables and juices
- Peanut butter and jelly
- Spaghetti sauces and noodles
- Pastas and rice
- Canned protein, such as chicken, tuna and beef stew
- Snacks such as granola bars, crackers, popcorn and cookies
- Packaged dinners, especially those with meat
- Hearty soups
- Toilet paper, diapers, baby wipes, paper towels and tissues
- Personal care items such as shampoo, hand soap, lotion and toothbrushes and tooth paste
- Dish soap and laundry soap
McKinley contact info
Website: https://www.wauwatosa.k12.wi.us/McKinley
Location: 2435 N 89th St, Wauwatosa, WI, United States
Phone: (414)773-1500