JANUARY 14, 2022
Franklin District Bi-Weekly Newsletter | 2021-22 #11
Reflection And Moving On
As we make our way through these winter months, I hope you and your family are staying well and perhaps enjoying some winter activities. As we approach our second semester, which comes faster and faster each year, I would like to announce that I have made the decision to retire at the end of this school year. I couldn’t be more grateful to the community of Franklin for the opportunity to serve its children in our schools. As a Teacher, Associate Principal, Principal, Director of Human Resources, and Superintendent of Franklin Public Schools, I have seen how proud and caring this community is. I have been honored to see your children grow into adults and in many cases come to live in the community and work in our schools.
It has been a gift to work in a growing district. During my tenure, I have been fortunate to be a part of that growth, including the construction of three of our seven schools. I have hired hundreds of employees who care about children, and in the last five years initiated our Coherence Plan to ensure Franklin continues to exceed expectations for student achievement. In addition, I have kept our focus on improving safety in our schools.
I am grateful for the many individuals that I have worked with on the Board of Education and strong leaders in our school community, and I am very confident that Franklin Public Schools will continue to be a Better Place to Learn, Better Place to Work, and Part of a Better Community.
Thank you and have a great weekend.
Dr. Judy Mueller
District Administrator
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES
As a reminder, the District Calendar and all building calendars can be found here.
All of our calendars are able to be subscribed to! Follow the steps at the top of the District Calendar for how to subscribe. You will also see our 2021-22 AND 2022-23 Calendar Events in your own calendar app on your device!
COVID-19 UPDATES
We have continued to see case rates at high levels this week confirming how contagious the Omicron variant is. Given the initial sharp trajectory of positive cases caused by Omicron and the continued gradual rise over the last two weeks, we will continue to require all staff and students to wear a face-covering indoors at school, through January 28, 2022. We remain hopeful that case rates will start to decline in the next two weeks.
During this time, we will continue to focus on ensuring that unwell students and staff are not at school and we will require quarantine of household and community contacts. Next week, we will be meeting with the health department and our medical advisory team to reevaluate public health guidelines related to isolation and quarantine as they apply to the school setting. Any changes to practices that impact our students will be communicated to families.
As we shared last week, we have partnered with Summit Clinical Labs to provide On-Site Testing for students, staff, and family/household members of positive student or staff cases or anyone deemed a close contact. On-Site Testing continues at Franklin High School on school days from 7am to 3pm and at the ECC District Office from 7am to 3pm on weekdays.
Please note: Even though Monday is a No School Day for students, the On-Site Testing center at the ECC District Office only will still be open from 7am to 3pm.
During this past week, our testing centers saw a steady stream of students, staff, and families utilizing the testing options that Summit has provided. We thank Summit for their help during this time in providing us with these resources to respond to a community's needs. Please review this document for other details and questions you may have about how this will work. Testing is another mitigation strategy to help us reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our schools.
ATHLETICS/ACTIVITIES & EVENTS
With the continued increase in cases of COVID-19 amongst our staff and students, we continue to require masks of all individuals at any of the indoor activities or events taking place in our buildings. Athletes and performers may remove their masks when participating/performing. There may be other mitigation measures in place depending on the event or activity and those will be shared or posted by the leader or organizer of the event. Thank you for your patience as we continue to do our best to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 within our buildings.
DASHBOARD
Our newly updated dashboard is below. In total, as of the end of the day Thursday, January 13th, there are 200 students who are positive for COVID-19 as a result of testing positive over the last two weeks, some of which may have occurred over winter break. As reflected in our dashboard, of the 200 total cases, 166 of them were in contact with others this week or last week in our schools. Since returning from break, we have continued to track which student positive cases have been present in our schools so that is why you will see the data presented in the format below.
Click for a larger image if needed
Note: As our website woes (more below) wrap up, this will now live on the FPS Communication Hub at www.franklin.k12.wi.us/coms
VACCINE INFORMATION
Evidence shows that being vaccinated (and boosted) has helped to decrease the chances of getting the severity and symptoms one will experience with COVID-19 and the risk of spreading it to others. For more background information on vaccines, you can review this information from the CDC.
If your family is choosing to explore options for vaccination, please refer to https://www.vaccines.gov/ which provides information on the various vaccines, boosters, and locations for vaccines. Vaccination is one of the mitigation measures that helps us to remain in-person for school.
K-5 SPRING CONCERT UPDATES - MARK & ADJUST YOUR CALENDARS
Parents - we originally had some K-5 music events slotted on the calendar coming up at the end of January and the beginning of February. We have been reviewing our offerings for the music program and working with Saber Center availability to adjust these events. Moving into the spring, we will be offering concert events for grades 1, 3, and 5 at the Saber Center this year. By offering this event, we hope to present a larger scope for families so they can experience the progress and growth across the grade levels. Therefore, grades K, 2, and 4 will not have a spring concert event this year.
Please mark your calendars for the following event later this spring:
RW Monday, April 25 - Grades 1, 3, 5 @ 6:30 pm at the Saber Center
CD Tuesday, April 26 - Grades 1, 3, 5 @ 6:30 pm at the Saber Center
BF Wednesday, April 27 - Grades 1, 3, 5 @ 6:30 pm at the Saber Center
SG Thursday, April 28 - Grades 1, 3, 5 @ 6:30 pm at the Saber Center
PV Thursday, June 2 - Grades 1, 3, 5 @ 6 pm at the Saber Center
REGISTRATION FOR 22-23 IS NOW OPEN FOR NEW FAMILIES!
Our registration is now open for next school year for new families to the district and next year’s 4K. You can find all the necessary details on our website here. Please note that students already enrolled in our schools do not have to have a new registration completed. You may utilize the “Create Account” and “Forgot Password” buttons on the registration page to complete your registration or gain access if you have created an account in the past. Please help us share that registration is open with any new families to the area or those with younger children that would be entering 4K or 5K!
Franklin Public Schools
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We pride ourselves on being...
- A Better Place to Learn
- A Better Place to Work
- Part of a Better Community
Email: communications@franklin.k12.wi.us
Website: http://www.franklin.k12.wi.us
Location: 8255 West Forest Hill Avenue, Franklin, WI, USA
Phone: 414-529-8220
Facebook: facebook.com/franklinpublicschools
Twitter: @fpsdistrictwi
(Note: Any imagery containing students, staff, events, or FPS logos shared by FPS are the property of Franklin Public Schools and are solely for district use. Reproduction or reuse of these images without written permission is not allowed.)