FREE PRESS MESSENGER AMERY
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PARADE: Holiday floats light up Harriman Avenue PAGE 18A
Amery School District ‘Exceeds Expectations’COUNTRY in newly released district report card
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction released their 2015-16 school and district report cards this month, with Amery scoring well in most areas. According to Amery school officials, the new report cards reflect a more comprehensive way of measuring a school’s effectiveness at helping students graduate and prepare for college and careers. An in depth presentation of the results was discussed at the November School Board Meeting. In the new report cards, each school earns an accountability index score from 0-100. This index score is not a “percent correct” measurement, according to school officials, but rather a method to place schools into one of five categories from ‘Significantly Exceeding Expectations’ to ‘Fails to Meet Expectations.’ The Amery School District as a whole earned the score of 82.6, and a ranking of ‘Exceeds Expectations.’ The accountability index score is based on multiple factors including: •Student achievement scores on the Wisconsin State Test and the ACT. •Student growth on the Wisconsin State Test summarizing how much knowledge a student gains from year to year. •Closing achievement gaps on the Wisconsin State Test and the ACT for students with disabilities, low economic status or who are English language learners as compared to their complimentary comparison groups. •Postsecondary readiness looking at graduation rates, attendance, reading / math performance. A complete version of each report card along with comparison data from other districts in the Middle Border Conference can be found on
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Serving Marine-on-St. Croix, Scandia, May Township
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SENTINEL BURNETT COUNTY
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 33, 2222JESSICA DE LA CRUZ | AMERY FREE PRESS
131 NO. Tom 19 www.moraminn.com Amery Superintendent Jim Kuchta takes a ‘selfie’ with Middle SchoolVOL. Principal Bensen and Miss $1.00 Wisconsin U.S.A, Skylar Witte, while an Amery Middle School student body happily photo bombs them in the background. Witte visted the school Tuesday to help deliver an anti-bullying message.
Miss Wisconsin U.S.A. delivers an important FREE message to Amery adolescents FREE
COUNTY ST
FREE
ISANTI-CHISAGO
SEE REPORT CARD PAGE 36A
BY JESSICA DE LA CRUZ EDITOR@THEAMERYFREEPRESS.COM
The Amery Middle School band spent just two days learning some very special music last week. But there could be no more appropriate song to welcome U.W. Madison student and Miss Wisconsin U.S.A. than ‘On Wisconsin.’ And they nailed it. When 19-year-old Skylar Witte of Altoona was
crowned Miss Wisconsin U.S.A. in September, she wanted her reign to be about connecting with middle school students around the state. Amery is one the first few schools to benefit from her visit. So students and teachers alike put on their badger gear, and rolled out the red and white. They took selfies, and asked for autographs. But in the midst of all the stardom, they found out she’s just like the rest of us.
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SEE WITTE PAGE 2A
Recount will cost an estimated $10,000
THE SUN BY TOM STANGL TSTANGL@THEAMERYFREEPRESS.COM
It was a busy day Monday at the Polk County Clerk’s office as the staff assembled cost estimates for a recount of the results of the race for president. County Clerk Carole Wondra provided an estimate of $10,000 to the Wis-
consin Election Commission. Deputy Clerk Marilyn Blake reports that it is estimated to take 12 people – three teams of four — five days to recount the results of the Nov. 8 election. They hope to begin the work on Thursday. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein on Friday formally request-
ed a recount of election results in Wisconsin. President-elect Donald Trump narrowly won Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and has a small lead in Michigan. Stein has said she planned to request recounts in the three states — all reliably Democratic in recent presidential
Serving Polk County’s St. Croix Valley since 1897
elections — to see whether hacking may have taken place, though there’s no evidence voter results were hacked or electronic voting machines were compromised. Wisconsin Election Commission officials don’t believe the state has ever SEE COUNT PAGE 2A
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