Must Know On The Go
On a time crunch? Check out this page for all your 'need to know' information this month. We invite you to read further when you are able to check out all of the awesome things happening within our District!
Key Dates
November Break
Thursday, November 28, 2024 - Friday, November 29, 2024
Both days are recognized as holiday pay on Skyward.
Non-Work Day
December 23, 2024, is a non-work day and can be treated like a weekend day.
Learn more here
2025 Wisconsin State Journal Top Workplaces Survey
Please complete the survey by December 2, 2024 at 6:00 p m
If you do not receive the survey email within the next week, please check your spam or junk folder for a message from “Energage Survey.” You may need to mark it as “not spam” to open the invitation
Learn more here
Submit Your Helpdesk Ticket Through Incident IQ
The Technology Services team has fully transitioned to Incident IQ. To submit a helpdesk ticket, please visit the Incident IQ website. Please note the former helpdesk email is now disabled. This change does not affect Transportation (Bus Bus) or Maintenance (Work Order) tickets You will still file tickets with those platforms using the traditional email system
Staff Stars
Recognizing Excellence in Education
Kappy Delaney
Transportation Services
Three cheers for Kappy Delaney, Administrative Assistant to the Transportation Services Department She is a dedicated team member who goes above and beyond to help create efficiencies that make a big impact She has a talent for jumping right in and getting the job done, all with a smile and a great attitude. We appreciate all of her hard work. She is a great friend and asset to our team!
Michelle Bolstad
Sauk Trail Elementary School
We are excited to give a shout out to Michelle Bolstad, Bilingual Resource Teacher at Sauk Trail Elementary School She is an advocate for all students, including those outside her classroom Although she is humble, her colleagues are proud to recognize her kindness and willingness to always lend a hand. Also did you know that she enjoys playing the accordion? How cool!
Give a shout out!
There is a lot of invisible work that goes into making our District great and we want to share our appreciation!
Take a few minutes to complete our shout-out Google form to give someone you know kudos for their great work and passion for our students and staff!
The form will remain open all school year, so be sure to give your team some love all year round!
MCPASD Wellness Hosts Womens’ Self-Defense Course
After a thoughtful request from the maintenance leadership team, MCPASD Wellness was proud to host their first self-defense course for female staff members who either work in the evenings or early mornings to help them feel more empowered when at work.
The course was led by an instructor from the Sexual Violence Resource Center and focused on boundary setting, de-escalation, and self-defense techniques The instructor explained that it is best to be aware of your surroundings and learn how to stop a situation as soon as possible before it becomes more dangerous.
We want to ensure that our staff feel safe and welcomed in all of our buildings. We are proud to offer this resource and encourage all team members to remain alert and stay safe.
Sharing Gratitude And A Great Meal
On Tuesday, November 19, MCPASD leaders and DSC Staff shared their gratitude for our Nutrition Services team by joining them to serve a delicious Thanksgiving meal to students The annual celebration brings together both students and staff to celebrate friendship and appreciation.
Thank you to our Food and Nutrition Services team for taking the time to prepare and serve healthy meals for our students each and every day. Creating meals for such a large amount of people is no small feat, and we appreciate the attention to detail and the care that you put into every serving.
Season Of Success For Middleton High School Athletics
The Middleton High School Athletics Department has had an incredible fall season, celebrating multiple state championships! The Boys Soccer and the Girls' Swim & Dive Team brought home state titles, showcasing the remarkable talent and dedication of our student-athletes. Congratulations as well to the Boys Volleyball Team for earning the title of runner-up at their state competition
This success would not be possible without the unwavering commitment of our coaches and staff, who go above and beyond to support our students. From early-morning practices to late-night games, their passion and guidance inspire our athletes to achieve greatness both on and off the field.
A special shout-out goes to Athletic Director Jamie Sims, Assistant Athletic Director / Activities Coordinator Brad Crandell, and MHS Athletics Administrative Assistants Wes Lagerhausen and Abby Buckley for their amazing work leading the MHS Athletics Department
Jamie and Brad are always part of the action, whether they are working diligently behind the scenes or joining the team on the bus ride to a game. Their mission to cultivate a positive and welcoming culture shines through their teams and their sportsmanship Wes and Abby also keep the momentum going behind the scenes, supporting students, families, and staff.
Congratulations to all the players, coaches, and supporters who contributed to this extraordinary achievement. Your hard work, teamwork, and determination continue to make our District proud!
Go Cardinals!
Celebrations
Join Us In Celebrating Native American Heritage Month
Throughout the month of November we have been proud to celebrate Native American Heritage Month. Together, we honor the culture, history, and contributions of the Native American community. Let’s continue to celebrate our diverse district community and create welcoming and inclusive spaces for all. We welcome you to explore our Native American Heritage webpage for many great resources, events, and more
November Celebrations
There are always so many awesome things to celebrate in our District! Here are just a few of the many celebrations we shared togther this month.
National STEAM Day
We were excited to celebrate National Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics Day on November 8, 2024! Thank you to our Educators who help integrate these skills into the classroom and encourage a love of learning and exploration
For this month's "Monthy Update with Monogue,” we visited Pope Farm Elementary and joined Ms. Davis' class to chat with students about their exciting STEAM projects. Be sure to catch the episode on November 25th!
Celebrations
National School Psychology Week
November 11th through the 15th marked National School Psychology Week! Thank you to our outstanding School Psychologists who help provide our students with the support they need and equip them with healthy coping skills that will support lifelong success
Education Support Professionals Day
Today, November 20th, we celebrate Education Support Professionals Day! Our support staff play a big role in our village, and we are lucky to have them! From the classroom to the cafeteria, the playground to the school bus, and beyond, your work is seen and appreciated!
Celebrations
Welcome Yadiris Sanchez to the District Services Center
We are excited to welcome Yadiris Sanchez as our new District Registrar! She joins the DSC team from her previous role as a Greeter/Administrative Assistant at Kromrey Middle School. She will be training with the current District Registrar, Kathy Spahn, until her retirement on December 2nd. She offers a wealth of knowledge and a strong background in the educational field. We are excited to see her grow in her new role!
Brian Miles Earns His CETL Credentials
Congratulations to Brian Miles, Director of Technology Services for earning his Certified Education Technology Leader (CETL) credentials! The certification, awarded by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), signifies that Brian has mastered the knowledge and skills needed to bring 21st Century technology to our K-12 schools and other education organizations. Thank you for helping us stay on the cutting edge, Brian!
Reminders
Transition to Incident IQ for Help Desk
The Technology Services team has fully transitioned to Incident IQ. To submit a helpdesk ticket, please visit the Incident IQ website. Please note the former helpdesk email is now disabled.
This change does not affect Transportation (Bus Bus) or Maintenance (Work Order) tickets You will still file tickets with those platforms using the traditional email system
MCPASD Has Been Nominated For The 2025 Wisconsin State Journal Top Workplaces Award — Please Complete The Survey
This recognition celebrates organizations that foster accomplishment, work-life balance, and a supportive, transparent, mission-driven environment values we uphold thanks to all of you To move forward in this process, we need your help! On Monday, November 18, 2024, you received an email from a third-party partner, Energage, with a link to the survey. Please complete the survey by December 2, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. If you do not see the email in your inbox, please check your spam folder as well. Please note that each email has a unique employee code, so please do not share the link.
Let’s take this opportunity to share what makes our District so special Thank you for your support!
December 23, 2024 | Non-Work Day
Mark your calendars! For staff who clock in/out and submit weekly timesheets, December 23, 2024, is a non-work day, meaning it is treated similarly to a weekend day. Please see the email shared by the Employee Services Mailbox for more information.
A few key factors to note are:
You do not need to clock in or out that day.
Your timesheet should place eight hours on your timesheet that day and mark it as a non-work day.
You do not need to request time off for this day.
Employees who are exempt (no-time sheets) can also consider this a “Saturday.”
Wellness Building Hours
Kalise Horst, Wellness Coordinator, will hold office hours in buildings throughout the district this year If you have any questions related to wellness offerings, the district clinic, or health insurance, please feel free to drop in and see her when she’s at your building.
Please mark your calendars for the following dates and times:
Early Learning Center
February 11, 2025, from 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
April 29, 2025, from 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Elm Lawn
February 18, 2025, from 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
April 29, 2025, from 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Northside
January 14, 2025, from 11 a m - 12:30 p m
January 28, 2025, from 8:30 a m - 10:30 a m
Park
January 21, 2025, from 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
April 8, 2025, from 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Pope Farm
January 21, 2025, from 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
April 15, 2025, from 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Sauk Trail
February 18, 2025, from 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Sunset Ridge
January 21, 2025, from 11 a m - 12:30 p m
April 8, 2025, from 8:30 a m - 10:30 a m
West Middleton
February 4, 2025, from 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
April 22, 2025, from 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Glacier Creek
February 4, 2025, from 1 p m - 2:30 p m
March 11, 2025, from 8:30 a m - 10:30 a m
April 22, 2025, from 11 a m - 12:30 p m
Kromrey
December 10, 2024, from 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
February 25, 2025, from 11 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
May 6, 2025, from 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Middleton High School
December 17, 2024, from 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
February 11, 2025, from 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
March 18, 2025, from 11 a m - 12:30 p m
Clark Street
April 29, 2025, from 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
District Services Center
March 4, 2025, from 11 a m - 12:30 p m
May 6, 2025, from 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 p.m.
Clinic Promo Video
Take a look at this video highlighting the clinic: Meet Jen Lange, DNP, APAP, see the clinic space, learn about the benefits, and hear from employees who have been there.
Free App Highlight
DownDog is a great resource for guided at-home yoga practice. They also have apps for HIIT workouts, meditation, running, barre, and prenatal yoga.
Employee Benefits
Open Enrollment Survey
MCPASD’s annual open enrollment period ended on November 12th. More than 35% of benefit eligible employees took action to add, change, retain, or drop their 2025 insurance plans. If you did not take action, your current elections will continue into 2025, except for Flexible Spending Accounts. FSAs require reenrollment each year. We appreciate your cooperation in completing this important annual task. Please take a few minutes to let us know how you felt about the process this year and MCPASD benefits: 2025 Open Enrollment Survey
Important Reminders:
Health and dental plan years start on January 1, 2025 What does this mean for you?
Health insurance deductibles will start over Annual dental benefits are capped at $1,000 per person. If you haven’t utilized all your 2024 individual maximum, it might be a good idea to schedule services before December 31, 2024.
If you haven’t redeemed your vision benefits in 2024, you should purchase your new glasses or contacts Please remember that vision is an annual single use allowance that resets on the date of purchase
Do You Have An FSA?
Make plans to use your money before the new plan year starts on January 1, 2025.
FSA participants have until March 15, 2025, to spend their funds and March 31, 2025, to submit claims.
View examples of standard health FSA-eligible expenses
Dependent care FSA participants have until March 15, 2025, to submit their claims for reimbursement. If you elected an HDHP during open enrollment, you need your healthcare FSA balance to be $0 on December 31, 2024, or you won’t be able to make or receive contributions to your HSA until April 2025
Employee Trust Fund
Employee Trust Fund (ETF) provides many learning opportunities to Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) participants. If you are interested in learning more about your WRS retirement benefits, please review the links below:
November and December Webinars
ETF: Member Education
Touching Base With Teaching and Learning
Student Services
November Is Homelessness Awareness Month
As we step into November, we recognize Homelessness Awareness Month and reflect on the challenges faced by many students in our community Each year, the number of students experiencing homelessness in our district has been rising.
During the 2023-2024 school year, MCPASD supported 162 students identified under the McKinney-Vento Federal Act. Already this year, over 50 students have been identified as experiencing homelessness a reminder of the significant obstacles some of our students and families encounter.
Chris Mand Director of Student Services
Homelessness includes individuals lacking a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. This definition encompasses students and families sharing housing due to economic hardship, living in temporary accommodations such as motels or shelters, or residing in places not meant for regular sleeping, including cars, parks, and public spaces By understanding the full scope of homelessness, we can better support students in these situations
Please remember that Amy Poole, our Families in Transition Coordinator, is available to provide resources and guidance. Her dedication to identifying and supporting students experiencing homelessness is an invaluable asset to our district. You can reach Amy at 608-291-7319 (call or text) or via email at apoole@mcpasd k12 wi us
Special Education
Thank you to those of you continuing to learn about specially designed instruction, effective goal writing and co-teaching Your leaders have also participated in virtual learning on these topics Paras continue to access ParaBytes during our PD days. We have covered small bytes in inclusive education, presuming competence, fading support, and most recently, in November, academic supports on the fly and incorporating student choice.
Multilingual Services
‘Tis the season when Bilingual Resource Teachers (BRTs) are busy planning and preparing for ACCESS Testing!
ACCESS is an annual federally-mandated assessment for all Multilingual Learners of English (MLs/ELs). It assesses English language proficiency in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. There is no optout provision for the ACCESS test.
ACCESS scores are used to assess student growth over time and to inform decisions around language support services They are also a starting point for understanding what students can do in English and for collaborative conversations about instructional moves to support student language growth in specific areas. Additionally, ACCESS scores are used to determine whether or not students have achieved full English proficiency and can exit services
Cynthia Malcheski Director of Special Education
Mandi
Director of Multilingual Services
Sersch-Morstad
Amy Poole Families in Transition Coordinator
The ACCESS testing window in the state of Wisconsin is from December 2, 2024-January 31, 2025; however, in our district, the bulk of the testing will take place in December to avoid the winter assessment window taking place in January
Please join us in encouraging our multilingual learners to do their best with supportive words and positive reinforcement! Our students are brilliant they’ve got this!
Watch for emails from your BRTs detailing the testing plan for your school. We appreciate your support and flexibility during this important assessment time!
Elementary & Secondary Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
Dr.
Jan Chynoweth
Director of Secondary Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
We are moving into Quarter Two!
Dr. MaryBeth
Paulisse
Director of Elementary Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
We appreciate our K-8 team who continues to implement myView Literacy and myPerspectives Our November professional learning for literacy shifted slightly this month. Our elementary professional learning focused on Act 20 components, including screening processes.
At the middle school level, our ELA teachers collaborated on various aspects of the myPerspectives curriculum, guided by our instructional coaches We have also been visiting schools during ELA blocks and are impressed by the established routines, the level of rigor, and the high student engagement
Thank you for all you are doing to implement our new curriculum with students!
Curriculum renewal is also in full swing! We have teams meeting throughout the district for Career and Technical Education, World Language, ELA 9-12, and Performing Arts Curriculum Renewal. We are also recruiting staff for a K-12 ELA/Reading Intervention planning team. This team will review our reading interventions K-12 and determine if we need to consider adopting other resources/materials
Lastly, the public release of our school report cards will be available in the Wisconsin public Wisedash system at the end of the month. We are excited to see the report cards for our schools, given the significant efforts of our staff and students. A presentation on the report cards will occur at the December 2 Board of Education meeting.
Data & Assessment Coordinator | Andrew Close
Please visit the MCPASD assessment calendar for upcoming assessment dates and our site for more details on administration. If you note any challenges with any of your assessment software, please put in a ticket through Incident IQ!
School report cards are available to the public starting November 19. These report cards include data on multiple indicators for multiple years across four Priority Areas (Achievement, Growth, Target Group Outcomes, and On-track to Graduation). If you have any questions, please reach out to Andrew Close.
Andrew Close Data & Assessment Coordinator