TASD HOWL: Winter 2024

MESSAGE FROM OUR DISTRICT ADMINISTRATOR

HelloTomahAreaSchoolDistrictCommunity!

EnjoytheWinter2024editionoftheHOWL!We’reatthemidwaypointofthe2023-2024 schoolyear!Includedinthiseditionarehighlightsoftheincrediblegiftsandtalentsofour studentsandfacultyhereatTomahAreaSchoolDistrict!Thankyouforyourongoingsupportof ouracademicandco-curricularprogramsfocusedonHighQualityStudentLearning!Every Child!EveryDay!

TomahAreaSchoolDistricthassetthreestrategicprioritiesforthe2023-2024schoolyear.We’remakinggreat stridesinourworkimpactingstudentacademiclearningandsocial/emotionallearningthroughimplementationof theProfessionalLearningCommunityframework.Anadditionalpriorityisastudyandreviewofourfacilityneedsas weplanforthefuture Engagingourcommunitymembersplaysacrucialpartofthefacilityplanninginformation andfeedbackprocess.Weencourageyoutoattendoneorallofthefacilityinformationalsessionsplannedin FebruaryandMarch.Datessetforthesesessionsinclude:February27that6:30p.m.intheTomahMiddleSchool Cafeteria;March5thstartingat12:00p.m.(noon)intheRobertKupperLearningCenterCafeteria;andMarch5th beginningat6:30p.m.intheTomahHighSchoolCafeteria.Thankyouverymuchforconsideringattendingoneor alloftheseinformationalandfeedbacksessionsthatwillhelpshapethedirectionofthisprocess!

Co-curricular and athletic activities offered at every level in our district play an important role in student engagementandlearning!OurdeepthankstoTomahAreaSchoolDistrictWinter2024advisors,coaches,and directorsforalltheydoteachingandelevatingtheskillsetsofourchildren!Theseareskillsthatlastalifetime. We’reproudofourstudentsforthecourage,dedication,participation,andhardworkintheiractivities.Our communityhelpsourstudentsthrive!ThankyouforyoursupportofourstudentsandfacultyattheirWinter2024 activities!

Welookforwardtoagreatsecondhalfofthisschoolyear!Stayuptodatewithcurrentnewsaswellasupcoming plansforthe2024-2025schoolyearthroughourwebsiteandsocialmediaplatforms.We’regratefulforthe wonderfulsupportourcommunitymembersprovidetoourfacultyandchildrenthroughouttheschoolyear!Together wemakeourdistrictawonderfulplacetolearnandgrow!

Celebrating

STAFF ACHIEVEMENTS

Showing a deep commitment to student learning and the teaching profession, Lindsey Bubnich achieved National Boards Certification on December 9, 2023.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards was founded in 1987, and was designed to develop, retain and recognize accomplished teachers and to generate ongoing improvement in schools nationwide. It is the most respected professional certification available in K-12 education.

Created by teachers, for teachers, the National Board Standards, is a consensus among educators about what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do Board certification is available in 25 certificate areas spanning 16 disciplines from Pre-K through 12th grade

“I chose to pursue my National Board Certification as a personal challenge to myself to become a more reflective teacher and really lean into my ‘why’ of teaching. The process of working toward meeting national board standards allowed me to take a deep dive into best practice and how I could improve my teaching skills, in order to focus more on student learning versus just teaching the standards I am thankful for the reflective process and deep learning that occurred and recommend National Board Certification to anyone looking to enhance their teaching practice.”

Lindsey Bubnich pictured with her current Kindergarten class

Tomah now has two National Board Certified Teachers: Sharon Seely and Lindsey Bubnich. The Tomah School District congratulates Lindsey on her outstanding achievement!

BUILDING TRADES

THS STUDENTS HELP BUILD NEW BUSINESS IN TOMAH

The Vocational Building Trades class at Tomah High School is focused on providing students with practical skills related to the construction industry. Students work on rough and finished interior and exterior carpentry throughout the course by being actively involved in the construction of a structure that is chosen each year by the instructor Dan Wall.

Mr. Wall stated this class is off to a great start. They have already finished a 16x16 stick built shed for Queen of the Apostles and are now working on a commercial property on Superior Avenue. The project started around the end of October and is expected to be completed by the end of the school year. This particular build is a post and beam structure, similar to a pole shed, which allows for a higher roof and things like span, which in turn makes some things about the build easier and some areas harder.

A project this advanced requires the need for subcontractors to come in and do things like excavating and concrete work, as well as electrical and plumbing. The roof and some of the trusses were also completed by subcontractors due to the program not having optimal equipment. The newness of this type of project has presented some challenges to Mr. Wall, but he noted that he “has a great crew this year and they have been up to take on all of the tasks I have asked of them so far”.

There are pre-requisites a student must pass before being allowed to take Building Trades, such as Introduction to Woods and Construction Industry Basics (formerly known as Carpentry). These classes help the students learn about the different areas of concentration, learn about shop safety, and different aspects of a typical build. Building Trades is designed to give students hands-on experience in a real-world setting, allowing them to develop important skills, gain valuable knowledge and expertise that can help them succeed in the construction industry or related fields as they look towards their future careers.

Instructor Dan Wall with his Building Trades students (L to R): Cody Coenen, AJ Duncan, Brad Granahan, Dalton Johnson and Landon Ewing.

Tomah Area School District 2023 Property Tax Information

Property tax bills have been distributed so we wanted to give you some background regarding the 2023-24 school district levy and information regarding how the school levy and State calculated assessment ratio may have impacted your individual property taxes Tomah Area School District spans twenty-two (22) municipalities in Jackson County, Juneau County, and Monroe County. The following contains information about all those municipalities

A significant reason some property owners in Tomah Area School District saw an increase in the school portion of property taxes is how the State sets the assessment ratio for municipalities Each year the State calculates an assessment ratio for each municipality This represents the percent needed to bring each municipality’s values to what the State considers to be fair market. Many of our municipalities saw changes from the State on the assessment ratio this year The closer the assessment ratio is to 1 00, the closer a property’s Total Assessed Value is to the Fair Market Value Again, this is the State’s way to help equalize property taxes for all property owners, regardless of the last time a municipality was assessed.

Tomah Area School District has no say in this assessment ratio.

After the assessment ratio is established by the State, each property’s Total Assessed Value is divided by the Assessment Ratio That gives each property a Total Fair Market Value To calculate the school levy portion of property taxes the Total Fair Market Value is multiplied by the al is the amount of tax a property own same property tax owner’s tax bill for 2

As y

A/B=C $129,900/0.9112 = $142,500 (rounded down)

CxD=E $142,500 X 0.00591456 = $842.82

E-F=G $842.82 - $149.79 = $693

A/B=C $129,900/0 7983=$162,700 (roundeddown)

CxD=E $162,700X0 00630138=$1025 23

E-F=G $1025 37-$181 19=$844

st year the State determined that the an increase of $20,200 in the Total Fair Market Value when the Assessed Value stayed unchanged The chart below shows the change in the assessment ratio from last year to this year While the increase in the school mill rate from .00591456 to 0.00630138 does have an impact on the school portion of property taxes, the major contributor to the increase some property owners saw was because of the change in the assessment ratio from the State and therefore, fair market value. As a reminder, the closer the assessment ratio is to 1 00, the closer the Total Assessed Value of your property is to the Total Fair

Value This rate is set by the State, not TASD

Assessment Ratios

Municipality 2022

Town of Lincoln 1.003798795

Town of Oakdale 0.756373644

Town of Orange 0.870897974

Town of Ridgeville 0.915781077

Town of Scott 0.953620113

Town of Tomah 0.748016685

Town

Town

Town

Town

Town

Town of Wilton 0.867067650

Village of Camp Douglas 0.881692913

Village of Oakdale 0.852159239

Village of Warrens 0.772587975

Village of Wyeville 0.813663969

2023

Tomah Area School District 2023 Property Tax Information

The TASD levy was $2,061,966 higher this year. There are three reasons for this:

*Last year TASD received $10,019/pupil through the state-imposed revenue limit. This year, the State raised that amount for TASD to $11,000/student. This was meant to help narrow the spending gap between districts across the state. TASD has traditionally been a low spending district and qualified for this increase.

*TASD saw an increase of 41 enrolled students at the beginning of this year and this increased the state-imposed revenue limit by $451,000.

*The per student private school voucher payments that are levied by public schools and transferred to local private schools increased this year to over $500,000. These funds raise our District’s levy but go to the participating private voucher schools.

Special Note Tomah Area School District has an operating referendum in place to exceed the revenue limit by $2.5 million. Given the increases due to the above three reasons, the Board of Education under levied by $700,000 and didn’t take all of the voter approved monies that could have been added to the revenue limit that influences the tax levy and mill rate.

In closing, if you have any questions about the information provided or would like more information about year-over-year equalized value/fair market value change by municipality or the amount that school districts can levy, please reach out Thank you for your support of the Tomah Area School District It is our pleasure and honor to serve you

The Tomah Area School District is in the process of reviewing our facility needs and planning for the future. We will be holding several informational meetings to inform the community and to receive feedback that will help shape the direction.

Please note that

Dr.

TASD

ph:

email: MikeHanson@tomah.education

www.tomah.education

The DictionaryProject

LOCAL BUSINESS HELPS GET DICTIONARIES IN THE HANDS OF TOMAH'S 3RD GRADERS

Two hundred and twenty-five dictionaries were handed out to third graders across the Tomah Area School District for National Dictionary Day, including Queen of the Apostiles and the Baptist Academy, thanks to the coordinated efforts of our third-grade teacher Amy Jereb and the local Century 21 Affiliated office. Ms. Jereb went in search of a business sponsor to fund the program this year and when approached, the staff at Century 21 Affiliated were all in.

Breanna Garcia, an agent with Century 21 Affiliated, stated: “We chose to sponsor this project because it holds a special place in our hearts My daughter Izzy poured her heart into this same project a few years ago and so I saw firsthand the excitement it brings to kids. When Amy brought it up to us, it wasn’t a hard decision to make, we were on board right away. All of the agents at Century 21 Affiliated believe in the importance of our youth, and we want to help in any way we can. We live in this community and are proud to support our teachers and schools.”

The goal of the Dictionary Project is to assist all students in becoming good writers, creative thinkers, and resourceful learners by providing them with their own personal dictionary The dictionaries are a gift to each student to use at school and home for years to come. The program is typically implemented in the third grade, since this is the age at which dictionary skills are usually taught. Educators describe third grade as the time when a student transitions from learning to read to reading to learn.

The program started with third graders in South Carolina After The Wall Street Journal published a story about the project in 2002, the Dictionary Project took on a national purpose and expanded its mission to include students in all 50 states, partnering with local businesses, like Century 21 Affiliated. Since is implementation in 1995, over 31 million children have received dictionaries.

The third graders in Tomah were thrilled with their new dictionaries, prompting handmade thank you cards in return!

ThirdgradersatWarrensElementaryafterreceivingtheirdictionaries

Century 21 Affiliated employees join third graders at Tomah Area Montessori School for a photo after delivering their dictionaries Back Row (L to R): Blake Larsen, Brianna Garcia, Lisa Kuhl, Jake Waddell and Marah Vaillancourt

Century21AffiliatedemployeesdeliverdictionariestoLaGrangeElementary

GIRLS WRESTLING

NEW ALL-GIRLS WRESTLING TEAM MAKES THS HISTORY

Wrestling is one of the oldest known sports, but for the girls at Tomah High School, it is a new opportunity to show off their intense competitive spirit.

THS has had a girl on its wrestling team in the past, wrestling both girls and boys at matches, but this year will be the first year in Tomah’s history that they have an all-Girls Wrestling Team THS Social Studies teacher Carson Haag was named head coach for the team, “I am very honored and excited to be the head coach of Tomah's first ever girls Varsity Wrestling team. The girls have wrestled well this year improving throughout the season. We have 7 girls this year, and hopefully those numbers continue to grow for years to come. I look forward to what our team can do and to growing the program”.

am has been competing on girls only mats at competitions this and has even attended all-girls meets, including the Bi-State c. Bi-State is a three-day event held at the La Crosse Center, and ear the even kicked off with its first ever girls bracket in the ment’s 41-year history. Girls from 60 teams throughout Wisconsin innesota attended, and they filled all ten mats when each wrestler’s was called. A testament to the growth girls wrestling has seen over ars

wrestling in Wisconsin is entering its third season as an official sport, e jump from 452 girls in year one, to 744 in year two, shows just how ar the sport has become for girls Tomah started the season off with rls on their team, ranging from Freshmen to Seniors. Some wrestled th, and some had never stepped on a mat.

Competing, and winning, in a relatively new sport is no small feat. Wrestling doesn’t just take strength and endurance, but mental toughness is a huge aspect of competing. Wrestlers need both determination and self-confidence. You are part of a team, but you enter that circle by yourself. The girls have risen to the challenge. The team has seen its share of wins and losses, moments on the podium, and medals placed around their necks. They practice and train, learning and perfecting moves, raising their endurance levels, all to take their place on the mat, all for those two seconds when the ref raises their hand in the air Oh, and of course, to try to make it to State Just like the boys, the girls’ season will end at the State Wrestling Meet, held February 22-24 at the Kohl Center in Madison The girl’s tournament will run alongside the boy’s tournament, with no difference in rules between the two Last year, Senior Zandrea Mason, the lone girl on the team, not only made it to State but took 4th place on the podium. This year, they hope to send even more girls to Madison, inspire more girls to give wrestling a try, and to continue to grow the sport in Tomah.

(L to R): Zoey Gonzalez, Emma Pickering, Emma Kasputis, Megan Habeck, Tylar Tillotson, Zandrea Mason, Elisa Bowie, Morgan Iverson, Trinity Anderson

Coach Haag with his team at the first girls duel hosted by Tomah High School