Each year, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction releases their School Report Cards for all public schools and school districts in Wisconsin. The reports provide an amount of information about their students’ achievement, growth and college and career as topics of interest to families and the general public. 

The Whitewater Unified School District (WUSD) is proud to share their improvements and how to improve test scores from previous years. 

Last year, the elementary teachers made a commitment to increase the math outcomes and they saw the impacts of that shift in our elementary math data. Additionally, the middle school committed to the usage of iReady to help strategically target math and reading at that level. 

The report card wants the Whitewater district to increase their score from 61.6 to a 63.6. In order to get there, teachers want students to complete and pass with a 70% or higher two or more reading lessons per week and/or 40 productive minutes per week while completing a 40-minute Tier 2 intervention every-other-day. This will be monitored by Sally Berndt and/or reading Intervention Teachers. 

These two learning tactics will start in the 2023 fall season and will be continued throughout the 2024 school year. 

In other news, Middle school Teacher Yvonne Fan asked the school board about taking the eighth grade class on a trip to New York. 

The trip will include going to famous museums, Ellis Island and the 9/11 Memorial. She has done it with previous school districts and hopes to continue the tradition with Whitewater students. 

“It is very emotional and it’s more impactful for the students than just walking through a museum. It’s probably my favorite thing that we can do in New York,” said Yvonne Fan. In order to pay for the trip, the cost is around $120 per month over the next 18-19 months. A big sugustion in a fundraiser was to do a mattress sale to help funding. On Nov. 18, middle school students had the opportunity to fundraise for the trip by selling baked goods. 

More information will continue in the next school board meeting. 

We would like to congratulate some Whitewater athletes on an amazing season. First we have Emilia Houwers. Houwers competed in the State Tennis Tournament in Madison on Thursday, Oct 12 and won the Rock Valley Conference Championship at #1 singles. This was the first time that has happened for Whitewater since 2011. Girls tennis coach Baron West said “Through hard work, dedication, and perseverance Emilia has been one of the few singles players in school history to play at State more

than once and is the only singles player in the history of the Whippet girls’ tennis program to qualify three years in a row. 

On the swim team, Makayla Bazeley had an exciting swim season this year! She finished first in the 200 Freestyle at the WIAA Sectional Meet, which earned her a spot into the WIAA State Meet and a 3rd place finish in the 100 Butterfly. She qualified in both of her individual events that day but also broke 4 school records! She is now the school record holder in the 200 Freestyle (1:56.41), 50 Freestyle (24.91), 100 Butterfly (58.86), and 100 Freestyle (53.74). 

Head coach Sarah Reynolds said “We are so proud of Makayla’s accomplishments this season, and can’t wait to see what she can do in her final season as a whippet next year!”

For more information about when the next school board meeting is, visit Whitewater board meetings for any additional information.