Whitewater school board members held a meeting to discuss the different challenges that are facing the school district and how they are tackling the facility challenges and how these challenges will impact graduation rates of students.
Some of the challenges they are facing are that the plumbing systems are in their last year, as well as needs to reconstruct walls, ceilings, windows and floors. Parking lots are starting to wither and tennis courts are starting to crack despite the fact they haven’t been touched since they first got there.
With a survey, the school district is seeking referendum funding to help address the costs of these projects.
There are two types of referendums local voters can approve:
- An operational referendum funds daily expenses and helps pay for student programs and services. Local voters have supported this type of referendum regularly since 1999 and most recently in 2022.
- A capital referendum allows a school district to take out a loan (issue debt) to pay for major facility improvements. This is the type of referendum explored in this survey.
Some other fixtures that need to be made are to make the drop off/pick up spot safer, as well as address areas of the building that don’t meet the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
“Would you support the district pursuing the referendum to address the facility challenges,” said Project Manager at School Perceptions Scott Girard.
In the most recent survey, 75% of school staff and 72% Whitewater parents said yes to supporting a referendum and 42% of non-parents and non-staff (who are the largest part of the survey) said yes.
“We did reach out to the architect to come on December 9 for a work session, which they would itemize each item that would go [on] the referendum to say how and why we need this and if we so choose,” School District President Jennifer Kienbaum said.
The school district’s overall report card went up by two points this year, putting them at 64.1. The high school’s goal is to help staff and students learn more about how these report cards are used and how they are calculated. The district hopes the school can improve in a few categories.
“By the end of the 2024-2025 school year, Whitewater High School will reach an overall attendance rate goal of 95%,” said School Board Treasure Jeff Tortomasi.
By helping keep the kids in school, the next key steps are to have bi-weekly meetings, intervention plans for children with chronic absent students and have monthly incentive drawings.
The main reason why the school district wants to have communication and outreach for everyone is to drive up their attendance rate. The main goal the school wants to achieve is to launch a campaign to build awareness and application of AI for all students, staff and parents.
Within the school year, students will have the opportunity to participate in a lesson about digital citizenship with AI awareness.