November 2015
Updates on weighted grades and the civics test.
Good morning, Parents.
I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday. The Thanksgiving season certainly provides a reminder to reflect on the things we are thankful for in our lives, and I believe I can say on behalf of the faculty and staff at the high school that we are collectively very thankful to be educators in this community and in this school district. Our students are responsive, our families are supportive, our colleagues are great teammates, and our challenges are small by comparison. OHS is a unique and wonderful place, and we are thankful to be able to work here in Oostburg.
I also want to provide you a couple updates on things that are new this year to keep everyone informed. As many of you may remember, we have implemented weighted grading system beginning with our current sophomore class. Parents may have noticed on the first quarter report cards that dual credit (both high school and college credit courses) and college prep courses are now weighted on a five point scale rather than the normal four point scale. We do have some sophomores taking weighted classes, so we felt a reminder about this change would be wise. I should also remind the parents of junior and seniors that we did not include them in the implementation of weighted grades because it would not be fair to changed the rules of the game midstream in terms of how GPA’s are calculated. Starting with the sophomores allows everyone in that class to begin selecting classes with a full understanding of the new system.
The classes that are currently weighted at OHS are: AP Biology, AP US History, AP Calculus AB and BC, Pre-Calculus, CAPP Physics, CAPP Advanced Composition, Medical Terminology, Novels, PLTW Introduction to Engineering and Design, and PLTW Principles of Engineering.
The second update is regarding the new State graduation requirement to pass the Civics test. Since this State law requires implementation of this graduation requirement next year, we have given the 100 question immigration test to our juniors, sophomores and freshmen. In the future, we will make this test part of our freshmen Civics class, but initially we felt it was best to address this requirement immediately with all of the students impacted. The vast majority of our students have passed the test, and the small group that did not pass the first time is preparing to re-take the test this week. I would encourage parents to ask their children if they passed the Civics test, and encourage your child to study and re-take the test immediately if they did not pass. We are in the process of adding an indicator on our transcripts/report cards that documents when a student has met this graduation requirement.
Have a great week,
Scott
Counting My Many Blessings
It’s that time of year where we all reflect upon our many blessings and communicate all that we are thankful for. Although it may sound a bit cliche’, there is so much to be thankful for. I find myself thinking and reflecting frequently about these many blessings throughout the year, but rarely communicate them aloud, or to others, as often as I should.
At this time of Thanksgiving, I am extremely grateful for the entire Oostburg Community. What a great place to raise a family! Thank you for your commitment to the children of this community. Your support, dedication, and involvement do not go unnoticed. Thank you for entrusting me with your children on a daily basis as we work together to ensure they are safe and growing as individuals. The youth in Oostburg are top notch and I feel fortunate to be working with them and pushing them to be the best they can be.
We all have so many blessings. It’s my hope that you are able to enjoy many of those blessings over the course of this Thanksgiving weekend. Take time to reflect upon on the good things in your life, not only this weekend, but on a regular basis as well.
With this being said, this is always the time of year that we also begin to think about those that may not be as fortunate. In order to make Christmas a little bit brighter for children in foster care in the county, OMS will be holding a toy drive. If your family is interested, please bring an unwrapped toy(s) to donate to a child in foster care this year. Bins will be set up in the cafeteria and toys will be delivered to the children via Sheboygan County Health and Human Services. A flyer will be coming home with your child explaining this in more detail.
With much gratitude,
Sherri Stengel
OMS 7th/8th Grade Boys Basketball
Sign up in the office. A permission slip, concussion agreement, general information, and the schedule can be picked up in the MS office or found in the forms and flyers folder on the OMS page of the website. Payment of $20 (first sport) or $10 (2nd sport) is due before the first practice on December 10th.
Oostburg High – Parkour Student Highlights
This video is on two students at Oostburg High School; Branson and Connor, otherwise known as the parkour guys. We chose them and their talent of parkour because they came up to us saying that nobody knows about the difficulty of their talent and how it is misunderstood. So we thought this would be a great topic for our first segment in the Who’s Who series.
School Board Approves February 16th Referendum
Greetings!
During their November 18th regular meeting our School Board acted on the recommendation from our Long Range Planning Committee and approved a resolution to go to referendum on February 16th to replace the oldest wing at our Elementary School. Our focus between now and February will be to ensure that District stakeholders have the background and information necessary to make an informed decision when voting.
Primary areas of need at our elementary school include infrastructure, space, and design. Our Elementary school (and District as a whole) continues a trend of enrollment increases. That trend includes over 80 new students in this school year alone with over 40 joining our elementary school. Additional elementary classrooms were discussed during the 2008 addition, but were ultimately rejected to save costs. Spaces, including renovated showers, storage closets, and hallways are used regularly for teaching and learning in an effort to meet current needs. In addition, the original section of OES is almost 60 years old with most of the plumbing, HVAC and electrical infrastructure being original. This section was constructed on top of steam tunnels which create tremendous challenges when considering renovation and expansion. Local stakeholders with significant school construction experience have affirmed the recommendations provided by architects as related to replacement vs. renovation.
The 2013 and 2015 community surveys are both available on our website at www.oostburg.k12.wi.us (Resources tab / Information & Forms tab), and we will soon be adding pages focused directly on this project. In the meantime, I encourage individuals or groups that would like additional information to contact me directly at 920-564-2346 ext. 4000. I look forward to meeting with community members in the months ahead as we continue this important work.
Enjoy this day!
Kevin
Fruit Sale orders are due on Monday, November 23rd
See a music student to place an order. More information available in the forms and flyers folder.
BrightBytes Tech Use Survey Ends Soon!
Please complete the BrightBytes survey by Friday! We would like to learn more about our students’ school and home technology use for learning. Therefore, we are asking all OSD families to participate in the Clarity questionnaire. Please know that your responses will remain anonymous, and the survey will take approximately 5 minutes to complete.
Go to www.BBYT.ES and enter in your school’s 5-character code below:
XV3FP = Elementary
F23KP = Middle
C63QP = High
Thanks for your participation! The last day to complete this survey is TOMORROW, November 20.