ConnectionsNeenah Joint School District

Community and Staff Newsletter - April 2014As educators, we provide feedback to our students on a daily basis. We all know it’s what enhances learning and helps stu-dents achieve greater success.

However, this time we are the ones asking for feedback. During the past week, all of our families and staff members were e-mailed a link to a survey. One part of the sur-vey provides feedback on how I am doing my job. The other part relates to our District and the per-ceptions, positives and concerns about how we are all performing.

The feedback we receive from these surveys is immeasurable as we continue to position our District for the future. This is an opportunity for you to provide District leaders with information that guides decisions concerning our curriculum, finances and overall priorities. We also compare this year’s data with previous years to see where we’re improving and where we need to get better.

Of course, we always welcome feedback any time of year and in any fashion. Whether in the form of an office visit, attendance at a Board meeting, or an e-mail or phone call. However, these surveys are a simple way to provide your thoughts and feedback on a wide variety of top-ics. Hopefully the survey even gets you thinking about some topics in which you didn’t even real-ize you had an opinion until now.

We encourage everyone to take a few min-utes over the next couple of weeks to sit back and think about what they like most about their schools and what they would like to see im-proved. If you didn’t receive the e-mail or already deleted it, please contact the District office and we will re-send you the link.

Thank you in advance for your feedback. As our students fervently work towards their end-of-year grades, we are also eagerly awaiting ours!

Dr. Mary PfeifferSuperintendent of Schools

Middle Schoolers Put Reading Into Action in Helping Local Girl

Inspired by the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio, students and staff at Shattuck and Horace Mann Middle Schools have been working together to help a local girl with a craniofacial anomaly. The two schools raised over $1,000 through selling t-shirts and bracelets to help three-year old Brynn Rosplochows-ki, who has undergone four skull and eye surgeries since she was six months old. A craniofacial anomaly is a diverse group of deformities in the growth of the head and facial bones. Palacio was scheduled to visit Shattuck as part of the Fox Cities Book Festival but was forced to cancel her visit due to a family emergency. Palacio’s book tells

the story of August Pullman, a young boy with a craniofacial anomaly that prevents him from attending main-stream school until the fifth grade. Over 80 percent of Neenah’s middle school students have read the book this year. Brynn lives in Oshkosh and her mom, Amy, is a Shattuck Middle School and Neenah High School graduate. Her grandmother, Diane Mankiewicz, is a library aide at Shattuck. Brynn will travel to Dallas later this month to see specialists and the fundraising activities at both schools will help offset expenses. The Educational Foundation of Neenah and Target stores donated several copies of the book.

March was Music in Our Schools Month and Horace Mann Middle School hosted daily concerts before school. About 100 students gathered in the lobby each morning to enjoy the musical talents of their classmates and teachers. In all, about 40 different perfor-mances took place.

Around the District

Shattuck Middle School teacher Chris Jones was a recipient of a Herb Kohl Fellowship by the Herb Kohl Educational Foun-dation, Inc. In addition, Neenah High School senior Sophia Szymonski received an Excellence and Initiative Scholarship

from the Foundation. The recipients of both awards are selected by a statewide committee composed of civic leaders, and representatives of education relat-ed associations and the program’s co-sponsors. A total of 100 teachers and 187 graduating high school seniors from across the state were honored with awards. The teachers and their schools each receive a $1,000 grant, while each scholarship is also worth $1,000. Jones is in his 15th year of teaching science at Shattuck and also leads the Finatics Fish-ing Club. Jones earned a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Environmental Science from UW-Green Bay and his teaching certificate

from Lawrence University. Szymonski has taken a full schedule of advanced classes and carries a 3.96 grade point average. She is involved in cross country, track and field, dance team, math team, orchestra, and National Honor Society.

Jones and Szymonski Earn Kohl Foundation Awards The classic works of

Dr. Seuss played out on stage as Shattuck and Horace Mann Mid-dle Schools presented the musical Seussical, Jr. March 13-16. Over 100 students from both schools were involved in the production.

For the second straight year, Neenah captured the Wisconsin high school chess championship as the team posted a 4-1 record at the meet March 22-23 at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Neenah was tri-champions in 2013, but won the

Chess Team Takes State Title

title outright in 2014 with a tiebreaker based on the best combined record of its oppo-nents. The team beat Milwaukee University School B, Madison West, New Berlin West,

and Brookfield Academy before losing to Milwaukee University School A in its final contest. The Neenah varsity team was comprised of five seniors who were all members of last year’s championship team. Ryan Thom-as played board 1, Thomas Hameister played board 2, Ryan Breuer played board 3, William Cunningham played board 4, and Sarah Murphy played board 5. It marks the first time since 1993 that a school outside of Madison or Milwaukee has won the outright championship. Neenah also claimed its fourth consecutive junior varsity state championship and the K-8 team placed sixth overall. Neenah’s head coach is Mike Breuer.

Beginning fifth grade traditional string students from Hoover and

Spring Road Elementary Schools, under the direction of Kristina

Stingle and Heather Shebesta, shared their beginning skills and

talents with residents of the Island Shores Retirement Living Cen-

ter. Students gave their time and talents on April 12 and brought

musical sunshine to many on a gray and rainy spring day.

School-by-School Alliance will hold its annual keyboard concert on May 1. The time has been changed to 6 p.m. to avoid a conflict with a concert at Shattuck on the same night. Everyone is invited to come to Alliance and support the students. Also, Alliance held its annual Knowledge-a-Thon on April 9. Congratulations to the students who participated and thanks to those who volunteered to help with the event.

Former Major League Baseball pitcher Tim Harikkala spoke to Clayton students recently. Harikkala, who enjoyed an 18-year pro career, including six major league seasons, shared his story of fun, perseverance, and respect during Clayton’s PBIS assembly. Harikkala urged students to focus on having fun when they partici-pate in sports and games whether it be outside during recess, in their neighborhoods, or on a youth team.

Coolidge held a family math night on April 10 as families were invited to explore math in many dif-ferent ways. When they arrived, students began the night by placing a sticker on a graph to represent their attendance. Then students and families went to many different places in the school to explore different math concepts and participate in a wide variety of activities. About 100 students took part in the event.

Neenah High School’s Science Olympiad team earned four medals in state competition. Shelly Yang and Joevandi Dewantara were honored in Chemistry Lab, while Julia Scruton and Ben Matthews received honors in Circuit Lab. The team also had top 10 finishes in four other events. Also, Neenah had three teams compete in the 24-team Fox Valley Finance Bowl and all three teams finished among the top four squads.

Hoover students and staff are participating in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Walk to Cure Diabetes on May 23 at Hoover. Hoover Library Media Specialist Assistant Tom Hultman emceed a kickoff event on April 11 where Hoover students with diabetes shared what it means to live with this disease. Hoover has set a goal to raise $3,000 by April 25.

Horace Mann and Shattuck libraries will benefit from a “Beach Reads” bookfair at Barnes and Noble in Appleton on May 2 or 3. A percentage of all purchases will come back to support the Neenah middle schools. Customers can inform the cashier they are shopping with Neenah Middle Schools. The event is being coordi-nated by the middle school literacy coaches and media specialists.

Lakeview student council sponsored its annual penny war and spirit week during the week of April 7-11. The money collected from the penny war was used to help purchase new balls and equipment for the recess cart and purchase some needed classroom supplies. Dress up days included pajama day, twin day, color day, 80’s day and sports day.

Former Roosevelt student Jacob Brazee, a member of the Neenah varsity football team, returned to Sue Ruthven’s third grade class and read Miss Nelson has a Field Day by Harry Allard. The students had a chance to ask Jacob questions about the importance of reading and afterwards, he took them outside to play a game of 500.

Students in Shattuck’s Velocity program participated in a field trip to Vermicorp, a Menasha-based company specializing in organic worm castings (fertilizer), worms for bait, and cocoons for low to no till farming. Students learned from start to finish the processes used in producing organic fertilizer. Vermicorp will be donating the soil and fertilizer for Velocity’s spring garden project.

Spring Road recently held its annual Career and Hobby Day as over 25 parents and community members shared their career or hobby in three sessions. Some of the careers shared were dentistry, catering, army, physical therapy, baking, and banking, along with a variety of different hobbies. They demonstrated and shared what type of personality, equipment, and classes students need in choosing a career or hobby.

The Taft PTO sponsored a visit from Heckrodt roving naturalists. Students learned about some Wiscon-sin animals and how they survive winter. They experienced many hands-on learning opportunities including feeling the pelts of critters, mimicking animals, and seeing ways animals find food and shelter in the winter.

Tullar’s annual basketball game between fifth graders and staff members on March 21 featured special guests Matt Heldt and Taulvish McCray from the state runner-up Neenah boys basketball team. Matt played with the students and Taulvish teamed up with the staff for a fun event. The day also featured a welcome from soccer and basketball player Adam Pohlman, who is a former Tullar Tiger.

Wilson held its inaugural student art show on April 7. The event showcased all students’ watercolor art from a recent enrichment project with artist in residence Linda Rieckman. Also, Wilson students are busy practicing for tryouts for the school talent show on April 22. The show will feature a variety of talents from individuals and groups of students.

What’s HappeningApril-May 2014 School Calendar

April 18 .......No School (Easter weekend)23................Early Dismissal - All Levels (Professional Learning Day)25................NHS Diversity Fair (Fieldhouse)May 2 ..........Fifth grade Spelling Bee (Boys and Girls Brigade)3..................Vintage Show Choir Finale (Pickard)7..................NHS Band Concert (Pickard)9..................NHS Student Council Talent Show (Pickard)10................NHS Prom (Cafeteria)15................NHS and Fifth Grade Choir Concert (Pickard)

The Neenah Joint School District is seeking individuals to serve on the inaugural selection committee and Board of Directors for its newly formed Hall of Fame. The first class will be inducted during Homecoming weekend in 2015. Neenah’s Hall of Fame will be unique from many other school districts in that it will recognize individuals in all achievement categories and encom-passes all alumni and former employees. A 15-member committee is needed for the challenging task of helping to select the Hall of Fame classes. The committee will consist of five administrators or District employees, five alumni from different generations, and five “at-large” members. Com-mittee members will each serve a three-year term. The commit-tee will begin meeting in the summer of 2014 and meeting dates will be determined well in advance. Anyone interested in serving on the committee or with questions should contact Jim Strick at 751-6800 x225 or by e-mail at jstrick@neenah.k12.wi.us by May 2.

NJSD Hall of Fame Selection Committee Seeking Members

More Upcoming Events Shattuck Craft Fair - April 19

Shattuck Middle School will host an art and craft fair on April 19 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. in the gymnasium. The event features 74

vendors and free admission. There will also be a Cosmo Joe painting demonstration, a food wagon and other concessions, a kids’ crafty corner, vocal and instrumental entertainment, and a raffle auction. All proceeds go to benefit Neenah’s K-12 art program.

Over 40 District staff members have been participating in a “Couch

to 5K” running program. Participants meet twice per week after

school at Horace Mann Middle School to walk/run together. Staff

members at both Clayton and Wilson Elementary Schools are

leading their own groups as well. The program will lead up to the

American Cancer Society Sole Burner 5K in Appleton on May 10.

Staff members from Neenah High School’s school newspaper, the Satellite, received several awards at the recent Northeastern Wisconsin Scholastic Press Association (NEWSPA) Spring Con-ference in Oshkosh. Students submit writing, photographs, and/or cartoons that are critiqued by professionals working in the field of Journalism, which are then ranked in the state. The highlight was the staff winning the best online publication for the second straight year. The staff also received a red ribbon for best large school newspaper not published in a Journalism class. In addition, the group participated in a general publication eval-uation, which provided feedback on strengths and weaknesses of the paper. Annie Hartley, Liz Detrie, Skye (Emma) Geyer, and Lydia Thomas all received individual awards. The advisor for the newspaper is Ms. Beth Plankey. The Satellite can be viewed online at http://moodle.neenah.k12.wi.us/satellite.

Satellite Collects Awards

Retirement Celebration - May 2 Help celebrate our 2014 retirees with a special evening on

May 2 at the Holiday Inn Riverwalk. The event will take place from 4-6:30 p.m. with a recognition program beginning at 4:45 p.m. Stop by to greet colleagues, honor our retirees, and enjoy some appetizers. Beverages will also be available for purchase. This year, 15 individuals will be honored for their service to the Neenah Joint School District.

Neenah High School Art Recognition Night - May 5 A one-night display of the top art pieces by Neenah High

School students will be featured on May 5 from 5-6:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Riverwalk in the Governor Doty Ballroom. Refreshments will be served by Neenah High School culinary students.

Employee of the Year Celebration - May 14 The Neenah Joint School District’s Employees of the Year will

be honored at a social on May 14 at the Bridgewood Resort. The event will take place from 3:45-5 p.m. Everyone is welcome to attend and support their colleagues. The Employees of the Year will be announced in early May before the reception.