Via a Johnny Winston, Jr. email:
Welcome back to school! I hope you had a wonderful summer. On August 28th the Madison school board approved plans Plan CP2a and Plan CP3a relative to boundary changes that will be necessary if the November 7th referendum to construct an elementary school on the Linden Park site passes or fails. The plan will need to be adjusted depending on enrollment. The board also passed a resolution to place $291,983.75 of the Leopold addition/remodeling monies in the contingency fund of the 2006-07 budget if the referendum passes less the expenses incurred relative to the initial financing of the project
On August 21st, Partnerships, Performance and Achievement and Human Resources convened. The Partnerships Committee (Lucy Mathiak, Chair) discussed strengthening partnerships with parents and caregivers and is working to develop a standard process for administering grants to community partners. Performance and Achievement (Shwaw Vang, Chair) had a presentation on the English-as-a-Second Language Program. Human Resources (Ruth Robarts, Chair) discussed committee goals and activities for 2006-07
On August 14th the board approved a policy that allows animals to be used in the classroom by teachers in their educational curriculum but also protects students that have allergies or other safety concerns. Questions about the November referendum were discussed and an additional JV soccer program at West High school was approved. This team is funded entirely by parents and student fees. The Finance and Operations Committee (Lawrie Kobza, Chair) met to discuss concepts and categories of a document called the Peoples Budget that would be easier to read and understand. Lastly, three citizens were appointed to the newly created Communications Committee (Arlene Silveira, Chair): Deb Gurke, Tim Saterfield and Wayne Strong
Upcoming board meetings include on September 11th our regular board meeting, Partnerships and Communications committees, as well as beginning the process of evaluating the Superintendent. On September 18th the Long Range Planning Committee (Carol Carstensen, Chair) will have a presentation from the City of Madison planning department about development that will impact the MMSD for the next 5 to 20 years. The Board will also receive an interim report from the Equity Task Force, and discuss expulsion and expungement processes.
School District News: Former Madison Police officer Luis Yudice will be recommended to be the district’s Coordinator of Safety and Security after the retirement in early October of the current coordinator, Ted Balistreri
Madison students who took the 2006 ACT college entrance exam continued to outperform their state and national peers. Madison students outperformed state peers by 9% & national peers by 15%
. The district has hired 142 new teachers. Twenty-two of them are minorities.
Did you know? 3,800 students participated in the summer school programming? Summer school is composed of several programs. They include: Extended Learning Summer School; ESL/Bilingual; Madison School and Community Recreation-Afternoon Program; Enrichment and High School Summer School.
Thank you for your interest and support of the MMSD.
Johnny Winston, Jr., President, Madison School Board
jwinstonjr@madison.k12.wi.us
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Yudice participated in last fall’s Gangs & School Violence Forum organized by Rafael Gomez.