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 Technology is needed now more than ever in our schools and classrooms. The recommendations in the Wisconsin Digital Learning Plan support changes in teaching and learning that recognize the need for learning to occur 24/7, allow students to pursue personal pathways to college and career, and take advantage of efficiencies achieved through digital curriculum. However, many schools are not able to take advantage of these opportunities affordably due to inadequate bandwidth. Further, not all students have the same equitable opportunities for learning because they may lack access to the Internet at home.
To address these issues, schools districts in Wisconsin are participating in efforts to determine the current status of Internet broadband access and where improvements are needed. The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC-W) are partnering to promote a residential and business broadband demand survey now through May. This is part of the larger LinkWisconsin project.
By encouraging parents to complete this survey we hope that we can begin to address the digital divide many of our students throughout the state face and bring the broadband needed in our schools and classrooms. Surveys for residential and businesses can be accessed at:
Residential survey: http://wisconsindashboard.org/residence-survey
Business survey: http://wisconsindashboard.org/business-survey
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The 2013-14 School Board Members met on Monday to welcome newly elected board members. Members of the School Board are (L-R): Mary Peterson, Jim Winkler, Ron Counter, Judy Conlin, Mike Roberts, David Holperin, Merlin Van Buren, Ray Burgan and Dennis O'Brien. Board meeting documents and other information may be viewed here.
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Jacobi Selected as New Superintendent
On Monday evening, the School Board announced the hiring of Kelli Jacobi as the new Superintendent. Kelli has been with the District for 22 years serving as a teacher at West School and NCES, principal at NCES, and, for the last six years, as the Director of Curriculum and Instructor.
Kelli's daughter, Megan, graduated from RHS in 2004 and recently completed her D.V.M. and is working as a vet in our area. Her husband, Jim, is an attorney-coach for our highly successful Mock Trial Team.
Originally from Iowa, Kelli attended Drake University and has completed graduate programs at Marian College and UW-Superior. Kelli will begin her new position on July 1st. Congratulations Kelli! Thank you to the Northwoods River News for the photo.
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WKCE Test Scores
In the School District of Rhinelander, and across the state of Wisconsin, continue to work to ensure that our students are ready for further education and career readiness upon graduation. Our state assessment has been changing to reflect this priority.
We have received the results of the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations (WKCE) that students in Grades 3 through 8 and 10 took last fall. This year, Wisconsin raised the WKCE scores needed for students to reach the basic, proficient, and advanced performance levels in reading and math. Because of these changes, our WKCE results show a significant decline in the number of students considered to be “proficient” or “advanced.” This does not reflect a change in the abilities of students, teachers, or schools. It does reflect the higher standards and aspirations we have for our students and schools.
Click here to read more information.
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Inhalants
Recently we became aware that several students have been engaged in “huffing”. The inhalant of choice is body sprays such as AXE.
We are sharing Inhalant information with you that we received from the Wisconsin Poison Center. In following up with parents, we are providing educational handouts, and we are encouraging parents of students that have been “huffing” to follow up with their primary doctor/practitioner for assessment and counseling options.
Click here for more information. If you have questions, please contact Kerri Schmidt, School District Nurse, at (715) 365-9235.
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School Safety
Rhinelander High School held an administrative lock-down drill on March 1st as part of the School District of Rhinelander’s ongoing efforts to insure our safety practices and procedures are current.
There was no incident that forced this planned drill to occur. All students and staff are safe, and classes resumed as planned.
The School District of Rhinelander remains vigilant in keeping our students and staff safe, and performs several safety drills throughout the school year. If you have any questions on the District’s safety practices and procedures, please contact your child’s school principal or School Superintendent Roger Erdahl.
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Last Wednesday, Mrs. Howell's and Mr. Gildseth's 6th grade science classes completed a unit in physical science on buoyancy. Students learned that hot air balloons are buoyant and created replicas of them. The students were delighted with the results as well as the data that was collected. Click here to view additional photos.
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Crescent Elementary parents were given this challenge last week. Parents were invited to the gymnasium to challenge their 3rd grade students to fitness and coordination activities. The challenges included a softball throw, a rock climbing wall, and the ultimate tire swing rope exchange. Much fun was had, and a surprising number of Crescent Elementary parents are just as coordinated as their 3rd grade student! Click here to view additional photos.
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Rhinelander High School is proud to congratulate Blake Enerson, who won the state championship in Computer Game Programming Simulation at the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) state conference that was held April 15th and April 16th in Wisconsin Dells. In addition to Blake's accomplishment, Ian Bishop placed 4th in Computer Problem Solving, and Hunter Piasecki placed 5th in Personal Finance.
This is the fourth consecutive year that RHS students qualified for the FBLA National Leadership Conference, which will be held in Anaheim, CA on June 27 through June 30, 2013. Blake is the 12th student to represent RHS nationally, and the third student to win the state championship in the program's six years of existence.
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On April 7th, Mr. Losch, Jada Appling, Grace Payfer, Kaiya Shrader, and Kala Taylor, students at James Williams Middle School, attended the regional National History Day competition in Stevens Point. Students presented their projects to the judges with confidence and their hard work had paid off - they won qualifying spots for the upcoming state National History Day competition in Madison on May 4th. Kaiya Shrader and Ashley Harvey were awarded an alternate position for the state competition.
If Grace and Jada place in the state competition, their project will move forward to the national competition held in Washington D.C. This was the first time JWMS students entered the National History Day competition, and overall it was a huge success. Congratulations and Good Luck!
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Getting kids to take interest in people that lived more than 100 years ago can be tough. Michelle Flohr's 3rd grade class created a wax museum at Crescent Elementary School where students pretended to be famous Americans. They dressed up and gave short biographies of people like Harry Houdini, Rosa Parks, and Steve Jobs.
WJFW Newswatch 12 talked to Houdini, known on most days as Colton Lemen. Thank you to Newswatch 12. Great job to our students! Click here to view the story.
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The Rhinelander High School music department returned to Rhinelander Monday evening with a police escort and plenty of hardware from the Alamo Showcase of Music and San Antonio, Texas. Choir director Desiree Wattelet, left, and band director Connie Piasecki, right, hold up trophies the Hodags won at the event. Both the band and the choir won "Superior" and "Outstanding in Class" awards. Congratulations to our students and to Ms. Wattelet and Mrs. Piasecki! Thanks to the Northwoods River News and Jeremy Mayo for the photo and information.
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The Rhinelander High School team of (from left) Coach Patrick Kubeny, Hunter Piasecki, Blake Enerson, Mike Anderson, and Matt Anderson took second place at the Finance and Investment Challenge Bowl held at Nicolet College. The group will now move on to compete in the state championship. Congratulations and good luck at the state competition! Thanks to the Northwoods River News for the photo and information.
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Junior Girl Scout Troop 7091 has produced and presented the video The Bully Diaries. The video is a community service project chosen as a result of Girl Scout USA's anti-bullying initiative. Junior Girl Scouts are girl-led which means they choose, organize and implement their own service projects. In the case of The Bully Diaries, the girls collaborated on a subject, wrote the script, performed the play for video and then learned statistics regarding bullying. On March 19th, the Troop presented their video to the 4th Grade at Central School. Students were asked to take a pledge to stand up when they see bullying happen. Click here to view the video.
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Rhinelander Partners In Education (PIE) hosted the 3rd annual Mad Money Financial Simulation for all 11th grade students at Rhinelander High School in the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium on Tuesday, February 26th.
More than 20 local businesses volunteered to assist students in managing a personal budget through various career and home simulations. Students received a career and salary, and then visited stations to make typical monthly expenditures. Click here to view photos from the event.
Sincere thanks to Rhinelander PIE and the businesses that participated! We greatly appreciate your support!
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The newly formed First Tech Robot Club participated in the state First Tech Challenge competition in Milwaukee, and took 2nd place. Congratulations Robodags!!!
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Anna Moore is a senior that works at Rouman Cinema for two class periods a day as part of a Work Experience class. Anna says, "It feels good to work with others and help." Ms. Shelley Lehman and Mrs. Tracy Hoffhein each teach a two hour class called Work Experience. In addition to the Work Experience class, these teachers are also part of the "Let's Get to Work Grant". Both programs are intended to get students with disabilities out into the community working. Students are able to gain valuable work experience, pre-employability skills, and the opportunity to find out what they are interested in for graduation. Businesses often end up hiring students as they find out how much they can offer and really do for their business. "It is a great way for us to show what we can do and it feels great to work", said student Jason Barlowski.
In addition to the Rouman Cinema, this semester students are also working at the Rhinelander District Library, Slumberland, Goodwill, the Oneida County Humane Society, Mel's Trading Post (in the "Changing Gears Program") and at the Days Inn. Jenna Laska loves working at the Library helping to arrange books. Each semester students explore a vocation they are interested in and the teachers try to work with the community in finding the right fit. Having a strong relationship with the community is beneficial to both our community and the school. It has been a positive relationship for all of us.
If you are interested in providing a work experience, tour, job shadow or to support the Rhinelander High School work experience program and "Let's Get to Work Grant", please contact Shelley Lehman at Rhinelander High School at (715) 365-9500, extension 8135. |
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