Welcome Back for the 2023-24 School Year
Dear Families, Teachers, and Staff,
Welcome to the 2023-2024 school year in the Brodhead School District (BSD)! I hope you had an opportunity to relax, recharge, and enjoy the summer break.
This is a great time to be a part of BSD. If you are new to our District, welcome to a District that Exceeds Expectation on the Wisconsin State Report Card, where every student can find the resources and supports they need. If you are returning, welcome back! As District Administrator, there is no better feeling than the start of a new school year. Regardless of your role or title, we are all part of the BSD family and share in the excitement and anticipation that comes with the start of a new school year.
We have been doing a lot of work this past school year and over the summer as we continue developing better ways to communicate information to our families and our community. We have created and refined a great school website at www.brodhead.k12.wi.us as well as a partner app. for cell phones, which can customize the information you wish to receive. The app. can be found at the App. Store by typing in “Brodhead School District.” We will push out more information to families regarding how to download this information as the first day of school gets closer.
Our District continues with the transition to Target-Based Learning for the 2023-24 school year with the expectation of all classes and subjects utilizing the concept. Target-Based Learning focuses instruction using clear and measurable targets with grading on a 3-point scale. Our District has conducted extensive research on Target-Based Learning and feel that with added clarity in our instruction using targets to guide learning, and clear standards of success for each target, we will see measurable growth in students’ success and achievement. This has been a multi-year process for our staff and students as we have gradually worked toward full implementation.
The Brodhead Board of Education has established a Facility Planning Committee, which is a group of over 20 individuals from the Brodhead School District staff and community. The job of this Committee is to develop and refine short-term and long-term priorities for our District’s facilities and determine how to fund those priorities. The Facility Planning Committee meets on the third Monday of each month at 6:30 P.M. These meetings will continue throughout the summer with the goal of presenting our School Board with a recommendation to consider at the September 13 School Board Meeting. Each of these meetings are open to the public with agendas posted in the Independent Register prior to each meeting. We have a section of our District’s website devoted to providing information about our Long-Term Facility Planning process. Please visit our webpage at www.brodhead.k12.wi.us and click on the “Facility Planning” tab for more information.
We have several building and grounds projects in progress this summer. We have replaced the entire front of the elementary school drive-up area, which was sorely in need of repair. We also replaced the last part of the elementary school roof, which completes all roofing projects in the District. We are adding another softball field to our school grounds as well. The District has relied on sending our junior varsity girls across town to Legion Park for many years for their practices and their games. It hasn’t been ideal, but due to the cost of a new field on school grounds, we have used that field as a low-cost alternative. Brodhead’s Athletic Booster Club graciously donated $25,000, and secured an additional $25,000 from the Brodhead Area Foundation, to fully fund the building of a new field between our middle school and elementary school. It is our goal to have a field built and ready for softball games by next spring. Thank you to our Booster Club and all those responsible for the support of our new field. It will be a much better feeling having our JV girls practicing and playing their games on our District facilities.
As in past years, we will be utilizing August 31st as a summer school day. All of our elementary school students are expected to attend school as a typical day that day. Due to the day technically being a summer school day, it cannot be a mandatory school year attendance day and will not be counted as such. Buses will be picking students up, we will be serving lunch, and running the day as we typically would on the first day of school. Our Middle School and High School will use August 31st as an orientation day. Middle School will host only 6th graders and the high school will have just 9th graders. Transitioning into a middle school and high school can feel very overwhelming to a student. We feel this day will give additional support as they start their school year transitioning into their new schools. It will be very important to attend this day to learn everything necessary to make the regular school year start smoothly for these students. This day will be a non-school day for students in grades 7-8 and grades 10-12.
In closing, I am excited about what 2023-2024 holds for our students and staff and hope that you are as well. We are blessed with a strong and supportive school community, and we all need to work together to ensure our schools are the best they can possibly be. As I start my third year as District Administrator of the Brodhead School District, I challenge each of us to do all that we can to make it our best ever. I have no doubt that our students and staff will accomplish great things in 2023-2024, and I look forward to us celebrating their accomplishments with them.
Sincerely,
David Novy
District Administrator
Brodhead School District
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