May 16, 2021

KUDOS!!! 

• We are ALMOST THERE!!!!!!!!!  FIVE days of  school left!  FIVE!  Kudos to everyone for a  great school year given the unprecedented times!   This will be a year for the history books, one none of us will forget!  
• Please congratulate Amanda Thate who will be moving from 8th grade special education into 6th grade Social Studies!  
• We will be shifting an elementary special education teacher into one of the 6-8 special education positions as this knowingly causes a domino effect.  We are heavy in special education teachers K-5 so one of them will be coming to replace Amanda for 6-8!  We will share who that is by the end of this week!  
• Also... this week marks the last week that old Karcher will have students entering it for the last time... it has been a building that provided education to Burlington students since 1924!  


In lieu of an article... 

“2020”

This year has been marked with reflection and change;

some days feel good and others feel strange.

We’ve learned to work differently;

and love more unconditionally.

We try to tune out the stress;

but sometimes life still feels like a mess.

We find ways to turn negatives into good;

and learn new skills that we thought we never could.

We find ways to travel to less congested places;

and we meet our friends with covered faces.

Hopefully this year has been filled with opportunity;

and we’ve tried to exercise and strengthen our immunity.

2020 hasn’t been like we expected;

but we’ve found new ways to stay connected.

Hug your kids and enjoy the outdoors;

worry less about the very small chores.

Things will get better because they usually do;

enjoy what you love and learn something new.

- Craig Alter

Reminders/Information:  

• Grading Window - The grading window will open Monday, May 10 and close on May 21 at 3:00!
• Seclusion & Restraint 
• Please review THIS document and complete any incidents of seclusion and restraint prior to checking out at the end of this year.  If you have any questions  please email Kathy Merlo!
• Monday, May 17 - Staff Meeting in the BHS library from 2:40-3:00!!!  
• Tuesday, May 18  - BASD Retirement Gathering!!!
• Come and celebrate with all of our retirees!  You can come at any time between 4:30-6:30 and stay as little or as long as you would like!  
• Elaine Baumgart, Ruth Bertelson, Hans Block, Rick Busch, Deb Hill, Deb Jerome, Kathy Schaal, Wendy Zeman, Connie Zinnen, Patti Peper, Deb Caldwell, Craig Steffen, and Victoria Leuck




• Wednesday, May 19th - BASD Golfing and Social Time!!!  
• Those golfing should be at Browns Lake Golf Course at 3:30
• Social will start at 6:00
• Food will be served at 6:30! 
• Awards for golf will be after food! 
• Thursday, May 20 -  7th grade Field Day.  8th grade has plans too I am just not locating them at the moment!  
• Thursday, May 20 - 8th Grade Recognition in the BHS gym @ 7:00pm 
• Certified Staff should arrive at 6:00!!!  
• We will need help from the staff gathering the students into the auditorium and spacing spectators out among the bleachers and floor seating to ensure social distancing.  
• Students will be sitting together based on "advisory" so that will be our 4th hour teachers for this school year.  
• Students should arrive at 6:15 and go directly into the auditorium (please assist with reminding them of this).
• Doors to the gym for seating will open at 6:15.  
• The ceremony will be live-streamed!  
• Friday, May 21 - High School Graduation starting at 6:00 at the Don Dalton Stadium outside!!!  
• Monday, May 24 - All teacher's checkout K-12!  
• HERE is the Karcher  7-8 checkout form.  
• HERE is the sign-up for checking out on May 24th - you will notice this is for 7-8 and 3-5 so that Annie and I have one place to look when it comes to checkout!  
• We have 2 hour time slots and will get to you sometime within your two hour time slot based on where your name is listed.  
• Do not add additional rows to a time slot as we want to be realistic as to the number of people we can get to during each time frame.  
• Please make sure everything is checked off and taken care of by your sign up time.  
• Make sure you have all of your MLP items completed and that it is pulled up ready to show admin that everything is complete at checkout.    

6-8 Information:  

• Here is a link to the 2021-2022 Karcher Calendar - all of the teacher schedules for academic teachers (6-8) and the elective teachers for this coming fall!  
• Special Education is still tweaking things... 
• Monday, May 17 - Furniture will start to be delivered and installed in the new building!!!  
• They will be starting in the main office area and then moving into the library next... then the rest of the building.  Some items are on back order but we all know that is normal!  Everything will be here prior to the start of school!  
• Monday, May 24th moves... 
• A lot of you have been asking about moving things yourself into the new building on May 24th.  I will be talking with Dan tomorrow to see if there are any areas (storage rooms only) that would be available to potentially move things yourself to the new building.  Specifically thinking about the electives as they have some items they would prefer to move themselves.  
• Again... will update you on this in a few days!  

Picture from this past week!  

Video from in the gym... 

testing the sound system!

The Karcher boilers have been shut off for the very last time.  

Life span:  5-24-1956 to 5-14-2021 

Student council at Camp MacLean with Stephanie Rummler and Patti Tenhagen!

May 9, 2021

  

KUDOS!!!

• THANK YOU to all of our TEACHERS!!!!!!!!  We appreciate you more than you know and hope this past week of daily food options brought you a little bit of relief to your week as you did not have to worry about breakfast, or a snack, or lunch at times throughout the week!  
• Remember... at some point (hopefully tomorrow) I will come around to each of the teachers (those I didn't get to) so you can pick a 10 dollar gift card that was donated to us for all of you from parents of some of the students!!!  So... Teacher Appreciate Week really is not over yet!!!  
• Though this is for 5th and 6th grade I thought  Dawn Pachniak and our 5th and 6th grade band students deserved a shout out on an awesome virtual band concert!  When you realize that our 5th graders have never played before it is pretty impressive to see!!!  Below are two links to both concerts from the Dyer building and Karcher building!  Enjoy!!!  
• Dyer 5th and 6th grade Montessori Virtual Band Concert!  
• Karcher 5th Grade Virtual Band Concert!

Article this week!  

This will bring some humor to your week :))))))  

Information/Reminders:  

• Monday, May 10 - 7-8 BLT Meeting in the library from 2:40-3:30, yes... in-person!
• Focus will be on the end of the year activities!  
• And... I hope to be able to share the teacher schedules with you as well!  The goal was do to that last week but, well, other things came up!  
• Monday, May 10 - K-5 District Essential Skill Committee Meeting in the Karcher library from 3:45-5:15.  
• Just wanting to share the focus with all of you so you are "in the know" of what is taking place K-5!  
• Building level teams will review the specials schedule, lunch schedules, and thoughts on the times interventionists would be in each building.  
• The team will also work to determine when their 30 minute Skills Group time will be because, come fall, every K-5 building will have a Skills Group time where the focus is on intentional teaching using our iReady data to form instructional groups to accelerate learning for all students.  
• Lastly... we hope to also discuss:  
• What adjustments should be made to the report card so it matches what we are doing with Essential Skills (meaning... what is  ready to be adjusted?) 
• Use of the BASD Learning Habits Rubric 
• Spring iReady Diagnostic 
• Everyone should of started testing your students in math and/or reading for the Spring Diagnostic.   
• Grading Window - The grading window will open Monday, May 10 and close on May 21 at 3:00!
• Monday, May 17 - Staff Meeting in the BHS Library from 2:40-3:00 
• Thursday, May 20 - 8th Grade Recognition!!!  
• Students and staff should show up at 6:15.  
• Students should gather in the auditorium from 6:15-7:00.
• Each student is allowed to have a maximum of FOUR people in attendance.  
• The recognition program will be in the BHS gym!  
• Doors for parent seating will open at 6:15.  
• The ceremony typically runs about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  
• Friday, May 21 - Last day of school!!! Dismissal will be at 12:00 for students!  The afternoon then is a workday for you... grades will be due by 3:00!!!  
• Monday, May 24 - All teacher's checkout K-12!  

Picture from this past week!  

Roman Reader's Theatre with Brad Ferstenou in 7th grade Social Studies! 

Did you know you could make THIS from just toilet paper, water, and paint?!? I didn't either!  Art with Jennifer Pelnar!

A friendly game of dodgeball never hurt anybody!

Math intervention with Sue Whittaker!  She sure doesn't have some awesome math games focusing on specific skills for students!

Old Karcher Open House was a success on the two days we opened up the building to the public.  If I had to guess I bet 500-600 people came through!

May 2, 2021

  

KUDOS!!!  

• It is TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK!!!  Thank you to ALL of our teachers as this has been a year for the books that is for sure!!!  Annie and I hope the things planned for you this week show just how much you are appreciated!!!  
• Monday - Bagels, cream cheese, and amazing cinnamon bread!  
• Tuesday - Carnitas for lunch!  They are LEGIT!!!! :))) 
• Wednesday - A little pick me up snack that will be in your rooms when you arrive on Wednesday as we all know sometimes we don't get to have lunch as planned so we thought a few snacks might be needed!  
• Thursday - Sometimes nothing beats a sub from Subway with some chips!  
• Friday - We cannot have food items without a donut in the mix!  So... Friday will be donuts and coffee from The Coffee House!  
• We truly hope you enjoy it all and enjoy time together this week!  We LITERALLY have 3 weeks of school left THREE!!!
• "Celebrating 225 Robert Street" was a HUGE success this past Saturday.  If I had to guess I would say 200-300 people came through.  
• The second date for community to come through old Karcher before it starts the demo process in a month (crazy right) will e this coming Friday!  

Videos this week:   Remember this one!  

 

THANK YOU TEACHERS!

Information/Reminders

This Week:  

• Monday, May 3 - Can begin testing for the Spring iReady Diagnostic 
• Monday, May 3 - 6-12 District Essential Skills Meeting after school from 3:45-5:15 via Zoom!  
• Tuesday, May 4 - Home Track Meet!  
• Wednesday, May 5 - PLCs this week... continue our work to ensure your "At a Glance" documents are accurate.  Use your PLC time for your SLOs and PPGs... 
• Those are two GREAT items to focus on within PLC this week.  

6-8 Information:  

• Furniture will start to arrive onsite for the new building on May 17th.  
• James Farrell will start to move items from the storage rooms at old Karcher to the storage rooms in new Karcher.  
• 2021-2022 Teacher Schedules will be finalized this week, shared with BLT, and then entered into Skyward!  
• Once shared, BLT members please share with your teams and have them review looking for any mistakes, etc.  Then... get that information back to BLT members and then BLT let me know!  

Other Information:  

• This past Monday night the board did a reconfiguration (voting) for the seats within the board.  Below was the final decisions based on board votes for positions:  
• President:  Peter Turk 
• Vice President:  Barry Schmaling 
• Clerk:  Marlo Brown 
• Treasurer:  Taylor Wishau 
• If you are looking for some PD to do over the summer we can use some Title III funds to have teachers attend these ELL trainings: https://login.myquickreg.com/register/event/event.cfm?eventid=28973. 
• It's 3 days over the summer, and it is online through zoom so people do not have to worry about transportation. Academic language is a particular area of weakness for our secondary ELLs, so this would be a great resource to teach us how to better close the gaps for our ELL learners. 
• Student Chromebooks:  
• Please collect ONLY chromebooks of BHS Seniors and any other students not returning to the district next fall.  
• All other devices should be sent home with students for the summer.  
• They will need to bring the devices back to be used in the fall.
• Chromebook Carts - K-5 Schools
• Chromebook carts will be used in all classrooms for the fall of 2021 for all K-5 teachers.
• Students will have the opportunity to keep the devices in the cart, and also the ability to take them home as needed.
• New power cords will be provided, so they can be reinstalled in the carts.
• Students can keep the cord they have at home for use when the chromebook is not at school.
• Scott is in the process of ordering power cords, and will let you know when I am ready to send them to schools.
• Chromebook Carts - 6-8 KMS and 9-12 BHS
• Students will take devices home on a daily basis for the 2021-2022 school year.
• There will be carts in 6-8 KMS and BHS for loaners in the LMC.
• Additional power cords will be ordered as needed so that teachers have a few in their classrooms.  

Picture from this past week!  

Students in Life Skills with Sue Bekken and Katie Newholm enjoying an ice cream sundae!

7th graders with Brad Ferstenou looking at ancient Rome!  :)))

 

April 25, 2021

   

KUDOS!!!  

• Thanks again to Stacey Steeples, Pam Bauer, Michele Pulera, and Kim Moss for all of your help within the office and library!  You do so much behind the scenes and we all want you to know how much we appreciate you all!  
• Kudos to a great start for our Forward testing!  Though we know we don't want to ever use a full day for testing in the future you all did a GREAT job making the best of the situation for our students. Thank you all for troubleshooting, maintaining an even keel, and providing strong testing environments for our students!  
• Students who were here on the 22nd for the most part completed all the tests slotted for the day!  GREAT news when it comes to makeup testing needs. 
• Please get any student testing completion questions to Steve Berezowitz or Annie Phillips!  
• Congrats to Barb and Steve Berezowitz as their oldest daughter, Maddie, is on the University of Kentucky volleyball team who WON the NCAA National Championship this past weekend!  
• Maddie also was selected as the NCAA Elite 90 Award Winner!!!  Read below... SO AWESOME!!!  
• Congrats again Barb and Steve!  

In lieu of an article:  

Below is an email from a 7th grade student.  Her words provide us all with great reminders of why we need to continue to ensure students and ourselves keep masks on throughout the school day! 

Good afternoon,

      I'm writing to you regarding stronger enforcement on masks. Many others, myself included, believe that Burlington Area School district must do a better job on this. 

     I am currently in the 8th grade, and am attending school in-person and full time. I have found that an average of 9 people per class are wearing a mask incorrectly. I decided to write this when 7 people are wearing no masks at all in my 6th hour class with Mr. Crammer as a substitute. Seeing this happen makes me feel unsafe in class, and uncomfortable. I am proposing higher action done on this, or punishments for those who do not comply. Though the mask mandate for Wisconsin is no longer in action, Covid is, and it is a school rule to have a mask on. It has been proven that when a carrier of Covid is wearing a mask, the chance of contamination for others is significantly lower than without one. Seeing this being disregarded so much is very concerning to me. I do see every teacher with a mask on correctly, though when they see people not wearing one or one incorrectly, nothing is done. 

     From what I can see, I would estimate around 65% of students wearing masks incorrectly. I am requesting we do something other than a "reminder" for these people. It is true that students are able to say something, but they have. Many students are told inappropriate and bad things when telling others to fix their mask, and many students deal with social anxiety. Of course there are people who are medically incapable to wear a mask, but this is disregarding them. I suggest students be given detention for not having masks, or students be moved when having masks on incorrectly.

      I hope you can see where I'm coming from, and I anticipate a solution. I completely understand if you are not in a place where you can do something, though I am concerned for the health for my teachers and classmates. I do appreciate whats already been done, though there really needs to be more.

Thank you so much for your time,

(Student) 

Information/Reminders:  

• Monday, April 26 - Continuation of Forward Testing for our 8th grade students.  
• Testing will be taking place in Social Studies, Science, and ELA this week.  
• So... as a reminder... keep the noise level down to continue providing a strong testing environment for our students!  
• Monday, April 26 - BLT Meeting to finalize P/T Conferences starting at 2:40 via Zoom.  This BLT meeting should be a quick one!
• Annie will send the Zoom Link!
• Monday, April 26 - District K-5 Essential Skills team will be meeting again to review and strategize about how the instructional minutes will look for K-5 so that we have consistency across the district within all 5 elementary schools!  
• Meeting in the Karcher library from 3:45-5:15.   

Additional End of the Year Items!  

• SLOs & PPGs - Should be submitted by Monday, May 10th.
• Thursday, May 20 - 8th Grade Recognition @ 7:00pm
• Friday, May 21st - Early Release Times for each building: 
• 12:00 - BHS/Karcher (7-8)
• 12:50 - Dyer & Karcher (3-5)
• 1:00 - Waller & Cooper
• 1:10 - Lyons & Winkler
• School Keys - End of the Year Return!!!  
• EVERYONE... across the whole school district will need to turn in their keys to the head secretaries in each building. Each secretary was sent a list of all staff and all the issued keys you should have. At some point, it is suggested that you take the time (prior to the end of the year) to check-in and see if all the keys you have are the ones the district says you have. That way, if one is missing you have time to locate the key!
• Key turn in will be part of the staff check-out at the end of the school year.
• "Closing of Karcher"  
• Below are additional dates (besides May 1 & 7) that are important dates for you to be aware of when it comes to the "Closing of Karcher".  As you know, the current building we are all in will be coming down this June.  Prior to that we have a series of events/needs to honor the memories and ensure the district has what it needs from old Karcher before it comes down.  Below is the series of events that will unfold in the weeks to come! 
• Salvaging Mementos - June 4 & 5
• Both of these dates are set for staff and the community to purchase items of interest prior to demo. Think of this as a "rummage sale". The "why" behind taping items BASD wants with the colored tape in old Karcher especially was needed so we know what we have interest in selling and determining prices for items.
• We will most likely have set locations in the building where all items for sale will be housed for the community to look through, again, still in the planning stages of this but wanted to share what we have determined so far!
• Police & Fire Training
• Following June 5th we have agreed to partner with the Burlington Police and Fire Departments for them to use old Karcher for necessary trainings prior to demo starting on June 14th.
• New Karcher Open House
• The new buildings interior will be completed this May with the furniture going in the building in May as well.
• The site, however, will not be completed, therefore, the new building will not be open for use until the start of the school year. We might use the office area for some district office staff throughout the summer as we work to remodel the 209 building for the new District Office location and remodel Lincoln School (where the current DO is located). However, student activities (camps, etc) will not be allowed to use the new building this summer.
• 6-8 Student Open House will take place artthe startof the school year for the incoming 6-8th grade students and their families on August 31st.
• The dedication of the new building, with the Community Open House, will take place on September 25th. Perhaps you are wondering why after school starts? The desire is to have the building have some life to it... staff and student items in the building!
• 2021-2022 Start Times for K-5  
• School Start Times K-5 
• Dyer, Waller, and Cooper (in the city schools) 
• 8:10-3:20 
• Lyons, Winkler (neighborhood schools) 
• 8:15-3:25 
• May 24th and May 25th  
• May 24th is an inservice day where the focus of that day will be checkout - you won't be able to check out on Friday, May 21st.  The second thing we will be focusing on for the 24th is ensuring everything is ready for all of the moves that have to happen across the school district.  
• Staff handbook language regarding the use of personal days:  
• "personal leave will not be granted during the first or last week of a semester, or on an in-service day.” 
• “personal leave during these periods may be approved for personal business that cannot be rescheduled for a different time at the discretion of the District Administrator or his designee.”
• May 25th is a comp day for certified staff.  

Pictures from this week!

Might seem like a silly picture but this shows the carpet and double doors that a are installed for the gym entrance from Robert Street!  

Bleachers going in...

Can see the large glass door is shut here 

(closed as they are working on cleaning the building!)

Lockers and TVs are being installed.  There will be a waterfall counter (maple) on top of the lockers that will go to the floor on both ends.  This was a "Jill" design as the architects have never done something like this before!  

Whiteboards in the large academic corridors!  Basically EVERY space in this building is an instructional space!

Academic classroom with the TV installed (not totally finished here but cool to see the progress)

SGI Room (Small Group Instruction Space in an academic wing) 

Different view of "Karcher Middle School".  You can also see the stained concrete in the commons area here.  

Cool viewpoint!

Main Entrance by the main office.  Showing the progress of the double door secure entrance along with the carpet at the entrance as well.  

Bench in the main entrance corridor.  The maple wood was installed that makes up the seat, side walls, and top of the area.  The white box is a location for a TV for signage to always be on, etc.  

Entrance to the gym!  

Students in 8th grade ELA with Alyssa Riggs!  Working on the development of a theme!