Today, a group of faculty members, administrators, School Board members, and students traveled north to spend the day at West DePere High School outside of Green Bay. West DePere implemented the five-period trimester schedule seven years ago following a multi-year study process. Today's trip was the final campus visit to observe the trimester schedule and to interact with students, faculty and administrators teaching and learning in this arrangement.
The site visit team was comprised of the following individuals:
Joe Ordinans, Math Department Chair
Dan Benson, Physical Education and Health Department Chair
Jill McElroy, Guidance Department Chair *
Marianne Wallach, Latin Teacher *
John Emanuelson, Orchestra Teacher *
Scott Heibler, Science Teacher
Angie Cicero, English Teacher *
Joe Ciurlik, Social Studies Teacher
Molly Navarre, Special Education Teacher *
Matt Wolf, Business Education Teacher *
Kat Hustedde, Visual Arts Teacher
Michele Ziegler, Parent and School Board Member *
Eric Dimmitt, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment *
Brett Bowers, Principal *
Two students, one freshman and one sophomore *
* HSST member
As occurred during the Michigan site visits two weeks ago, our team had the opportunity to hold extended conversations with job-alike peers, visit classrooms for extended and/or drop-in periods, hear a presentation from the principal and ask questions of him, talk with faculty members on a walk-up/informal basis, and interact with students.
The HSST is scheduled to meet this Friday afternoon, March 4. At that time, team members will process the information gathered from the West DePere site visit. Further, we will review and discuss the results from a phone interview conducted ealier this week; due to scheduling conflicts, representatives from Homestead and MTSD are not able to visit Neenah High School. Still, on Monday of this week Eric Dimmitt, Associate Principals Amy Monroe and Steve Sukawaty, and I conducted an extensive telephone interview with the Administrative Team and Counseling Department Chair from Neenah High School.
Following this Friday's meeting, I will post the major findings from the West DePere visit. Further, I will explain the timeline for concluding the schedule study process, making a decision about a preferred schedule at the committee level, and providing parent, student, and faculty information and input opportunities prior to a formal recommendation being made.
