Row 1: Tanya Schmidt, Sarah Poquette, Janice Welsh, and Brad Strand. Row 2: Marcie Gundlach, Patti Vickman (Principal/NNPS Key Contact), Karin Derenne, Deb Rothenbach, Brenna Garrison-Bruden, Stacy Berger, Renee Larson, Pacqui Hiscocks, Margie VandenBoogaard, Sally Joel, and John Pieper. Not Pictured: Tami Goodwin, Ev Marg, Ava McCall, Dennis Kavanaugh, Rich Norenberg, John Toson, and Amy Weinsheim.
The action team for partnerships, called the Friends of Webster-Stanley Elementary Site Council Team, meets monthly. Team members include representatives from all other school teams and special programs. All are provided with notebooks of information on the team’s work on partnerships and school improvement. This year, the school revised team membership to include two fourth and two fifth grade students, and to ensure that members represent the cultural and socioeconomic diversity of the student body. Over 25% of students’ families speak languages other than English at home.
In the 05-06 school year, Webster-Stanley conducted a broad climate survey of all parents, staff, and 4th and 5th grade students. Topics included many areas of school improvement, including parental involvement. The results will be used in the fall of 2006, along with the school’s academic data, to inform the action team’s next 3-year strategic plan.
In 2006, three events to promote recreational reading were conducted for the Parent and Child Together (PACT) program. These included grade-level Family Literacy Nights; a read at home program – Reach for the Stars where students could earn points to obtain children’s books; and a Reading Rumpus with varied components including a book-reading by a Green Bay Packer football player, a videotape for parents and a teacher modeling how to read aloud with children, connections with the public library, free books for children, and more.
Partnerships at Webster-Stanley extend to the after-school program. Leaders of the Lighted Schoolhouse Program met for a Partnership Breakfast to share their vision, successes, and ideas to strengthen that program. The Lighted Schoolhouse provides students with homework help, character development, conflict resolution, career exploration, and other enrichment activities for students. The program also assists and communicates with families, and involves various community partners.
This year, important attention was given in the Rhythm of the Waves Project to increase understanding of the “ebb and flow” of immigration in Oshkosh. Third, fourth, and fifth grade students worked with community groups (museum, library, senior citizens) to gather information on immigration waves in Oshkosh. The project culminated in a community-wide event on the U.S.S. Webster-Stanley – a dream ship that gave people “boarding passes” to travel to different countries, see and learn ethnic dances, and sample traditional food from different cultures in Oshkosh.
The Oshkosh School Board framed a policy identifying NNPS as the preferred model for family involvement for all schools in the districts. In January, 2006, all school teams met at a retreat to share goals and objectives, celebrate successes, and discuss challenges and solutions to help improve partnership programs. For the third year in a row, Webster-Stanley was recognized as a State of Wisconsin Promise School, despite our high-poverty population. NNPS’s resources, support, and examples not only help a school improve its school-community relationships, but also provide evidence-based practices to involve all important stakeholders in the education of our youth.
See Webster-Stanley’s history of Partnership School Awards in 2005 and contributions to the NNPS collections of Promising Partnership Practices on the website, www.partnershipschools.org, in the section Success Stories. Visit the School Site Council at www.oshkosh.k12.wi.us/schools/webster_elem.cfm.