Dear Families,
On behalf of our entire staff and Board of Education, it is with great pleasure that I welcome you
to the Merton Community School District! I truly hope that you are as excited about the
upcoming school year as we are. Our staff has been preparing for a wonderful year and are
very excited very excited to see your child(ren) walk into our doors. It is going to be a great year
of learning for both students and staff. We have a tremendous amount of new ideas,
curriculums, instructional approaches, and spaces for all of our children to be exposed to. Here
are a few highlights of our District:
- Wisconsin Report Card - Significantly exceeding ranking with Merton Primary School
being ranked 3rd in the state of Wisconsin.
- Communication across all stakeholders
- Weekly Electronic Communication from the Building Principals
- Bi-Weekly Updates from the Superintendent including:
- Upcoming Board of Education Agendas
- Summary of Board of Education meetings
- District updates and reminders
- Teachers report grades, homework, and messages using Skyward
- Board of Education meetings are viewable online
- Our district has common behavior expectations across all grades 4K-8 (Positive Behavior Intervention Support, PBIS) - “The Merton Way”
- Continued support of our one to one (1:1) initiative to have every student 3rd-8th grade with a personal technology device (Chromebook)
- A 2:1 ratio of student to technology device (Chromebooks) in the Primary School (4K-2)
- Focus on the Core Subject areas while infusing 21st Century teaching and learning strategies. The District has recently adopted new Literacy, Social Studies, and Science/STEM Curriculums over the past 4 years.
- Utilization of Google Applications (Apps) by our students and staff. By using Google Apps, we continue to allow our students ways to collaborate and create together. As our staff capacity and learning grows, so will our students knowledge of using Google Apps. All of our teaching staff is Level 1 Google Certified.
- Strong commitment to Response to Intervention (RtI). Every grade level (4K-8) has time devoted to meeting the individual needs of our diverse learners. This gives grade levels and resource teachers opportunities to remediate and extend our students in the areas of math and literacy.
- Required STEM coursework for all students 5K-8th grade with a heavy focus on Project Lead the Way programming.
- Focus on individualized programming and growth. Our district uses Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) assessments to showcase your child’s growth in math and reading. The district also uses a common reading benchmark (Fountas and Pinnell) to see progress on the College and Career spectrum. Our literacy and mathematics curriculums are personalized to meet kids where they are at. Our district uses Everyday Mathematics in conjunction with the personalized learning of TenMarks and Dreambox to ensure students access concepts they are ready for beyond our rigorous curriculum. Our literacy program is built around Columbia University's and Lucy Calkin’s Units of Study. These programs and results are used to give us details of what your child is doing well, and areas of growth. We use these results to differentiate instruction as part of our RtI commitment.
As you can see, our district continues to adapt to the ever changing landscape of education, students, and society. We do our best every day to individually meet the needs of ALL learners knowing the diverse interests, skills, and experiences they all have. Please trust that your children are in great hands. I know they are as two of my own children join yours together in our school district.
Again, I want to want to welcome you to our district! I cannot emphasize enough to stay involved and communicate with your child’s teachers and administrators. We cannot educate your child alone, it is a community effort so thank you for your persistence and support of the Merton Community School District. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
Sincerely,
Ronald D. Russ, Ph.D
Superintendent
Merton Community School District
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