News

The email below was sent to Lineville families and staff on January 13, 2022. 

Dear Lineville Families and Staff,

This letter is to notify you that Lineville Intermediate School has surpassed the threshold of 3% of students and staff testing positive for COVID-19 this week. As a result, all students, staff, and visitors at Lineville will be required to wear face coverings at school for a two week period beginning tomorrow, Friday, January 14, 2022. If students attending school do not have a face covering, one will be provided for them.

The last day of the temporary face coverings requirement will be Friday, January 28, 2022 pending a reduction in the COVID-19 positive case rate at school during the next two weeks.

The excerpt below is from an update shared with all District families and staff yesterday.

Increasing Trend of Positive Cases in HSSD

Since January 1, we have observed an increase in the number of students who have tested positive for COVID-19. Staff positive cases have dropped after a slight initial increase. We are monitoring positive case counts and investigating potentially linked cases on a daily basis. We will be evaluating whether additional safety measures such as temporary mask requirements or classroom quarantines are necessary based on thresholds we shared at the December 13 Board of Education meeting:

• When there are five (5) linked positive cases in a classroom/school setting, we may temporarily quarantine the class to limit the spread of COVID-19.
• If there is over a 3% positivity rate in an individual school, we may impose a two-week mask requirement to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Please continue to visit the HSSD COVID-19 website for more information and call the HSSD COVID-19 Hotline (920-662-7233) to leave a message with test results or to ask a question of our school nurses.

The HSSD COVID-19 dashboard is updated on a daily basis weekdays with school by school data on positive cases and individuals in quarantine. We are also cleaning and disinfecting all of our classrooms and the school on a daily basis.

From January 19 – 21, 2022, school board members and school administrators from around the state will gather in Milwaukee for the annual Wisconsin State Education Convention, hosted by the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators, and Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials. The Education Convention offers school leaders opportunities to learn from peers and national experts on a variety of topics key to running an effective school district including school finance, school laws, equity and access, and social and emotional learning.

Continued education is a key element of the leadership philosophy shared by the Howard-Suamico School Board and HSSD Administration. The four HSSD school board members and three members of the administrative team attending are grateful for the chance to learn in person this year.

In addition to attending and learning, school leaders can apply to lead a session teaching their peers. In the past, HSSD board members and administrators have had the privilege of sharing the story of our district in this way. This year, our superintendent Damain LaCroix will share how our community has strived for unity over the past year, leading to the successful passage of two referendums and high staff satisfaction rates during a period of great political and social unrest.

The annual State Education Convention is just one way the Howard-Suamico School Board lives out its mission: to enact policies and allocate resources to develop all students’ full academic potential and to promote their social and emotional growth. For more information on the board’s mission and governance practices, visit the Board of Education page on the HSSD website (www.hssdschools.org).

 “Partnership is giving, taking, learning, teaching, offering the greatest possible benefit while doing the least possible harm.”  Octavia E. Butler, “Parable of the Talents”

When schools, businesses, and community organizations work together to support learning and promote student achievement, everyone benefits.  The Howard-Suamico School District works to forge meaningful partnerships resulting in improved program quality and more efficient use of our resources to achieve our District goals.  Highlighted below are just a few of our partnerships.

Our school nutrition program partners with David Schneider, an AmeriCorps Farm to School member.  He assists in coordinating the purchasing of healthy and fresh foods for school nutrition with local Wisconsin famers.  He also provides nutrition education for classes and assists with a summer school program called Inspiration Acres, an experimental plot of land in front of Bay Port High School.

The HSSD has initiated a Computer Science Advisory Committee to provide guidance for our computer science initiative and to assist students with computer skills for their daily lives and future careers.  Members of this committee share the needs of our current labor market, post-secondary programs, and computer science careers.  To assist the District in developing the most efficient and effective pathway for our students, we have partnered with community members possessing computer science experience in business and post-secondary education institutions, alumni, current students, teachers, and administrators.

Bellin Health and Prevea Health were recently recognized by the Wisconsin Association of School Boards and HSSD for their partnerships with the District.  Bellin Health provides athletic training staff to keep our athletes safe and healthy.  Bellin doctors also provide input to our operations related to COVID-19 mitigation and safety.  Prevea Health provides an onsite treatment facility for employees and staff and helped coordinate a student-led COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Bay Port HS in the spring of 2021.

The Howard-Suamico Education Foundation is sponsoring Leadership HSSD, co-chaired by Bill Hawker, HSEF President, and Superintendent Damian LaCroix.  This program partners with community members who want to be more active in schools, have an awareness of district operations and governance, and understand leadership principles.  The District provides leadership materials, as well as the sharing of personal experiences from current staff and community members.

Captain’s Academy is an alternative education program offered to students that are struggling to succeed in the traditional setting at Bay Port High School.  In partnership with SMT Machine & Tool Company, owned by Russ Styczynski, students attend school at this off-site facility four days a week for an individualized academic plan and volunteer one day a week at NEW Homeless Shelter.

Village administrators from Howard and Suamico meet during the school year with the HSSD board to share information.  The HSSD provides updates on the post-referendum progress and legislative updates affecting education while the villages provide information on building projects and housing developments which could impact future student enrollments.  

Partnerships provide an opportunity for all parties to cooperate and solve challenges.  Perhaps Helen Keller said it best, “alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”  For more information visit www.hssdschools.org.

The past 20 months have certainly presented some very unique challenges across all facets of our society due to the global health crisis that resulted in the national government stepping in and creating an influx of one time relief funds for public education through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act.

The CARES Act provided approximately $31 billion to help school districts from all across the country respond to changes in student needs due to COVID-19. As part of the CARES Act, the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Grant Program was established. The ESSER Grant Program consists of three stimulus bills that provided over $2.3 billion to local educational agencies (LEAs) in Wisconsin.

The table below, from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction website, provides a summary of the funding for ESSER under each of the stimulus bills. The final row shows the amount allocated here in the Howard-Suamico School District.

These funds have been used to address the unfinished learning that occurred as a result of the mandatory school closures and the various mitigation efforts that were employed as a result of COVID-19. While the influx of these federal dollars played an important role in funding pandemic related expenditures, the Wisconsin State Legislature will need to backfill the funding gap when these grants expire. Prior to the next biennium budget, the School Board will be advocating for additional state dollars to be allocated to public education so that funding levels remain consistent.

These advocacy efforts are an important part of the School Board’s work. We will continue to maintain purposeful connections, meaningful relationships, and continued communication with our elected officials in order to share the potential impact of any budget or policy decisions.

For additional information about the Howard-Suamico School District or how you can support these efforts, please visit www.hssdschools.org.

Since 2005 the Howard-Suamico School Board has leveraged the Policy Governance® Model of board leadership. This model can look and feel quite different from a typical school board, but every HSSD board since 2005 has re-affirmed the usefulness of the model, and worked to refine and improve it over time.

Put simply, Policy Governance® tasks a board with focusing on organizational ENDS (the outcomes the board expects the organization to achieve), rather than MEANS (how we achieve those outcomes). Rather than defining how to achieve the ENDS, the board sets limitations on the acceptable MEANS. This allows the organization’s chief executive (or superintendent in our case) the latitude to achieve the ENDS in any way they see fit – within the boundaries set by the board. This concept is often called “freedom within fences.”

In a school district setting, Policy Governance® allows a board to focus on the most important organizational purposes (ENDS), while delegating the daily operations of the district to the skilled professionals best suited to the job. The board then monitors performance as a measure of how effectively the ENDS have been met, and the degree to which the superintendent has remained within the defined limitations. The board also monitors its own practices and its interactions with the superintendent, and is involved in continuous improvement and refinement of the model to fit the ever-changing needs of a 21^st Century school district.

To the outside observer, this governance model may feel like a system in which the superintendent operates independently and with unilateral authority. In reality, the board serves as not only the ultimate governing authority in the district, but an essential link between the residents of the district (called Owners) and the superintendent. The board represents the public’s interests to the superintendent, and holds the superintendent accountable to meet the high standards expected by the district.

“A carefully crafted, conceptually rigorous purpose of governance….forms the heart of board effectiveness.” ~ John Carver, creator of the Policy Governance model

For more information about the Howard-Suamico School District Policy Governance Manual please visit our website at www.hssdschools.org.

During our budget hearing and annual meeting September 27, community members received a detailed review of the school district’s 2021-2022 budget and voted to adopt it as presented. During the meeting on October 25, the Board of Education approved a total tax levy of $31,733,728, which supports a district budget of $180,906,619. This represents an increase of 47.66%, or $86,221,055, from the 2020-21 budget.  The significant increase is due to the successful April 2021 facilities referendum and related debt issuance.

Due to aggressive debt reduction and refinancing strategies approved by the Board, this levy will result in the school’s portion of our property taxes decreasing to a rate of $8.99. The budget, just as in years past, establishes that we continue to value innovation, investing in our staff, driving academic performance for every student, financial stewardship and long-range fiscal stability.

Relatedly, Board members have engaged in continuous legislative advocacy efforts, specifically pertaining to the State’s 2021-23 biennium budget. The advocacy efforts also continue with local municipalities utilizing federal grant dollars (ESSER) in support of HSSD schools.  Additional details on the ESSER grant program can be found on the District’s website.

Over the next few months Board members will resume planning strategically for the future.  To inform this process, a community engagement survey will be sent out early in 2022 to gather additional input from our community.  Please look for it during the new year and share your thoughts with us!

For more information about the Howard-Suamico School District budget please visit our website at www.hssdschools.org.