New Beginnings- August, 2015 (8/31/15) //www.williamsbayschools.org/pro/bulletin/rss_posts.cfm?threadid=2&memberid=886 Dr. Anderson's Blog - New Beginnings- August, 2015 (8/31/15) en-us Wayne Anderson //www.williamsbayschools.org/about/blog.cfm?posts=1&threadid=2#item_2 It is now time for a new school year to begin; the school supplies have all been purchased, the weather is turning cooler and the fall sports seasons are already underway. On Monday, August 24, the staff reported back to school for inservice training and to get their rooms ready for another school year. When I met with the staff members on Monday morning, I stated that a word to summarize this upcoming school year would be “change”. We are in the midst of several major changes during this upcoming year.

First, the sixth grade students will now be a part of the Middle/Senior High School and no longer part of the Elementary School. Over this past year, we have been working on updating our curriculum and schedule to accommodate this change. We also decided to make the school environment a little more colorful by painting some walls and pillars. Speaking about paint, I hope that the next time that you come to the Middle/Senior High School you look at the new mural that has been painted in the commons. This mural was partially donated by the graduating class of 2015 and portrays several of Williams Bay landmarks. We also painted some walls and pillars in the high school hallway to brighten up the corridors.

Next, our staff has changed considerably since last year. We will have sixteen (16) new staff members in the school district. Talking with long-time staff members, this is the most new staff that anyone can remember in their career. This past Monday morning, the new staff members were introduced to the staff at our morning session and took part in a luncheon Monday afternoon to honor the retired staff members. Though there were many reasons people chose to leave our district – retirements, marriage, and job promotions – no one left the district because they were unhappy. In fact, I have had numerous conversations with staff members about how much they would miss being a part of the Williams Bay School District staff. This made me feel proud and glad that they felt so strongly about their ties to this school district. We truly have a remarkable group of people working in our schools and I always feel proud to be a part of this group. You will be able to see pictures and a short biography of each of these new staff members in a coming issue of the Lake Geneva Regional News and also on our website.

Finally, one of our largest changes will be in our construction projects – the building of our new elementary school and our new baseball field. This will be the last year that students will attend classes in the current Elementary School that was built in 1916. Next year the entire student body will be contained in one site. If you have been watching the progress of the new building, you will have noticed that we moved a great deal of dirt during the summer in order to prepare the site for the new building. The foundations for the new building have now been completed and the form of the new building will start taking shape in the month of September. The new building should be enclosed by December. Staff members are currently participating in a number of committees to help select furniture, technology, playground and fitness center equipment. It is our goal to have our bid documents for these products developed by October/November and have all the materials purchased in early 2016. As part of the discussion for the opening of the new elementary school, we have also discussed how to say a proper “goodbye” to the current elementary school. Though the plans have not been finalized, the district will be holding several opportunities for graduates and community members to visit the school and possibly get a physical remembrance prior to its closure. The new baseball field is next to our softball field and will be completed by the end of October 2015 so that it is ready for play for the 2016 spring season.

Though there is a great deal of change, it is change that is being embraced in a positive and beneficial manner. As always I would like to thank you for your support. We could not provide the great educational system that we have here in the Bay without your support.

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