Engagement with community remains a priority
By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
A significant goal of the Whitewater Unified School District board in the upcoming academic year is staying engaged with the community and advocating for the district on a policy and legislative level.
The board decided as much at the July 2 meeting of its Governance Committee at the WUSD Central Office, 419 South Elizabeth Street in Whitewater.
District Superintendent Eric Runez said the overall effort is in continuation of the Board’s previous goals.
“They want to continue their focus in their engagement with legislative issues,” Runez said, adding that the Board will then work to engage with stakeholders in the district, namely parents.
In order to accomplish its goal, Runez said the Board will use time in its regular meetings to discuss opportunities for potential engagement.
“Either at teacher meetings at the school or at any upcoming professional development or legislative gatherings, where they can show their support or advocate for the schools or WUSD,” are the opportunities Runez said the Board will seek.
Runez said the District’s Policy Review Committee recently recommended the Board appoint one of its members as a legislative liaison. Board member Kelly Davis will fill that role.
“Engagement has been a goal of theirs the last few years,” Runez said of the Board. “It doesn’t surprise me that it continues to evolve.
“They are elected to ultimately make decisions about the school district, as far as policy and finances. What does happen at the state level does have a significant impact on their decision making.”
At the June 29 special meeting of the school board members learned enrollment projections for WUSD over the next several years. Sarah Kemp of the Applied Population Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin presented her findings.
Runez said rural districts statewide are seeing enrollment decrease, and WUSD is no different.
The study examined the district’s history over the past 10 years. Total enrollment in the district is down by 100 students.
In 2005-06 the district’s total enrollment, Kindergarten through 12th grade, was 1,942 students. Total enrollment in 2014-15 was 1,842 students.
WUSD started offering four-year-old Kindergarten with the 2007-08 school year.
In the period between 2005-06 and 2014-15, enrollment at the high school level decreased from 837 to 765. Enrollment in grades six through eight decreased from 467 to 427 during the same period.
Enrollment in five-year-old Kindergarten declined from 467 to 427 between the 2005-06 and 2014-15 school years. Enrollment in four-year-old Kindergarten went from 130 to 119 between 2009-10 and 2014-15.
Kemp used four models to project future enrollment through 2024-25. Each of the four models show enrollment will decrease in the decade to come.
Depending on the model cited, elementary school enrollment is projected to decrease between 0.8 and 14 percent. Middle school enrollment is projected to decrease between 16 and 19 percent, and high school enrollment is projected to decrease between 0.1 and six percent.
“These studies give us a sense of maybe the direction of our enrollment,” Runez said. “I personally believe it’s hard to predict spot-on how much we’re going to lose. We anticipate further decreases in the enrollment.”
Runez said Kemp is going to do an aggregate study of data collected from population surveys of roughly 25 rural school districts, and will search for trends. Runez said WUSD is interested in Kemp’s findings.
Enrollment numbers are used to determine state aid for school districts. Runez said the numbers help WUSD anticipate future budgets, which factors into how the district determines future programming and maintenance needs, among other things.
