Visions for the Whitefish Bay School District

The Whitefish Bay School District has embarked on a process to produce a focus plan for, it says, the direction of the school district. The current focus plan has been in place for a decade, so I don’t think that there is any doubt that a new plan is much needed.

This week I participated in one of the community focus groups asked to provide information to be folded into the focus-plan process. I cannot speak to the nature or breadth of the entire focus-plan process because that was not described to us. But I want to share a few observations from the small-group session.

Fewer than 10 of us were involved in the group, which was facilitated by two volunteers. We were provided with questions that can be generally described as asking us what is “good” and “bad” about the Whitefish Bay schools. While these sorts of general questions elicit general responses, we all had observations to share based on our experiences and the experiences of our children. I have some doubt that this was a state-of-the-art process.   

In any event, some common themes can be cobbled together: We all lived in Whitefish Bay because of the quality of the schools. The quality is captured in the schools’ academics, people, and activities. Yet we felt that there was work to be done. That work, as we identified it, can best be summarized as wanting to ensure that the students and parents in this district have the tools necessary to contribute in the unfolding society.

What, in particular, was identified? Foreign language and studies programs should continue to be emphasized and refined. The building blocks for all sciences need to be introduced as early as possible and certainly by middle school. A thoughtful and aggressive technology approach needs to be incorporated into classroom teaching for students—and in facilitating communication with parents in order to ensure that they have the information about classes, activities, and progress to assist their children. Finally, all children needed to be reached and taught in this district—those at the top, those in the middle, and those needing a boost.  

We are a long way (in years and expectations) from the days when our school district was the school house in the park across from the Whitefish Bay Public Library. We need a bold focus plan that is as questioning, analytical, and creative as the students that we want to graduate from Whitefish Bay schools.