Schools

Superintendent Touts District's Year of Achievements

In her first 'State of the District' address, Gavigan focuses on key accomplishments in Whitefish Bay schools.

The past year has been an eventful one for the — there have been educational achievements, Gov. Scott Walker's budget reforms, and new and improved facilities.

Superintendent Mary Gavigan outlined some of the highlights of the last year in her first "State of the District" presentation on Tuesday. She said the district has plenty to be proud of in terms of academic excellence. Here are some of the standouts:

  • at Whitefish Bay High School last year was 26.6, with nearly 90 percent of students taking the test. That is the highest average ACT score in district history, the highest in the state and the second highest in state history.
  • Students in grades 3, 5 and 7 performed an average of 2.6 years above grade level in reading, math and language arts in the standardized Iowa Test of Basic Skills last year.
  • The districts’s attendance rate of 96.8 percent is higher than most other North Shore schools of comparable size.
  • Student achievement is also high outside of the classroom, as more than 80 percent of middle and high school student participate in extra-curricular activities each year.

“We are proud of all of those results and how they work together in terms of providing very excellent educational performance,” Gavigan said.

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The "State of the District" presentation was a recommendation that came out of a communications plan that a committee of district officials, village residents and students prepared with the help of a consultant this year.

Gavigan also briefed community members on the strategic planning initiative underway to refresh the district's existing focus plan.

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The district has also increased its energy conservation measures since adopting an energy management plan in 2003. In that time, the district has reduced its energy usage by more than 20 percent, saving $1.65 million in the process.

The  district also has the benefit of incremental enrollment growth over the past several years, which helped the district under Walker's budget. The state aid cuts were mainly offset by salary freezes, increased employee contributions to pension costs and health insurance plan design changes.

"We were able to bring in a balanced budget, renewing our commitment to those values that we have held strongly to over many years in Whitefish Bay," Gavigan said.

At the close of the presentation, Gavigan asked the audience to take a moment to reflect on Whitefish Bay's educational tradition by listening to current high school students' interviews with notable alumni, such as attorney Robert Habush; Gary Stern, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis; Harvard professor Anne Becker; and Milwaukee Brewers infielder Craig Counsell.


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