In one of my other endeavors, I serve as Chair of the Waukesha Education Foundation (WEF).
The WEF raises money to give back to the District in grants, scholarships, and endowments. These funds can only be used for programs and opportunities outside of traditional education rigor. In short, the WEF accentuates the learning experiences for the students in the Waukesha School District.

As the WEF Chair, my proximity to the District often encourages comments from parents and other concerned parties about the extreme financial challenges confronting Waukesha schools. After explaining what the WEF can and cannot do, their follow-up questions mostly deal with "How bad is it really?" and "Why isn't anybody doing anything about it?"

Answer to question #1: It's bad...really bad! And unless something changes, almost immediately, it will have a compounding effect which will be felt by students, parents, teachers, area businesses (employers), real estate agents, and everyone else in the path of this ripple. Larger average size classes, continued cuts in staffing, elimination of "unneeded" (band, sports, drama, clubs, DECA) programs, and many more cuts are awaiting us in the upcoming years.
Alarmist opinion??!! No - Much more a realist approach!!

On to question #2: No one person can do anything about it! The basic State funding program (forged in the mid-90's) increases the amount of money for the District in lesser amounts then the District's costs increase. In this scenario, and in order to balance the budget, cuts must be made. One can argue where to cut costs including educator salaries and benefits, class size, get back to "readin', writin', and 'rithmetic," and many other theories. The facts are; Cuts are happening as you read this and every local, legal remedy is being considered by the Waukesha School Board.
In summary: "District funding is insufficient to maintain status quo, and there is nothing any one person can do!" There are opportunities for change available, but in all sincerity, it will take many to accomplish this.

Writing to Gov. Doyle is one avenue - but why stop there? He's 60 miles away in Madison. Get your local State Representatives attention - this is theirs and our "Ground Zero", and isn't this their official purpose anyhow - to represent us? And if they cleverly and conveniently push the blame off on Doyle, high taxes, Funding Formulas, the opposing political party, etc., ask for their "clear and concise" professional and personal opinion on what is occurring and what the effects will be if this problem continues? Simplistically raising taxes for Waukesha schools won't be the answer from any currently-elected officials, and it's truly not a good solution long-term.

Now is a very good time to get educated on the challenges of school funding today! There are workshops and listening sessions occurring. Visit one and learn more. If you sense and believe in the importance and urgency of what lies ahead, then maybe you too will engage. And ultimately the power of one has the potential to become the voice of many.

 
The Sadie Hawkins Dance Night has arrived. Our daughter had her “group” over. The (8) seniors enjoyed dinner and stories after the hum-drum of perfunctory picture-taking. And now they are off to their second-to-last formalized school event before graduation.
It’s also my wife’s and my second-to-last event - the difference being that our run of events was quite a bit longer then our daughters’. We started “our” run (8) years ago with our oldest. A quick count shows our picture archive should have (35) different sets of pictures: Homecoming, Sadie’s, and Proms times (3) kids times (4) years with only the last prom to go.
Sometimes the same date shows up for multiple appearances – some “runs” were longer then others; often the faces changed as often as the Events; and the longest “same couple” series continues as our collegiate sophomore son is still dating the same sweet girl.
What about the dresses and sport coats they wore? Did we rent an offsite storage space to save these items – assumedly to give them back to the kids some day? Or is there a secret, very large closet lurking in my house where these clothes remain - hoping the styles (in the correct sizes?) come back some day?
Regardless, the lasting memories won’t be wrapped-up in the pictures (Who was that girl with Jordan at sophomore Homecoming anyhow?). And the dispersal of these “memorable, one-time” garments to the kids when they have room to store them will assuredly bring tears to my wife’s eyes as she realizes another phase of raising our kids has come and gone. And could I really remember back to where they had dinner at Homecoming 2001?
The memories started coming back to me tonight: The excitement of the girls looking for dresses with their Mom. Finding a sport coat that would fit my ever-growing son (4) weeks after we bought it. Secretive phone calls to the parents of the date to make sure the flowers matched the color of the dress or tux. Getting pictures printed the next morning (pre-digital era) so the kids could re-live the night the next morning. Post-prom sleepovers where we force-fed juice and breakfast to kids attempting to function on 2-3 hours sleep. Limos for (18) pulling into our cul-de-sac and then watching the guys get in before the girls. Dried flowers with petals falling off still hanging in corners of our basement from some long-forgotten time.
And now, after all the build-up, all of the anticipation, all of the hopes for “The Very Bestest Whatever Event ever”, it’s coming to an end… The kids have mostly forgotten most of the particulars of these events and they continue moving on. Amazing - they’re moving forward… and my mind and the memories are reflecting backwards.
Thanks, kids – thanks for the memories of your Homecomings, Sadie’s, and Proms.
 
 

 

Christmas arrived on December 22’nd this year.

Every year my family asks “What do you want for Christmas this year?” Every year I give the same ritualistic response: “Good kids”.

My wife received a call from the Waukesha North School Resource Officer, Terry Thieme. Officer Thieme related how our senior daughter, Caitlin, had been commended for turning in a “wad of money”. She found the money in a school hallway and, without disturbing or counting the money, turned it in to the Officer.

The bundle of money was $107! His call reflected on how a fellow student had reported the loss and was able to identify and get the money back. We were told the student had the money to pay for Christmas presents. We also received an email from the North H.S. Principal, Dr. Ryan Champeau, congratulating us on Caitlin's actions.

The Officer has a fund which rewards students for positive actions. He gave Caitlin $25. She rejected the reward because she was “just doing the right thing”. When pushed, she accepted the money and then promptly drove to the Elmbrook Humane Society where she donated it in the name of Waukesha North. (She has volunteered there over the years.)

Interestingly, Caitlin had not even found her actions worth mentioning at home…

It's rare when as parents you get concrete validation that your efforts and hopes are paying off. Our entire family is very proud of Caitlin from start to finish. Hers is a heart-warming story for the holidays, and I have to believe the student who lost the money has to be relieved.

Christmas came early this year to the Walt household, and I received everything I asked for and more – “Good…no…Great Kids!”