Oneida Nation School System Earns Adequate Yearly Progress for 2006-2007

Late afternoon on Thursday, March 20th, we received a call from the Bureau of Indian Education, telling us the Oneida Nation School System earned AYP for the 2006-2007 school year. There was a recognition being held in Phoenix the following Monday for all BIE schools who earned AYP in their respective states. The BIE has schools in 23 different states.

For the Oneida Nation School System, making Adequate Yearly Progress or (AYP) means we follow the State of Wisconsin measurements of administering state assessments to students and making more than minimum requirements, according the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 legislation.

As written on the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction web site, AYP is defined by meeting each of four Adequate Yearly Progress Objectives. They are:

Graduation or Attendance – Elementary and middle schools must have an attendance rate of at least 85% or show growth over the prior year. High schools that graduate students must have graduation rates of at least 80% or show growth over the prior year.

The Oneida Nation School System had an attendance rate of 94% for the elementary school and graduation rate of 100%. The Bureau measurement for graduation was the number of students graduating compared to the number of freshmen four years previous, as reported in the Bureau system.

Test Participation – 95% of all students enrolled in the tested grades (3rd through 8th and 10th) must participate in the state assessments. This test participation objective is met using the current year’s participation rate or a two-year average.

The Oneida Nation School System did have 100% participation on the state assessments.

Reading - A school district must achieve a proficiency index of 67.5%.

The Oneida Nation School System did meet this with 67.5% exactly!

Mathematics – A school district must achieve a proficiency index of 47.5%.

The Oneida Nation School System had 52.5% proficient, which was above the cut off rate!

These statistics and others are electronically filed with the Bureau of Indian Education each school year, by June 30th. The Albuquerque office reviews the data and sends the ‘official’ letter to all schools, each year. This year the notification was later than previous years.

Article submitted by: Sharon Mousseau, Superintendent
Oneida Nation School System
 

FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT

The Maple Moon was very fruitful for our harvest this year. Both camps were going with much sap running for our boil downs. Even through the snow and unpredictable weather, we continued to have students, staff and volunteers assisting with the collections and boil downs. We especially want to thank Al Danforth for all the time and effort he put into the middle/high school camp at NHC. The elementary camp had assistance with Teddy Christjohn and Robert “Little Man” Webster. Thanks to all the students, staff, parents and community volunteers that made our harvest possible. We look forward to our April 18th Maple Syrup Luncheon. Hope to see you all there!

Congratulations are in order for 8th grader, Ms. Haley Hill and our high school Social Dancers, who took first place at the regional Wisconsin School Music Association solo and ensemble festival, held at West DePere High School. These winners will be advancing to State Competition on Saturday, May 3rd. You are excellent role models for our student population and we are proud of all of you! A special thanks to teachers Ms. Andrea Birbilis and Ms. Kal^na Brooks.

Spring MAP assessments begin with our new month, Kahsakayu tese Wehni tale, our Thunder Moon. This is a computerized assessment, given to students in second through 11th grade, this semester. We did this same assessment in the fall. It is one way our teachers can measure growth in reading and math from fall to spring. During our accreditation and Bureau of Indian Education visits, we are asked what assessments we use to measure student progress. We are required to use the Wisconsin State assessment, the WKCE each November. The results from this test are reported as part of the required Annual Report to the Bureau of Indian Education. We also use STAR reading and math assessments to measure gains.

We did have accreditation visits for both buildings this year. The high school had a team review them on March 18th and 19th. The elementary will host a visit on April 8th and 9th. The standards these teams review include the following:

Standard 1: Vision and Purpose
Standard 2: Governance and Leadership
Standard 3: Teaching and Learning
Standard 4: Documenting and using Results
Standard 5: Resources and Support Systems
Standard 6: Stakeholder Communication and Relationships
Standard 7: Commitment to Continuous Improvement

These items are rated on a scale from Not Evident, Emerging, Operational and Highly Functional. If there are standards that are lower than Operational, the school staff would need to work on them so all standards are operational or higher. Staff completed a self-assessment last fall and the team interviews staff, parents, students and reviews evidence of any areas that have been worked on, prior to the visit.

The Wisconsin Indian Education Association will be having their annual conference in Madison this year at the Madison Concourse Hotel & Governor’s Club. The Mission Statement of WIEA reads, “To promote and support education and educationally related opportunities for American Indian people in Wisconsin.” This year’s theme is “Native Pedagogy: Educating Our Way”.

We are fortunate in that two of our nominees did advance to the finalist level. Congratulations to Ms. Annette King, middle school teacher for advancing to finalist and earning the title “Wisconsin Indian Education of the Year”. Annette did earn the recognition of Am Vets Educator of the Year in January, this year. She truly connects with our students and families and teaches from the heart. A caring teacher is one of the best qualities Annette models for our students, as she teaches daily.

Congratulations also go to Alvin and Kim Summers at being nominated and earning state recognition as “Indian Parents of the Year”! Alvin and Kim have daughter Hattie Rose in Ms. Farbach’s second grade. They are very devoted to helping and attending school events, year round.

Awards will be presented at the banquet being held Sunday, April 6th, in Madison.

The month of April will be busy and full of activities including social dances on the 15th and 16th in the small gym, at the elementary. There will be Youth on the Farm day for 6th grade students on April 17th. Our Maple Syrup luncheon is on Friday, April 18th, for both buildings.

We look forward to seeing you during our last quarter of the 2007-2008 school year. Sharing our successes as our children learn and work together is what makes our community school of choice the strong program it is!

Sawehnisliyohak!

Sheri Mousseau, Superintendent

Tales from 4B
(Mrs. Reckelberg’s Class)

As we write this article for our school newsletter we are really still waiting for that warmer spring weather to arrive. But, as we wait our classroom is still buzzing with everything we do. By the time you read this the last quarter of school will have started. Time really flies as Mrs. Reckelberg always tells us. Since writing the last article we have done the following things:

1. Our class helped with tapping the trees, collecting sap, and been tasting our results. It has been very nice when we go to the sugar camp. Our Language and Culture time is at 2:15 so we really did get the nice time of the day. As a class we worked on writing a special poem called a cinquain type of poetry. This poem along with pictures from camp will be on display at our maple syrup lunch.

2. We want to wish Synala good luck in her entry to the state writing contest – “My Favorite Forest Animal.” Synala wrote an acrostic poem to enter this contest. Here is her poem.

By Favorite Forest Animal

Strawberries in my garden were eaten by snowshoe hares
Northern third of Wisconsin is where they are found
Oh! What big tracks-a span of 5-6 feet
Wisconsin hares are hunted using dogs, such as beagles
Shape of their back feet look like snowshoes
Have longer ears than rabbits
Over four million hares in Wisconsin
Exchanges a thin brown summer coat for heavy, white, fluffy winter coat

Hind footprint is in front of the front footprint when you see it’s tracks
A young hare is called a leveret
Really in danger-stalked by many predators
Eats late-chows down around 11:00 P.M.

We all wish you good luck Synala. Mrs. Reckelberg said you should hear very soon on how you did.

3. We have started our last reading theme for this year. Now Mrs. Reckelberg has us writing different types of poetry. We are enjoying this form of writing. In the next newsletter we will share some of these with you.

4. We are also going to start some letter writing to our troops as we approach the end of the year.

March is leaving us like a lion and it came in like a lion also. We all hope that warm April showers will bring those May flowers. Till next newsletter------Richard, Janet, Devon, Louisa, Synala, Lillian, Tawit, Kasey, Elianna, and Travis.
 

STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT JOBS

During the month of April, Students at Oneida Nation Elementary School will be learning about careers as part of career month. The theme for career month is: “Relating Skills to school and work.” Students will gain an understanding of how what they are learning will be useful in a variety of jobs.

Kindergarten students will learn about preservation of wild life, and how wild animals are kept safe. They will also learn about the careers of fire fighters.

First grade students will learn about the variety of animals that live in Wisconsin, and how their environment is studied and preserved. They will also learn about careers in the dairy industry.

Second grade students will learn about careers in nursing and police work.

Third and fourth grade students will learn about what skills are necessary to become a veterinarian, and about careers in the dairy industry.

Fifth grade students will learn about careers in the field of dentistry, and about police work.

Third through fifth grade students will also learn about what is involved in becoming a television meteorologist from the channel 5 weatherman, Justin Stinebrink.

Career month has three goals.
First, Students need to learn about the variety of careers available to them in the world of work.

Second, Students need to understand the connection between what they are learning in school and the skills and characteristics needed to succeed in specific careers.

Third, Students need to recognize that their friends and relatives (Native Americans) are already working in a variety of careers, and they can do likewise.

Article submitted by: Fred Sanderson, K-5 Grade Counselor
 

NEW STUDENTS FOR 2008-2009 SCHOOL YEAR

We are now accepting “NEW” student Application for the 2008-2009 school year, please contact Harriet Reiter in Student Services Department (869-4651) at ONES or Carol Martin, School Office (869-4308) at the High School.

RETURNING STUDENT APPLICATION

We ask that you as parents, make a commitment to return your child to the Oneida Nation School System for the 2008-2009 School Year. Attached to this newsletter you will find the Returning Student Application. Please fill this out and return it to school as soon as possible, we are beginning to plan for the 2008-2009 school year.
 

Reminder Reminder

Please slow down when driving through the school parking lot.

TRAFFIC
No stopping or standing is permitted in the bus loading and unloading zone. Pick up
your student in a regular place each day so he/she knows where to look for you.
Bikes are not encouraged because of the busy traffic on Seminary Road. Students who ride a bike are encouraged to learn the rules of the road and to have their bikes registered.

Parents/guardians who come to the school to pick up their student during or at the end of the school day must come into the main office. The office staff will summon the child to the office, and the parent will be required to sign the roster at the front desk indicating the students name and the time the student was removed from the school.

Article taken from Student Handbook

TELEPHONE CALLS

In order to avoid disruptions to classrooms from phone calls, all calls will be put to voicemail during the hours of 8:00 - 3:00 unless the teacher indicates that they are expecting a phone call from a parent.

ONEIDA NATION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL N7125 Seminary Road

P.O. Box 365

Oneida, WI 54155

(920) 869-1676

Office Hours: 7:30a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Student Hours: 7:45 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

ONEIDA NATION HIGH SCHOOL

N7210 Seminary Road

P.O. Box 365

Oneida, WI 54155

(920) 869-4308

Office Hours: 7:45 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Student Hours: 8:00 a.m - 3:08 p.m.

QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS

If you have questions or concern, please contact the following individuals at 869-1676

K-8 Staff/Curriculum/Policies - Sheri Mousseau

Technology - Travis Jiskra

Student Discipline -Aaron Manders

Special Education - Fay LeMense

Student Services - Yvette Peguero/Bob Ganka

K- 8 Day to Day Operations- Yvette Peguero

9-12 Day to Day Operations - Bob Ganka (869-4433)

High School Athletics - Mike Hanke (869-4308)

ONES Athletics -Tracy Christensen- (869-1676)

ONEIDA NATION SCHOOL SYSTEM

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS

Debbie Danforth, Chairperson

Carolyn Miller, Vice-Chairperson

Ron Hill Jr., Member

Candi Jo Cornelius, Member

Linda Mercier, Member

Melinda K. Danforth, Member

Tracy Metoxen, Member