Thursday, February 20, 2020

Payroll Update...New to Paychecks

FOR ALL STAFF
For employees who qualify for the Life and AD&D benefits, you will see that they will be listed separately in the benefit section of your pay stubs. In the past, these benefit had been combined, but separating them gives a clearer view of what you are receiving in benefits. These benefits will be included on the last paycheck each montr. The wording will be as follows:

LIFE INS
ACC Death & Dis

Please contact the Payroll Department if you have any questions.

March 2, 2020 Professional Day Focus

FOR TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS
The Professional Day on March 2 has a different focus for professional staff. Our K-6 educators will work on reporting student progress, while our 7-12 team will be engaged in their own learning. Agendas for the 7-12 professional day will be available on Monday, February 24.

Watching Movies At School: Clarity on Practices

FOR: ALL TEACHERS
Showing movies during school was a recent topic of discussion among community members and parents. Please review the points below for clarity on the use of movies in school:
-- The movies and clips shown should be tied to the curriculum
-- They must be shown in short segments to illustrate the learning target
-- It is necessary to have the copyright authorization on file. (Netflix, Redbox, and your own DVD does not authorize public viewing.)
-- Clips of R-rated movies are never shown in school.
- - If an R-rated movie aligns with the concepts and ideas being taught, a note can be sent to parents explaining what the movie is about and how it aligns with the learning. This allows the parent to decide if their child should view the film at home.

Please see your building principal if you have any questions.

Summer School Guidebook & Updates

FOR ALL STAFFDon't forget that the 2020 Summer School courses for reading and math will be open to ALL students in kindergarten through seventh grade. This is a great opportunity to invite all learners to continue their academic growth in literacy and math during the summer.

The 2020 Summer School Guidebook, which includes class details and schedules, will be available on the district website on Friday, February 21.

If you have questions contact Jenn Gennerman, director of continuous improvement and assessment.

Skyward Maintenance

FOR ALL STAFF
On Friday, February 21, the Technology Department will update Skyward with a required software release. The Skyward Finance update will begin at 3:00 p.m. and Skyward Student update will begin at 3:30 p.m. All staff will be required to be out of both these systems at this time. All work should be completed by 6:30 p.m. An all-staff email will be sent once completed.

Seclusion & Restraint Reminder

FOR PUPIL SERVICES STAFF
Please remember to use the seclusion and restraint documentation for every incident. The form is in the Resource Inventory.

Thinking of Changing Grade Levels or Buildings?

FOR TEACHERS
Any teachers who have potential interest in transferring to a new school within the district or a different grade level or department for next year should express that interest to their site administrator by March 2.

In the past, some sites have sent out an all-staff email pertaining to this topic. To ensure everyone has equal opportunity to express such an interest, the message is now coming to you in The Highlighter.  Expressing an interest in transferring does not guarantee that the request can be granted. However, as we go through our annual staffing allocation process, knowing of potential volunteers to shift buildings or grade levels is helpful.

Open Positions in the District

FOR ALL STAFF
These are some of the open positions found on WECAN within the district:

  • Administrative Assistant at Jackson
  • High School Counselor
  • Special Education positions at the K-12 level
  • STEM teacher at Badger
  • Aides at Decorah, Silverbrook, and the High Schools
  • Multiple 2nd shift custodian positions
  • School Nutrition at Decorah
  • Superintendent
  • And others
To view these postings, please visit WECAN at this link

Support Staff Evaluations & Multi-Raters

FOR ALL STAFF
This year all support staff members have moved from Halogen to My Learning Plan for their evaluation process, putting all staff in the district on the same system. The district discontinued use of Halogen for a variety of reasons (overly-complicated, costly, etc.)

As in the past, multi-raters will be used to support the development of accurate and comprehensive evaluations for some employees. The multi-rater process allows administrators to collect feedback from a variety of teachers who work with an employee. Administrators then merge that input with their own observations of the staff member to create a well-rounded summative evaluation that provides growth-minded feedback for support staff members. Multi-raters are not used for all support staff employees. However, some employee groups such as special education aides work very closely with teachers and the feedback provided by teachers for those employees has proven to be very beneficial in developing high-quality evaluations for aides that help those employees continue to grow.

A few things to know about this year's multi-rater process:
  1. The names of multi-rater will continue to be confidential and unknown to the support staff member.
  2. Multi-raters will be completed using a Google Form this year. The site administrator will send that information out to the appropriate multi-raters soon.
  3. Multi-raters are asked to provide their feedback on the selected support staff employees by the end of March.
  4. Ten-month support staff employees (school year employees like aides, etc.) will receive their summative evaluation as part of a meeting with their administrator prior to the last day of school.
  5. Twelve-month support staff employees will receive their summative evaluation as part of a meeting with their administrator by June 12. 
Please see your site administrator if you have questions about the support staff evaluation process.

IRS Updates Tax Withholding Estimator for 2020


FOR ALL EMPLOYEES
Here is important information from the American Payroll Association:
“The IRS released a new version of its tax withholding estimator, which states it is ‘designed to help workers target the refund they want by having the right amount of federal income tax taken out of their pay’[IR-2020-09, 1-14-20]. The IRS urges workers to see if they need to adjust their withholding by using the tax withholding estimator to perform a paycheck checkup. The estimator will give users specific recommendations on how to fill out a new W-4 online and provides a PDF with key parts to fill out. The IRS also said that it is important for people with more than one job at a time (including families in which both spouses work) to adjust their withholding to avoid having too little withheld. As in the past, employees can choose to have an employer withhold an additional flat-dollar amount each pay period to cover income they receive from...other sources not subject to withholding.”

The link to the IRS tax withholding estimator is 

Please remember, this will give you an estimation based on information you provide. Consult your tax preparer/advisor for more help. The West Bend School District Payroll Department cannot provide guidance on how to complete a 2020 W-4.

West Bend School District Family Newsletter, January 15

FOR ALL STAFF
Check out the latest edition of the West Bend School District Update, the bi-monthly family newsletter, on the website.

Career and Technical Education Month

FOR ALL STAFF
The West Bend School District joins the State of Wisconsin in celebrating Career and Technical Education Month throughout February. The district is proud to have a wide variety of CTE programming in the areas of Business and Information Technology, Family and Consumer Sciences, and Technology Education. Through the different programs of study, students are able to earn industry certifications, complete work-based learning opportunities through Youth Apprenticeships, and take technical college credit courses right at our high schools. During the 2018-19 school year, students at the high schools took 1,356 technical college credits through their CTE courses, which is the equivalent of $181,975.20 of college tuition that students will not have to pay.

The breadth of programming offered by our high schools allows students to complete course work in the following programs of study: Culinary Arts, Fashion and Design, Early Childhood Education, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Information Technology, Business Administration, Accounting, Graphic Communications, Engineering, Digital Media Production, Architecture and Construction, Manufacturing, and Welding and Automotive.

The district would not be able to offer these programs to our students starting beginning in 7th grade without the excellent CTE teachers leading these programs of study. Thank you to all of our CTE teachers for all you do for our students!

OT & PT Contract Information

FOR ALL STAFF
We are completing the required Request for Proposal (RfP) for our OT/PT vendor. Because the district contracts for these services, a review is required to ensure that we have the best vendor at the best cost. For the last 12 years we have contracted with Dominiczak Services and they continue to be a great partner. The timeline for the process includes posting the RfP, which was done this week, accepting sealed bids until April 17, 2020, making the selection by May 1, 2020, and presenting our findings to the board on May 11, 2020 so that the services can begin on July 1, 2020.

Documentation Log Question

FOR TEACHERS
We have received a number of questions pertaining to how teachers can view prior year documentation logs in My Learning Plan  This is a common question this time of year as we approach the due date for submitting the log (the due date this year is March 16).

Documentation logs from years 1, 2, and 3 all appear on the summative evaluation (in year 3).  During each year, the doc log will display your evidence and reflection for that year. To view the doc log of any individual year, pull up the evaluation for that year. The only place you can view multiple years at once, is on the summative evaluation in year 3. If you are a new teacher in years 1, 2 or 3, you will see the artifacts in their summative each year.

Remember to submit your documentation log by March 16.

Reminder: 1095-C Tax Form

FOR STAFF WHO WERE ELIGIBLE FOR THE WBSD HEALTH PLAN IN 2019
This is a reminder of information shared in last week's all-staff email.

Your 2019 1095-C tax form is now available for viewing/printing through Skyward Finance. Please click here follow the attached instructions to access your 1095-C.

WHAT IS FORM 1095-C?
The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, requires employers to offer health insurance coverage to full-time employees and their dependents. Employers must send an annual statement to all employees eligible for coverage describing the insurance available to them. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) created Form 1095-C to serve as that statement. Think of the form as your “proof of insurance” for the IRS.

WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH THIS FORM?
Keep your 1095-C for your records with your other important tax documents. YOU DO NOT NEED TO ATTACH YOUR 1095-C TO YOUR TAX RETURN OR SEND IT TO THE IRS.  You may use information from your 1095-C as a reference to help complete your tax return if you have not already done so.

PLEASE NOTE: If you do not have access to a printer or need additional assistance accessing your 1095-C, please contact Human Resources at 262-306-4800.

Reminder: 2020 HRA Funding

FOR STAFF ON THE DISTRICT HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN
This is a reminder of information shared in last week's all staff email.

2020 HRA funding amounts have been uploaded into the Diversified Benefits System.

Please take time to review your funding amounts by visiting the DBS website. If you don’t have a DBS account, please register an account by following the instructions in the “HRA & FSA Online Account Access” on the HRA Page. If you have questions regarding your funding, please contact Human Resources at 262-306-4800.

Please note: HRA rollover dollars will not be available until April/May. Staff will be notified once these monies become available.

For claim forms and instructions, please visit the HRA page on the HR Intranet.

Thursday, February 6, 2020

Submit Rolfs and Support Staff Award Nominations

FOR ALL STAFF
Remember to submit nominations for the Rolfs and Support Awards on or before March 6, 2020.  You can find the nomination form and a list of previous winners here.

Teacher Compensation Update

We are happy to share that on January 20, the West Bend School Board gave the Human Resources Department the direction to move ahead with finalizing the details of the new Teacher Compensation Plan. That plan is scheduled to be presented to the board in March for final approval.  Click here to learn some additional details about the compensation plan that will be presented to the board in March.

Teacher Equity

FOR TEACHERS
For a long time, the West Bend School District has received inquiries from a number of staff members at all levels about workload equity across the system. These questions have touched on topics such as:
  • Teacher instructional time comparison between levels (i.e. elementary vs. intermediate/middle school vs. high school, etc.)
  • Equity in the number of sections to be taught at each level and within each building
  • Accurately comparing levels that teach a number of sections (secondary) vs levels that do not measure workload in sections (PreK - 4th grade)
  • Impact that special education involvement plays in workload from level to level
  • Evening commitments by teachers at different buildings and levels in the system (conferences, concerts, open houses, etc.)
The district is committed to creating as equitable of a work environment as possible for its employees.  Therefore, we have begun studying these issues so that we can provide the correct type of equity in employee experience. Click here to read a more detailed communication about this work and our commitment to ensuring an equitable experience for our teachers across the system.

NEW Board Policy 671.21 ~ Expense Reimbursements

FOR ALL STAFF
A recently-approved policy by West Bend School Board is an amendment to the expense reimbursement policy. Much of the language in the new policy has been past practice. We would encourage you to review it before traveling or submitting for a reimbursement.

Particularly, a few points of interest: There is no longer a requirement to solicit a vehicle rental. Rather, staff are being asked to carpool when more than one person is attending the same event and needing a legitimate reason when not riding together. Second, thank you if you can pay particular attention to things like meal limits with detailed receipts and sales tax on items that should be exempt. Thank you for your assistance with this new policy and you are encouraged to contact a finance team member if you have questions or concerns.

2020 IRS Mileage Rate Change

FOR ALL STAFF
The IRS has issued a change in the 2020 standard mileage rate to $0.575, down $0.005 from the 2019 rate. When submitting travel reimbursements, please make sure this new rate is reflected. For those of you who have yet to turn in a 2019 travel reimbursement, the $0.58 can still be reflected but the request should be submitted in the very near future. Two forms will be available on the Intranet for the next two weeks with the appropriate mileage rate.

W-2 Supplemental Information

FOR ALL STAFF
W-2 information has been sent out and many of you are well into the fun of completing your 2019 State and Federal taxes. For those of you wishing to have a little extra information regarding your W-2, please click here to supplement what has already been shared. Questions, please reach out to Dani in payroll.

WBSD Parent Newsletter

FOR ALL STAFF
The January 29 edition of the West Bend School District Update (family newsletter) is available on the website.

Preparing Our Students for the WI Forward Assessment

FOR TEACHERS OF 3rd-8th GRADES & 10th GRADE
The Text Dependent Analysis (TDA) portion of the Forward Exam tends to be an area of difficulty for students. To help provide clarification for students, teachers are encouraged to:
  1. Provide students with instructional opportunities throughout the school year where the expectation is to read a text, reflect on the text to develop an idea, and write a constructed response in a single setting for roughly 30-60 minutes. The benefit is having students learn how to manage time to complete all three portions of this task (read, reflect, respond) within a single time period. 
  2. Provide students with background on how to create a quality constructed response. The key features to highlight with students include stating your opinion/topic sentence, identifying your text evidence, and providing rationale for how that text evidence supports your topic sentence.
  3. Schedule time for students to try the Forward Exam Practice Test and Sample Items, specifically the Online Training Tools. Once in the Online Training Tools, have students go to the Item Sampler and try grade level appropriate ELA Item Sampler, specifically Session 1 for the TDA. This provides students with an experience of this test platform before the actual assessment to provide concept of task and navigation.

Open Positions in the District

FOR ALL STAFF
There are currently a few open positions on WECAN within the district:
  • Administrative Assistant to Principal at East High School
  • Part-time 2nd Shift Custodians
  • Student Services Coordinator at Badger 
  • Special Ed Aide - High School
  • Special Ed Aide - Silverbrook
  • Classroom Aide - Green Tree
  • Classroom Aide - Head Start 
  • Various Coaching Positions at East and West High School 
To view these postings, please visit WECAN

Update on HR Building Hours

FOR ALL STAFF
HR will be cancelling building hours for the rest of the school year due to multiple upcoming leaves within the department. If you have any questions or concerns in the meantime, please always feel free to reach out to anyone in the HR department. Lenny Hanson, the HR director, has been at each site numerous times this year and will try to make even more visits throughout the spring. Never hesitate to stop him if you have a question, idea, or just want to chat. Thank you!

Supplemental Life Insurance Open Enrollment

FOR ALL STAFF 
On Monday, February 3, letters were sent through interoffice mail to all staff who are eligible to make changes to their supplemental life insurance coverage.

Please review the information in the letter for details about your coverage options. All eligible employees need to complete the enrollment form and submit back to HR by February 15, 2020, even if you are not electing to change any of your coverage

Please reach out to one of these individuals if you have any questions:
  • Katie Gourdine:  kgourdine@wbsd-schools.org   extension 51513
  • Nicole Gruenewald:  ngruenewald@wbsd-schools.org     extension 51547.

Summer School Program Approved, Check Out What's New!

FOR ALL STAFF
The planning for the 2020 Summer School program is well under way. Offerings will continue to include summer school classes, specialty camps, and Jump Start opportunities in August.

4K-7th Grade
Like in years past, the summer school classes from 4K-7 will include reading, math, and enrichment opportunities. New this year: The reading and math classes are open to all students and a teacher recommendation is no longer required. Efforts have been made to increase course offerings to engage more students in summer school. New course proposals have included three STEM/coding classes, classes that focus on healthy and happy lifestyle, and social/emotional skills and strategies.

8th-12th Grade
Summer school classes for 8-12th grade students will continue to include classes for credit advancement such as phy-ed and personal finance. Retake classes will be offered based on teacher availability and student need.

This year, all high school classes earning credits will be five weeks long to insure the instructional minute requirement from the WI DPI is met. 

Registration opens March 2 for 8th-12th grade March 9 for 4K-7th grade.

How to Find IEP Information

FOR ALL CLASSROOM TEACHERSBelow is a guide to help locate IEP information for special education students in your classroom. Important Note IEPs that have not been locked will not be available. You can only view the forms. You can not change them. If you have questions please connect with the student’s IEP coordinator.





Teacher Fellowship Opportunity

FOR MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is offering a teacher fellowship. Click HERE for more details.

February is Black History Month

FOR ALL STAFF
As you know, February is recognized as Black History Month. Within classrooms there are many opportunities to celebrate the diversity of black cultures as well as to recognize the accomplishments of black Americans in our daily lives. Two places you can easily find resources for your discussions during Black History Month are www.teachtolerance.org and the Undefeated 44. Two opportunities for celebration in our schools are at Badger Middle School on February 21, 2020 at 1:30 p.m. and at the Silver Lining Arts Center and Gallery on February 28, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. This event will highlight student art and performance.

Items below this post are from previous editions of the Highlighter