Kewaskum School District

Educating With an Eye to Future Success

Engaging Students and Igniting a Passion for Learning

Kewaskum School District may be small in size, but it is raising the bar in Wisconsin. This student focused district takes a thoughtful and proactive approach to everything from staff engagement and community partnerships to literacy and technology, ensuring that every learner has access to a relevant and high quality education.

Superintendent Mark Bazata shares,  “In the Kewaskum School District we work hard to be an exceptional place to work and learn, and that drives everything that we do.”

Prioritizing Staff for Student Benefit

With teacher shortages on the rise, Kewaskum is setting itself apart through exceptional staff engagement. “There’s been national teacher shortages, and Wisconsin is no different,” Bazata acknowledges. “So, we’ve been really focused on making sure that our staff feel like they are part of the school district. Right now, we’re really proud to say that we’re about twice the national average, according to our Gallup polls, on staff engagement.”

Efforts are made to ensure employees feel heard and supported, involving them in decision making, providing materials to do their jobs well, and offering continuous opportunities to learn and grow. “ We want them to be able to develop in our district, and we try to make sure that they feel like they’re being engaged in the work that they do,” he adds. “We have a variety of different levels of support for our staff, from our mentoring program, to hiring and having instructional coaches that work with them in different aspects of literacy and math.”

From Gaps to Growth

The post COVID era has brought new challenges to learning, including a sharp rise in chronic absenteeism. “Those are students who’ve missed 10 or more percent of the school year,” Bazata outlines. To address this, Kewaskum School District has hired a family liaison to work with those who have barriers in getting their children to school on a daily basis. Making sure that every student has a connection to at least one adult in the school is another part of the effort.

“This way, they’ve got one trusted adult that they know that they can come to at school who has their back. We feel like those connections help kids feel more comfortable, maybe even reduce some anxiety when it comes to coming to school,” he details. “As a result, we ended up dropping our chronic absenteeism almost in half.”

Literacy has also been an area of concentration. “We realized that we had some gaps in our learning and how our students were performing,” explains Jody Heipp, Director of Student Learning and Services. In response, the district launched a  curriculum adoption process across all grade levels. “We actually did a pilot with the entire elementary staff, which most districts do not engage in, but it was really important that we had the training and the data and the support from them on that” Heipp portrays.

A similar process followed at the middle school and high school, expanding from a small pilot to a schoolwide trial before the new resource was formally adopted. “It’s been a really positive experience of really examining that data and getting the support from the teachers,” she notes. “They were so on board, and they wanted to do whatever we can do to help our students thrive and learn.”

Math is another evolving area at Kewaskum and a new screening tool helps identify both learning gaps and academic strengths. Additionally, a math coach works closely with secondary teachers to meet their support needs.

When it comes to STEM and STEAM offerings, the district utilizes Project lead the Way, giving students access to hands-on learning opportunities. “At the elementary level, we really are focusing on that digital literacy piece,  to find out different ways to incorporate technology use,” says Heipp. “That just comes in earlier and earlier now. So we want to make sure our students are safe and know how to utilize the materials and resources appropriately, and how to incorporate AI into all that as well.”

A Path to Opportunity

The district has also built clear career pathways, guiding students to choose an area of interest and follow it through to graduation. “We know things change,” says Heipp. “So, we try to have those conversations earlier and earlier, with ACP already starting in elementary school, where counselors are talking to them about things they want to be when they grow up. We have a curriculum scope and sequence for that, starting at the elementary level on up, and then they engage in different programs that show where their strengths and their passions are, and we try to align that.”

With this in mind, students can explore their interests through volunteering, school-to-work programs, and youth apprenticeships. Notably, over the past five years the district has tripled the number of students participating in work-based learning opportunities. “We are really proud of that,” Bazata touts.

One highlight is a technology class where students teach senior citizens how to use smartphones. “We also have students who volunteer at our local retirement community,” he relays. “We feel like having those generational connections is really important for our community.”

Sound Finances and Smart Facilities

At Kewaskum School District strong programming is backed by equally strong fiscal management. “Wisconsin school funding has been tough to work with over the last decade,” points out Business Manager Keith Brightman. “But this district has no deferred maintenance. We have maintenance that we need to keep up with, but we don’t have things that we haven’t done that we should have done. That’s a good indicator of things being well managed in the past. We want to continue that trend as we look forward.”

Unlike many districts, Kewaskum has kept food service and custodial work in house, finding both cost savings and staffing consistency. Although Kewaskum outsources student transportation to Johnson School Bus, that has been a 50 year partnership. “We’ve worked well with them over a long number of years,” conveys Brightman. “We do take that seriously on the financial side. We make sure we’re competitive in what our costs are compared to other district’s negotiations and get other bids occasionally in that too.”

Making sure students have access to up to date technology is another priority. “As technology gets bigger, you think it would cost less because the costs go down, but we need more when things change,” Brightman expands. “We’ve been very good about keeping pace with what those needs are and replacing things as we need to. We don’t have deferred technology needs. We’re just keeping up and planning into the next steps, which is included in our operating budget that we have.”

Currently Kewaskum is planning a kitchen renovation at its elementary school, collaborating with Boelter, a foodservice design firm, to develop an updated layout that supports its focus on health and nutrition. This project follows the recent installation of a new cooler at the secondary school, completed with the help of CD Smith Construction. Bazata recounts, “One of our main goals is to try to incorporate as much fresh fruit and vegetables as we can, to help promote healthy eating in our school district. We were able to add that addition onto the high school so that our Food and Nutrition Director would have enough space to provide nutritious meals to students.”

Growth and Preparation

As Kewaskum School District looks to the future, its goals reflect the needs of students, staff, and the greater community. “We always want to make sure that our students are learning and that they’re prepared for the diverse futures that are ahead of them,” asserts Bazata. Getting the best return on the community’s investment is also key, along with creating a workplace where staff feel supported. “If the teachers and the staff are excited about coming to work and working with kids, then we’re going to see that translate to kids excited about being at school.”

A focus on continuous improvement is at the core of Kewaskum School District’s continued evolution. “The one thing we know that’s going to be constant is change,” Bazata imparts. “We need to be able to equip our students and our staff to be able to adapt and learn and pivot when necessary.”

That adaptability, combined with a strong sense of purpose and community support, sets the district up for continued progress.

“I love coming to work each day because we’ve got amazing kids, dedicated staff, very supportive families, the community, and a forward-thinking board that really sets us up, not just for success now, but in the future as well,” he concludes.

AT A GLANCE

Who: Kewaskum School District

What: A small but thriving school district serving 1800 students

Where: Kewaskum, Wisconsin

Website: www.kewaskumschools.org