School Board Meeting Quick and to the Point, Top Five Portrait of Graduate Traits Detailed

The December meeting of the Whitehall School Board, held Tuesday, December 5th in the Whitehall Elementary Library, was short, sweet, and straight to the point, wrapping up in less than 45 minutes.

The biggest article of news came from Whitehall Schools Superintendent Hannah Nieskens regarding the state-required project entitled A Portrait of a Graduate. Also known as a Graduate Profile, Portrait of a Learner, Habits of Success, Lifelong Learning Standards, and other expressions, this vision describes the skills and competencies that a community agrees its young people need to thrive in learning, work, and life.

Nieskens detailed that The Portrait of a Graduate meetings have been very successful, with plenty of student, parent, and community involvement.

At the second meeting, the group was asked to choose five to seven words (out of a list of over thirty) as to what best describes the skills Whitehall wants their graduates to possess.

After tabulating the results from individuals and groups, Nieskens said, the five selected competencies were COMMUNICATION, PERSEVERANCE, CRITICAL THINKING, TECHNOLOGY LITERACY, and ADAPTABILITY.

Nieskens noted that at the third meeting, held December 12th via Zoom, the group will be asked to define these competencies.

A logo of the Portrait of a Graduate for Whitehall Schools is also in the process of being designed by the company facilitating the meetings. Nieskens said 57% of respondents indicated a landscape-driven portrait was preferred for the graphic. As a result, five different landscape-driven graphic choices were unveiled at the latest meeting to vote on.

OTHER NEWS:

• Whitehall Elementary Principal Kurtis Koenig mentioned that the school had acquired five new students since the November school board meeting.

• Koenig also mentioned that the grow stations in the elementary classrooms had produced their first harvest, in which students presented him a salad from seed to plate.

• A closed session of the School Board will be held in the coming weeks to address a student discipline issue where expulsion is recommended.

• Whitehall Middle and High School Principal Jason Slated noted that Lincoln Leary is finishing up his teaching degree and will be with Whitehall Schools full-time after the holiday break. Also, Zach Kozicky will return from deployment after the break and will resume teaching as well.

HIRES:

• Stormy Wassberg was hired as an Assistant Cook.

• Lindsay Bodda was hired as Physical Education teacher, replacing Michael Welch, who is on medical leave.

• Substitute teachers Chris Bray, Clark Vial, and Megan Johnson were approved. Vial is the son of school librarian Jeff Vial; Johnson is the daughter of kindergarten teacher Michelle Johnson.

There will be no school board meeting in January; the next Whitehall School Board meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 6, 2024, in the Whitehall Elementary Library.