Here’s an interesting bit of data from a report about Open Enrollment that was presented to the West Bend School Board last night. According to that report, 452 kids left the district through open enrollment compared to 193 who entered the district. That’s a net outflow of 259 kids. Of those who left, 19%, or about 85 kids, left to go to a virtual school. And of all of those who left, the top two reasons given for leaving were convenience or they moved. In other words, the physical location of the school buildings didn’t work for the family.
In the 21st century, why does the School Board want to invest tens of millions of dollars in physical buildings instead of investing in modern education delivery models?
UPDATE: I may be reading the colors on their pie chart wrong. It looks like it might actually be 21% left for virtual schools. Hopefully we can see the raw data at some point.
Whatever happened to this concept introduced by former Superintendent Ted Neitzke, right before he resigned? Notice that 80,000 to 100,000 square feet could have been provided by other entities.
Create the West Bend Career Preparation Institute. A collaborative partnership between local colleges and private businesses to create an 80,000-100,000 sq/ftfacility that would house the courses and programs that would directly support the regional workforce. The focus would be on the two largest employer groups: manufacturing and healthcare. The center would support the training needs of local employers and increase the skill acquirement of students so they could graduate from high school certified or degreed. This center would serve as a hub of collaboration between high school, technical colleges and local employers in an effort to clearly support the pathing of students into careers that support the regional economy and the attainment of high-wage work for our graduates. The center would offer makerspace for local businesses and be designed for the current economy and flexible for the future economy.
https://www.boarddocs.com/wi/wbsdwi/Board.nsf/files/A7AQXT5DC96D/$file/Community%20Collaboration%20For%20Success.pdf