Welcome to the first episode of the Monthly Update With Monogue for the 2022-23 school year!
Can you believe we are already over a month into the school year? In just that little amount of time, our District has already been up to some exciting things, so let's get started…
Did you know that September 15th through October 15th is Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month? This is an excellent opportunity to celebrate and learn more about the culture and history of the Hispanic/Latinx community. Throughout the month, the District has been sharing fun facts about our students, staff, and their families as part of the celebration, so be sure to tune in to our social media accounts to learn more. Together, let's honor the culture and traditions of the Hispanic/Latinx community in the MCPASD family!
The 2023 Niche.com results are in! MCPASD has been voted the number 1 school district in Dane County and the Madison area. To top it off, we are also the second-best school district in Wisconsin! We are so proud of our District and know that these awards indicate the amazing talent of both our students and staff. Great job, MCPASD!
Speaking of successes, congratulations to our National Merit Semifinalists and Commended Students this school year! The National Merit Scholarship Program is a highly esteemed academic awards program. Students are chosen based on their high PSAT scores, outstanding skills, accomplishments, and potential to succeed in a rigorous educational program at the college level. Congratulations again to our commended students, and we wish the best of luck to our semifinalists in the next round in February!
MCPASD is on the road to a referendum! The Board of Education unanimously voted to put a $24.9 million, non-recurring, operational referendum question on the November 8th ballot. It is important that our community feels they are well-informed and confident voters. We invite you to attend either of our final two community conversation sessions. The first is a virtual event on October 25th. The last session will be in person at our District Services Center on November 3rd from 6-7pm. These community conversations are hosted by Superintendent Monogue.
They are also a great way to ask questions and get more information.
You can sign up for either session here.
If you have not already done so, visit our referendum webpage to learn more about the operational referendum question and view other additional resources.
Pope Farm is taking learning to new heights! Recently Sgt. Scott Lehmann from the Dane County Sheriff's Office stopped by to teach 3rd-grade students - how the Police Department uses drones to help them with several projects, including search and rescue operations, crash reconstruction, and evidence searching. We are thankful for our partnership with local law enforcement and our Student Resource Officers for helping keep our MCPASD family safe. Thank you to Sgt. Lehmann, for taking the time to visit our students!
The 2018 Referendum Construction projects are now complete! The Early Learning Center, Cardinal Academy, and the South addition to the MCPASD High School Campus completed construction over the summer and welcomed our students into the new school year. To celebrate, we recently hosted ribbon-cutting ceremonies and open houses for our community to enjoy.
The other capital projects included in the 2018 referendum were:
- Renovations made to the cafeteria at Park Elementary.
- A new kitchen at Sauk Trail Elementary.
- The construction of Pope Farm Elementary.
Thank you to our community for supporting our schools and allowing us to renovate our spaces to help students grow and succeed!
The Middleton High School Black Student Union and Latino Student Union recently hosted their first joint meeting! Students sat down with the Director of System Improvement, Percy Brown, to discuss their goals for the school year and how they can create a space where students can feel supported. Director of Information and Public Relations Shannon Valladolid also stopped by to discuss her role in the District. We are excited to see our student organizations working together to learn more about themselves and celebrate their identities!
October is National Principals Month! Our school principals are absolute rock stars! We want to take this opportunity to share a heartfelt thank you for their incredible leadership and all that they do for both our students and staff.
Every month, the MUWM series gives Superintendent Monogue an opportunity to share many celebrations and highlights of student and adult success in our District. We also want to share our ongoing struggles with staff shortages in a few critical areas. We know that personnel shortages in our transportation department have been challenging and frustrating for our families.
Please know that we are trying everything possible to gain more drivers so we can get fully staffed in that area. Our wages are at the top of the region, we advertise our vacancies in many places, we have an internal employee referral program, we have reached out to try and contract services from third party providers, and we are reaching out to recently retired employees for help. We will continue these efforts and appreciate you spreading the word in your networks as well.
The other area where staffing shortages persist is our food service area. We have not been able to open our second kitchen at our high school campus due to shortages. Again, we are trying a variety of strategies to gain more employees in this department and will continue these efforts until we are fully staffed. We apologize for the ongoing inconvenience this is causing.
Did you know that there are many ways to stay connected to our District? Start by following us on social media! Every day we share exciting news about our District, celebrate the successes of our students and staff, put out important reminders and messages, and just have fun sharing stories with our community! Be sure to check us out across all of our social media pages listed below:
- Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District
- mcpschools
- TikTok
- mcpasd_schools
- Spanish Facebook
- Distrito Escolar Del Área de Middleton-Cross Plains
Join us next time for another episode of the Monthly Update With Monogue!