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Yearbooks can be made, but is there a reason we can’t do it as online platform to save printing costs? Sorry, it’s only our first year, and I am reading several requests for yearbooks. I think it’s a great idea for those that really want their students to have one. I get it, I have many collected throughout the years, but the fun part was having my classmates and teachers sign them. How do we do that part if they are in print? At one of the outings WIVA works hard to put together? Or at the in person graduation, some people may not be able to attend? I worked for an organization and I was part of the start-up for the magazine and had the opportunity to go to different printing businesses to get tours and then of course estimates for printing costs. In order to make printing worth its money the volume had to be really high. I know Jostens etc probably has hard copy options that cost less, but maybe for this situation we do an online yearbook where the yearbook with all pics that are sent in are represented as well as any other photo content that students/parents/staff send in which stays locked and then once it’s released in an electronic format, then kids can privately request to sign some else’s yearbook. I think keeping it web-based and then distributing electronically is the most financially responsible way to do a yearbook if it’s approved and then once the student receives it all year book signs written by others remains private to the individual student? Of course post the yearbooks each year on the WIVA website but of course as it is originally released encrypted so we don’t run into any public emotional/social scars of our kids. Then there is no open comparing who got yearbook signatures and who didn’t. I know many of us brought our kids here to avoid the popularity contest at school out of our student’s life so they could focus on education and healthy socialization at public school costs. So I agree the year book idea is great but maybe we just need to do it with the modern environmentally friendly technology we have available to us? I’d be willing to help with it if the board considers it.

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Not here to be political just wanted to give praise and express our struggles

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Not here to be political just wanted to give praise and express our struggles

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So, this is our first year and so far my student is actually excited about learning again. So thank you, kudos and much appreciation for giving my daughter that back. Our only hurdle has been getting her official transcript sent from our resident school district to finish enrolling her in the remainder of her classes. As of yesterday, with me having to connect our resident school counselor directly with her school counselor here on the same email it’s finally been received but we are already a month in to school. Just in case any parents are struggling with the same situation for their students first year, that’s how I pushed to help get the issue resolved, but it is on our resident school district for lack of follow thru. Other than that thank you WIVA/Insight for giving us back my daughter’s ability to focus on learning rather than having to worry social issues at school which most of know can negatively impact academic outcomes for some of our students in big ways. Just thank you so much for being part of this positive change in my child’s life!

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I could volunteer my photography services for a WIVA yearbook pictures here in the Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay area - and all places in between. or we could all submit our own photos? We would need to consider print, cost and distribution 

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I could volunteer my photography services for a WIVA yearbook pictures here in the Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay area - and all places in between. or we could all submit our own photos? We would need to consider print, cost and distribution 

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I read in the HS handbook that by the 26-27 school year, WIVA will be using Mastery Based Grading. From what we have witnessed so far and in researching the topic, I am very excited about this. I do think that tests and quizes truly are not specific enough to paint an entire picture of how a student behaves, participates, and what they have learned. I remember way back in the 90's when I was in school, I could remember entire historic stories, but struggled with dates, names, and titles. That was very frustrating and never seemed to reveal on paper my true knowledge, and critical thought. I am convinced that with things such as the personalized learning plans, my grades would have revealed a lot more about my capabilities.
I know that a lot of LC's also dislike the social emotional learning, but I have to disagree. I agree that anything can be pushed a little too far, so expecting students to spend more than say, 5 mins. winding down and catching their breath to really get present before each live class, can become repetitive and perhaps a bit frustrating. At the same time, there has been proven results that it really DOES help, and it simply is not the same thing as therapy, or a spiritual/political belief. Emotional maturity is very important. We know that when we have a headache for instance, it can be harder to think clearly. So, if a student is feeling any of the basic scientific emotions that we all have, such as sadness, fear, excitement, anger, envy, it truly can change their responses a great deal. We also know that as they are growing, their bodies are both physically and mentally changing.
Being a virtual school, there is not as much opportunity to experience in person contact/breaks, where as at a brick and mortar school they would be interacting while walking to each class, and waiting on the bus, etc.
As far as academics, and flexibility, I still feel very strongly that there are more opportunities for academics and curriculum, not less. I also enjoy the choice of progress based learning, and options for more Independent learning if a student prefers to not be as involved with the live sessions.
As far as communication between everyone, that has always needed some help, but has indeed gotten a lot better over the years. I also would like to continue to see the growth in diversity, integrity, and multiple perspectives, opportunities, and experiences being presented. WIVA is a virtual public school, and the attention that has been brought to virtual schooling, despite some chaotic circumstances in our world over the last few years, has truly increased the possibilities for opportunities we did not have a lot of traction on prior to this statewide. Private school, homeschool, and brick-and-mortar options are still widely available options as well, and I love that there are always choices. When I was a child, that was simply not possible.

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As some others have stated, I really want to see WIVA stay focused on academics.

Repeating my previous post about high's and low's:

High:  This is my son's second year with WIVA and he grew so much academically especially reading and math and he found a new love for History.  His 6th grade teachers were awesome.   Health class was also excellent.  Communication from the 6th grade teachers was awesome.  We also enjoyed the Monday morning announcements from Mrs. Cherney.

Low:  Classes could easily be 45 minutes. That would make time for a live Art or Spanish class once a week.  The on-line art class for 6th grade was terrible (5th grade was good).  It was not engaging or age appropriate and the art projects were bad.  Spanish was also not appropriate for a beginner and there was too much vocabulary and grammar.

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Please do not continue trying to make WIVA a brick & motor school. Please do not keep trying to water down the curriculum also water it down with play time and with social emotional learning we all know where to seek therapy if needed and we all teach our children about emotions and love. Keep important education classes with books, necessary materials. Kids loved Science, History, Social Studies materials, work. Why take away education stuff that they are actually learning from. You keep pushing non academics, feelings, emotions how is anyone learning. WIVA is changing, not for the good. You will lose us all eventually. We love WIVA but not the new direction it is going. Please listen  to the parents we matter! Thank you educators for all that you do! 

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Please do not continue trying to make WIVA a brick & motor school. Please do not keep trying to water down the curriculum also water it down with play time and with social emotional learning we all know where to seek therapy if needed and we all teach our children about emotions and love. Keep important education classes with books, necessary materials. Kids loved Science, History, Social Studies materials, work. Why take away education stuff that they are actually learning from. You keep pushing non academics, feelings, emotions how is anyone learning. WIVA is changing, not for the good. You will lose us all eventually. We love WIVA but not the new direction it is going. Please listen  to the parents we matter! Thank you educators for all that you do! 

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Parents and students would really love a year book. We submitted photos 2 years ago for it and something happened and it couldn’t be done. Haven’t heard anything about it since. It would be really great if that could happen next year and every year so the students have yearbooks and memories to look back on years from now of their school days and school they attended :)

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Please don't continue to water down curriculum. WIVA used to have it advanced/fast pace and beautiful (elementary). Really liked the add ons though, it the last bit (physical ed + wis studies). History subject got deleted. Kids need to know it. So the awful times don't get repeated again. Keep protecting our kids from filthy literature that is now popular (politcal agenda). Keep the high standards for hiring teachers. Most of them LOVE what they do and it's obvious. They go over and above. education. 

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Please don't continue to water down curriculum. WIVA used to have it advanced/fast pace and beautiful (elementary). Really liked the add ons though, it the last bit (physical ed + wis studies). History subject got deleted. Kids need to know it. So the awful times don't get repeated again. Keep protecting our kids from filthy literature that is now popular (politcal agenda). Keep the high standards for hiring teachers. Most of them LOVE what they do and it's obvious. They go over and above. education. 

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Parents and students have also asked about having something like a red carpet for prom.

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Parents and students have also asked about having something like a red carpet for prom.

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Can someone please try to get the school to do a yearbook? Parents have been asking for this for years.

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Can someone please try to get the school to do a yearbook? Parents have been asking for this for years.