Superintendent reviews district’s accomplishments

By Dr. David Poeschl

Welcome to my annual address to the school board, staff, and community regarding the state of affairs in our organization.

I will use this opportunity to share my thoughts on the good things happening in our school district. In preparation for tonight’s presentation, I reviewed my comments from the past few years, and found them to be somewhat negative and focusing on Federal and State intrusion into our local responsibility to educate our students. While those intrusions continue to make attaining local goals more difficult, I intend to focus on more positive things in this year’s report to the community.

Isn’t it interesting that long after our students graduate from our schools, they remember and appreciate their experiences more than their performance on State tests? Similarly, while they appreciate the first rate education they received from our teachers, they tend to remember those teachers, administrators and support staff who went beyond their normal duties and helped them grow to be responsible adults.

Just think how well we do in those areas not measured by standardized tests. Our graduates will remember their opportunity to be a member of a Destination Imagination team that earned the right to go to World Finals. Our FFA students will forever be proud of their standing as number one in Wisconsin and top 10 in the Nation. Our student athletes will remember their opportunities to compete at local, sectional, regional, and State competitions.

Band and choir students will remember their performances in front of appreciative audiences along with their award winning performances in New York and Florida. Our art students will remember their trips to art museums, and our forensic and chess students will remember their opportunities to compete against national talent. The list goes on and on throughout our various programs.

Our relationship with Waupaca Foundry and other local businesses gives students opportunities to experience real world learning with state of the art equipment.

Graduates of the School District of Waupaca have had the opportunity to perform on a professional grade stage in a comfortable auditorium, and on well maintained athletic fields, in front of large crowds. They have been educated in spacious facilities equipped with the latest technology infrastructure and taught with state of the art devices by teachers who know how to use them.

Our Special Education students will leave the School District of Waupaca knowing they have a place in society and the confidence to fit in. All of our students have had access to quality nursing, guidance, and social work services, carried out by caring staff, throughout their educational experience.

Our students are delivered safely to and from school every day, they learn in a clean and safe environment, and are served healthy foods for breakfast and lunch. Our students benefit in and out of the classroom from caring teacher aides and secretaries.

Finally, I anticipate lasting benefits through our PBIS program as we teach students and remind our community, to be responsible, respectful, safe and prepared – The Waupaca Way!

Let us not forget or ignore how important these non-tangible, and non-testable factors are in the lives of our students. We have a lot to be thankful for in the School District of Waupaca. Things that do not show up on our State imposed School Report Card.

Nothing I said takes away from our schools’ performance on standardized tests. Students who graduate from Waupaca will know and appreciate they were taught by teachers who were named Teacher of the Year, or Herb Kohl finalists, or earned a master’s degree in their teaching field. We deliver those intangibles and our students perform well on the School District Report Card – all in a cost effective manner as prescribed in our District’s mission statement.

As we educate every child who walks through our doors, I am convinced our staff and community will continue to make a positive difference in the lives of the more than 2000 students who entered our schools this fall.

Now, it is time for me to announce my intent to retire at the end of the current school year. As I conclude my 24th, and final year with the School District of Waupaca, I thank those I have worked for, those I have worked with, and the community I have served for all you have done for me and my family. It has been my honor to be a part of this wonderful organization we call the School District of Waupaca.