Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The district proposed a remodeling of the current main entrance configuration, one that would funnel all those who come into the building into one location.
The Whitnall School District is prepared to spend more than $100,000 to improve school safety at Whitnall High School. That’s the price tag to make the main entrance to the school far more secure than it is now. Currently, someone wishing to enter the building must be buzzed in, but once inside the school, that person can head in many different directions. “Right now, you do have to get buzzed in through the outer doors, but you don’t know what the person wants and why they’re there,” Whitnall Superintendent Lowell Holtz said. “Once they are in, they can go through as many as six to eight different doors without even talking to someone in the high school office. “This funnels them into the sign-in room. It’s very important.” The current …
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
The district's focus is to make the Nature Pod more useable for science students, and then possibly installing the nine-hole disc golf course.
Disc golf fans hoping to see a new course built in the Nature Pod on the Whitnall School District grounds near the middle and high schools will have to stem their enthusiasm a bit, at least for now. The Whitnall School Board wants to explore partnerships with other school groups before committing to installing a nine-hole course as proposed by Whitnall senior Clayton Anderson with the help of the district’s Buildings and Grounds Supervisor Matt Karshna. Superindent Lowell Holtz said the district's science department has shown an interest in turning the Nature Pod into a school forest. “That’s the focus now, getting it cleared out of the invasive species and making it easier for the science students to use it,” Holtz said. “And then it …
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Elertson was a high school associate principal and handled the school's athletics for nearly two years. He and his family are moving to Colorado.
In his two years as the Whitnall High School athletic director and associate principal, Rick Elertson has seen the opening of state-of-the-art Falcon Field and helped the school launch seven new clubs, all while Whitnall has remained near the top of the heap academically. And while he’s quick to point out he’s not necessarily directly responsible for any of those things, he’s happy to have been a part of them. “There’s a sense of pride at Whitnall,” Elertson said. “There’s a stadium we can be proud of, the community has rallied around athletics and the district’s academics. Things tend to snowball from there in a positive way. “It’s a big deal for me to feel like I’ve been a part of that renewal.” To see what happens next, however, …
Monday, April 29, 2013
Despite changes in benchmarks for Wisconsin statewide reading and math tests, Whitnall students continue to perform higher than statewide norms. Greenfield school officials, however, say improvement is needed.
Use Patch's interactive database to see the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations scores in Greenfield, Whitnall and other area districts for the last three years. Students in the Greenfield and Whitnall school districts saw lower scores in statewide math and reading tests this year, but those changes are almost entirely due to tough new standards that kicked in this year. In Whitnall, 39 percent of the students who took the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations (WKCE) in November 2012 scored at proficient or advanced in reading. That's compared to 89.3 percent who hit that mark in 2011. The 2012-13 results were released last week. In math, 61.3 percent of the Whitnall students were proficient or better this year, compared …
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
But Dr. Lowell Holtz said he was assured no Whitnall students were victims and waited to make a statement until he had the most accurate information available from police.
Whitnall Superintendent Dr. Lowell Holtz understands why parents were upset media outlets broke the news that a contractor who had access to students had been arrested for trying to lure a 15-year-old boy before they found out from the district. Holtz answered approximately three dozen parent-submitted questions about how the district handled the communication of the arrest and subsequent firing of James Heidke, and A’viands employee, in front of a crowd of about 50 people and several news stations Monday in the Whitnall High School auditorium. He said he wished he had been able to put out more information sooner, but waited because he didn’t feel comfortable with the facts he had. Holtz said the district did not receive Heidke’s criminal …
Friday, March 15, 2013
The district will hold an open discussion about the arrest of food service manager James Heidke, and the timing of the communication the district delivered to parents.
Updated 3:30 p.m. March 15 Whitnall School District parents and residents with questions about the food service manager's arrest for using a computer to facilitate a sex crime—and the timing of district communication about it—can learn more at an informational session later this month. The district will hold an informational session on March 25 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in the Whitnall High School auditorium, prior to a regularly scheduled School Board meeting, to discuss lingering concerns about James Heidke and how the district handled the news of his arrest. Heidke, 55, was arrested after police say he tried to lure a 15-year-old “boy” he met online for sex. That “boy” was an undercover police officer. Heidke was charged with using a …
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
The district has taken the initial steps to get cost estimates for a new high school pool and entryway redesigns at Hales Corners Elementary and the high school.
Less than a year after finishing up a massive $6.5 million athletic facilities and stormwater utilities project, Whitnall School District officials are contemplating what upgrades to take on next. The top two needs, Superintendent Lowell Holtz said, are a high school pool upgrade and the reconstruction of the Hales Corners Elementary School entryway. The pool, one of the most-used facilities in the district, according to Holtz, does not meet WIAA standards and cannot be used to host competitive meets. It also has underutilized locker rooms that could be converted into more useable space through a redesign. The Hales Corners Elementary entryway project would make the building more secure and safe. It could consist of converting the main …
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Many of the new seats will be used to level off enrollment dips for next year's sixth- and ninth-grade classes, Superintendent Dr. Lowell Holtz said.
With an eye on academic stability and evening out class sizes at the high and middle schools, the Whitnall School Board approved 80 new Open Enrollment seats for the 2013-14 school year Monday. A bulk of those seats will be available for incoming ninth-graders (20 new seats) and incoming sixth-graders (30). The district wants to average approximately 210 students per class at the high school, 168 at the middle school and 160 at the elementary schools, Superintendent Dr. Lowell Holtz said. High school enrollment projects have next school year’s 10th, 11th and 12th grades at 196 students or more, but only 165 projected ninth-graders, not including incoming parochial school students. At the middle school, there are 167 projected eighth-…
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Patch surveyed Milwaukee-area school districts about security measures in place at their schools. See how Whitnall compares with other Milwaukee-area districts.
The tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut stole 26 lives and again opened the door on conversations about gun control and mental health. But another topic that has emerged is security in schools, and whether we are doing enough to keep children safe. Following the shooting, the National Rifle Association advocated arming teachers. Both Whitnall Superintendent Dr. Lowell Holtz and Greenfield Superintendent Conrad Farner told Greenfield Patch shortly after the Sandy Hook that safety is a top concern at all of their schools. "We do everything that we can do,” Holtz said at the time. “Everybody is aware of the procedures were supposed to follow. Even if we had an armed police officer, that might not prevent it. They said the…
Friday, December 14, 2012
Whitnall Superintendent Lowell Holtz said his schools are as safe as they can be.
Updated 9:30 a.m. Dec. 15 As the tragic events in Newtown, Ct., unfold Friday, local school officials are trying to make sense of what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School. “Anybody’s that’s been a parent, been a teacher, been associated with schools, you can’t imagine how the families feel in Connecticut,” Whitnall Superintendent Dr. Lowell Holtz said. “Our heart and our prayers go out to them. “No one can believe that someone would have this unimaginable evil inside of them to do this. It’s hard to fathom for anybody.” Holtz said that every since the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, and even before, school districts across the country have become more and more judicious when it comes to who they let inside their schools…
Mike Harrington
12:36 am on Thursday, May 23, 2013
I am the person who volunteered to design the course (because of my passion for disc golf and my desire to get into disc golf course design) and I am working on some volunteer ideas as well as fundraising efforts to try and turn this project around again. I honestly feel if done right this property could be an excellent recreational and educational area. I agree let's get rid of the invasives. … more ›