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A Newsletter from the School District of South Milwaukee

Superintendent Update

Superintendent Update 10 25 24
Superintendent Deidre Roemer updates the community about happenings around the District. 

New Way to Receive Important Messages from  the District and Your School's Main Office

Dear parents and guardians, 
The way we send emergency messages and newsletters from your child’s school is about to get better. 

It’s incredibly important that you are kept informed about what’s happening at your school, especially when an emergency happens. To improve on how we do that, the School District of South Milwaukee is beginning to roll out ParentSquare, a messaging service that allows parents and caregivers to choose how and when to get messages.

The most significant change is that starting in November, emergency messages about your child’s school - like weather closings and safety alerts from our Standard Response Protocol - will be delivered to you by a combination of text, email, voicemail, and app notifications (for those who choose to download the ParentSquare app.) 

ParentSquare will also be used to send non-emergency messages from your student’s school office (newsletters, general reminders, and letters from the principal to all parents).

Using ParentSquare instead of a combination of messaging services (Infinite Campus, regular email, newsletter services, etc.) will provide several improvements we’ve had parents ask for, and which were included in our five-year strategic plan like:
  • Sending notifications by text message;
  • Including multiple parents or caregivers in regular and emergency messaging;
  • Choosing to get messages as they are sent or in a digest once a day (emergency messages will come immediately, regardless of settings)
  • Standardizing how we get messages from each school for families who have students in more than one building (for example, middle and high school);
  • Putting messages from schools in one place (the ParentSquare app allows you to see messages for all of your children in the app’s feed);
  • Providing messages home in a family’s primary language and
  • Allowing our coaches and adult mentors a way to safely text parents and students about changes to practices/games/events.
The first step is implementing ParentSquare at the school and district levels. Once we become experts at using it, we’ll roll it out to teachers in the 2025-26 school year for classroom-level communications.

On Monday, October 28th, you will receive an invitation to register with ParentSquare or download the app to set up your preferred contact method. This is not required. 

If you choose not to, you will still receive messages from your school via phone calls, email (as you have in the past), and/or text.

On Tuesday, October 29th, we’ll send out a test alert to acclimate everyone to the new notifications. 

If you have questions or run into a problem, please email info@sdsm.k12.wi.us 
Eighth graders are choosing their courses for freshman year very soon. We're asking them to sketch out all four years of their high school career now - knowing that it will change - so we can think about the end goal and life after high school.

Hear about how that's done, what a parent or guardian's role is, and how to prepare your student to make some of these big decisions.
Listen to the Episode
Join the Student Services Team at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, October 29th for a High School Preview Night at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center. 
Parents and students will learn about high school course offerings, and four-year academic career planning.
Download the Flyer

Holiday Help For Your Family

We are once again partnering with the SDSM Staff and Human Concerns to provide assistance for families in need. 

If you are struggling to purchase gifts for your children we can help! Open to age birth - HS senior year.

To sign up you must complete this Google Form (button below) with all information. If it is incomplete we will not be able to help.

If you have questions please contact the School Social Worker or Counselor at your child’s school or Molly Gallegos, High School Social Worker at mgallegos@sdsm.k12.wi.us

Or you may sign up at Human Concerns during their business hours
Human Concerns
1029 Milwaukee Ave.
South Milwaukee, WI 53172
(414) 764-5340
Monday 12:00-3:00pm
Tuesday Closed
Wednesday 4:00-6:00pm
Thursday Closed
Friday 9:00-12:00pm

Sign Up

New online Resource for Families

Parents, there's a new resource to learn about how our schools deal with student conflict and bullying. Visit any of our school websites for details. 
Visit Page
Help us meet our goal and finish fundraising for the Field Surface Improvement Plan and have a great time, too. 
When: 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8 at the Bucyrus Club 
Tickets $65 each or $400 for a table of 8. 

Buy Tickets
The Saber Center for the Performing Arts is holding a two-night Family Info Series exploring the intersection of childhood and modern technology. Part 1 is at 6 p.m. on Monday, October 21st, and features the screening of the film Childhood 2.0 and a panel discussion with Franklin school leaders, a student, law enforcement, and a representative from Bark - the company that monitors online activity for parents. 

Part 2 will be at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, November 12th, at Forest Park Middle School. It will feature guest speaker Katey McPherson, a child advocate and education consultant. 
See the Flyer
Tickets
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901 15th Ave.,
South Milwaukee, WI 53172
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