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West Bend board reviews annual at-risk plan; district highlights GED Option 2 success and program changes
Summary
Emily Melstrand and Jill Corbett presented the district's annual at-risk plan, emphasizing early interventions, alternative graduation pathways and supports including a district-hosted Option 2 program that had 31 participants this year.
Emily Melstrand, director of student services, and Jill Corbett, student services program administrator, presented the district's 2025 annual at-risk plan to the West Bend School Board on July 14, describing the district'wide multi-level system of supports and the range of targeted and intensive options used to help students stay on track to graduation.
Melstrand said the plan follows Department of Public Instruction (DPI) requirements and that the district focuses on intervening early so students can remain in traditional pathways when possible. She described a continuum of services that include on-site blended-day options, in- and off-site district programs, community-based options ("GPS" and Project SEARCH), virtual programming and alternative graduation pathways.
The presenters highlighted the district'hosted Option 2 (alternative graduation program) that serves credit-deficient 12th-grade students. For the class of 2025, 31 students participated in the program and 30 had completed by the time of the report, with a possibility a 31st would finish; 60% of program completers intend to enroll in postsecondary schooling or technical college, 26% plan to enter full-time employment, and 10% completed at least one college-level technical-education course while in the program. Corbett said the district provides courses through Moraine Park Technical College (MPTC) and uses Start College Now funding or district support to enable that work.
Board members asked whether the at-risk plan changed year over year. Melstrand and Corbett said the written plan is largely unchanged from the prior year but described operational changes and enhancements to execution: increased early interventions, clearer attendance and behavior processes (including specified contacts after three tardies), more technical-college visits and application assistance embedded within alternative programming, summer outreach by family liaisons to sustain momentum, and a reinstated community-service requirement for students in alternative graduation programming to increase connections to the community.
The presenters credited an expanded comprehensive mental-health framework, including a mental-health navigator (Sean Becker) and family liaisons attached to alternative programming, for improving access to counseling and supports. Administrators told the board they will continue monitoring graduation-rate data (DPI data lag noted) and return the plan for inclusion on the consent agenda for formal approval; the board signaled agreement to place the plan on the next consent agenda unless a member objects.
No formal vote on the plan occurred at this meeting; the presentation closed with board members'level questions and a decision to include the plan in the next consent agenda for consideration.
