Waterford Graded eyes population study

By Dave Fidlin

Correspondent

      In an effort to gauge future, long-term enrollment trends, officials in the Waterford Graded School District will consider commissioning a population study.

Waterford Graded serves all or portions of several municipalities: the towns of Waterford, Norway and Dover, and the villages of Rochester and Waterford.

While each of these communities is far from fully developed, Waterford Graded has been experiencing enrollment declines in recent years, leading administrators to broach the prospect of conducting the study with members of the School Board’s Personnel and Finance Committee at a recent meeting.

In the past, the district has paid the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Projection Lab for a study. Another source could be Racine County, where birth rates are available by municipality.

“We’re looking to do this so we get a better pulse of what’s going on,” explained Superintendent Chris Joch.

District to set newsletter content standards

To set clear guidelines, Waterford Graded School District officials are planning to establish parameters for what can and cannot be included in the periodic newsletters sent to residents.

The district publication focuses on events at all four schools, as well as issues facing the entire Waterford Graded community.

At a recent School Board Policy and Curriculum Committee meeting, officials discussed whether non-school sponsored events should be featured in the newsletter.

During the discussion, board members favored events such as the annual fun run. While initiated by an outside organization, the fun run does benefit school programs.

But running announcements from groups such as local Girl Scout troops could be getting into a gray area, some board members said.

Plans call for a policy to be drafted and reviewed at a future committee meeting.