Back to school: Fort’s first day

By Kim McDarison 

While last Thursday marked the first day of school for students attending buildings within the School District of Fort Atkinson, today marks the first week of school. 

School District Superintendent Rob Abbott said he is excited about this school year, noting that as he toured all six of the district’s school buildings Thursday, he could feel the year’s theme of “connect” taking hold. 

Describing Thursday’s full morning of tours, he said: “It had a calm and inviting vibe. That was true in all six buildings. I’ve never had a start of school that felt like this; it felt like everyone was in a groove.” 

For Abbott, Thursday began with his arrival at the high school, where, at 5:30 a.m., a news crew from Channel 3000 arrived to document the first day of school. 

Once buses began to arrive, Abbott said he made it his job to visit each building, spending a half hour in each elementary school and the middle school, and 45 minutes at the high school. 

On the first day of school, he keeps his schedule clear so he can visit the buildings, he said. His mission is to make sure everything is running smoothly and to help celebrate the achievements of staff, which, he said, included team-building activities, meeting in building groups, and convocation, all held the week before school started, as staff prepared for the launch of the new year. 

While some students, especially those in sixth and ninth grades, will be experiencing a new building, so, too, will 21 certified educators and 10 support staff members, all of whom are new to the district this year. 

Director of Communications Marissa Weidenfeller was also on tour. 

Describing her day as “floating” through school buildings, she said her mission was to visit with students and staff and document the day in pictures. 

“My primary reason is to celebrate our staff and the work they are doing. I want to spread that positivity because I know how much good work is going on inside these walls. It is amazing and fun to spread that message and share how special of a job they have. 

“I’d ask the kids: ‘Are you having a good first day?’ and they’d say, ‘Yeah!’ It’s comforting to parents to see that on the first day. It reinforces where we are going,” she said.

This year, Weidenfeller said, “we have a lot of momentum.”

While visiting each school building, Abbott said he spent time walking the hallways, peeking into classrooms, and visiting with office staff. 

“I wanted to see some kids and check in with some teachers,” he said, noting that the larger goal was to get a sense of how things were going. 

At the high school, it was ninth graders only on the first day and the Link Crew leaders, which are made up of upper class students, Abbott said. Some 60 Link Crew leaders participated with freshman Thursday. 

The Link Crew provides a scheduled day of activities designed to facilitate transition and orientation, he added. The upper class students also act as mentors for the new arrivals. 

“I was able to catch about 20 minutes of freshmen interaction with Link leaders and team building. After the larger groups worked together, they were split into small groups and they headed out into classrooms,” Abbott said, adding that, for him, the visit offered an opportunity to see all of the freshmen class in one place. 

At Rockwell and Barrie elementary schools, he said, “I popped into some classrooms and went outside for a few minutes during recess.”  

On the first day, he said, for students, “everything is so new, so even though I’m there, they are not really noticing that somebody else is around.” 

As he worked his way through the buildings, he was rewarded as he watched students and teachers engage, and students engaging with other students. He said he enjoyed seeing the beginnings of those relationships building. 

At the middle school, only sixth-grade students were in attendance on the first day of school. 

The day was filled with activities to help students get acquainted with a new school environment. Students spent half of the day in the gym doing team-building activities. They were next grouped by homerooms so they could begin to develop relationships with teachers and peers, Abbott said.  

At the middle school level, many of the students are making friends and acquaintances with students they have never met before. Students are filtering into the building from the district’s four elementary schools, and in some cases, from some of the community’s parochial schools, Abbott said.  

“So this day is about mixing these kids together for the first time. The kids find that there are a lot more kids with whom they can build relationships,” he added.  

While at the middle school, Abbott visited the football field where students were outside playing sports. 

Having fun is a part of the school day, he said. 

Abbott said he also stopped in at the school’s office and visited with the staff and the school’s counselors, and learned about new families within the district. 

While at Purdy Elementary School, Abbott said he again checked in with the school’s office staff. 

“School offices are really busy in the days leading up to school. It’s a busy time and it’s the most front-facing place when it comes to new families and people’s expectations,” he said. 

While at Purdy, he stopped in at the library and visited the playground.

The district’s 4K program is at Purdy. During his visit, he watched what appeared to be a wagon parade of younger children moving thought the school. 

Among changes at Purdy this year is its new principal, Mary Kilar. 

Weidenfeller said she had an opportunity to talk with Kilar Thursday, saying that she expressed excitement about the day and said things were going “great.” 

At Purdy, Abbott said, he observed that all of the staff members were actively working with kids.

“From learning how to use the lunchroom to a little one who needs an ice pack, it was all hands on deck,” he said.  

At Luther, his last stop of the day, Abbott said he once again cruised the halls, and popped into classrooms. 

“They were serving lunch, so I got to see the kids learning how the lunchroom operates,” he said.  

When touring on the first day, Abbott said: “for me, I want to hear and experience and feel things, but I don’t want to interrupt things.”

Abbott said having conversations with staff and students gives him information, but also allows him to gain a sense of each school’s culture and climate. 

District staff works to create consistency throughout the district through academic and support programming, but each school, in embracing those concepts, has a different feel, he said. 

“The way I like to explain it is that 1Fort is like a last name, but each school has a first name, so at Luther, Luther is their first name. They have different personalities, but they are still part of the 1Fort family,” Weidenfeller said.  

This year, Abbott said, he thinks the district’s schools are in a “good spot,” with each embracing its own identity. 

Abbott said his engagement with each school building really began the week before the first day, when he visited the high school’s open house and all four of the district’s elementary schools. 

“That was energizing for me. On Thursday, we had convocation, which is the big district launch event at the high school. It has a celebratory feel,” he said.  

“It’s a way to bring our 1Fort team together and reinvigorate all of us to welcome the kids back,” Weidenfeller said.  

That advance time “really promoted a great opening day today,” Abbott added.  

As he toured on the first day of school, he said, “It struck me in all our buildings — what was swimming through my head was the word ‘engaged.’ All of the staff and the kids were engaged.”  

This year, he said, “for us to not be spending time and energy and resources on how to navigate all things relative to the pandemic is really amazing.”

While people remained aware of health-related issues and there was still some trepidation from some members of the community and from within the school system, he said: “We are on the right side of COVID … there is a shift towards that being in the rearview mirror.”  

On Thursday, Abbott said the first day of school would be quickly followed by a three-day weekend, which, he said, “is nice to have. It gives us an opportunity to get everything up and running and then when we come back on Tuesday we will be in a routine and ready to get into it. 

“My theme for this year is ‘connect.’ And that’s what I was most happy about — but not surprised — seeing those connections happen in our buildings even in the first few hours. It felt intimate already in a good way.”

Abbott said every administrator he spoke with Thursday said they had a smooth start, describing the day as one filled with “big smiles.” 

Looking back at the day’s events Thursday afternoon, Weidenfeller said: “Today was a nice day.”