We anticipate we will begin the 21-22 school year with a five days per week schedule, fully in-person for all students, 5K through 12, and fully in-person ½ day program for Early Childhood and 4K.

Beginning with the March 22 Board of Education meeting, the AASD is introducing updated opportunities for our community to provide input to our Board.

AASD scored excellent in 8 of 8 School Health Index (SHI) categories. The district exceeds the state average in all 8 SHI categories. The district’s overall score increased by 2.58% from 86.63% in 2018-19 to 89.21% in 2019-20.

The Elementary Science Director is reviewing instructional materials for the K-6 Elementary Science course. As part of the adoption process, AASD staff members, students, parents, and residents are provided with the opportunity to examine and contribute feedback on the recommended instructional materials. The feedback collected will be taken into consideration by the committee to determine the final list of instructional materials that will be recommended to the AASD Board of Education.

Wisconsin is issuing temporary food benefits, called Pandemic EBT or P-EBT, through the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) for the school year 2020-21. The P-EBT program provides food assistance for students that would have received free or reduced-price school meals under the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program, but were unable to receive these meals at school because the school was closed, operating virtually, or was operating with reduced attendance hours.

The recent attack on the Asian community in Atlanta is painful and heartbreaking. Our thoughts go out to the innocent victims, their families, and the entire Atlanta community. Hate crimes and violence should not, and will not be tolerated anywhere including within the Appleton Area School District.

This past Saturday, more than 1200 educators and staff members from various local districts received their vaccine at the Fox Cities COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic mass vaccination clinic. To date, the Appleton Area School District has been able to offer all staff members the opportunity to receive a vaccine. This achievement was made possible through the amazing collaboration between health departments, local health care, school nurses, willing volunteers, and an encouraging community.

We are excited to announce our tentative plans to offer in-person graduation ceremonies for our Class of 2021 graduates. This will include the opportunity for each graduate to invite up to two guests to attend the ceremony in person. In addition, we are planning to offer a live stream of the graduation ceremonies to ensure that all family members and friends will have the chance to share in this very important occasion.