The Elmwood School Board went over a series of reports for the year, including the Achievement Gap Report, the Academic and Career Planning Report and the Title I and Curriculum Review Report during the June meeting.

On the 2024-25 District Report Card, Elmwood was rated five stars with a “significantly exceeds expectations” mark, the highest rank given by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The overall score of 85.7 landed Elmwood as a top 15 K-12 district for the year.

A major piece of that score was a high score in target group outcomes and academic growth scores well above the state average.

Back in December after the release of the district report cards, Superintendent Glen Webb said the district does not focus as much on the number due to the changes to the calculations every year, but instead how the students grow as the school year progresses.

“[It’s] all about continuous improvement. Until every one of our kids is reading, writing and doing their skills at grade level, we haven’t arrived academically where we want to be,” Webb said at the time.

While Wisconsin is a state with one of the largest achievement gaps, Webb said the district is tracking well through their end of year reports. The district is also around where it expects to be for the budget. There were no crimes to report from the district for the 2025-26 school year.

The resignation of Early Learning Center Teacher Faye Young and the approved contracts of Special Education Paraprofessionals Megan Bechel and Megan Leahy as well as part-time maintenance/custodial staff member Andrew Hampton.

Science Expedition

District students have been documenting their trip to the Mankwe Wildlife Reserve, where they have learned about the importance of conservation in South Africa. The team has been documenting their journey over the first two weeks since the beginning of summer break.

Thus far on the science expedition, the students have learned how to differentiate giraffes, worked with the Anti-Poaching League during their dog trainings, trimmed a rhino’s horn to deter poachers, discovered a baby rhino, discovered a rescued zebra that they were searching for and found a young giraffe. Since the team was the first to photograph the giraffe, they earned the chance to name it, choosing Wisco.

“Students are staying at Mankwe Wildlife Reserve, where the mission is to protect and preserve wildlife,” a district Facebook post reads. “They are experiencing firsthand the importance of conservation while learning about the incredible animals that call the reserve home.”

Stay tuned for a full story when the students return from the trip.