Past Successes and Future Plans

Throughout the 2013-2014 school year, over 70 members of the Beaver Dam Unified School District (BDUSD) and community worked to develop a system-wide strategic plan that will span the next four years. This group studied and reviewed every area of the school district from academic achievement to facilities and operations. The plan our learning community created contains four-year core strategies supported by yearly key performance objectives, which are broken into monthly milestone goals. We will publicly report our progress every 90 days to the BDUSD Board of Education and publish our progress on our website for all to monitor. We will share our plan with the entire community within the next few weeks.  Before we look ahead to the next four years, let us take a minute to look back on the past four.

During the past four years, our school district and community partners focused on reaching our dashboard goals we established in 2010. We have published our progress toward our dashboard goals every year on our website (www.bdusd.org). We are proud to say we have made considerable progress toward achieving these goals, and in most cases, we exceeded our benchmarks. Our progress over the past four years has been highlighted by our high school receiving state level recognition as a pacesetter school in the area of Advanced Placement course access and excellence in exam scores. In 2013, BDUSD received the highest rated state report card in the area, and three of our elementary schools were honored twelve times as Wisconsin Schools of Recognition. This progress and recognition is a tribute to the dedication and work ethic of our students, their families and the world-class staff working in our schools.  

In addition to our advancements in academics, our school board kept a laser-like focus on maintaining and improving the condition of our facilities. Since 2011, our school district completed eight million dollars of facility improvements including a complete electrical upgrade at our middle school; complete remodel of our high school science wing; an addition of six classrooms to Prairie View Elementary School; and upgrades to our roofs, parking lots and HVAC systems. In addition to these improvements, our district completed a three million dollar technology upgrade resulting in district-wide, public Wi-Fi and a significant influx of laptops, iPads and Smart Boards.  

Our school district completed the above eleven million dollars of work without asking taxpayers for more resources, while at the same time reducing the local tax levy and mill rate by more than 12%.  We are proud to hold the lowest mill rate in the area.  

It is always enjoyable to look back at past successes; however, it is equally exciting to look ahead to the progress we will make in the future. We simply cannot wait to share our plans for the future through the implementation of our 2014-2018 strategic plan.  Our strategic plan will arrive in your mailboxes in early November.  Thank you for reading and please never hesitate to call, email or stop and see us anytime you have a question or issue to address.