Fox Point-Bayside Schools Consider Safety Measures in Wake of Newtown Shooting

A buzz-in system is among the ideas that parents suggested to district officials after Friday's mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school.

The Fox Point-Bayside School District advised teachers Monday not to make the Newtown, CT school shooting the subject of full classroom discussions, as part of the district’s desire to honor the fact that parents may choose to tell their children different things about the tragedy. In addition, the district is reviewing security measures, such as, most critically, whether to install a buzz-in system at the middle and elementary schools, said Superintendent Rachel Boechler. Local police agencies are also taking some action in the wake of the tragedy, which left 20 children dead. Fox Point and Bayside police officials said they are increasing their visibility and patrols around area schools, although both also stressed that it’s just a …

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How Much Do School Administrators Make?

Use our interactive database to see which school administrators are the highest and lowest paid throughout the state of Wisconsin.

Editor's Note: This story has been modified to clarify information about Maple Dale-Indian Hills district administrator salaries. School adminstrator salaries in the Nicolet High School District are largely in line with nearby communities, according to data compiled by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Superintendent Rick Monroe was paid $154,899, while Fox Point-Bayside Superintendent Rachel Boechler earned $135,000 and Maple Dale-Indian Hill Superintendent Mary Jordan Dean received $73,987 for her work as the district administrator. But because Jordan Dean also acts as principal at Maple Dale Middle School, her total salary includes an additional $73,987 for that position, bringing the total to $147,974. The numbers are …

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Bullet Found at Bayside Middle School

School officials, police trying to determine how practice range bullet wound up in boys locker room.

A bullet from a practice range was found on the floor of the boys locker room at Bayside Middle School Friday afternoon. The bullet was found at the end school day, said Rachel Boechler, Fox Point-Bayside district administrator. Police were called to the school and assisted school officials in a search of the building, but no other ammunition was found, Boechler told Patch. "We are treating this as a serious disciplinary issue and appropriate steps are being taken to determine the student(s) responsible and to assure an incident such as this does not occur in the future," she said in an email. "We are grateful for the maturity of the students who reported seeing the item on the floor and for (Principal Don) Galster’s proactive approach in …

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Are Fox Point and Bayside Schools Making the Grade?

A new state report card detailing how schools across Wisconsin are doing educating children is set to be released the week of Oct. 22.

Parents are used to receiving the quarterly report card, informing them how their child is performing in school. But, how about a report card on how the school is educating your child? The state Department of Public Instruction will roll out its new School Report Cards beginning next week. It’s a new accountability system that allowed Wisconsin to earn a waiver from meeting certain 2014 requirements of No Child Left Behind.  All three district administrators in our area support the new initiative, but with cautious optimism. Rachel Boechler, district administrator for Fox Point-Bayside School District said she has no doubt her district will do well, but does not anticipate a perfect score necessarily.  "I’m pretty confident were going to …

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Video: Parents Voice Concerns About District Administrator's Judgment

Despite complaints, School Board offers Rachel Boechler another two-year contract.

For more than an hour, parents in the Fox Point-Bayside School District voiced strong concerns about District Rachel Boechler and a newspaper article that said she failed to report an affair between a student and teacher when she was a counselor in Wauwatosa in the early 1990s. The vote to extend Boechler's contract for two more years came after parents called on her to resign. As parents and teachers peppered Boechler with criticism, the superintendent remained silent throughout, keeping her eyes down on the paper in front of her. After the meeting ended, however, Boechler talked to Patch about the concerns raised Monday. "Some of this is the first time I've heard this," she said. "I am aware there's fear in the faculty. There's fear …

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School Board Backs Superintendent Despite Complaints from Parents, Teachers

Fox Point-Bayside District Administrator Rachel Boechler gets new two-year contract even though some parents call for her resignation after controversy in Wauwatosa.

After listening to passionate comments from residents for more than an hour and then deliberating another hour, the Fox Point-Bayside School Board decided Monday night to retain Rachel Boechler as district administrator. The vote to extend Boechler's contract for two more years came after parents called on her to resign following a newspaper article that said she failed to report an affair between a student and teacher when she was a counselor in Wauwatosa in the early 1990s. “In this age of Penn State, the Catholic church, I just cannot imagine in Fox Point-Bayside School we have a leader of the entire school that did not protect a minor when that individual needed to be protected,” Tad Walter, a father of two students in the district …

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Letter from a Dad: Fox Point-Bayside Superintendent Must Go

Parent concerned to learn that Fox Point-Bayside District Administrator Rachel Boechler kept quiet a student-teacher relationship at a previous job in the Wauwatosa School District.

Editor's Note: In January, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a story that shed some light on what residents are calling a moral issue with current District Administrator Rachel Boechler - her silence after a 16-year-old student confided to Boechler that she was having a sexual relationship with a 28-year-old teacher. That happened when she was a counselor at Wauwatosa East High School. This letter was written and sent to the Fox Point-Bayside School Board by Tad Walter, a Fox Point resident and father of two children who attend school in the district.  ______________________________ To the members of the Fox Point-Bayside School Board:  I am very concerned by the January article in the Journal Sentinel regarding Superintendent …

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School Official Didn't Report Affair Between Student, Teacher

Fox Point-Bayside School Superintendent Rachel Boechler reportedly took no action when she learned of two-year affair while a counselor in Wauwatosa in the 1990s.

Districts Take Divergent Approach to Developing Teacher Evaluations

Nicolet and Fox Point-Bayside have joined state consortium, however Maple Dale-Indian Hill is designing their own.

The Nicolet and Fox Point-Bayside School Districts aren't waiting for the state to tell them what to do regarding teacher evaluations. They are among 30 districts who have joined the Southeastern Wisconsin Teacher Evaluation Consortium, in response to Gov. Scott Walker’s initiative in school accountability. "That's the goal, to tie teacher compensation with the evaluations to make the evaluations more meaningful," Nicolet District Administrator Rick Monroe said at the October School Board meeting. He explained that part of the evaluation process will be things like student growth and progress. Fox Point-Bayside District Administrator Rachel Boechler said it's about support for both teachers and students. “In the advent of the changing …

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Bank Robbery Suspect Caught at Stormonth School

Neighbors frightened as police chase that starts in Brown Deer ends near school playground.

A man suspected of attempting to rob Guaranty Bank in Brown Deer Thursday afternoon was apprehended just outside the playground on the south side of Stormonth Elementary School in Fox Point just before 3 p.m. Brown Deer police say the department received a 911 call from an employee at the bank, 4000 W. Brown Deer Rd., around 2:20 p.m. saying that a man wearing a mask and carrying a loaded gun had just attempted to rob the business. An employee locked the door before the man could get inside. When he could not get in, he fled the scene in a gold Lexus. Police pursued the man through Glendale along Silver Spring Drive and into Fox Point before he lost control of the car due to a blown tire near Stormonth School, 7301 N Longacre Rd., and …

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