NOTICE OF EDUCATIONAL OPTIONS FOR STUDENTS WHO RESIDE IN THE WAUSAU SCHOOL DISTRICT

The Wausau School District (WSD) offers a variety of educational options to students who reside within District attendance boundaries. The District’s primary educational pathway and instructional program involves a progression from 4-Year-Old Kindergarten through 12th grade, leading to a high school diploma.

Some of the specific educational programs offered to eligible students enrolled in and attending a District school include:

• Early-childhood special education (for those students at least 3-years-old but not yet school age)
• Special education for students with disabilities
• English Language Learner programs
• Gifted and Talented (GT) education
• Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs
• Individualized program and curricular modifications
• Alternative education programs for at-risk students (students identified as being at-risk of not graduating from high school)
• Summer learning programming
• Charter schools
• Virtual education program

The District’s most recent school and school district accountability reports, as issued by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction under section 115.385 of state statutes, can be accessed at http://apps2.dpi.wi.gov/reportcards/. Under the “District” heading, scroll down and select “Wausau.” You can then select the report card for the District or for any school within the District.

Educational options for WSD students involving part-time attendance at an educational institution other than a WSD school include:

• The Early College Credit Program, which allows Wisconsin public and private high school students to take one or more courses at an institution of higher education for high school and/or college credit. “Institution of higher education” means an institution within the University of Wisconsin System, a tribally controlled college, or a private, nonprofit institution of higher education located in the state.
• The Start College Now Program, which allows Wisconsin public school students who have finished 10th grade and are in good standing to take one or more courses at a state technical college.
• Part-Time Open Enrollment, which allows a student enrolled in a public school in the high school grades to attend public school in a nonresident school district for the purpose of taking a course offered by the nonresident school district. A student may attend no more than two courses at any time in nonresident school districts.

For WSD students residing within the boundaries of the District, additional full-time educational options that are not a school or instrumentality of the District include:

• High school students meeting certain age and other eligibility requirements may be permitted to attend a technical college or certain other programs for the purpose of completing a program leading to a high school diploma or a high school equivalency diploma.
• Full-time Open Enrollment involving physical attendance in a public school of a nonresident district or attendance through a virtual charter school associated with a nonresident district.
• A student with a disability who meets eligibility requirements may apply to attend an eligible, participating private school under a scholarship awarded through the state’s Special Needs Scholarship Program as established under section 115.7915 of state statutes.
• Enrollment in a private school of the family’s choosing (at the family’s own cost, as applicable).
• Enrollment in a home-based private educational program as provided under state law.

Educational options for children who reside in the WSD and who are enrolled in and attending a private school or home-based private educational program include:

• The opportunity to attend WSD summer learning programming.
• The opportunity to apply for approval to take up to two courses per semester in a WSD school subject to sufficient space, pursuant to section 118.145(4) of state statutes.
• A student involved in a home-based private educational program may participate in WSD interscholastic athletics pursuant to section 118.113 of state statutes.

For more information about any of these educational opportunities, please contact the Education Department of the Wausau School District at 715-261-0527.

1-31-2019