The Sawyer Plan in Highfield Reserve by Veridian Homes
Fitchburg, WI 53711

Teacher's perspective.PROS- Excellent course offerings. There's something for everyone.- Outstanding level of clubs and extracurriculars available.- Many sports programs are very strong and a high % of students participate.- I'm biased, but I think most of the staff is very good. There's a couple teachers that are world-class (everyone knows who they are). There's always a few outliers, of course, but most of the teachers are knowledgeable, talented, student-oriented, dedicated, and care about their job and relationships with kids.- Customer-service oriented. School will do anything to appease parents and students.- We have great students. They're generally very well-behaved and respectful, especially compared to other schools in Dane County.- Parents and community are extremely supportive. They voted to pass a referendum (and raise their taxes) to increase staff salaries because of district budget failures. I don't think that would happen in many areas.CONS- Sports tends to be valued more than academics (principal comes from a sports background). Students regularly miss class for sports competitions. When students have failing grades, teachers are pressured to raise them to keep them eligible for sports participation.- School is extremely liberal and intolerant of any political opinions outside that realm.- Consistent issues with bullying/harassment.- Advisory program has been very ineffective. They usually either purchase canned curriculum that feels inauthentic, or have lesson plans created by people who don't even teach. The kids hate it.- Grading policies (unlimited test retakes, unlimited late work submission, no scores below 50%) have been very detrimental to students' organization and responsibility and has led to massive grade inflation.- Although the school has tried to emphasize equity, no improvement has been made and our minority students perform consistently worse than our white students. They often voice feeling uncomfortable and unsafe at school.- School response to the pandemic has left a not-insignificant portion of the community upset.- District budget is a disaster and bodes poorly for the future. We spend disproportionately more on administration and instructional coaches than other districts. Many teachers feel contempt towards these positions for having lower impact yet higher pay than the teachers in the classrooms doing the hard work.- Cell phone use is out of control due to weak district policy.

As a student. This school is downright awful when it comes to bullying. The simply does NOTHING about bullying. Kids get into fights and i know lots of people, including myself that got bullied and its led to depression for lots of people. The counselors are unreliable. Administrators also choose favorites and protect specific students at any cost even if theyre the bullys.

Our daughter loves Mrs. Kattre’s kindergarten class! She’s always telling us how much she likes going to school. I just asked my daughter right now as I wrote this, “what is it that you like about Mrs. Kattre and her class?” My daughter replied “EVERYTHING!” That about sums it up. :)Keep it up the great work, Forest Edge Elementary and Mrs. Kattre. Our daughter is so happy there and it shows every day. She’s also progressing by leaps and bounds each week and it’s amazing to see her learning and intellectual progress. Thank you so much for all you do with our children!