How long as the 'one high school, two campuses' split been in place?

In Lyons Township, 50 years.  In Lake Park, it was 15.  Both went to a 9/10, 11/12 split when they were building a 2nd high school.

Why are there so few examples of this kind in Wisconsin?  Does it mean they don't work well?

This arrangement appeared to work very well for these two school districts.  There were pros and cons, but for them, and their communities, the pros outweighed the cons because their community did not want to divided.  In many cases, tradition and history led the community to make this choice.

Enrollment

What is the enrollment in each of the high schools?  Is it stable, growing or declining?

In Lyons Township and Lake Park the enrollments were roughly 4,000 each.  Enrollments in each community were growing. 

Academics and scheduling

Does your school have core teams, academies or block scheduling?  If so, how did these work out?

Both schools had traditional 7-period day.

Would a split affect initiatives recently implemented or being planned in Oshkosh: Core teams, academies, block scheduling, additional graduation requirements, additional science requirements?

These initiatives may or may not be affected.  We will do further analysis of the impacts, if we believe there is an educational rationale for pursuing this option.

Do the two schools in have identical schedules?

At Lyons Township, they had the identical start and end time at both 9/10 and 11/12 campuses.  At Lake Park, the schedules were slightly staggered, by roughly a half-hour.

Can students from one high school take courses at the other high school?  If so, how do they get back and forth?

In both cases, students are bussed back and forth.  Classes for students on both campuses are scheduled for the first or last period of the day, to accommodate this busing.

How do students register for classes if they are taking some from one high school and some from the other?

They register and schedule for them as part of regular scheduling.

Have graduation rates or student performance changed since your school went to a split?  How?

Students at both schools perform well, but because of the length of time the split has been in place, it is difficult to identify and 'cause-and-effect' linking this performance to the split.

How many credits are required for graduation at your school?

Lyons Township requires 23 credits; Lake Park requires 22.

Do you have an alternative high school?  Where is it housed?

Lyons Township offers an alternative high school in a building nearby the 9/10 campus.

Special Education

How is the Special Education program set up for students in 9-12?  Where is it housed?

Special Education programs are housed at both campuses, except for special education programs with few students.  Those programs are housed at either the 9/10 or the 11/12 campus.

It's hard for some Special Education students to make a transition from one building to another.  Do they have to move from the 9-10 to the 11-12 building?

The students did not report that this was a problem. They did not offer transition programs from one building to the other.  Instead, all students looked at the transition as a 'right of passage' and looked forward to moving from one building to the other.

How do you handle integrating students into the mainstream?

Their Special Education programs were integrated, in some cases, but not in all. 

Electives

Since students in electives are not all from the same grade level, has the split at your school resulted in lower enrollments in electives?

Some electives are required as part of a philosophy of graduating well-rounded students, so participation in electives is strong.

What happens in choral music?  Are there progressive choirs?  Can a 10th grader move to the 11th grade choir? What happens in band?

Yes, these progressive choirs, bands, etc. are scheduled the last period of the day.

How is foreign language handled?

They have multiple levels of foreign language at both campuses; classes are scheduled on a needs-based approach.

Athletics

How many teams does your school have for the major sports?

Both have one team, but they have a variety of competitive sports teams.  In both schools, a large number (80%+) are involved in extracurricular activities.

Has the opportunity for a student to be on a team changed since you went to the split?

With 80%+ of students involved in an extracurricular activity, the schools did not feel their students lack opportunities.  In fact, the schools offer 'no-cut' sports, so any student who wants to participate can do so.  They may not start, but they will play at some point during the season.  The one exception to this is basketball.

If there are two varsity teams in the 11-12 building, how do they decide which team a student is on?  Does a student have any choice?  If there are two varsity teams in the 11-12 building, is it divisive?  Are they rivals?

There is only one varsity team.

Can a 10th grade student play on the varsity team?

Yes.

What's possible in Wisconsin?  What does the WIAA say about this?

The WIAA said it would be difficult for Oshkosh to have only 1 high school with 1 team, because no other schools in our conference would have as large a school population from which to draw. 

Socioeconomic factors

Was this a consideration in deciding to have a split?

The decision was based on each community not wanting to be divided when constructing a second high school.

Socialization and social activities

How is participation in clubs?  Has it been negatively affected by the split?

High participation was noted.  Students are bused between schools after school to get them to and from activities and at 4:00 and 6:00, giving students the opportunity to participate, even if their parents cannot provide transportation.

How does Student Council work?

All 4 grades participate and meetings are held after school.

How do you handle the newspaper, yearbook?

Journalism classes are taught at both campuses, but 11/12 students who are in the advanced journalism classes take the lead, while the 9/10 students act as reporters.

Do the 9th and 10th grade students feel left out of activities at the 11-12 facility?

They are very involved and the students themselves told us they go to games, participate in clubs and sports, which encompass all grades.

Transportation

Would a high school split result in more Oshkosh students having to take a bus to school?

We would only complete this analysis if it appeared that the educational rationale for moving to a split high school justified further investigation.

Pluses and minuses

What are the biggest benefits to this approach?

Unity is the biggest benefit for these communities.

What are the biggest problems?

They said it was hard to have an all-school pep rally, though they do bus all the students to a large fieldhouse once a year, to make it happen.

What do administrators think of the split?  Teachers?  Parents?  Students?

On the whole, administrators who left to go to a 9-12 high school, frequently returned to the 9/10, 11/12 split, because they liked the concept.  This was not true across-the-board.  At least one administrator (at Warrens Township) who came from a 9-12 high school did not like the split.

Teachers were mixed.

For the most part, students like it.  This may be because most had not experienced a more traditional, 9-12 high school, so they had little to compare to the 9/10, 11/12.