In the spring of 2018, Dr. Kelly Seichter on behalf of the Whitewater Unified School District and the School District of Fort Atkinson consortium submitted a Peer Mentoring Review Grant through the Department of Instruction.

Last week, the Whitewater Unified School District was notified that they were awarded the grant in the amount of $25,000. The intention of this funding will be to enhance the instructional capacity of our newest teachers. Across the state, 73 partial or whole grants were awarded out of 86 consortia that sent in applications. WUSD will be the fiscal agent for this grant.

These funds will be used to train veteran teachers in becoming instructional coaches for our newest hires. These “mentor coaches” will meet regularly with new teachers assigned to them to improve the instructional practices of our new teachers. This will also ensure our new teachers are supported as they become oriented to the district and to the profession. We believe this will also contribute to higher new teacher retention rates.