Wales Campus Frequently Asked Questions

  • How do two schools share a campus?

    The school district of Kettle Moraine commonly uses the model of hosting multiple learning environments on one campus.  This allows for collaboration between legacy and charter environments, as well as provides efficiencies of sharing staff, space and operational costs.


    Wales Elementary occupies the central and north ends of the first floor and the entire second floor on the Wales Campus. KM Explore is housed on the south and west ends of the first floor. Both schools share common spaces on the campus such as the cafeteria, library, playground, gym, music room and art room.


    Classroom teachers have a dedicated teaching assignment either at Wales Elementary or at KM Explore.  Specialist teachers, support teachers, and paraprofessionals have shared responsibility depending on their role and need.  Both schools use the main, secure entrance facing Oak Crest Drive.  


    Who are the administrative leaders in the building and what are their roles?

    Chris Otto is the Wales Elementary principal and Laura Dahm is the KM Explore director.  Mr. Otto leads teachers in curriculum initiatives and instructional programming for students at Wales Elementary.  Mr. Otto also serves as the Director of Operations for the Wales Campus, including student, staff and building safety, and facility needs.  All KMSD charter schools are led by a director.  As the director, Ms. Dahm oversees the day to day operations, curriculum, programming and events for students and staff for KM Explore.  Though they work in two distinct schools, Mr. Otto and Ms. Dahm work in collaboration on many events and initiatives as well as serve on the district leadership team together.   


    Do the two schools participate in events, field trips and activities together?

    Part of the reason for having two separate schools, instead of just a program or track, is because there are two distinct identities, philosophies and initiatives.  Thus, not every field trip, activity or event aligns to both schools’ pedagogies.  From time to time, the entire campus is together for certain events, assemblies and activities.  Other times, schools, grade levels or classrooms participate in their own planned events and activities.  


    How are the two schools funded?

    All schools in the Kettle Moraine School District are funded on a per pupil basis.  This means that dollars follow the child and the building budget is set based, in part, on the number of students that attend.  Both KM Explore and Wales Elementary have their own operating budgets.