District Administrator


Welcome to SDMA!

Welcome to the School District of the Menomonie Area!  Located just 60 miles east of the St. Paul-Minneapolis area and 30 miles west of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Menomonie enjoys the advantages of access to many resources while being nestled into the beautiful hills of western Wisconsin. The district serves more than 3,400 students within five K-5 elementary schools, Menomonie Middle School, Menomonie High School, and several community-based 4K centers. Our community has a long and rich history of supporting education, and the City of Menomonie’s motto “Traditional Yet Progressive” provides a good description of the local environment and culture in our area.  Menomonie is home to the University of Wisconsin-Stout and a satellite campus for the Chippewa Valley Technical College. We are very proud of our tradition of excellence, academic programming, and co-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities available to our students.

After engaging hundreds of community members in developing a strategic plan through "The Great Conversation" of 2011, our school district passed a $36 million referendum in April 2012 for the purposes of investing in our facilities. Technology initiatives included progressive integration of technology into instruction and the implementation of the  M-Powered Learning 1:1 Initiative in 2017, where personal computing devices were provided for each student in grades 6-12. Each of our buildings operates as a Professional Learning Community (or PLC), and new programming and initiatives in the school district are based upon best practice. 

Our district schools have been recognized for outstanding performance in many areas, including advanced placement coursework, model Response to Intervention (RtI) and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) systems, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programming and School-Based Mental Health Counseling, Global Education Achievement Certification, and numerous student achievements in academics, athletics, co-curricular activities, and the performing arts. Recently, the school district collaborated with the community and UW Stout to develop the Art Integration Menomonie (A.I.M) Program, partnered with the local businesses and organizations to establish a Boys and Girls Club branch housed in the school district, and worked with the community to construct the Menomonie High School Sports Complex, which was funded by the school district matching nearly $750,000 in private donations.

Our board of education and staff are committed to the mission of our district while being responsible stewards of our community’s resources. A new five-year strategic plan was developed in 2019 by utilizing a process that included over 1,200 responses on two strategic planning surveys, 40 focus group meetings to obtain face-to-face input from students, parents, employees, and community members, and several meetings with a strategic planning steering committee which was comprised of a variety of stakeholders representing our diverse community. Clear expectations for deliverable actions have been set in the areas of Career, College & Life Ready Graduates, Student Social & Emotional Wellness, Parent & Community Partnerships, and Facilities & Operations.

Please spend some time exploring our website to learn about the many great things we have to offer!


Joe Zydowsky

District Administrator