Helping Teachers And Librarians And We Loves Dogs! (Hour 2)

From the Civic Media Radio Network, moving Wisconsin forward, one joke at a time.

This is As Goes Wisconsin with Kristen Brott.

I'm so it goes.

I'm so it goes.

I'm so it goes.

I'm so it goes.

Oh, man, it's going.

No one knows.

Hello, Wisconsin.

No.

Billing in for the new mom, here's Jane Mattenair.

Good morning and welcome to As Goes Wisconsin shout out to Oshkosh if you're listening

on WISS or on WLAK Lake Air in Amory.

Amory, Amory, Amory.

I favorite place I've never been yet.

And you can always join us, Craig's on the board at 844-967-2789-844-96.

Party, party, party.

Or if you're watching on the livestream on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, you can leave

a comment there as well.

Coming up at 1130, Dr. Jill Underlee is going to be joining us.

She is the state superintendent of a public education.

And we're going to be talking about some of the many challenges facing our schools and

our students and our teachers and everything from not having enough staff to make you

sure that our kids are protected.

All of that is coming up at 1133.

Wanted to start though with an article and I tried to get Pete leave you from the Milwaukee

Journal Sentinel, wonderful guy, very talented writer and knows all things entertainment.

So he has an article in the Journal Sentinel about the top roasting concerts and how American

family feel did when compared to all of these other venues.

So Milwaukee did miss out on like arguably the two biggest concerts were Taylor Swift

and Beyonce.

They'll never come here.

Well, Chicago is right there, right?

I know.

It's don't don't take it so personally great, Bob.

This is honestly, this kind of brings up a little bit of if you are a concert goer and

you enjoy seeing bands that can be in larger like your arenas or your stadiums.

It's rare that the big names come here.

They go to the big says and I understand that, but there's a certain level of like, oh,

man, we're not good enough.

I just think we're in a large enough week.

If Beyonce came to Milwaukee, the Midwest would come to Milwaukee.

Oh, Taylor Swift decided to come to and she probably to do two nights or three nights.

Oh, yeah.

Amphib because I don't know the like the capacity for many of the place she played.

But if she came here, people would travel from all over the world to see her.

Absolutely.

And I think that's just a thing.

Give us a chance.

Let us, let us prove we can handle it.

What nice.

According to poll stars, your end reports, Amphib Field was number 35 on a list of the 100

top grossing stadiums in the world for concerts in 2023 in the US.

Amphib the 19th highest grossing stadium.

It's peers primarily football stadiums that have bigger seating capacities.

So Amphib sold over 178,000 tickets for concerts.

And that pulled in 35.4 million bucks.

So how many tickets, 178,107, interesting.

So I know George straight was there and that would be, I think that's sold out.

That'd be 40 plus 1000 tickets.

That means that we just don't also have a lot of concerts there either because if you

break down the numbers, that's 40 to, that's like five or six concerts a year there.

Yeah.

I mean, it's up from, it's way up from 2022, according to this article again from

Pete Levy in the, in the journal set, no, like I reached out to him and he's unfortunately

unavailable.

I think he's going to be off for the holidays of the MFAM ranked ranked 78th in 2022.

Yeah.

So this is a big jump up and I know with this all the stadium stuff, they really want to

push more concerts.

They want to, they want to winterize the place to use your voucher.

I think it's fantastic.

I personally think the, the entertainment tax, whatever that taxes they're only going

to do for non-basewell games should be for everything because it'll help.

But it seems like this is the way MFAM is going to go.

I know they got, they got a couple about it.

My friends are going to go see Green Day and smashing pumpkins there next year.

Oh, wow.

At the stadium had a baseball stadium.

That's amazing.

These bands used to play like basements.

Everybody's got to start some work right now.

Are you familiar with Morgan Wallen?

Yes.

Yep.

What genre?

He's country music.

He's kind of got an interesting sound because it sounds almost like hip hop because his drums

are generally like drum machines.

And he is very popular.

I believe he played two nights.

He did.

Yeah.

In April, he had two shows at MFAM.

He was number three on Polestar's top grossing North American tour charts.

Yeah.

He really regret missing out on pink.

She had the highest grossing North American tour.

She was at MFAM in August, the first woman headliner with a tour stop in Wisconsin stadium.

That's what I love about her.

And she did it.

If you all the time, I might even link it in the show notes.

She did a great interview on 60 minutes.

And she talked about the fact she wasn't trying to throw shade on Beyoncé or Taylor Swift.

But the fact she sold like three million tickets and no one talked about it.

Because when you're on tour, the same time as the other two artists, I mean, that's Taylor

and Beyoncé, but he's amazing.

She is.

And she, you're right, though, she really did kind of get glossed over in the midst of

all of that.

And I would really encourage you to watch that 60 minutes interview.

We'll put it in the show.

Yeah.

Yeah.

She's a gymnast.

And that just explains I'd had no idea that she had done gymnastics as a child.

And this is just morphed into.

She puts on her own circles to lay.

Yes.

Yeah.

And she's getting, she's getting her own Vegas residency, which is will be perfect.

Yeah.

Oh, that's going to be amazing.

Absolutely.

And George straight.

Yep.

George straight number eights on the list.

He played just one of his 14 shows of the year at Ampham Field in June.

He comes.

He likes Milwaukee.

He likes us.

And here's how big George straight is.

I've told people this.

He could do three nights at the baseball field.

He could play 20 songs a night.

He'd never repeat it.

They'd all be number one hits on the country charts.

And his openers are people who play Pfizer forum.

That's how big he is.

I love George straight.

I cannot say I am familiar.

I'm not a country music was never my jam.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Of course.

I'll take your word for it.

He is, he is honestly, he's the real deal.

He just sings good country songs.

He's a country guy.

He breath.

He's a cowboy.

He's a real life cowboy.

And he's just cool.

I just like him.

Uh, Ampham Field is going to be hosting at least four shows next year.

Kenny Chesney Green Day and Luke Combs, who already has two dates booked.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Country, our country acts come through there and they usually do pretty well.

They do really really well.

Uh, other venues that made the year and charts for pole star live nation backed Madison

promoter FPC live number 24.

Racken in 108.4 million dollars, one and a half million tickets sold.

The Sylvie in Madison, number 13 on the top grossing clubs in the world.

Whoa.

Yeah.

Made six million dollars.

Shh.

And the majestic theater in Madison came in at 122 down from number 98 last year, but

still with a gross of almost eight hundred thousand dollars.

So fun fact about the majestic.

I've performed there.

You have.

I have.

Is it one of those wonderful old?

It's beautiful.

You can feel the age.

You can feel like the history and it's just a great place.

As far as Ficer for him in Milwaukee goes number 81.

May 24.7 million over 209,000 tickets.

The Buxerina had two of the top 10 grossing tours of the year with Drake and Bruce Springsteen.

Yeah.

2020, 22 Ficer was 79th, but made less 14.7 million this year.

The second busiest for concerts at Ficer since it opened in 2018 with 21, not including

comedy shows and other touring events.

I mean, it's people are just happy to get back out, I think.

And also Milwaukee is really showing itself as a place for live entertainment for these

big acts.

I mean, the fact like you said, George Strais of one of 14 shows he did it all this

year.

He shows Milwaukee.

Pick chose Milwaukee.

It's a good spot to be.

I find it interesting that why wouldn't George Straits someone of that if he's got that

big of a following and that many hits.

Why wouldn't he go somewhere like Chicago?

You'd have to ask George if I had to, if I had to, if I had to hazard a guess, I'd probably

say the fact that he has such a relationship with this city as well.

He's been coming here for a long time.

It's kind of centralized.

You know, maybe it's a little, I mean, I don't know.

The tickets I couldn't afford the tickets.

They were like, I looked at the cheapest tickets and they were $500.

What?

Yeah.

He's a draw and I'm sure I could have found cheaper tickets, but I also couldn't find

anyone who wanted to go with me and I don't want to go to see George Strape on myself.

But that's a country song in and of itself.

Fair.

I had to go to the show alone because no one else liked George.

I took my dog and my truck and there you got a number one.

Okay.

Number one hit right there.

I took my puppers and my hybrid.

There you go.

All right.

We're going to switch gears just a little bit and just a reminder, Dr. Jill Underlee will

be joining us coming up at 1133 to talk about public education in Wisconsin and some

of the challenges facing our teachers and our students.

Uh, congratulations to quick trip.

And I know you are a quick tripper.

I.

You know how this Spotify does those wraps the end of the year where they say like, here's

what you listen to all year long.

Here's the songs popular.

Quick trip does the same thing, but it makes you feel like, Oh, man, I should eat a little

better.

I love their food.

Don't give me wrong.

Quick trip.

Sponsor me.

But when I get that wrap, I'm like, I need to start exercising.

But congratulations to the to the KT.

Yep.

They're planning a 151 million dollar business expansion, which is expected to create

over 500 jobs by 2027.

Wow.

And what does that include?

This includes expanding its dairy, its bakery operations in lacrosse.

They're going to renovate an office building in Analaska.

They're going to construct a new distribution center more than 80% of the products sold

in quick strip, uh, quick trip stores are supplied by the company's lacrosse-based food production

and distribution operations.

So that's where your sandwiches are coming from lacrosse.

All right.

You want to, you want to focus on lacrosse?

The breakfast sandwiches are so good.

Just a sausage and cheese biscuit.

Yeah.

It's, uh, uh, it's on a croissant.

I like the croissant or the ham and cheese on the croissant.

They're very tasty.

Well done quick trip.

You have a fan right here.

Sponsor me.

Sponsor the show.

That would be great.

Or just me.

You can do that too.

If you ever want to chime in, you can join us at 844-967-2789 or leave a comment on the

live stream if you're watching on Facebook, YouTube and or Twitter.

We'll be right back.

Stay close.

You're listening to Asgos Wisconsin Across the Civic Media Radio Network.

When that sun is high and that Texas guy, I'll be bucking if you can't refer.

Have a little by morning.

Have a little I'll be there.

Broke my leg inside of faith, lost my wife and a girlfriend somewhere along the way.

Good morning, welcome to ASCO's Wisconsin, so happy to have you along.

Jane Mattner, in for Kristen Brieg, Greg Bocke is on the board.

You can always join us at 844-967-2789-844-966.

Coming up in just a little bit about 1133, Dr. Jill Underly, the state superintendent of

public instruction, is going to be joining us, very excited to have the chance to talk

to her.

And we will talk about what DPI is doing for our kids and our teachers.

That's all on the way at 1133, wanted to give a shout out to an organization here in

Wakashaw, because of course, our studio located in beautiful downtown Wakashaw.

The Humane Animal Welfare Society, otherwise known as Haws, is a wonderful, wonderful

animal shelter, separate from the Wisconsin Humane Society, but Haws in Wakashaw has been

around for a very, very long time.

So they welcomed 20 new dogs yesterday, the arrival of a one and a half year old mixed

breed named Frisco, marks the 12,000 pet transported by a nonprofit called Greater Good Charities,

which helps find homes for dogs.

Isn't that cool?

Love it.

Every time the plane lands according to Jennifer Smeah from Haws, every time the plane lands

every time they open those doors, we hear the barks.

We see the animals look through their crates at us.

It's an overwhelming sense of we got this Frisco is one of 60 dogs flown into Wisconsin

from Louisiana and Alabama, and they will be taken to four different shelters, including

Haws here in South Eastern Wisconsin.

This Greater Good Charities began this animal transport program in April of 2021, and they

help pets out of shelters that are overcrowded or sometimes tragically dealing with natural disasters.

Oh my God, that's so much.

But just think about that.

That's so sad, but that's such an amazing one.

It really is, but I mean, when you think about the fires in Hawaii, which were not that

long ago.

No, no, not even six months, I think.

And we just had terrible weather down South, again, there was a tornado and actually the

six months, I was thinking those were the Canadian wildfire.

Oh no, the Hawaiian wildfires, I think people forget about that.

So if you have an opportunity, maybe it's something you're thinking about, think about

for the holidays, um, 20 new dogs at Haws.

Oh my God.

I'm watching the video that you put into our planner for the show today and those dogs are

always accordingly.

They are, they're adorable.

If you are, if you are going to, and I, I have mixed feelings about this because I've

talked with you, you made society and other, you made an animal welfare officials allowed

over the years on whether or not it's a good idea to adopt a pet for the holidays.

Yeah.

You just want to make sure that everybody's on board with it.

And I would certainly suggest that you don't give a pet as a surprise.

Nope.

Right?

You want to make sure that the, the receiver is actually on board for all the responsibility

that it's going to take.

Yeah.

When we talked about, we started talking about getting a dog in January of this year.

We talked here and there, like, oh, it's good.

We should get a dog if we can't blah, blah.

And then in January, when we went to New Orleans, we actually sat down in a restaurant.

We were talking and we just decided to open the conversation to actually doing this.

And we didn't get a dog until less than a month ago.

So you really, really thought about it, did research and made sure, yeah.

So giving a puppy or any, any animal, especially, honestly, especially bunnies, they say bunnies

are a terrible present because kids get them and they lose interest in them.

But we're talking about dogs.

Yeah.

Absolutely right.

Do the research.

Make sure you're all on board.

And even if you know you're getting it, you're still going to be so shocked, surprised,

excited when you open that box up and, oh, look, he's getting all squishy down.

How is Maybell perfect?

Maybell the perfect dog.

She had a, she had a little accident on the couch yesterday.

But I mean, I gotta say she's very well trained to go on the P pads.

So she, I would say 99% of the time she's going on P pads and doing her business and loving

on us and she gets, she's warming up.

Oh, very much.

So yeah, she's, we're trying to get her to understand how to jump off of a couch.

She can leap like an Olympic champion onto the couch, but that jumping down, she just

looks at it.

Like what's going on here?

What?

So what did you pick?

Do you pick her up and put her down?

We pick her up.

We put her down.

But I'm, Bridget is, Bridget's like, we should get her a stair step.

I'm like, no, she should learn.

She's right there.

If you can see her, her, most of her body is weighted towards the end of the couch.

You can see she wants to.

I'm like, we're literally days from this happening and I don't want to spend 50 bucks

on a step.

But she can jump up on the couch.

She can jump off.

She's having.

She's, I, I completely agree with you, but if you see her, she gets nervous.

So, but I also have tried to push her a little tush off and like, there you go.

But no, she's doing great.

She's opening up.

She's warming up.

She's, she's, she's, I mean, she's four, four months now and she just gives all the

love and the kisses and the licks and huddles and start to lose her teeth, which I did

not know dogs did.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

They have puppy teeth.

Yeah.

Bridges.

Like, what is this?

I'm like, this is a tooth.

This sucks.

Did you put it under her dog bed?

So the tooth fairy came and gave her some kibble.

You're going to be the most indulgent pet period on the plan.

No, no, no, I didn't, I didn't for one thing.

No, we didn't do that.

We're not going to do that.

And second, I told you this for Christmas, I said, we're not getting or anything for

Christmas because everyone else will.

We already bought her a ton of stuff.

I was going to say does she really need any more stuff?

Probably not.

No.

No, absolutely.

Just like kids.

Let grandma and grandpa get all the presents.

It'll all be good.

Exactly.

Exactly.

All right.

When we come back, Dr. Jill, under Lee, she is a state superintendent of public instruction

is going to be joining us.

All kinds of things going on in our education system and all kinds of challenges that

our teachers and our students are facing.

We are going to address some of those things and find out what the DPI is doing and what

they're looking at for the year as we move ahead.

And just one more reminder, Hawes again, Humane Animal Welfare Society here in Waukesha.

Welcome 20 new dogs yesterday.

Frisco is the 12,000th pet that was transported by greater good charity.

So if you're considering maybe adopting a pet for the holidays, you want to check out

Hawes and give them a call, go to their website as well.

And you can probably fill out a form a little bit ahead of time in order to speed up the

whole process.

So I just got a little note.

Dr.

Under Lee has a dog.

We're going to be talking to the doctor, Dr. Under Lee, not only about DPI and teachers

and students, but do talk about their dog as well.

That's on the way.

Stay close.

You're listening to Asgos, Wisconsin, across the civic media radio network.

You're listening to Asgos and give them a call, go to their website as well.

Welcome to Asgos, Wisconsin, behind J-Man there.

In for Creston Brigh, Reichbach is on the board.

You can always join us, call our texts at 844-967-2789.

Very excited to be joined by our guest, this half-hour.

She is the state's superintendent of public instruction.

Dr.

Jill Under Lee, good morning.

Thank you for joining the show.

I think you have your...

There we go.

Sorry if I sound a little hoarse.

I'm feeling a little bit under the weather and I might cough, but I'll put myself on

you if that happens.

Dr.

You're in good company, Dr. Under Lee.

There's all kinds of plagues, little mini plagues going around right now, so there are

many people who I think are battling the same thing as you.

Speaking of battling, let's talk about school.

Yeah.

Well, it's just the many challenges that our educators are facing in Wisconsin.

Where would you like to start?

Absolutely.

I'm sorry.

I'm just...

Yeah.

There are a lot of things in my mind when it comes to current challenges facing our schools

and libraries.

So I'm glad, first of all, that you've had me on the show because I'd love to talk about

it and just the opportunity to talk about it is really wonderful.

So thanks again for that.

So I'm glad you asked the question about the challenges facing our schools and libraries.

There's a lot of reasons for them, lots of reasons for these challenges.

Right now, I mean, we're out in our communities talking to people.

We're part of our strategic planning process and we're hearing about it, right?

We're hearing directly from Wisconsin School and Library staff.

We're hearing directly from families, parents, even students about what those challenges

are.

We're hearing is certainly the shortages and wanting great teachers in their classrooms.

We're hearing about achievement challenges.

You know, certainly there's lots of room to grow there and, you know, especially when

it comes to funding, particularly special education.

We're hearing about transportation challenges.

I mean, we're reading about transportation challenges.

We also hear about the worries, particularly about the ugly partisan and extremist rhetoric

because those voices are loud, right?

And even though they're a small minority of people, they're very loud voices and it's

been a distraction from our real work.

And we're also hearing about what we're seeing when it comes to bills and the legislature.

People are concerned and they're scared, you know, they're upset and angry about the

attacks on trans kids.

They're upset about the attacks on our libraries and our librarians.

And those are distractions and they really are hurtful ones at that and they distract us

from the real real real real work that we need to be doing.

So those, you know, those are just a few of the challenges that our schools and libraries

are facing.

Dr. Underley, and I think what's what's at least in to my estimation, and I find this

especially disturbing is some of these, you know, efforts to ban books and all of these

things are not necessarily happening organically, right?

And our night necessarily Wisconsin based to these are outside groups coming in to agitate

for these things and then make targets of our librarians, which just it breaks my heart.

It breaks my heart, the way that I have seen teachers and librarians demonized to the

extent that they have been.

It's that's just wrong.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's really pathetic.

I mean, it's really low when you think about who, you know, is being targeted.

I mean, you think about these extremist groups are targeting kids.

They're targeting teachers and librarians.

I mean, it's just, it's really just, I don't know, it's just so ugly and it's pathetic.

And it's so anti-American when you think about it too, right?

Because, you know, freedom of information, freedom of thought being able to go into a library

and read a newspaper that you or a magazine or a book that, you know, what's, that's what

we're built on in a democracy is that ability to acquire that information and that knowledge.

And we have people who are professionals in the acquisition and the transfer of knowledge.

And so then to attack them and to demonize them is really an attack on our democracy.

And the values that we hold dear.

So it is, it's just pathetic and ugly and I'm tired of it.

Because it takes away from all the work that we really should be focusing on.

Well, absolutely.

I can't imagine some of the rhetoric that teachers must be hearing and personal attacks.

And again, librarians who I have always thought of as extraordinarily knowledgeable, nothing

other than helpful and trying to turn them into, I don't know, it's, it's just astonishing

to me that this is where we are.

If you're just joining us, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Jill Underlee is

here and we're talking about the challenges facing our schools and our students.

What about staffing, Dr. Underlee, I, when, when, when we have to look for educators who

can deal with all of the things that are going on, it's got to be especially difficult

to attract new blood or even to keep, to keep longstanding teachers in the profession.

Yeah, I mean, it's all related when you think about it.

Certainly, full while they're leaving the teaching profession or why they're not going

into the teaching profession or even school principals or administrators when they're

resigning.

In the middle of the school year, it always comes back to how they're treated, right?

They don't want to deal with the politics.

They just want to do their jobs and they go into these professions because they care about

kids, they love their communities and they want to make the world a better place.

And you think about the larger attack on public education.

I mean, like you said earlier, it's, it's a national thing.

It's not organic coming out of, you know, the local level of school parents or community

members.

This is like a part of a bigger, bigger, orchestrated agenda.

It's really in a way, you know, looking at how can we undermine public education further,

making sure that we don't have people who want to become teachers is a very good way to

do that, right?

Making sure you don't have people who know the content, right?

So what you're going to find out then is you're going to have, or how do they work with

kids, you're going to find that, you know, it's going to, long term, our schools are going

to suffer and we're suffering in the short term.

And it's not that we don't have people who want to become teachers.

We're finding that once they become teachers, they don't stay in teaching.

And that's a big deal.

I mean, there's a lot of reasons for that politics and the culture wars are, you know, in the

top three, salary and benefits are, you know, certainly in the top three, but certainly

how they're treated is a big part of that too.

And the disrespect that we've been showing them over the past 13 years, especially.

What can, what can we do, what can we do for our teachers?

Yeah, so I mean, certainly the big thing, I think community members can do and parents

can do is just show our respect for teachers.

I mean, teachers are, they're incredible people.

They want what's best for your kid.

And so they're certainly reaching out to parents frequently, keeping those lines of communication,

open, engaging parents, because it is a partnership when your kids are in school.

Yes, you are the parent and you will always be the child's parent, but they spend a great

portion of their day with other adults and those adults want to know what's best for

your kid by talking to you about it.

They want to know more, you know, how your child learns or, you know, what their strengths

are so they can build on those.

So certainly showing those, showing that communication, the respect, you know, they're hearing so

much negative.

So having that support is important.

At DPI, we're doing several things.

We're continually reevaluating what we hear from the field to help our teacher preparation

programs and our school districts get what they need to put high quality teachers in front

of kids.

We're also taking action on this at DPI, we're working with licensing such as like special

education induction programs, which are like a network of new teachers in the special

education.

So it's like they have this cohort and this mentorship and network where they can work

with each other.

We're looking at teacher apprenticeship programs.

That's more of a national thing that's coming through the Department of Workforce development

here in Wisconsin, but we're partnering with them to make it more like a traditional

apprenticeship model.

And we're also really working on our career pathways.

You know, high school kids, when you talk to them, a lot of them still want to become

teachers.

We need to reinforce that.

Yeah, absolutely.

And that's the big thing that I think we need to focus on because when I was in high

school, and I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do, I had probably a dozen teachers tell

me, you should become a teacher.

And we're not hearing that anymore.

You know, we have more people and parents included who are teachers are telling their kids, don't

become a teacher.

And so these kids, you know, they're exposed to it, they're interested in it.

And they want to do it, but they're having people talk them out of it.

And when you think about the atmosphere and the climate, yeah, I can see why, but we can't

do that.

We have to work to make it better.

And we have to work to make sure that we're keeping good kids interested in becoming teachers.

And so that's why we're certainly reinforcing career pathways and programs to do that.

So there's a lot.

I mean, we've put stipends for student teachers in our budget requests for the 2325 budget.

And that got knocked out, you know, by the legislature, but we're going to try again.

I mean, we're really trying.

We really know that having high quality teaching professionals in front of our kids, including

teacher aides and assistants and parrots, we need that if we're going to have good schools

on Wisconsin.

Well, and Dr. Underley, I mean, good heavens.

When I think of if we lose all of our public schools, private schools have much different

measurements and they don't have to take everyone is my understanding, correct?

Yeah, right.

Absolutely.

I guess the way that I kind of look at this, if, you know, yeah, certainly what I'm trying

to explain it to just a person on the street who's like, well, what's the difference?

I think about it this way.

It's like think about golf courses, right, or parks, right?

You've got public golf courses and you have private golf courses or country clubs, right?

You know, so that's kind of the same thing when it comes to schools.

You have to pay a membership or tuition to go to the private, like you would a country

club or whatever, they don't have to accept you.

You have to follow like certain rules, which could be discriminatory.

And if you don't, they can kick you out.

They will, you know, there's nothing that says, you know, like once they accept the kid

that like with this child has disabilities, well, you know what, we can't serve you.

They're not held to the same standards that public schools are.

And at the very root of it, all public schools are for everyone.

And though when you think about our democracy and as a cornerstone of that democracy, public

education is critical.

If we are going to have an informed and engaged electorate, we need public schools because

we need to ensure that every kid is getting the best possible education that shouldn't

have to pay for it.

And in order to do that, that's how your democracy survives and not only survives, but thrives.

Well, and I, I'm particularly concerned about our rural areas, Dr. Underlee, which are

already challenged, you know, they have their own challenges in rural areas.

And in many instances, several communities are sharing one school or one school system.

And there aren't private options available all over the state of Wisconsin.

They're just art.

Right.

And the other thing is, I mean, when you bring up the rule, I mean, certainly the challenges

are, you know, just incredible there in rural areas too when you think about the teacher

shortage.

You know, like in a rural area, you might have one school.

It might have like, let's say one high school, middle school or one elementary school might

only have 200 kids in one building.

The districts, we have a lot of districts in Wisconsin that are under a thousand kids

in the district.

I mean, they're small and we're already losing people we know in rural areas because of housing

shortages.

I mean, our birth rate in Wisconsin is low and, you know, our rural areas are aging.

So I mean, it comes a certain time and people's lives, you just can't have any more kids.

And so our schools are seeing declining enrollment and it's in rural areas.

It's not because they're choosing to opt to private schools.

It's because they're just aren't enough kids.

So they're sharing teachers or you have one teacher who's teaching maybe advanced math,

physics and chemistry and, you know, maybe you will find that unicorn to teach that

class in high school.

And then after a year or two, they're like, you know what, this was really awful.

I could go to a larger school, like in the suburbs or in an urban area and maybe just teach

physics all day.

I don't have to, you know, do all this other stuff and we're going up against the wall.

Can you say with us through a real short break?

Absolutely.

Great.

We're going to continue talking about education and then we're going to talk about Dr.

Underley's dog.

That's all on the way.

Stay with us.

Welcome back to ASGO's Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Good morning and welcome, welcome, welcome to ASGO's Wisconsin.

Jane McNair in for Kristen Brie Greg Bach is on the board.

Kristen will be here tomorrow at 10.33.

She joins us every Wednesday from 10.30 to 11 o'clock while she's on maternity leave

and working from home right now, though, we're going to wrap up with state superintendent

of public instruction.

Dr. Jill Underley is here.

What are some good things we can look forward to in the new year, Dr. Underley?

Oh, gosh.

There's so many good things that we can look at.

You know, when I think about it, we're focusing on diversity, equity, inclusion, you know,

certainly so that all our schools and public libraries can have welcoming learning environments

for every kid.

When you think about it at their core, kids need to feel safe.

They need to be included.

They need to feel that they're going to be that they belong so that they can be successful.

And we're also starting to work on our next budget proposal.

That's coming up fast to build on what we got last time, but also what we still need

and what we still want.

So students can be successful, like free, healthy school meals for all, investment in teacher,

recruitment and retention programs, increasing funding for mental health.

And we want to increase the special education reimbursement rates.

So I'm, I continue to be hopeful, certainly in our outlook because our schools need our

support and our students are hopeful and supporting that hope is supporting their education.

I'm also going to continue to push for better student achievement and doing so through our

advocacy and policy, like we have with literacy, teacher, teachers are part of that too.

So it's also how we demonstrate our advocacy through for teachers.

And also, as I said earlier, we need strong teachers in all our schools and strong professional

development so that they can be the best teachers for our kids.

And I'm also, like I said, with the budget stuff, going to really continue to push hard

for mental health services in our schools.

I mean, that's what we know that the kids need and what the parents and the teachers want.

And it makes sense to push in those programs into our schools because that's where the kids

are.

I would just like to remind parents as well.

Remember how hard it was during COVID, during lockdown when your kids couldn't go to school?

Remember that the next time you see your child's teacher and be kind because I think that

was, I opening for a lot of people, Dr. Underlee, when they had to take over the responsibilities

of an actual professional teacher and I would have hoped and hope that the appreciation is

there for what our educators do because you do so much more than just teaching, reading

and writing.

The amount of responsibilities we expect from our educators is pretty remarkable.

A day from the shot is on the line.

Good morning, Dave.

What does you want to say to Dr. Underlee?

Good morning.

First off, I just want to thank Dr. Underlee for her advocacy, her work at the state level

because it definitely impacts things at the local level, speaking as a parent of two kids

in public schools, in the spouse of a public school teacher, like we need good leadership.

But I think I wanted to chime in and say like we have to have good leadership at a local

level as well as someone with boots on the ground here in Walker Shaw who feels like

they're kind of a ground zero of all that you were talking about, Dr. Underlee, of all

the not so great things happening in education.

I think part of that reason is because we've elected these extremist board members who've

implemented some really poor policy.

So people out there listening, you have to vote for strong public education that includes

the vote for Dr. Underlee, but also local leaders as well.

Thanks a lot, Dave.

Really appreciate it.

Stay from the shot.

Dr. Underlee, we only have a couple of minutes left.

Yeah.

So thanks so much.

Go ahead.

I want to ask you about your assistant Abigail snitched on you and let us know that you

have a dog and that you volunteer at an animal shelter because we were talking about

Haas Humane Animal Welfare Society here in in Walker Shaw.

So tell us about Dr. Underlee's dog.

So I was listening to that earlier too before I jumped on and his name is Angus.

He is a black Labrador Retriever mix and he is just, he just sits outside my door.

Like right now, he's just outside my door, like probably whining.

I had to give him a bone to like a rawhide because he will otherwise, he will just be

pawing at the door.

He is attached to my hip.

Like I am scared sometimes for my life because he's behind me and if I step backwards like

in the kitchen, I'm going to fall backwards.

He is very, very dependent.

He is definitely my dog.

I love him dearly.

And my family, yes, we do volunteer at the Iowa County Humane Society and we do that

as a family, which I love and we look forward to it.

These, when you think about, you know, teachers and you think about people who care about,

you know, others and have this empathy, I mean pets are included in that.

So.

What you managed to stop your children from bringing home every animal that they work

with at the animal shelter because that's got to be really, it's like mom, just this

one.

Come on.

Yeah, it's so hard, it is so hard.

Yeah, I definitely have to check my daughter's pockets in her hoodie before we leave, make

sure there's no kittens or anything stuffed in there.

No, we just look forward to it.

It's like our way to get our fix, right?

You know, to have those pets, we have a lot of pets here on our farm and yeah, it is tough,

but that's how we deal with it.

We go and that's how we get our fix.

Well, and I wanted to share, we had a couple of texts from earlier also that we're talking

about you fostering dogs.

So if you can't necessarily adopt an animal and not everyone has that ability, but you

can actually foster dogs, this texture said she's going to foster dog for like four days

over Christmas.

And just to get them out of the shelter and get them a little bit acclimated.

So that's a pretty cool thing if you can, if you can manage to do that too.

Some of these animals, these dogs, especially are in shelters for a year or more.

Yeah, way too long.

And it's like, it's really sad that they grow up a lot of these animals that we see their

owners have died and just family members don't want to take them in.

And it's just really working with them because they don't understand what's going on.

They miss their owners.

They don't know why they're at the shelter and they had a good life before and now it's

not so good.

And so that's the hard part when you know their back story and you really feel compassion

for them.

But yeah.

Well, and you're teaching your children some very, very valuable lessons about compassion

and kindness and caring and good for you and good for them.

Thank you.

And if I could just really fast just to address the collar, I know we ought to break.

But thanks for bringing up those issues, Dave, school board membership and leadership matters

when it comes to school, school achievement, but also the policies because they can change

those policies.

And I'll be honest, those policies are not coming from local level.

They're coming from national.

Absolutely.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Jill, under Lee, thank you so very much

for your time.

Really appreciate it.

Take close.

News is coming up next.

Keep it right here on the Civic Media Radio Network.