And welcome back to Civic Media This Morning, our number two title ball here in Madison along with Mr. Greg Bach and Racine and Kenosha.
It is six minutes for sex.
It's six minutes
for
sex.
Welcome to Sexty in the Morning on Saturday.
Six minutes past the hour is seven o'clock here on Thursday, February 27th.
Krightlow is on vacation down in Zona, Arizona.
Now he'll be back tomorrow.
So-called work trip for Mr. Krightlow.
He'll be back along with the Up North News Radio coming up here tomorrow.
So be here for that.
We're giving you a company informed, involved, and in touch.
here on a uh on a thursday morning here on civic media glad to have you along coming up a little bit why is my coffee Greg bot good take a
deep breath it's thursday
start again
coming up at 7 34 this morning we will talk with Mr. Mike Johnson who is the superintendent of Eau Claire public schools along with Trig V Olsen senior advisor to the Lincoln project the two grew up in River Falls and talk a little education talk about the implications of immigration policy may be made in
DC and how that affects schools here in the Wisconsin area and celebrate Wisconsin Public Schools Week.
Find out what's happening.
It'll clear public schools coming up at 734.
Also, Luke Mathers joining us at around 10 till eight with his puppers.
We'll explain about that in a minute.
But right now we are joined as Pat and Greg are every morning by the lovely the talented Brittany Merleau, our wonderful meteorologist.
Brittany, how the heck are you?
Oh, I'm pretty good.
How are you doing,
Todd?
I'm great.
I am great.
Thank you very much.
It's been a morning.
I got a new TV.
I can't get to work behind me.
So it's just a blank screen turns out much like my brain.
And so anyway, we're just we're just chilling out here.
But the important thing is that we really want to get your opinion on here.
We talked about today music history today.
And Josh Groban, Josh Groban turned 44 turns 44 today.
What are your feelings on Josh Groban?
I have no idea who that is.
Yes, you do.
Who is Josh Groban?
Wow.
Hold
on.
Hold
on.
We're so old, Greg.
We're so old.
No, I will, you guys take a moment.
I will bring the song back
up.
All right.
You know this song,
Brittany.
You've heard this song.
Okay.
Okay, I'm really bad with who sings what song.
So, you found my weak spot, okay?
Well, I know it's funny because Greg is, you know,
Shedding tears over Josh Groban every time he hears it makes him melt makes Greg melt and I'm kind of in I'm kind of indifferent.
I I just think he I think he wants to be Neil Patrick Harris from Michael Buble any Josh Groban a very talented talented individual don't Don't get me wrong.
All right.
Here we are talent.
All right.
Here we go Josh Groban.
Oh, I said not oh, I know I cuz because sometimes it's stupid
Here we go, Josh Groban, take two.
Josh Groban, take two.
What is, why is that happening?
Anyway, he's a singer.
He's a singer.
He's a singer.
All right, well, anyway, here we go.
Really, for real.
you feel like the
king or queen of the world,
all right?
I'm done with all of you you don't know culture you don't know good things
All right, that was beautiful.
That was well done.
That was well done.
All right, well, we're gonna talk to you.
Let's do a little today in history at 10 past the hour of seven before we get into some weather.
That was the best part of the morning so far.
Make that into a promo.
I have no idea.
Nobody
respects the... I don't think we can for legal reasons.
Right.
We're going to talk more about this with Luke Mathers a little bit later this hour on a Thursday.
But get this, guys, it's National Small Dog Day.
And you have to pronounce it dog.
It's National Small Dog Day.
It's the last Thursday in February.
It's National Small Dog Day, especially dedicated to celebrating the small dogs in the pack, their mighty personalities as well.
Now, you might ask what constitutes a small dog.
It's a dog that weighs
20 pounds or less and falls under the small dog or toy dog breed category.
How about that?
Do either of you had small dogs?
My dog is not, she does not qualify for that, for that weight class.
She is a banter weight dog.
She'll come on, she'll come out fighting and her theme song, Josh Groban, you raised me up.
Do
you have a dog Brittany?
I do not, no.
Did you ever have what was going on?
I'm not home enough to take care of one, which I have to be responsible about, you know?
Right, exactly.
I grew up with a miniature schnauzer.
A
schnauzer, yeah.
Her name was Daphne Suzanne.
I named her after Daphne in Scooby-Doo.
It's true.
So yeah, she was a small dog.
Here is, I'm very excited about this.
Now we don't often do cooking programs on the radio.
We only have, is anybody even watching this stream?
Oh, very good.
Fantastic.
I have brought in my toaster this morning because why are you asking?
Because it's what you believe national toast day honoring the humble slice on this last Thursday of February But it's also so very versatile.
It carries a multitude of jams and jellies and marmalades and fruit
Compotes I like that word compote, but we don't stop there toast transports proteins and veggies sprouts and soaks up sauces and Drippings so here now.
I brought one chocolate here.
I don't normally get this Brittany.
I did
not know he was gonna do this
You guys I like a good brioche I don't often do it and I was actually gonna make whatever
Madison
That's fair.
I was gonna make French toast this morning, but I went last night to the grocery store eggs $25 a dozen in Madison.
I couldn't believe it.
Now here now, I'll probably get in trouble.
I go to Clausen's Bakery in Madison for a fine wheat toast.
So you got your brioche and you got your wheat and we're gonna, all right, it's toast.
Turn it up.
And then for toppings today, what do you guys like on your toast?
I enjoy butter.
Oh, but okay.
I enjoy butter or a jam.
Not a jelly, whatever, but I like a good jam like our preserves.
I've got a strawberry and rhubarb spread from from Rose Cottage here in Cambria, Wisconsin.
That sounds awesome.
It's I love I love a good raspberry or pardon me on strawberry and rhubarb jam.
And I know this is controversial, but peanut butter.
I like good old Jeff.
That one open just so you know
Todd really making waves with his peanut butter choices in the morning
Well, I mean are what do you what do you use for peanut butter Greg
box?
Oh, I'll use whatever like I'm not I'm not a peanut butter snob like I'll the jiff the jiffy the
Peter Pan, I don't care.
Peter Pan.
But I'm a crunchy boy.
I forgot it was a peanut butter.
I'm a crunchy boy.
Yeah, I know.
I'm a
smooth guy.
It's smooth.
Brittany, where are you on the peanut butter wars?
Crunchy.
Yeah, that's
right.
While you're doing that, while you're toasting, you're soon to be toast, also known as bread.
I got this from Lauren Rapids.
Josh Groban is a king among men.
He's a musical theater pro.
He's done Broadway shows.
How dare you?
sorry.
Thank
you, Laura, from Rapids.
All right.
Again, he's very talented.
I'm not trying to take anything away from his talent.
It's just some people, you know, that you click with them and some you don't.
I just, I don't know.
Well, enough.
I don't want to beat up Josh Groban.
All right, what else today?
It's a national retro day.
Now here, Brittany, I feel like you can get behind this.
A national retro day takes us back to a time before smartphones.
and the internet, every generation looks back and asks, remember when?
The celebration indulges our love for the good old days while remaining in the present.
No matter the decade, pick a point in time where people talk more face to face than text to text, had dinner at home or on the table, and the kids played games that didn't require the internet.
There's a
whole party in Washington who wants to go back to those
Leave it to Peefer.
I
do not know your age.
I've never asked.
I will never ask, but do you have a, is there pre-internet in your memory?
Oh yes, absolutely.
I mean, I had pagers back in the day, no internet or that when you got the internet was that dial up and AOL thing.
Okay,
okay.
And then those three magical words, you've got mail.
All right.
But I would consider you a person of fashion and coolness, Brittany.
Now, like my nieces, they love to shop at the thrift stores.
They love to find vintage clothing.
Do you ever participate in that or any of your friends?
You know what?
I haven't done it too much, but my best friend does that.
She'll go to thrift stores and she'll flip things.
She'll make them trendy again, resell them.
She's all into that vibe.
So I definitely am close to people like that.
Greg, are you a thrifter?
No.
No, no, there's there's a
certain meal you about thrifting when you are a big guy.
That's just not as fashionable
Okay, oh look the toast is up the toast is well you're doing the toast pretty much
Why don't
you give us the
weather?
Look at that look at that look at that brownness on that on that brioche that just a little bit up here listen to this
Right?
I mean, who makes French toast on the radio?
Only here folks in Civic Media this morning.
All right, Brittany, give us the weather.
What's going on?
What's popping?
Oh, toast is popping right now.
Otherwise, we are looking at a cloudy day today.
We've got a few flurries that are going to be flying into northeast parts of the state.
A few scattered showers towards Lake Michigan, but nothing major.
These are just little sprinkles moving through the area this afternoon.
We'll see more sunshine into the southwest areas of the state and highs today still staying miles.
We will hit 40 degrees for most of us.
And of course, upper thirties far north into Wausau and northern areas.
It'll be a breezy one too.
Winds are going to be gusting up to 30 miles per hour today.
And then they're going to whip up to 40 tomorrow.
So we could see some power outages, tree limbs coming down.
That'll be the main problem as we go through the next 24 hours.
Where is that at?
All across the state.
All
across that.
I did not know we were going to get that much wind.
Yeah.
So it'll start to whip to about 30 miles per hour today.
Tomorrow, 40 mile per hour.
So I wouldn't be shocked if we see some high wind warnings.
On our show, we have a whip.
Every time you say it, we crack the whip.
That's
awesome.
Yes.
I think it's fair.
Now,
this is
serious though, because people that have large trees, big oak trees and whatnot, I mean, this could cause a lot of damage.
So we got to be prepared for this.
Yes.
And you think about it, the ground is saturated and soggy and wet right now too.
So it could make some of those trees, smaller ones too, come down as well.
So just keep an eye out for that.
But otherwise, I mean, we're looking at some sunshine in a beautiful weekend ahead, just a little cooler.
Oh my gosh.
What are the temperatures for the weekend, Warless?
And we're looking at actually staying below freezing on Saturday and then the low 30s on Sunday.
Oh,
very nice.
All right.
Well, that's good.
I'm like, excuse me.
Here we have a beautiful piece of toast is national toast.
Happy toast day, Brittany.
And thank you for a great weather forecast.
You're
welcome.
Have a great day.
Come on back.
We'll make more toast and more fun.
It's the Civic Media this morning show with Greg and Todd and Brittany and whoever else was to stop by.
Welcome back to Civic Media this morning.
I'm Todd Albaugh in with Greg Bach.
We are filling in for Pat Critello and Up North News Radio.
That is a song that will get you up and get you going on a Thursday morning, the 27th of February.
Greg, what did you dial up?
This is a song called Tokyo Calling by a Japanese, a J-pop band called Arachi Gakko.
It is an awesome song and an amazing video.
I love this band so much.
That's fantastic.
Well, anything to prompt you to play that song?
When I can't think of a song that's like properly in line with the theme of what we're going to talk about, I just play this one just to get you going like.
Oh
yeah, I like
that.
Because a lot of people are up exercising this time of morning, running, jogging.
Well, that's great.
That's great.
Very good.
Welcome back.
Glad to have you along.
Twenty-two minutes now past seven o'clock after the bottom of the hour news and weather and sports update.
I'm going to be talking with Mike Johnson, Superintendent of Eau Claire Public Schools and Trig V. Olsen, Senior Advisor at the Lincoln Project, celebrating Public Schools Week.
Always great to talk about our great public schools all across Wisconsin.
And Mike Johnson will be in to do just that.
We thank Brittany Merlot.
For being here put putting up with our silliness because it's national toast day Yes, that's a real thing.
I brought in my toaster and I I toast up it came out beautifully a Slice of brioche of brioche toast air glisten that listen crunch even with a Strawberry rhubarb jam on it.
Oh, that sounds that sounds amazing.
There it is.
Oh, that's a crunch now.
I had some a wheat toast
from Clausen's Bakery.
I'm like, well, I want it to get just a little bit more done.
And I put it back in the toaster and then Brittany did her, I got into the forecast and look, I burnt the darn toast and I'm worried that I might have set off the fire alarms.
So which is a way for Todd to get a date.
So I'm looking forward
to
that being carried out by a firefighter.
Anyway, but we got so much into the toast, we forgot about Rob and Tigerton's forecast there.
Greg, please fill us in.
He says, good morning.
This is Rob from Tigerton.
Of course, good morning from Tigerton, cloudy and 34 degrees.
We had a spectacular sunset last night by my sister, Lori's house in Caroline.
She made me brats for supper.
Goes on to say a year ago today in Tigerton.
It was 70 degrees.
then followed by a huge temperature drop to 12 degrees the next morning.
Yeah, that February is probably the most unpredictable month in Wisconsin.
It could have 70, you could have 11, you could have snow, you could have a heat wave.
It's ridiculous.
He also goes on to say, talking about what you were discussing in the first hour, he says, he's against cuts to special education.
I hold so to the heart because I needed special education to make it to school and I'm a strong proponent for special education and everyone has talents regardless.
regardless of ability.
That's why I hold special education teachers dear to my heart.
So thank you so much, Rob, for getting in touch with us.
And thank you for sharing that with us.
We appreciate you so much.
100% Rob.
And I'm right there with you.
I went through a lot of.
a special, they called him at the time like Title IX or Title I classes for reading and for math in particular.
And most of my time in school, they saw Todd's lazy or he's just not smart, he has low IQ.
Turns out if I went to college, I finally got diagnosed with dyslexia.
So...
I can relate Rob went through a lot of what would be what would be considered at least at the time quote-unquote special education programs and and Everybody has their own gifts and talents and sometimes it's just a matter of unlocking those gifts and talents And we just we need teachers and educators who are trained to find that because everybody is gifted It's just a matter of how you bring that out.
So I appreciate
you agree with that 100%
So in addition to to national toast day, which I'm not sure anything could be sexier than national toast day But we do have a couple other days here on the on the docket and I had to look up.
Here's the word a n o s m I a Awareness Day.
I'm like, it's not us.
It's not it's not a somnia.
It's that that's why I had to look it up.
It's Anasmia anasmia day.
Have you heard of this Greg?
No, I'm looking it up right now.
It's
it's
National
Anasmias Awareness Day And I'm like what is that by the way and it turns out it's people who have a loss of smell It is a condition ranging a long-ranging loss of smell of all our senses smell perhaps is take taken for granted more than any other there are many causes of Anasmia the most common reasons are due to upper respiratory or sinus nasal infection
and diseases we've all experienced a cold or algae that temporarily prevented us from smelling.
However, other conditions cause a permanent.
or long-term loss of the sense when anosmia symptoms are prolonged or lifelong, many anosmatics do not enjoy the flavor of foods, the scent of an infant, or other senses of smell, such as an early warning system for danger, like when you burn your toast.
I mean, I guess I kind of knew this was a thing, but you just forget about it, but anosmia.
is a person who has lost their sense of smell.
And I would agree, Greg, yes or no to you.
I think it's a sense.
That goes way undervalued and I really learned more about it when I had my coffee business I learned more about coffee and so much of our food and our drink what we think of as quote-unquote taste it's actually our smell
Yeah, I mean right now I'm actually going through something like looking at my sinuses and and my sleep patterns and whatnot and I've noticed like they put something called afferent in my nose on Monday and my nasal passages open up to the point where like I could smell everything it was
I didn't realize how blocked they were for so long and how much that affects like just the world you take in.
But yeah, it was she shouted up my nose and I'm like, I just started breathing.
I'm like, oh my gosh, she goes, you breathing like you never breathed before.
I'm like, yes.
So my heart goes out to people who suffer from that terrible, terrible affliction.
National Anastasia Awareness Day, that's when we have awareness days to make people more aware.
So yeah, if you're going through that, we're thinking of you today and be aware that not everybody has that sense of smell that we too often take for granted.
28 minutes now past the hour of seven o'clock.
Temperatures range from upper thirties.
to around 40 degrees, Brittany Merlot says, and expect highs in the upper 40s to around 50 degrees, but some very windy conditions beyond just windy.
It's going to be gusts at 30, 40 miles per hour, Brittany says.
Be aware, some small limbs or larger limbs on older trees could be susceptible to coming down on power lines.
So just be aware of that.
Going to be batting down the hatches, as they say.
Also, if you drive for those higher vehicles, an RV, a camper, a 18-wheeler, that sort of thing, a straight-line truck can make driving.
very difficult as well.
So some high winds could be going across the state in the next 24 to 40 hours.
We're going to come back on the other side of this break.
Take a quick pause for your local news around the state of Wisconsin and also sports with Mike Clemens, our great sports reporter, a quick check of weather.
And then back with Mike Johnson, the superintendent of public and of schools in the Eau Claire school district and Trippie Olson from the Lincoln Project.
Don't miss it.
Come on back at the Senate meeting this morning with Greg, Todd and you right here on the Senate media radio network.
you
Welcome back everybody.
It is now 34 minutes past the hour here.
Glad to have you along with us on this beautiful day here in Wisconsin all across Wisconsin.
Joining us the Senior Advisor of the Lincoln Project.
Former River Falls boy.
You can take the boy out of River Falls, but you can't take River Falls out of the boy.
Trigvie Olson, now a Senior Advisor to the Lincoln Project, and a special guest in this segment, Mike Johnson, who is the Superintendent of Public Schools and the one, the only, the beautiful Eau Claire School District there in Northwest Wisconsin as well.
Mike, thanks so much for coming on today, and on Mother's Short notice, but we, you know, Trigvie said his minion, me, to book you his friend, and I appreciate you saying yes.
Hey, I'm so glad for the invitation.
And as always, Trivian Todd, you know, whenever you call, I'm always interested if I'm available.
So yeah, more than happy to really excited to talk, you know, public schools week, and it's a great week for us.
It really is.
And my whole family are educators.
I'm fond of this.
But for you folks, and not just Eau Claire, but for public educators across the state of Wisconsin,
What does this mean to you as administrators, to your teachers, to your students, and how are you celebrating that?
It's really, you know, it's a thankful time.
In Eau Claire, just one example, we've got a very active retiree group, but also some community members with the Wisconsin Public Education Network.
We've got signs at all our schools celebrating promoting public schools week.
We love our public schools here in Wisconsin and You know Monday morning in the snow banks now.
They're no longer in the snow banks, but Monday morning in the snow banks.
I got a few pictures From some of those that we had we had a board meeting last week and we were able to you know talk about how much our public schools mean to us in in celebration and recognition and
At every school, there's maybe a little bit something different.
But yeah, it's certainly a special week here in Wisconsin for our public schools.
One of the things I just wanted to ask a little bit about is,
We're in the middle right now, not in the middle, but towards the end of the school year.
This is an exciting time where we're in the middle and get ready for state wrestling.
We've got, you know, basketball coming up.
I know you folks have hockey.
I know that school is academics, but for so many of our communities across Wisconsin, they're also our communities.
Talk a little bit, Mike, in the Eau Claire School District about some of the successes outside of academia that just makes it part of the community.
It is.
Those activities and events are really important for our kids and their families.
Just a couple of weeks ago, a show choir competition at Memorial High.
Fast forward to now, we've got the tournament series for athletics.
And whether it's wrestling, whether it's hockey, whether it's swimming, whether it's basketball, a girl's basketball just kicked off this week.
You know, there's always something to do on a Tuesday or a Thursday or a Friday or a Saturday.
And if we're working here, like last night, I was watching Memorial.
I had them on the broadcast and then, you know, with streaming and I was able to watch River Falls for a little bit and able to watch North Husky's basketball.
Yeah, it's just, it's an interesting time.
An exciting time for kids and families and, you know, making memories.
Yeah, I mean, I think you get to the heart of it, Mike, and we've had this conversation a lot of times.
You know, it's the cornerstone of the communities, right?
Like people, people, it's what they're talking about on Wednesday morning or Sunday and when they go to church and people lose sight of the fact that in our small towns, like where you and I are from, that is the hub.
But not only is it the hub of
Socially, it's the driver of the economic engine, right?
Like, you know, people go from the public schools to our public universities, and then there are the lawyers and the teachers and the nurses.
And so it's easy for people to demonize public education if they don't pause and think just what a hub.
It is truly what makes the state of Wisconsin an amazing place.
No, I couldn't agree more.
And many school leaders, I'll just talk about my own field.
I'm unapologetic about my athletic background and coaching and teaching.
And at times, people would mention that all about athletics or this or that.
It's very important.
It was important to my family, it was important to me, and it's that element of competition, and when you fail in athletics or in the activity you're in, whether it's show choir, whether it's forensics, it doesn't matter, it teaches you that stick-to-it-iveness in your, whether it's the college or university that you attend, and then into your life, we compete.
I still compete.
Do I look at the statistics on the state report cards in November when they're unembarrassed and the embargo is listed?
Do we look at regional schools?
Do I look at schools that are our size and how we're achieving and our growth?
Absolutely.
I think part of that is that competition, whether it's in an activity or whether it's in athletics.
We're talking with Mike Johnson.
He is the superintendent of public schools in the Eau Claire School District in Northwest Wisconsin along with Trig V. Olson, senior advisor at the Lincoln Project.
Mike, if you could just talk a little bit about because Trig V and I talk a lot about what happens in Washington.
Of course, he has all this experience as you well know, but we try to put it through a Wisconsin lens.
And I think when we hear all these stories about immigration and changing policies, a lot of folks don't stop and think how that affects families in Wisconsin, and in particular our schools.
And I know you've been very adamant about keeping our public schools as safe places for students to learn.
If you could talk a little bit about what these changes in Washington immigration, the effects it has had for you locally in Eau Claire and how you've dealt with that.
I think we dealt with it.
very well, according to our families in the community.
About a month ago, we were in Milwaukee for the state education convention with our board members and a few administrators.
And that's when things really started to pick up a little bit with that executive order on immigration.
We talked about it in the large district caucus where 20 to 25 of the largest school districts talk about these matters when we were down in Milwaukee.
And you know what, consult with legal, consult with DPI, examine your own policies.
And we put something out to our staff and our families.
And yes, it got circulated around the media and that's fine.
But we follow our policy and here's the steps we take.
We have control in our schools.
We have control of our educational environment.
And if an ICE agent were to come in, here's how we would handle it.
They don't have carte blanche.
You know, they're a visitor like anyone else, but we have certain things that we need to examine.
And we shared that with our principals.
We shared that with our families after and our staff so that everybody felt comfortable.
But it really is quite a bit of trauma to some families in our district.
And, you know, when we made that announcement on a Monday evening, you know, I'd have to say 15 or 20 to one, you know, the positives that we heard from families across the district.
just about this is how the schools will handle in that type of a case.
And unfortunately, you know, social media the next day, well, we, you know, somebody posts something about seeing somebody at an ICE agent at two of our schools.
Well, then that just, that sets us back.
And the nice thing was here in Eau Claire, the law enforcement agencies said, you know, that's very disturbing.
And it really goes against.
all that we believe in and the partnerships that we have with the schools and the community is, you know, it just causes unnecessary trauma and to our entire community.
I was just so amazed.
I think I think pressed with just real quick.
I was just amazingly impressed, Mike, with your leadership with with your with your district.
You didn't make it partisan.
You put the students first, you included the community, and you included law enforcement.
And I was particularly impressed with the way law enforcement worked with the school district.
And I think it's a great example of how people in Washington don't think about how these things are going to affect the local communities.
And then it's on your shoulders and the police chief and everybody else in the community.
And I just thought what you all did at Eau Claire was just an example of how it should be handled.
Yeah,
I mean, you know Obviously Mike you and I have been friends for a long time and and that that's a testament to the public education system, too Right like I was saying before you got on walked into Tim Hirsch's class and been friends ever since but I mean I'm proud of the way that you've been leading on it and I think I think your leadership really you hit on perhaps the most important point the
the the trauma that's caused and that you have to mitigate is not just for the kids who I guess we lost Mike but the the trauma isn't just for the kids who um who might be deported who are victims in it but it's for all of them all the kids who are sitting in that classroom because that's their friend
right right it's relationships it's relationship building uh Mike do we have you back
Yeah, sorry about that, guys.
think I did catch enough from what you had shared, but to Trigvie's
Yeah.
That's that River Falls and UW Eau Claire.
I'm sure.
No, like you had both mentioned, it was the trauma wasn't necessarily to families directly impacted.
It was, you know, my friends.
you know kindergarten through fifth grade students at an elementary school well my friends um this could happen to my friends and and that was something that you know that we had heard from other families as well um not just uh not just some of our like I said some of our families are directly impacted.
Yeah.
As we look ahead, we're talking with Mike Johnson to pretend to public schools in Eau Claire, celebrating this public schools week.
As you look at the what's on the horizon in terms of we're in a state budget right now, and I know you don't like to get partisan political, that's absolutely fine.
But just help us understand as laypeople who are not in education, because I think a lot of us just don't understand it because we're not there.
What would you like the general public to be?
aware of, of the challenges, but also the opportunities for public education in Wisconsin.
Well, yeah, that's a that's a heck of a question.
It'd probably be a two to three hour conversation and things we discussed the
top water to
paper when you guys.
Yeah, when when you guys when we had this at the university last year, you know, ultimately, Wisconsin schools have been severely underfunded for decades.
And
it's really magnified now with the ester monies that came in to really help with the results or the impact of the pandemic.
Well, with Wisconsin, not getting in the past biennium to get any increase in our funding.
Well, now we're seeing the results of that, where this is largely on the taxpayer, where we went to referendum in November.
and about a third of the schools in the state had gone to a referendum for their operations.
The day-to-day stuff, it's people, it's supplies, it's programming.
And now we've got to wait until June or July to get a budget, a new biennial budget.
Well, I think the statistics are right now, 93 districts or 85 districts, maybe 93 questions are going in February.
I think there were five or six and the rest are going to go in April, on April 1st.
Again, and that's what we heard throughout our 65 referendum presentations for the funding of our schools, equitable funding of our schools, is that this is not just an Eau Claire problem.
This is a regional.
This is a statewide problem that schools are not funded as they should be keeping up with inflation and with the programming and positions that
people had found necessary as a result of COVID to keep those things going, keep those people in those positions, keep those systems moving.
And it'll be very interesting to see how many districts go to referendum in November if there isn't some serious work done, whether it's on the special education funding, for example.
30 seconds left, Mike.
Anything we have not asked you, you want people to know about Eau Claire Public Schools during this Public Schools Week?
You know what?
You mentioned it before.
It's a nonpartisan issue.
And we found that in our referendum.
We had a big ask for the taxpayers, the largest that we've had in Mclare, to my knowledge.
But, you know, we had 64, 65 percent who voted yes.
So there are plenty of Republican folks that
that strongly support our schools here in Eau Claire, and I'm really proud of that, and I'm proud of our community.
Mike Johnson, Superintendent of Public Schools, Eau Claire, Mike, you and all your team are part of what makes Wisconsin great.
Keep doing a great job.
Thanks for being with us.
We really appreciate it.
Thank you.
Thanks for all you do.
Daytune back after this.
As you drive throughout Wisconsin this morning, maybe you're taking a taxi to work or to school.
It is now a 51 minutes past the hour or nine before the hour of eight o'clock here on a Thursday, February 27th, 2025.
Todd Albaugh in Madison, Greg Bach in racing, Kenosha filling in for a vacationing Milwaukee Brewer Spring Training edition of Pat Critello and Up North News Radio.
Pat is making his way out as a leader jet back to Wisconsin and he'll be back tomorrow on this very time slot.
Does Pat have a jet, Greg?
Does that what he has?
Well, he has one of those, like, it gets in one of those squirrel costumes that's got, like, he jumps off a mountain and just glides to his next destination.
He does.
He's a smooth operator, that's for sure.
Absolutely.
Many thanks to Mike Johnson, Superintendent of Public Schools, and Eau Claire for being our guest last segment along with Trigvie Olsen of the Lincoln Project.
It is National Public Schools Week.
We celebrate that here on Civic Media and Up North News Radio, which we said returns tomorrow.
Quick check of temperatures.
around the state of Wisconsin, 37 degrees still, along Lake Gichigumi in superior, down at 37 degrees.
Now in Racine, Kenosha, or Greg Bak, is at 36 in Milwaukee.
It is 36 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, 37 now in Eau Claire, 36 right now in Wausau, 37 degrees in Wisconsin Rapids, 36 in Richland Center, and here in the capital city, 37 degrees in Madison as well, 37 in...
in La Crosse as well.
So 37 is a wild number.
31 is the number of our next guest.
He is our senior advisor, operations director, and Brewer's player extraordinaire.
Nowhere of all things.
Luke Mathers joins us from his beautiful home in some prairie Wisconsin.
Luke Ster, how are
you?
I'm doing well, Todd.
Studio audience here Ray G non.
Yeah, absolutely.
You guys took the giggle juice this morning.
It sounds
it's just beautiful day It's a beautiful day Wisconsin and happy to be with all of our lovely lovely listeners this
morning, and we're genuinely happy to have you here
Genuinely.
All right.
Is
that the word of the day?
It is.
And I mentioned you heard Luke early.
It's National Toast Day.
So I brought some toast into the studio.
It's here in the old toaster.
And we made some toast with Brittany Merleau this morning.
That was a lot of fun.
What's your favorite topping of toast, Luke?
I got to go with the raspberry jam.
Raspberry
jam.
That's a very good choice.
There you
go.
A diplomat.
Very good.
I have I can I could keep the toast drawn until you get in here But we've got strawberry rhubarb if you want some of that
Not a big strawberry rhubarb guy.
I'm really not a huge fan.
No My mom always made it grown up and it was kind of one of those things where I was like
I'd rather have raspberry or grape if I'm going with jellies and jams.
All right, very good.
Also on this 22nd of 27th of February, guess what?
it's National Small Dog Day.
And you have to say it like that dog, like an east coaster.
It is all through the last Thursday.
Why do you
have to say it that way?
Because that's what it says in the National Small Dog Registry.
The last Thursday in February is National Small Dog Day and specifically dedicated to celebrating small dogs in the pack, their mighty personalities and the huge impact they have on their lives.
What constitutes a small dog?
Well dogs that weigh 20 pounds or less fall under these small dog or toy dog breed Category Luke you have not one but two dogs in the house.
Do you consider them small dogs?
No, they do not meet that criteria.
No,
they're over
20
pounds.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah a row
is gonna be like 25 pounds, right?
No, they're both they're both in the mid-30s.
Oh Yeah, she's full grown up.
She's about the same size as Remy now I held
Aurora when she was an itty bitty.
She's a size of a potato
They all start small the puppies all start small and Aurora was a little fluff ball.
We're getting though the one year kind of like
Screen time hopper,
whatever
all the the reminders of this is what you were doing last year that all of our smartphones and stuff do now and We're getting all these one-year memory pictures of Aurora as a little tiny as she's pulling the mic out from underneath
That's fantastic.
That's what we want.
Let's get her on camera.
She
ran away scared.
Oh She scared herself.
She stepped on the wire underneath the desk and
now she went from a brave dog to a scaredy
cat
We're getting all the one-year fluffball memories of her and it's very good.
Let me see if I can get her on the
street.
All right, very good.
We are attempting now.
This is a big day.
Toast and dogs.
Look at this.
There she is.
There she is.
Absolutely.
Did she look like a small dog to you?
Come
on.
But she's a lap.
She's on your lap.
Oh, she has a ball.
She has a
ball?
She went underneath the desk to grab it.
Apparently, it was hanging out over there.
And that's why she grabbed the step of the mic wire, but that's OK.
But yeah, they're both in their mid 30s almost.
Remy's almost approaching 40 pounds.
So they're they're they're good mid-sized dogs.
So like not big dogs by any means, but definitely not the ankle biter, you know, small dog.
I'm not a fan of those.
Like a toy cup poodle.
Or tea cup huddle
not my cup of tea when it comes to dog I'm a big fan.
They are technically mini Australian shepherds They're not full Australian shepherds, which gets them in that 30 and but they also have you can see some of the videos of like toy Australian shepherds
and
that's those small ones That's the only kind of small dog.
I probably handle but
You like you like a good sized dog
Yeah, 30, 40 pounds, good size.
She's learning a bunch of tricks right now, so we're
doing
tricks class, and so she's running through.
We're working the brain because they're too darn smart.
Will she bring you a beer?
Have you taught her how to bring you a beer yet?
Because some dogs will do that.
I'm trying to cut down, so I'm not training her on that one.
We're doing really well with spin, pause up, crawl.
She's she's getting good.
She she mastered the tunnel as well at class this week So she was first terrified of the tunnel and now she can run through it Pretty cute.
They're so afraid of them and then they just go for it and
they're like I got some videos I could show you They're pretty cute
All right, look matters.
We appreciate you being here.
I know we're going to talk a little badgers sports.
We got to do dogs, dogs and toast.
It was a big day this morning on Civic Media this morning.
Thanks, Luke.
We appreciate
you.
Badgers at Michigan State Sunday.
Tune in on the Civic Media app.
Thank you, Luke.
We appreciate it.
Thank you to Greg, everybody else who made our show go.
Greg will be back at 10 o'clock with Matt and Aaron Aira.
I'll see you at noon quite low and up north news radio back tomorrow coming up next.