You're listening to Perspective on WFHR 1320 AM 975 FM.
I'm Alyssa Kay bringing you news in our community.
During this interview, I'm talking with Port Edwards District Administrator and Ed Hoyer Elementary School Principal James Beena on Wednesday, April 8th.
Thank you for joining me, Jim, to bring the community an update from the Port Edwards School District.
Thank you for having us, Melissa.
It's always great to be here.
And you brought a special guest with you along today is Mrs. Rachel Frazell, the middle school and high school Spanish teacher.
Hola, Mrs. Frazell.
Yo soy Melissa.
Ah,
mucho gusto, Melissa.
Thanks for having me today.
It's my first time doing this, but I'm
looking forward to it.
And that was my first time speaking Spanish since I started Duolingo two weeks ago.
So thank you for having me do that.
Yes.
Well, it's a delight to have both of you here.
Jim, why don't you jump in with some referendum projects?
We've got some district updates, school board results.
Let's dive in.
Yeah, it's a very exciting time of year in the school district, Melissa.
As we're speaking, recording this, we're one day after the state and the local and the national elections, and we had some very positive election results last night, very exciting election results.
Of course, we had referendums in the area, operational referendums for our two neighboring school districts, just to the north and just to the south of us.
The Port Edward School District wants to say congratulations to Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools and NACUSA
district on passing their operational referendums.
You know, referendums, they certainly bring out a lot of positive views and certainly some negative views in every community around the state.
But our operational referendums are critical to make sure that we maintain good services and good programs and good staffing in our buildings.
So congratulations to our neighboring school districts on passing those operational referendums.
And as you mentioned there, that's to maintain what is already taking place within the districts, correct?
Absolutely.
1993 the Wisconsin legislature capped how much
our taxes could be raised locally for our school districts and since that time inflation and our costs have outpaced that capping amount.
So you will notice each year in November and during April in those election cycles there's typically over 70 public school districts every six months going to referendum.
This is not a Port Edwards issue, a Wisconsin Rapids issue, even a Central Wisconsin issue.
This is statewide.
And we're going to be talking a little bit
later, Melissa, about some guests we're gonna have in the Port Edward School District on May 12th.
They're gonna share a little bit more about referendums and more specifically about vouchers and how the impact of private school vouchers is adversely affecting the budgets of public schools here in Wisconsin.
Oh, that'll be an interesting conversation.
Yes, we're looking forward to it.
Then with some other district updates, what have you got going on?
Absolutely.
In addition to the referendums last night, we did have local school board elections at many of our area communities.
We had election in Port Edwards as well.
We had four candidates running for two open board seats.
I would like to congratulate Mr. Leo Thomas Gard on retaining his position on the Port Edwards School Board and Mrs. Nina Pilo for being elected to the Port Edwards School District School Board.
Nina is taking the seat of Mr. Kerry Hildebrandt.
Mr. Hildebrand served on our school board for many years.
He did a wonderful job.
Kerry always gave excellent input and his votes.
They were always done to support the best interests of our students, our teachers, our families.
Thank you very much, Kerry, for...
for serving on our school board so well and welcome Nina to our school board and congratulations Mr. Thomas Gardner on retaining your seat.
So we had some great school board election results last night too.
And school boards play such an important role that many people aren't aware of in the running of the school district as a whole.
Absolutely.
Yep, certainly we meet monthly, we have monthly meetings.
The school board is in place to ensure that the school district is operating as it should.
They have oversight over the school district administration and we have a great deal of communication year-round about the operations of the school.
And then you also, there's a Save the Date coming up.
Yes.
Save the date, I referenced that just a moment ago.
On Tuesday, May 12th, the Port Edwards School District is hosting a community meeting.
We are hosting presenters from the Green Bay Public School District, and the topic of their conversation will be voucher transparency.
They will learn from this team of Green Bay educators about how Wisconsin taxpayer funds are being used for private school student vouchers.
and the financial impact that those vouchers are having on our public school budgets.
So that meeting is taking place Tuesday, May 12th.
in the Dorothy Alexander Auditorium, sometimes called the small gym at John Edwards High School at six o'clock p.m.
The public is invited to come and listen to the presentation.
There's going to be a question and answer session following the presentation as well.
Very informative.
It's a topic that a lot of taxpayers aren't aware of.
They see
you know a section on their tax bill about schools and sometimes we might just think oh that is going to my public school down the road for me when in fact a portion of that money in recent years is going to private schools for vouchers so we just want to get information out there and tell our taxpayers you know where's your
the school portion of your tax bill actually going to.
And some of those private schools are religious schools.
Some
of them are virtual schools.
Yes.
So some of those dollars may even as Superintendent Ron Rasmussen pointed out at the legislative breakfast earlier that some of those tax dollars leave our county entirely.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
A good portion of those.
those dollars, be it Wisconsin Rapids and the coup support Edwards, every public school district in the state, a good percentage of our of your local tax dollars for your school go to Milwaukee public schools as well.
So we just want to have a great.
transparent conversation about where's your tax money actually going when you see that school portion of your tax bill?
Well, let's now touch on something that's a little more uplifting perhaps.
The spring promise coming up on April 25th.
Yeah, we've got a couple of great annual things taking place here in April and May.
The high school prom will be held on Saturday night, April 25th at the Elks Club.
We've had it at the Elks Club for a number of years.
We want to say thank you to the Elks for allowing us to utilize their facility.
It's a great location, a great venue for our prom.
Again, that's Saturday night, April 25th from 8 o'clock till midnight.
So if you're planning
to go out to eat on Saturday night,
April
25th in Wisconsin Rapids.
Be on the lookout for blinged out and gorgeously dressed young ladies and young men.
Make your reservations early or you might not get one.
Yes
indeed.
And then the spring concert is also coming up in May.
Yes our elementary spring concert is scheduled for Thursday morning May 14th.
at nine o'clock a.m.
That's in the Dorothy Alexander Auditorium or small gym.
Okay.
May 14th.
I love that it has a colloquial, colloquial, there it is, name that if you're local, you know what the small gym is for everybody else.
Absolutely.
And then a very, very important thing we all need to know about statewide tornado drills.
Statewide tornado drills are happening.
That date this year is Thursday, April 16th at 1.45 p.m.
students
statewide will be practicing what to do in case of a tornado.
And most of our I know in Wisconsin Rapids and I believe in Port Edwards too there's a Wednesday.
the alarm test that they always do in the afternoon.
So when this one goes off at Thursday at 1.45, no, don't worry, you're not losing it.
It is a Thursday.
It's just a statewide test.
Statewide tornado
drill, yes.
And then another exciting thing you have coming up, the Port Edwards Parent Organization hosting Family Movie Night.
Yes, Family Movie Night is on Wednesday, April 8.
It seems like every month that I meet with you, Melissa, I'm saying wonderful things about our parent organization.
I am because they are constantly doing new and improved and great things to bring our school together and really enrich our school district.
This month in April, the Port Edwards Parent Organization is doing family movie night.
It's at Rogers Cinema.
We have over 200 students and parents who will be attending the meeting, excuse me, attending the movie.
on April 8th.
Port Edwards parent organization is also hosting its annual muffins in the morning.
Muffins in the morning is Friday, May 22nd starting at 645 bright and early.
That is early at the Ed Hoyer Elementary cafeteria.
That one is not open to the public.
That is for students and families.
Students and families.
All
right.
And then the movie.
Do you know what they're gonna get to see you?
I believe it's Super Mario or Mario Brothers.
All
right.
Well, that'll be good.
Yeah.
And then the muffins in the morning.
Honestly, I think muffins are good any time of the day, personally.
But
breakfast cake, you can't go wrong.
Right, see?
This is a good place to take a break.
We'll pause for a short moment to hear from our sponsors.
I'm Melissa Kay talking with District Administrator Jim Beena.
You're listening to Perspective on 1320 AM, 97.5 FM WFHR.
Welcome.
You're listening to Perspective on WFHR 1320 AM, 97.5 FM.
I'm Melissa Kay bringing you news in our community.
I've been speaking with Port Edward School District Administrator Jim Beenan.
We've talked about upcoming events in the district and school board election results, so many things in our first half.
Now we're going to shift over to Mrs. Rachel Frizel, who is the middle school, high school Spanish teacher.
Mrs. Frizel, thank you for being here today.
Thank you for having me.
And tell us about the Costa Rica trip you just took with multiple students.
How many students did you take on this trip?
15.
We had 15 students, grades 10 through 12, and it was a really good group.
We encountered some unexpected challenges, and they all handled it really well.
That's good made it through all those little bumps that come along with travel.
Mm-hmm teamwork.
Yes, exactly
through it together They have some fun memories.
Yes, they do those trials.
Yes.
Yes, that's true The trip itinerary that we have in Costa Rica is a very active one Which is what I like about it they get to do you know everything from ziplining through the rainforest canopy to
touring a pineapple plantation and see how that has grown.
We see cocoa pods growing on the tree and they get hands-on demonstration and instruction about how it goes from the cocoa pod on the tree to actual chocolate and the history and traditional processes of that and they get to try that.
Does it hurt
and appreciate chocolate more?
I think it does.
They mostly don't love the chocolate they sample right there because it's 100% dark, pure cacao nibs.
And they prefer, of course, with the sugar.
Well, I mean, we're in America.
We've mostly grown up on Hershey's.
That's right.
That's right.
That's right.
But it's a lot of neat experiences
built into the
trip.
What were the dates of the trip?
flew out on the 16th of March.
So it was during our school district spring break.
And then we returned the following Monday on the 23rd.
But you had, as you said, some travel issues there at
the end.
We did.
We did.
If you might recall, the 15th, Sunday the 15th, was when the big blizzard came in that...
I don't know.
It was just crazy Wisconsin weather
to the
extreme, I guess.
Um, but yeah, for us that really threw an additional wrinkle because Sunday night about 10 PM was originally when we were going to leave hop on our school bus and go down to Chicago to the airport.
Um, however, it became obvious by the end of the week leading into that, that that was not going to work.
Um, so we had to scramble a little bit and we ended up.
Um, the bus lemurs, uh, luckily was able to still transport us a day early.
Oh, so this was at the
beginning of
the trip.
This was at the beginning of the trip.
Oh my
goodness.
Yeah.
So we had to make adjustments and lemurs took us down.
Um, and I scrambled to find us a hotel that was close to the airport and close to some things to do to pass an extra day and with free shuttle.
And so.
It was an extra cost that we incurred, but the kids were all really troopers with it and with the extra...
Well, I suppose at that point you've been planning for this trip for how long?
Um, a year.
Yeah.
And
those
kids
were just counting on it.
I can.
Oh, absolutely.
I was like, guys, we have to adjust and do this because otherwise we're not going to make it out.
You know, you
have your bags packed or at least started.
Right.
Those who were planning to pack their suitcases Saturday night had to make a little adjustment.
Yeah.
Hurry up a little bit.
Uh huh.
Uh huh.
So yeah, that, that actually leads to we, we aren't quite.
completely done with everything for the trip because we have a little funding gap with that hotel stay.
That was about $1,100 towards the group.
Yeah, exactly.
So we're looking to do a little bit of fundraising this spring, but if any local business or person would like to be our hero, we would welcome them.
We have to still work on that hotel bill.
So
then when you made it there and you're in Costa Rica, did the students get an opportunity to, I know I mentioned at the beginning of this, I'm just starting Duolingo and I'm really trying to do it this time.
It's on my bucket list.
pretty much since I was like 10 years old to learn Spanish.
So here I am in my 40s trying again, 14 days in.
There you go.
But I'm just starting to learn how to order at a cafe.
That's
perfect.
And to say where you're from and to introduce yourself.
Right.
So the students were immersed in the culture.
Were they able to carry on conversations with Spanish speaking people?
Well,
that's
always the scariest part of the trip for the kids.
But we have a wonderful guide.
We actually travel with Interact is a
school specific travel company based out of Green Bay and they do a great job and we have a wonderful guide in Costa Rica who's with us the whole week and he was our tour guide last time we went three years ago as well and he is great about adjusting to the kids so he would give all the announcements in the directions and explanations in Spanish but also in English so they could
hear it and see what they could figure out, but then also get it in English to make sure, you know, they knew right times and what they had to bring for that day and key information.
And then as part of the trip, the kids actually spent three nights instead of at a hotel with host families in their homes.
So the kids, they don't go individually, but they go in pairs.
And the host families
You know, we always tell the kids don't count on them speaking any English.
So that's definitely a little nerve-wracking for the kids.
But it's a really good experience.
And even some of the kids said their host family's, you know, that Google Translate was brought out on their phones and used a bit.
Although I must say, as a language person, you don't count on Google Translate for everything, people.
Duly
noted.
It's a useful tool.
So if
there's some hurdle, you can't.
That's right.
That's right.
Communicate through.
That's right.
Don't bet your life on it, but it's a tool.
But yeah, the Homestay has a really neat experience for the kids.
They go, they get dropped off and they're with their family from supper time through the evening overnight.
breakfast, and then we pick everybody up again.
And so during the day activities, we're still together as a group.
But the kids get a chance to experience Costa Rica, not just as a tourist, but to see what real life is like, you know, what real home might look like.
And of course, there's a range.
But I think it's really important lesson that the kids are able to learn, first of all, communicating without being perfectly fluent is certainly
possible, and that's what most people do, you know, you don't have to be fluent to be able to be successful in communicating.
As well as the fact that how much they have in common with people in faraway places that although the language is different, there's things different about the culture, you know, people are still people.
And I don't think
I don't think the kids would really get that without that homestay.
So I think that's a really valuable part for them.
And then after, for, you know, the rest of the school year then with those students, is this something that is talked about, brought up?
Do they share stories from that time with other students who didn't get to go?
Yes, and it varies on the situation just with the schedule.
I have a few kids who were on the coaster get trip, but their Spanish class is done for the year because we have a trimester set up.
But the kids who are still in classes as things come up They are definitely able to share experiences right now our Spanish three classes Reading a novel and it's set in Costa Rica and so the kids who were there are able to confirm and chime in and say oh That's we talked about that or we saw that or that's the kind of bird we saw on the riverboat tour and things like that.
So Yeah, lots of connections
can be made and it's really neat to see those kids having internalized a lot of
that.
And then is this a trip you take every year with students or is this a multi-year trip?
The
Port Edward School District has, since before I started there, had it established where every three years is when the Spanish department has the opportunity to travel.
And the idea of that is to spread out any major trips so that
Perhaps the music department has a major trip and it doesn't fall in the same year.
This year was a little bit of an exception to that because our music department had a unique opportunity to travel, of course, to Hawaii in December with Wisconsin
Rapids.
But I was just
going to
say to Jim, I'm like, you know, I wish I had gone to Port Edward.
Sounds like you guys do so much fun.
We do.
It's a wonderful school district to be in.
I couldn't agree more.
I was I was thinking that as I was listening to Rachel talk about.
uh, students being able to spend time in Costa Rica.
We probably had some of those same band students who, you know, three months prior were in Hawaii, but now here in March, they're spending time in Costa Rica.
So, I mean, the, the incredible opportunities that you can get into us in a small school district, you know, they parallel any large district in the state.
We really do a lot of wonderful things for our students in Port
Edwards.
So then it'll be three years before you do this trip again.
And some of
those
students that are freshman sophomores will have the opportunity to in their junior, senior years.
Right.
The kids who are freshmen and eighth graders and seventh graders right now actually will be the ones who are eligible to go next time around.
So I promote
it with those
kids.
That's what I tell them.
That's right.
That's right.
It's not a.
No international travel is inexpensive.
But again, traveling through Interact, I feel really good about the quality they get for the money that all our meals are included once they're there.
They really only need to bring money for snacks and souvenirs.
and we just have wonderful tour guides where we go and lots of activities like I mentioned.
I did want to talk about one other opportunity as part of the week that's always pretty impactful for the kids and that is a service project.
And what we do, again, our local guide helps coordinate for us, of course, but we, all the kids chip in about $10, $10 to $15 and we go to the grocery store with our list and we buy
All the supplies that we need to prepare a lunch at a local community center where they provide meals for young children and their families.
And so we buy all the food and then we take it there.
We prepare the lunch.
The kids, you know, some kids learn how to.
chop up pineapple and watermelon and some kids are putting together sandwiches and all that.
And then we serve the kids and their families and then we stay and spend some time playing with the kids and interacting.
And that's always a pretty memorable.
experience for the kids and and again and another thing that I really like about this travel company that we have that option to include those kind of experiences.
Do the students find it fun to talk with young children who are also I mean they're they're learning their own language too.
Do they find it easier or more difficult to communicate with them?
I think the kids generally feel a little
less nervous about trying their Spanish, putting their Spanish to use with the kids.
But it varies with personalities.
And not only of my students, but also those children too.
Just like kids everywhere, some are more reserved, some are
very
outgoing, some are grabbing our kids' hands and dragging them to play tag or whatever.
Again, it's a neat opportunity for them.
And it's another eye-opening experience to, you know, we know it cognitively, like obviously children who grew up and speak Spanish as little kids speak Spanish.
But, you know, when they see little children, sometimes they hear, oh my gosh, their Spanish is better than mine.
Well, that's their whole brain, right?
Their whole brain, you know, they want to cookie from mama.
They're not going to say, you know,
Mom cookie they're gonna say mama galleta Just cuz that's what it is, you know, so again another aspect.
That's just eye-opening For the kids
well and travel like that as we we say broadens your horizons
Absolutely
uses you to things that like you said, you know Cognitively
maybe or
you've read about it or you've seen it on TV But till you're there and experiencing it's a whole different thing, right?
Mm-hmm.
Well, you know, it's been a pleasure talking with both of you today.
I'm Melissa Kay speaking with Port Edwards District Administrator and Envoyer Elementary School Principal James Beena.
Thank you, James.
Thank you always, Melissa.
And middle school, high school, Spanish teacher, Mrs. Frizel.
Thank you for taking time today, Rachel.
Gracias, Melissa.
De nada.
And thank you to listeners joining us for news in our community on Perspective 1320 a.m.
975 FM WFHR.
