You're listening to Perspective on WFHR 1320 AM, 97.5 FM.
I'm Melissa Kay bringing you news in our community.
During this interview, I'm talking with Superintendent Ron Rasmussen on Friday, May 22nd, 2026.
Thank you for joining me, Ron, to bring the community an update from the Wisconsin Rapids Public School District.
Hello, Melissa.
Thanks for having me again.
Always good to see you, Ron.
Thank you.
And you brought a guest with you today, Steve Hep, River City High School Principal, River City's High School Principal and Director of Pupil Services.
Thank you for joining us today, Steve.
Thank you for having me on.
All right, well, let's start with you because River City's graduation is coming up here soon.
Tell us what's in store.
So yeah, our River City's graduation is coming up on Friday, May 29th.
And we're excited that we're gonna have 70 students graduating this year, which is looking over the last 26 years that we've had The school in existence.
That's about average is about 70 students per year.
So we're excited to to have that so first for those of you that don't know much about River Cities High School It's a it's our alternative school that we have it's a 912 building However, it's more geared for students that are in 11th and 12th grade that are credit deficient that students
They're not on track to graduate from the typical Lincoln High School.
And then we look at other options for them.
We want to provide options for students that the regular schooling isn't quite the right fit for them.
And we're pretty fortunate because not every school district has a school like River Cities.
We've had other districts come in and do some walkthroughs and ask us questions.
And they're always very jealous of what we do have because it's something that's unique.
two rapids.
So we are very fortunate, we're very fortunate that the community continues to support the school.
So it's a smaller building and we have a small staff which allows our staff to get to know the students more on a one-to-one.
with one-on-one relationships and you know students are they come in with a variety of needs and variety of skill sets and really try to meet them where they're at when they walk in and you know try to get them to where they need to be when they walk out.
So in that when they're walking out we're not just walking out with a diploma we're walking out with some hopefully some sort of plan for after high school.
So most of our students are you know either going on the workforce or some sort of post-secondary education.
So we're excited for the
that to come up next week.
And you know speaking of graduation was this graduation time of the year So another graduation that we had recently was last night was our project search program Okay, and our project search program is a partnership with Aspiris Hospital and we have students there that have IPs or individualized education plans That have graduated from high school, but just need a little bit more support and before they kind of enter the world
workforce or take that next step after high school.
And so they, they graduated last night and that program is, I believe it's 11th.
11th graduating class, I think.
So we're pretty excited about that.
That's been a partnership as Steve said with the Spirus.
Wisconsin Rampage Hospital as well as ODC and there's about 30 project search programs in the state and project search originated actually at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and so we're lucky to have that program as part of us and it's a nice collaborative with adult service agencies as well and we partner with the Nicosen Port Edwards District and Adams Friendship District that will send students here as well for our project search program so it's a great opportunity.
for students to gain some real-life work experiences in an actual work environment.
Yeah, so like Ron said, we were pretty fortunate to have, you know, a program like Project Search at school like River Seas High School.
Like Ron said, you know, there's only 30 in the state and that's, you know, there's over 400 school districts, you know, in the state.
So for us to have one of the programs is, you know, really beneficial to our students.
And what is the date of the River City's graduation?
Yep, that is Friday, May 29th.
Okay.
And we'll hold it at the Performing Arts Center at Lincoln High School.
6 p.m.
At 6 p.m.
Yes.
Great.
One of the things you mentioned is the project search graduation are for students with IEPs.
Let's touch on that just a little bit because I don't know if everybody knows what an IEP is or what a 504 plan is.
Can we just dive into that a little
bit?
Absolutely.
So for students that have what's called an IEP or an individualized education plan, there's certain specific criteria that you require before you to have that.
So a student has to be identified with a disability.
under a specific category.
And then they also have to be requiring what's called specialized instruction in something.
So it's something that they're going to be taught in some skills that they're going to be working on through their IEP or through their education plan with their team that includes the school staff and the parents.
Parents
are vital.
Part of that that team as well and the difference between that and what's called a 504 plan a 504 plan is for student that has a disability that's affecting a part of their life and often I was you know the educational part of their life and They need some sort of accommodation What what can we do to accommodate that student to help support them to kind of take away some barriers or add some things to?
To ensure that they're getting the education that they that they need
and that they can be successful in school successful
And
that's what we want to do is have that grow and have support that student.
And sometimes, and with a 504 plan and an IAP, the team meets at least once a year, if sometimes more often if needed, to look at what needs to change, what other sports that might need to be put in place to support that student, what things maybe we should start removing.
Because sometimes you know what they need right away.
When they're younger, sometimes they don't need as they get older.
And so we're always looking at building that independence and helping that student grow as they become more of an adult and looking at what happens after they leave high school.
And these aren't things that are handed out like candy.
They're not easy to get.
for some students.
I personally have someone in my life who has struggled for years to get an IEP plan.
So it can be a necessary, needed thing to help students succeed in school.
but not always easy to follow through with.
Yeah, and you're right.
It's something that, it's not something that just happens overnight.
It's not something that just, you know, my students, my child's diagnosed with something, they get an IEP or they get a 504 plan.
There is a process to make sure that they have one, they qualify, they meet the certain criteria, and also that the appropriate things are put into place.
You know, what
else can we be doing as a school, as a district to support that?
student in general.
You know, is
there things that we could just be doing that are what we call more like a tier one approach where or where everybody could kind of get that?
Or is that something that we need to do a little extra for this this student?
You know, and with that, I mean, our number are the number of students that have
Have been identified with with with disabilities in requiring some sort of plan like an IEP plan or a 504 plan has increased quite significantly over the last, you know, 10 years, you
know, I'd
say probably the you know, it's going up at least probably 5% in the last
five
years
yeah I think it's um so you know it's almost a little over 20 percent of our population has has a plan um and so we're always um looking at um what what can we do to support
more and more students, which then leads to more and more specialized staffing.
We
do have our special education teachers in the district.
We have our occupational therapists, our speech therapists.
We contract in partner with Pinnacle Performance Therapy for our physical therapy.
That was a brand new contract this last school year, and it's been a great partnership.
So we've been very fortunate to have someone like that in our community.
And it's
also great to be able to use community resources.
before that we were contracting out for these services with CISA and which is great too and they provide us some other services like with students that need vision services or a heart of hearing services things like that which is you know sometimes those are you know really specialized
needs.
Well, in our last minute here, Steve, let's address some of these, the mental health issues that are being talked about, discussed with staff or students.
Absolutely.
So I wanted to just find out one thing about the 504s and IEPs.
I know there's a lot of, like, can be a lot of questions when it comes to, you know, the appropriate steps.
And I would just encourage anybody to, you know, follow up with their, the school counselor who's often manages the 504 plans or the special ed teacher that runs the IEP meetings.
For if they have any questions or concerns And they also can always reach out to school psychologist or the building principal and if they have further questions They can always reach out to my office and we can always help navigate that Because we do provide some other services during the year to kind of increase that communication Okay, and when it comes to like mental health services, we also have partnered with you know two organizations right now that We're really you've been really happy with and one was is care solace and care solace is a
acts as a mental health navigator.
And if you have, you know, a concern about, you know, yourself as a parent or someone else in your family, your child, and our staff, you can reach out to them and they can help navigate and set you up with counseling services that would meet your needs.
And that could be in-person, that could be tele-therapy.
So they work really hard in trying to walk you through that process, because sometimes that can be a really difficult
process.
to navigate.
Absolutely.
So that's been a great partnership and we also recently
We're partnered with what's called Cartwheel and Cartwheel and us partnered with to have a grant that paid for their services and they provide teletherapy.
So it's a great opportunity for some of our students to read some teletherapy services because a lot of times in-person is sometimes hard to find.
Right, and teletherapy is where they can talk with a therapist.
Face-to-face but on
computer on the computer and we can and they can set that up to do it at home And sometimes they can set it up to if they have like older students And maybe they have a study hall or something and
they have a
break in their day where they can do it during the school day
All right, it's
been really good and both of those if we're information it would be great to If you need more information those that information on our website or reach out to the school counselor to find out more
Okay, and that's more in the realm of your job as director of pupil services, right?
So what is your phone?
number at the office there.
My phone number at the office is 715-424-6724.
Wonderful.
Well, we're going
to pause right here for a short moment to hear from our sponsors.
I'm Melissa Kaye, and I've been talking with Steve Hepp, River Cities High School Principal and Director of Pupil Services.
And when we come back, I'll be speaking with Superintendent Ron Rasmussen.
And you're listening to Perspective on 1320 AM, 975 FM WFHR.
Welcome.
You're listening to Perspective on WFHR, 1320 a.m.
97.5 FM.
I'm Melissa Kay bringing you news in our community.
I've been speaking with Steve Hepp, the River City's High School Principal and Pupil Services Director with the Wisconsin Rapids Public School District.
Now I would like to dive in, Ron, you're superintendent of the school district, Ron Rasmussen, and dive into some of the things that are going on in the entire district.
Most
I mean, biggest of which coming up here very soon is graduation.
Yeah, we're excited as Steve talked about a little earlier.
We had our project search graduation and our River City's graduation is coming up on the 29th at 6 p.m.
at the PAC.
And then Lincoln High School will hold their graduation on May 31st at 1 p.m.
at Southwood County Stadium on Wood Trust Bank Field.
So excited.
We have a graduating class right around 300.
Wow.
From Lincoln.
And we really made the shift to the outdoor ceremony.
post COVID and parents have appreciated that.
But the forecast I see right now is about 83 and sunny.
So make sure everybody has their sunscreen and their water ready for them for the day.
But we're excited once again to celebrate the accomplishments of our graduates at that ceremony.
Earlier last week, we had scholarship night sponsored by Encourage.
We had 58 students that received a variety of scholarships.
So I just want to thank our community donors, families,
for supporting our students and their future education.
It's really important and we're so lucky to have so many generous individuals and businesses within our community or organizations and clubs willing to sponsor students to have them achieve their passions or goals and ideas that they want to do after high school.
Because college is not cheap.
College is not cheap and that's why we have a lot of programs and why students can earn lots of credit at Lincoln Ahead of Time and I know we spent a lot of time talking about that last month during perspectives but just those opportunities.
for what our students will have in state and out of state with with colleges and we had
I think at least a handful of brand new scholarships this year.
Oh, fun.
Families and or businesses or organizations have stepped up and are making a commitment to education to our students at Lincoln.
That's great.
And other opportunities that students still have here within the end of the school year are some field trips.
Yeah.
So it's that time of year where it's really exciting.
A lot of our elementary students are out on their field trips.
Last week, I know our fourth and fifth graders from Grant took the walk over to Wazecha and they went
fishing and some of our students, they've never fished before.
So a variety of parents, chaperones doing that, but just celebrations all around our community and our elementary buildings with field trips throughout the area and at the zoo and just a variety of other things to celebrate.
I know there's
a trip coming up to the Dells that
I have
an individual in my house.
Exactly.
And I am seeing the sixth grade assembly this upcoming week as well.
So those are fun, exciting things to really cap.
kept on the year and especially the students are fifth grade as they transition to sixth grade as they they say goodbye to their elementary buildings.
Last week we had our graduating senior from Lincoln.
I'll go back and visit their elementary buildings and they walk the hallways of their elementary buildings not only just our buildings but also at Emmanuel and so those are neat experiences as well so those young students within our elementary can connect and see what their future will hold with them and
And those
seniors walk around going, man, was I really that small?
Yeah, exactly.
And those little kids also look up going, I can do that too.
So you don't know that impact that an older student like that can have walking back through their elementary building.
So those are just really neat experiences as we end the school year.
As the weather gets nice, we get to do more of these celebrations and field trips as well.
So what about the America 250 celebrations you have going
on?
Yeah, so America celebrating is 200.
50th birthday coming up.
So all of our school buildings have chosen to celebrate that in various ways throughout the last month.
And so some buildings have done competition.
They've done speech.
They've done poetry.
Others have brought in individuals from services to be part of those celebrations.
So each of our school buildings has taken that pride of being an American and celebrating our 250th.
Birthday
wonderful.
Yeah, and you have some Sounds like a lot of years are retiring.
Yeah, it's it's been a sweet to be honest with you because You know, you wish people well, but we have a lot of retirees sad to see them go But we've really spent the last month if you follow us on social media Hopefully you do on our Instagram or Facebook page Taking some time to honor our retirees.
We have right now 606 years of experience within our school district retiring Wow
It's a
crazy
big number, Ron.
It's a crazy big number, exactly.
But we really wish them well as they finish their last week and a half to two weeks with us.
But really to do what they want to do.
Travel, be with family, friends.
Some will probably come back and stuff for us, hopefully, in the future.
Fingers
crossed.
Yeah, fingers crossed.
You know who
you are.
But we had the nice opportunity to honor many of them this past week out at Rooted in Red.
We did a retirement dinner and celebration with them.
Oh, wonderful.
That's a beautiful venue.
Beautiful venue.
And want to thank the Beagles for allowing us to use their location for that.
But it was just a neat experience to provide them an opportunity to reminisce as well.
And some of them brought back, as their guests, their mentor when they started teaching.
Oh, wow.
So that was some neat experience.
And some brought their colleagues.
Some had their family members with them.
But we just want to thank a variety of retirees.
And the list is long.
It's not any longer than normal, really.
that we've since we've gone to one social media page it looks like there's a lot of retirees but we just want to do that but you'll be able to see their list as you follow us on social media.
That's a little bittersweet.
But as the school year is rounding out here there are some things coming up this summer that are going to be good to know about summer school being one of the big ones.
Yeah so summer school is for elementary and for secondary so our secondary summer school occurs at at Lincoln for middle school and our high school students.
and that middle school goes to the end of June, high school goes to the second week in July, but then also our elementary summer school be at Woodside.
And we have some openings and some classes yet, so if you haven't signed your student up for summer school and would like to do that, you can contact our Enrollment Center, go online to our website to the summer school.
But then the other aspect, we do a meals program all summer long at a variety of community sites.
which is important for us to do.
So we have five sites that will have free meals for all kids all summer long.
They are at the Mead Park near the Splash Pad, Washington Elementary School, the Winter Park Shelter outside the Aquatic Center, at the Municipal Zoo, and then Woodside Elementary.
So the first four sites go from June 9th to August 14th, and then the last site at Woodside will go from June 9th to July 2nd, because that parallels one summer school for elementary students.
is at Woodside.
So that is free for all students who live within our district boundaries.
So just need to be 18 or younger.
And that's available.
So we encourage individuals to utilize that resource as well.
And if you need to look up those locations and times, that's on your website.
All on our website as well.
You can go on our website or also on our social media.
So that's available there for families.
Make
note of all of those dates and times so the kiddos can get a good breakfast this summer.
Correct.
Breakfast and lunch.
Breakfast and
lunch.
Excellent.
exactly
well and you also have some something coming up here an open house for your building construction that will be happening
yes so our building construction class has built houses within our school district for almost 20 plus years really a highlight of our students who are within that
that field where they go out within our community and we have individuals bid to have our house built by the students within our school district.
And so the Lincoln High School Building Construction class is dividing all of our community to this year's house.
It is Wednesday, May 27th from five until seven and it's at 2910 21st Place South.
So once again, that's on our website as well as our social media.
But our students, you know,
go from when the foundation is poured to the completed project.
And what's been really an awesome experience as part of this is many of the contractors that our students work with now were students in the class at some time.
Oh, that's neat.
So you can see that career progression if you're interested in the trades in the woods, but also that collaborative work environment of those individuals who were students in the class giving back again to our community.
Mr. Hep talked about earlier now we have so many collaborative relationships that we're lucky in a community our size to have such such relationships built that our students can see that progression have those opportunities that in some other communities you just don't have.
Well and what an accomplishment to be able to say that yeah when I was in high school I helped build a
house.
Yeah yeah and and I said they're not they're not simple stick built houses I know a house they built a few years ago it's assessed value was quite high and you're building four bedroom houses and
two and a half, three baths, and so you have the intricacies of that aspect.
But yeah, you're learning the electrical, you're learning the drywall, and you're learning all of those different aspects of building a house and gaining those experiences, the plumbing and all that.
great experience to our students.
Generally we have 15 to 20 students in that class and they also end up getting some mid-state credit for that class as well.
Excellent
which is going to help them as
they move forward into their chosen career path.
Correct.
Well in our last couple minutes here Ron tell us about what's happening with the Howell Elementary parking lot
because that's
going to affect people who are traveling on 8th Street South this summer.
Exactly so on June 8th we're breaking ground on redevelopment of the
parking lot at Howell Elementary.
So that's the old Emanuel Church site as well as the parking lot which is across the street.
So Prospect Street will be vacated between 8th and 9th and that will end up being a new parking lot as well as a parent drop off and pick up area.
So the sidewalk on that side of the A Street will be closed for the summer but just as you drive through that area just be careful there'll be a lot of construction equipment and much like we're very familiar with lots of orange barrels probably or orange signs.
You know, there's winter and there's construction season in Wisconsin.
Exactly.
But we just want to alert that to individuals that the sidewalk may be closed in that area as well as just drive a little slower.
And we just know that over the summer as well is that we're out of school.
Please be just more careful as you're coming up to intersections, et cetera, and crosswalks as we have all of our students will be around and hopefully using the new playgrounds that we put in within the school district and just being active in our community.
So just be a little bit more careful as you're driving around the community.
Wonderful.
Well, it has been a pleasure talking with both of you today.
Thank you for joining me.
I'm Melissa Kay.
I've been speaking with Superintendent Ron Rasmussen and Principal Steve Hep with the Wisconsin Rapids Public School District.
Thank you for talking with me today, Ron and Steve.
Thank you.
Thank you for having us.
And thank you to listeners joining us for news in our community on Perspective 1320 AM, 97.5 FM WFHR.
