You're listening to Perspective on WFHR 1320 a.m.
97 5 fm I'm Melissa K 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 July 8th Thank you for joining me Jim to bring the community an update from the Port Edwards School District
Well, thank you very much Melissa.
It's always my pleasure to be here
and
Let's dive into something that already took place, but it's a really big deal for the Port Edwards School District, and that is your Blackhawk golf scramble that took place on June 22nd.
It's one of the biggest fundraisers of the year.
Is that correct?
That is correct.
Yes.
I'm very happy to talk about the annual Blackhawk scramble.
It was held on Monday, June 22nd at Bullseye Golf Club.
It was the 20th annual PF.
Blackhawk Scramble.
Oh, wow.
Yes, PF, of course, is the Port Edwards Education Foundation.
The Education Foundation is comprised of approximately 10 members, all volunteer.
We all volunteer our time each month for the betterment of the students and staff of the Port Edwards School District.
So the Blackhawk Scramble, as I mentioned, was held at Bullseye Golf Club.
It was a great success.
In 2025,
About a year ago, the event raised just over $5,000.
In 2026, we had a record number of golfers.
We had our most golfers ever.
And we raised nearly $8,000.
Oh, wow.
So we increased our dollar amount by nearly 33%.
So all of the dollars that are raised will go to scholarships for classrooms that teachers can, they can create scholarships.
for extra programming, be it for field trips.
Be it for additional supplies that don't fit within our budget.
Be it for programming.
It all goes for the betterment of our students and our classrooms.
So we are very excited that we raised nearly $8,000.
We had dozens of businesses from the Wisconsin Rapids area who supported us.
They were a whole sponsored, whole sponsors, excuse me.
They donated baskets.
We had different businesses on site that day.
So thank you to all of our businesses who helped make the Blackhawk scramble a success.
and thank you especially to all the members of the Port Edwards Education Foundation Board.
They were there bright and early.
doing all the things that you have to do behind the scenes to make a golf scramble go well.
We were putting up signs weeks in advance.
We were communicating with businesses, registering golfers a day of the event, staying there well beyond after the event was over.
So thank you again to all of our great volunteers in Port Edwards who are part of the Port Edwards Education Foundation.
It takes so much work behind the scenes to organize and facilitate something of this.
magnitude, and then to be able to raise that much of an increase from the previous year, that's really impressive.
Yeah, it was great.
We really tried to up the ante this year.
We had some really dynamic ideas that were shared.
We tried some new whole games.
We tried some different events that we hadn't done in past years.
It was the 20th annual.
So we really wanted to give it some more pizzazz and try to
make it extra special,
make it a little extra special.
And we were able to do that.
And we think that doing that, along with our always ongoing support, we really think that helped raise our number of golfers and ultimately the amount of
Dollars that were raised
and this has been going on now for 20 years.
Do
you
have many repeat golfers?
Are they alumni of Port Edwards?
Like who comes to support this?
Sure, it's a real variety of people Melissa.
We have a lot of alumni We have people in the community who care about our school district We have friends from the Wisconsin Rapids area Stevens Point area that come in and we also have just people who love to golf and love to golf and See that their funds are going for a good
cause
Well, and then the added things on the golf course with the games at the different holes and things like that that I probably makes golf I'm speaking for as a non golfer
Probably makes it more fun, right?
It does.
It does.
We had a golf cannon on one of the holes.
We had high school students who could take their shot for you or for you if you weren't the best golfer.
That's
what I would need.
Yes.
And this was all for fun.
And it helps us remember that it's a fundraising event more than a golfing event.
And let's just zero in for a minute on how those added funds really help classrooms for teachers who
I mean, I know teachers.
I have a lot of friends who are teachers, and I hear from them like, well, this is all that was budgeted for my classroom this year, but I need these other things for the betterment of the students.
And teachers spend their own money on that, on those things, because what other choice do they have?
But this allows them to have those added
necessities for the students.
Absolutely.
In Port Edwards, Melissa, it all started with the namesake of our elementary school and longtime community member, longtime administrator, Mr. Ed Hoyer.
This was Mr. Hoyer's vision back in the 1990s.
He founded Peef.
We will forever be grateful to Mr. Hoyer.
Throughout the 30-year history, approximately 30 years, and now 20 years of the Peef scramble,
hundreds of thousands of dollars have been raised and again every penny that is raised and donated to PF goes back into our classrooms and it goes directly to our students for student programming.
As you mentioned there's so many great things we can do beyond the classroom walls for our students and with budgets being so tight in the state of Wisconsin there's limits to that but those limits can be exceeded.
through the support of groups like PF.
So we are, as a school district, we're forever indebted, forever grateful to the Education Foundation for being able to support those opportunities.
Well, and some of a lot of the budget for a school district has to go into building maintenance and building upkeep and fixing the things as they break.
You have a very...
part of your high school building is is let's just say very grandiose and mature yes it's
beautiful historic building yes it is it's gorgeous
but that requires a lot of upkeep and a certain number amount of of things that
maybe when it was originally built weren't anticipated?
Yes, absolutely.
That leads us right into our next probably topic for discussion is all the construction and the upgrades that are happening this summer in the Port Edward School District.
And starting at the high school this summer, we are doing some new pipelines in front of the high school.
The sanitary sewer lines were really old and needed to be replaced.
We've replaced those.
We're doing some below-grade utility work as well.
Because we had to dig those up, we're going to have to report a new concrete pad in front of the high school, which was cracking.
We're in the planning stages for summer of 2027 for the high school.
The building was built in the 1920s and at that time very few, if any, buildings had air conditioning.
Well, we are moving toward air conditioning in 2027 at John Edwards Middle and High School.
And right now they are planning and engineering the blueprints for where all that ductwork and the chillers and things like that are going to be going.
So a lot of work and a lot of planning are happening in our high school right now.
Mm hmm.
Sounds like it.
And then how are you doing at the elementary school with the best
asbestos abatement?
Sure, absolutely.
So we talked about our high school at Ed Hoyer Elementary School.
That school is receiving the primary focus of our construction work this summer.
We started on the south end of the building primarily and working our way from fourth grade up toward kindergarten.
We're replacing all of the unit events.
We're replacing all of the heating and air conditioning units.
That building was built in 1968 and the vast majority of things we're replacing are original to that building from 68.
They're well beyond their useful life and they just needed replacement.
So new heating, new air conditioning, new data cabling in that.
building just a number of upgrades just so that we can keep our schools as modern, as safe, and as efficient as possible.
you know, not only were the heating and air conditioning in our elementary, they were not working as properly as they should.
By putting in the new units, it's going to be much more efficient.
Well, and as we've talked in previous conversations, the asbestos abatement that needs to be done, it wasn't in any way impacting the students before then.
But as you're doing this work, you're unearthing,
so to speak,
some of the asbestos that was put into the building when it was originally
constructed in the late 60s.
Absolutely, so it needs to be done.
The building was always safe.
Yeah, absolutely the asbestos was It was wrapped inside the joints of the the heating and air conditioning units and as you take them out and and undo those joints you run into asbestos and Again, this is all being done to the letter of the law as safely as possible And yeah while students are not there.
So again when students return and staff return in late August it will be just a much more efficient
much more comfortable, much more modern building.
Which
will help with budgets, will help with keeping classrooms at a nice temperature for students and teachers and staff to accomplish what they
need to,
which is educating.
Absolutely, absolutely.
So again, this is all due in part due to our capital referendum that was passed in April of 2024.
This work is needed.
Right.
Our heating units were beginning to fail.
Our air conditioning units were beginning to fail.
They're from 1968.
The data cabling was old.
Without the referendum that's passed in 2024, we would not have had the funding to do this.
And this is the funding mechanism for school districts that need to do necessary upgrades.
Melissa, there are school districts, a handful of school districts closed.
They literally closed this spring and this summer because
They did not pass capital referendums.
They had to close because they...
There was water leaking in the buildings.
They no longer were able to replace their heating or their air conditioning.
So their buildings were uninhabitable, basically.
Now,
unsafe for students or staff.
Unsafe for students or staff.
So without these referendums, schools are going to be really struggling.
So we're very... And
with those schools that have to close, then what happens to those students?
They have longer transportation to school.
They have to move to a different district.
Like, what do they do?
Right and you know if there's there's a myriad of issues that come with that a lot of the small small communities the school is their identity and these a lot of them are in small towns in Wisconsin and They've they've lost a big part of their identity when they lose their school and as you mentioned students are now getting on buses and having very long bus rides to neighboring school districts and and they're not going to graduate from the hometown that maybe their parents grandparents etc graduated from
They are now, you know, they're being forced to go to a different school because the funding was not approved for their building, which is, it's very unfortunate.
It's a travesty.
Well,
let's take a brief pause here to hear from our sponsors.
I'm Melissa Kay talking with Port Edwards District Administrator Jim Bina.
You're listening to Perspective on 13 20 a.m.
97 5 fm W F H R.
Welcome.
You're listening to Perspective on WFHR 1320 AM, 97.5 FM.
I'm Melissa Kaye, bringing you news in our community.
I'm speaking with Port Edward School District Administrator and Ed Hoyer Elementary School Principal, James Beena, and we've been talking about construction updates going on in the district, important things that are happening at Ed Hoyer.
Another thing that took place this summer is summer school.
A lot of...
school districts offer different variations of summer school and yours was especially different this year because of the construction.
It was Melissa.
Yes, typically and we will be going back to this model again next year when we have some of our construction behind us.
We typically do a summer enrichment program in which we have anywhere from 60 to 70 students and we do all types of fun learning experiences.
We've done gardening classes.
We've done cooking classes.
We've done outdoor adventures.
classes so all types of fun enrichment classes for our elementary students we typically do that each summer this summer we did have to pause it but again we're looking because of the construction next summer we're looking forward to bringing it back again this summer we did just our credit recovery program we had about 15 middle and high school students students who needed additional academic support for some of the courses that they may have had some
with during the school year.
So we had about 15 students enrolled in credit recovery.
We had a pair of middle and senior high staff who worked very diligently for three weeks and that program is very successful and it will springboard those students for more success next school year.
And so it's kind of an opportunity to catch up, to brush up on some skills that maybe didn't quite get there during the school year.
And then the teachers who participate in that, do they volunteer?
Are they volunteer?
How does that happen?
Sure, it's a contracted position.
It's a daily, it's a three-week position that's contracted and teachers apply for it just as they would for any other position in the school district.
And yeah, a real benefit of that, Melissa,
and you kind of touched on that a little bit is students who may need some support in their academic skills, they get really small group time and a lot of one-to-one time over a three-week period and these are teachers who are excellent at teaching academic skills and teaching students how to maximize their abilities and that will really pay dividends for them starting next school year.
And we talked a little before we started our interview about
teachers during the summer and if you have summer enrichment for them.
But the summer is really a time for them to recharge and rest.
And as I mentioned earlier, I know a lot of teachers.
So I know this is true and I know how hard they work during the school year because there is no teacher I know that puts in an eight hour day.
Right.
Education is a very draining, very taxing, yet very rewarding profession.
Our teachers in the Port Edward School District, they work extremely hard.
They put their heart and soul into what they do.
I cannot say enough good things about our educators there in Port Edwards.
So during the summer, as much as we're able to, we really want to give them some time away so they can spend quality time with their families.
We really do put an emphasis on professional development during the school year, during about those 10 months when we have staff in the building, and we do have well-planned, well-organized professional development that we do at both our elementary
and our middle high school.
We plan that with CESA and it ties directly to our academic goals for that school year.
So it's basically built into the school calendar?
It is.
Those professional development days that our families see when their children are off, our teachers are at school.
They're learning from our CESA instructors.
They're learning from outside professionals that we have brought in on whatever we identify as our points.
areas for growth that we see on our state report card that we hear about from the DPI.
Whatever those areas of growth are, we are really working at them on those professional development days.
Well, and bringing as you brought up DPI, the Department of Public Instruction, let's now delve into another topic I wanted to bring up with you, and that's different audits and checks
that
happen in the public school system because those are regular.
Absolutely.
Yes, the DPI stands for the Department of Public Instruction.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction oversees all of the public schools in Wisconsin.
And because it is a taxpayer funded entity, the DPI
They have a close watch on all of our schools.
They ensure that...
every rule that you can imagine from safe transportation to Safe food that we're serving to the appropriate curriculum To licensed teachers licensed staff licensed custodians bus drivers.
We are audited on a very regular basis They watch how we are spending our money.
We have to submit reports Everything that we do is watch very carefully by the DPI in Madison and and public schools
You know, I would say that our community members, our taxpayers, they can rest easy knowing that all of our public schools are being audited very regularly by the DPI.
And most, if not all, of that information is available.
Absolutely.
Yep, absolutely.
Anyone can do a public records request or they can contact the DPI in Madison for that,
certainly.
So that kind of leads into another topic that has come up multiple times in our conversations and you did recently host a presentation at Port Edward School District with the Wisconsin Education Network and Denise Gomer Hutchinson about the voucher program and and the push for transparency for taxpayers.
Yes, which I I like to know where my money goes.
Yes, and I think that
Shouldn't suppose I know what other people are thinking but if if I'm paying property tax and It says it's going towards public schools, but not all of it is it
is not
And and that is what the voucher transparency act push is for is that transparency for taxpayers?
Absolutely
And a lot of this stems, Melissa, from accountability.
We were just talking about accountability just a moment ago.
And there is certainly a large difference in the amount of accountability, I believe, to our taxpayers.
between public schools and private schools.
The Wisconsin DPI oversees our public schools very specifically, very rigidly.
They are ensuring that we are following the law to every, you know, as much as possible.
That's not set for all of the schools in the state.
That's not all of our private schools are not overseen by the DPI.
So the fact that taxpayer money goes to both public schools and private schools, one set of schools has a lot of auditing and a lot of accountability.
The other one doesn't.
We felt it's important to kind of differentiate and show how much of the money is actually going to private schools out of out of the tax bills.
But that isn't something that the Wisconsin state legislature.
is in agreement on.
Correct.
Yeah, right.
So
it's having to happen in each school district, each municipality.
Right, correct.
And that's why we held the public speaking session in Port Edwards on May 28th.
Each school district is kind of doing this at the grassroots level.
I believe there are 50 or 60 school districts right now that they've successfully asked their
local municipalities to put you know kind of line item on your tax bill if you will What percentage of their their school tax is going to public versus private schools?
So that's what we're seeking the Port Edward School District as well and in the Wisconsin Rapid School District We are going to be we're communicating with each of our townships and asking that they Differentiate that on the tax bill
and that is something that I requested from you and got the numbers on
And unfortunately, I don't have those right in front of me right now, but it's a it's a fair amount of your of your Taxpayer dollars that are being should we say siphoned away?
Yeah, approximately Four hundred and forty thousand dollars that would have gone to the Port Edwards school district, you know under the state Constitution Monies that are collected for education are
to go to public schools.
That is not happening through the voucher program.
$440,000 approximately this past school year went from the Port Edward School District to schools at private schools that receive vouchers.
So $440,000 that would pay for a lot of salary, a lot of benefits, a lot of textbooks, a lot of transportation.
And just because those students are not going to your physical location,
the needs of the building aren't any different.
Absolutely not.
The improvements that are happening right now, the upgrades, all of that would still need to happen no matter where these students go.
Yeah, Melissa, you can draw a direct line from that money that is, as you know, your term was being siphoned away, that money that goes away from the Port Edward School District, Wisconsin Rapid School District.
all the public school district, you can draw a direct line from that money to the fact that we need to run referendums every November.
You'll see them on the November ballot, the April ballot.
Port Edwards passed ours in 2024.
We passed both a capital referendum for our billing improvements and an operational referendum in order to meet our bills.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, and as I'm looking over this construction update, you're under budget.
We are.
We certainly are.
We have not spent all of our funds.
We are very, very mindful.
We are always looking at ways.
We have daily conversations.
We contract with CISA 10 out of Chippewa Falls.
Are we doing what's most cost effective?
Are we doing just as you would any good homeowner would do?
Am I getting the most bang for my buck?
Are you
bidding out to contractors
to find the ones that can do it?
By law, we need to do that.
Public schools need to do that.
By law, we have to bid things out.
We cannot just say, hey, here you go and have them give us a price.
But yeah, it doesn't matter.
Down to the smallest detail, is this a quality product?
Is this a quality service?
Are they charging us a fair price?
We want to be the best stewards that we can.
We know that this money was approved by the Port Edwards citizens.
We want to be the best stewards that we can with that money.
Well, I very much appreciate you taking the time to speak with me today, Jim.
I'm Melissa Kaye, speaking with Port Edwards District Administrator and Ed Hoyer Elementary School Principal James Beena.
Again, thank you.
Thank you, Melissa.
It's been a pleasure.
And thank you to listeners joining us for news in our community on Perspective 1320 AM, 975 FM WFHR.
