Port Edwards School District September Update

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 Feuer elementary school principal James Beena on Wednesday September 9th Thank you for joining me Jim to bring an update from the Port Edwards school district.

Good morning, Melissa.

It's very nice to be here.

So you are now

Two weeks into school for one of your schools and one weekend for another.

Tell us about the differing start times for your school year this year.

Absolutely, Melissa.

The 26-27 school year is off to an outstanding start in Port Edwards.

We started last Wednesday, September 1st, with our middle school and high school students.

They started one week before our elementary students because we were finishing up the final details of construction at Ed Hoyer Elementary School.

And we built that extra week into the calendar to allow for that construction and that work to finish up.

So our elementary, excuse me, our middle and high school got off to a great start last week.

We started out on that first day.

It's kind of a new tradition that started a couple of years ago.

Our middle and high school principal, Shane Steltenpole, he has started a big pep rally

on that

first day.

Everyone goes into the gym, all the students at 8.30 in the morning, and then the lights are dimmed, and there's some flashing spotlights around, just like you'd see at an NBA basketball game.

Then the middle and high school staff.

They're introduced one at a time.

They come running

through the door.

And it's just a great way.

It's a fun way, a celebratory way to start our school year.

And I got the opportunity to high five the students or the teachers this year.

And it was just a great way to start the year.

You really help everybody

out.

It peps them up.

The message is, we get to be here.

We have a great school.

We don't have to go to school.

It's not this big chore or this big job.

This is a great place to be young men and young women.

Let's show our gratitude.

Let's show our gratitude to the staff.

And let's really practice gratitude for having this opportunity to be in a great school district.

Yeah.

And learning is fun.

It's a great place to be.

It really is.

And our teachers, really, they work to make it fun.

They work to make it enjoyable.

And that all comes from the great relationships that they have with the kids.

Yeah.

Well, and that is

You said that the the school year you set us off to a good start and let's talk a little bit about student enrollment counts

Sure, absolutely all student enrollment count is taken officially on the third Friday of September each year and that's her first semester and then the Department of Public Instruction who does those official counts

We do them in-house, but then we send them to the DPI

in

the Department of Public Instruction.

They note that for each public school district.

third Friday in September and second Friday in January for the second semester of each school year.

So we're not at that third Friday yet.

So our unofficial count shows a nice increase at both of our schools.

We've been very fortunate over the summer and over the late spring months.

We've had a number of new families move into the Port Edwards Village.

We've had a number of families open and roll their students from neighboring communities.

We are hearing from our families that they are choosing the Port Edward School District because they have heard good things about our culture.

They've heard good things about our education that we offer, great things about our staff.

So we're very happy to hear that and we welcome all those new families with open arms.

Well, and that that third Friday count is super important because that

helps or it has to do with funding that's received from the state.

Absolutely.

The primary mechanism for funding for public school districts is student count.

So with each student...

Additional student that we have in that student count we get an additional amount of money.

So

That is that is how the funding formula works right now for public schools

I found that interesting when I worked in a school years ago to know that well They have to physically be there that day to be counted.

Yes,

it's not that you well This is the number of students we have right, but it has to be this is the number of students We have in this building on this day

right students in the seat on that third Friday.

Yeah,

so it's very very important

that we have our children there, that's our count day.

Absolutely.

Well, another thing about attendance at school, that is the reason, well, missing school is not a good thing.

Right,

absolutely.

I mean, like missing work, missing school, you don't want to do it.

But also, just the number of absences that a student has in a year affects their ability to learn and to keep up in their class.

Absolutely, Melissa.

There is all types of data out there that indicate the number of absences you miss as that number increases, the amount of learning, the amount of social connection, the amount of...

positive behaviors that you establish, work behaviors, and things like that, those things decrease with each day of school that you miss.

So yeah, it's very important.

We really stress good attendance in our school districts.

Of course, there are traditionally those excused absences.

When you're sick, we really ask that students and staff stay home to prevent the spread of that.

Boy, we really, really want our students to be there every day they can.

Now, for the Ed Hoyer Elementary School, which just started this week, well, as you are listening to this now, it will be this last week, but for the week of September 9th, the beginning of the year theme, let's talk about this.

Oh, absolutely.

Every year we talk about different themes and we want to make it fun just as they have the pep assembly and the kickoff at our middle and high school at Ed Hoyer Elementary School.

The theme that our staff chose this year is a new chapter begins.

So a new chapter as children go into a new grade, they might meet some new friends, they might meet new teachers, they're gonna meet some new staff.

It's a new chapter for them.

And of course that plan words, the new chapter that fits in with

our English and language arts as well, and we always are encouraging our students to have a book in their hands and read because we know that as our literacy rates increase and our literacy gets better, all learning improves as well.

Well, and reading just broadens your horizons.

It opens new doors that

And it can take you places that you couldn't go otherwise.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

We have a strong emphasis on reading all the way 4K through grade 12, right?

And at the appropriate level, whether it's picture books with our younger students, beginning reading in our elementary and more advanced novels in our middle and high school.

I was talking about data just a moment ago, but there's all kinds of data out there that shows the stronger the literacy rate our children have, the better they're able to critically think, be good decision makers as adults, and just to have a better educational process overall.

And to be able to retain information when it's coming at you, whether it's verbal or...

words on a page to be able to understand and comprehend what you're taking in.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And that starts when our children are very young and we are very fortunate.

Our teachers all understand the importance of literacy and with our very young children, our teachers are reading to them when they're just beginning to learn their alphabet.

We're very fortunate to have some retired teachers that come into our elementary and they read to our younger children every week.

That's such a benefit.

We're so thankful for them.

And then again, the encouragement of reading through all of our grades up through 12th grade.

And another thing you really encourage is kindness.

Absolutely.

Yes, we, once again this year, Ed Hoyer Elementary School is going to have different character traits each month of the school year.

And these are positive character traits.

They're universally accepted for the most part.

It's traits that we want our children to develop and instill in themselves as they become

become adolescents and then as they become adults, we really want to give them a lot of positive affirmation for practicing these different traits.

And our trait for September is kindness.

Kindness is discussed every day during our morning announcements.

We give examples of how

children can be kind in school, and we talk about them in our morning meetings as well.

And then at the end of the month, we have a program called School Families, where we mix all of our children up in the entire elementary school into a group of about 10 to 12 students, and they go with a separate classroom teacher, and they do individualized activities for about a half an hour to 45 minutes on that month's character trait.

And so at the end of September here, we're gonna

get in those Black Hawk families and really work on kindness.

So just for those of us who maybe don't know at the elementary level students are mainly in one classroom with one teacher and for the most part there's maybe a couple like art music things like that where they will go elsewhere but so they're they're with the same students.

in that classroom at the time.

So now what you're saying is that they'll kind of mix it up and be with other students from other classrooms.

That's one time a month.

Yes,

for a

very short amount of time.

But we, you know, we get together in our school families or our Black Hawk families so that they can get to know other students and our older students.

We talk about role modeling for our younger students.

Sometimes those older students will read to our younger students during Black Hawk families.

It's just a really nice time to build those social connections.

Sometimes

from kindergarten or first grade up with our third and fourth graders.

Whereas you said, Melissa, if they don't have an older sibling or a younger sibling, they don't always get that opportunity to build those strong social connections.

And we

want to do that through our family's program.

That's wonderful.

Yeah.

Well, here's a good part for a moment for us to take a short pause to hear from our sponsors.

I'm Melissa Kay talking with Port Edwards District Administrator Jim Bina and you're listening to Perspective on 1320 a.m.

97 5 fm WFHR.

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 Edwards District Administrator and Ed Hoyer Elementary School Principal, Jim Beena.

And we've been talking about some of the initiatives that you have going on in your middle school or your elementary school with kindness as the attribute of the month that you're working on.

As you go through the school year, you're going to be doing more of those character traits that you want your students to embody as they progress through life.

Absolutely, Melissa.

Yes, kindness is our character trait for the month of September.

And each month we're going to be doing a different positive character trait that we want our children to learn.

It's a universal character trait, be it kindness, empathy, generosity, work ethic.

things that are going to translate for them into adolescence, as a teenager, into adulthood.

There are universal traits that are going to benefit them and those around them.

Well, now let's transition to talking a little bit about some of the projects that you've been working on in the school district.

Over the summer, you had a lot of construction going on.

Let's talk about it.

Sure, absolutely.

We've talked about this quite a bit, Melissa, here during the monthly podcast segments and the progress has been outstanding this summer at both our high school and at both our elementary school as well.

Summer referendum projects.

are about 95% complete as of today at our elementary school.

This summer, all of the heating and air conditioning units were replaced at Ed Hoyer Elementary, as well as a new generator was installed at both the high school and at the elementary school.

These projects if anyone listening has built a home or done major renovation work of any type of building It's much more complex than I just described there's Supply

chain issues

countless staff

multiple, multiple contractors with all different types of areas of expertise.

We're in our building, our elementary this summer and they have to plan schedules with each other.

They have to work with one another.

It's a lot of logistics.

There are a great deal of logistics and we've been very fortunate.

We work with CESA 10.

CESA 10 is based in Chippewa Falls and they're our project manager for all of our referendum projects and they've done a very nice job for us organizing, managing and overseeing the

Logistics of all these contracted staff members.

So as I mentioned at Hoyer elementary projects are about 95% complete this summer All new heating all new air conditioning those units were original to 1968 when

the building

was built So a little bit of quick math.

That's about about 58 years old so

we certainly got our useful life out of all of those units.

And they were running at very low efficiency and some weren't running properly at all.

So it was certainly time to replace those.

And

those

were replaced with the capital referendum monies that were approved by our district taxpayers in April of 2024.

And we know that anytime you replace a less efficient.

mechanism with a more efficient one that cuts down on your heating and your electricity bills.

Absolutely.

So that can only help you.

And I bet right now you're really glad you have new air conditioners.

Well, they are in place, Melissa, but they are not up and running yet.

Okay.

As I mentioned, we're about 95% complete.

There's still some insulation that's happening up in our mezzanine area at the elementary and in the boiler room.

So they're not operating right now, but by the end of the month, they should be completely operating.

rating at the elementary.

Wonderful.

Well, that's good.

And then you also got some new...

Internet cabling and public address system and phone system.

Those are those are some projects that are coming up in the future.

Those are those are scheduled

for next summer.

I read ahead.

Oh, you're fine.

Those are scheduled for the summer of 2027.

Our telephone system, you know, by all experts account is nearing the end of its useful life as well.

So we're going to get a new K 12 telephone system.

The public address system was

brand new last summer, 2025 at Ed Hoyer Elementary.

It is past its useful life at John Edwards Middle and High School, so we're going to get a new PA system there next summer.

I

have to ask, do you sound like Charlie Brown's teacher when you talk on that PA system?

It's not quite that old.

But we certainly have some issues.

It's certainly outdated.

It's certainly time to be replaced.

Yep, so we are going to replace those and we're going to be getting modern Internet cabling throughout the middle and high school as well next summer So just as the elementary school this summer of 26 was a really massive construction zone Next summer our middle and high school building will be looking like that as well There's going

to

be many many contractor teams working You know that first day that they can write up until the last day in August to install

all that new heating and air conditioning in our high school area, the new phone system, the new PA system, and the new internet cabling.

they are big projects, but they're somewhat behind the

scene projects.

Yeah, I was gonna say,

they're not flashy ones.

They're nothing that, you know, there's no, not gonna be a ribbon cutting where you walk into a new section of a school

or something

like that, but they are essential

to

their necessary to running a comfortable and a modern building.

Well, and another, speaking of new things, you have a new club this year.

Yes, we do.

Let's talk about your middle school science teachers, new

agricultural club.

Yeah, very exciting.

I want to give a big shout out to Mrs. Kira Lepeck.

Mrs. Kira Lepeck is

fifth and sixth grade she teaches science and some other courses for us.

And Mrs. Leapack has a strong history in agriculture.

She graduated from Gresham High School where she was heavily involved in the ag program there in the FFA.

She taught in Adams Friendship where she was heavily involved with agriculture there as well.

And she developed a lot of leadership skills and she had really learned the value of agricultural education.

We do not have ag education.

in our program at John Edwards Middle or High School.

So Mrs. Leapack is forming a club.

She's going to be forming a middle school agriculture club that's going to be meeting after school this year.

And she is going to be...

leading agricultural education.

She's going to be doing field trips.

As I mentioned, educational projects.

There are a lot of leadership opportunities through ag education, and she's going to be introducing our middle school students to agricultural leadership opportunities.

So we're very, very excited.

for having Mrs. Leapack on board as a staff member and for all the energy that she is bringing to our middle school about the Ag Club.

Well an Ag is so vitally important here in Wisconsin.

powers a lot of our GDP and Everybody knows or I shouldn't say everybody but there's a lot of us Especially here in the rural areas who have family members who are farmers or grandparents who were it's it's a vital part of our our state and our economy

you're absolutely right Melissa and This is a great way to expose some of our students who may not have a lot of real direct connections to agriculture Get them exposed to agriculture and see

if they have an interest in that as a possible career opportunity.

And there's a lot of different things like you don't necessarily have to plow a field.

Right.

But there's a lot of behind the scenes stuff that happens in agriculture as well.

Oh, absolutely.

More and more with each passing generation, there is so much modern technology that goes into education.

And you may have an interest in the outdoors, in natural resources, in technology, egg industry.

There are so many different.

facets that

that all play a role in for our farmers

that

our students can get interested in.

We could go off on a whole tangent about cheese.

But we probably shouldn't, Jim.

Oh, maybe we should sometime, though.

Sometime.

But we should talk about Homecoming Week.

That's coming up in a very new future here in October.

Yeah.

Homecoming is about one month away.

Homecoming is such a great tradition at most school districts, I should say.

And it's a great tradition.

for the Port Edward School District.

Homecoming in 2026 is Monday, October 5th through Friday, October 9th.

We have a great parade.

I encourage anyone listening to come out and see our parade.

That is Thursday evening October 8th.

at six o'clock.

It winds around through the neighborhoods in downtown Port Edwards and it comes up Market Street.

It goes east to west along Market Street.

That's a great place to stand.

Our parade is known for a lot of candy.

We throw a lot of beads.

It's a

great way to see all the clubs, all of the volunteer

different activities.

The marching band?

The marching band.

There's, you know, our athletic teams.

There's so many different things that play a role in that big parade.

So that parade is Thursday, October 8th.

It's at six o'clock.

Um, the football game this year, you know, the football game kind of ends homecoming week.

It's going to be on Saturday, October 10th.

Um, I believe it's tentatively scheduled for 12 o'clock noon

at John

Edwards High School.

So again,

do you know who you're planning yet?

Um, we're still working on that.

We had our team cancel on us.

So

we

are, we're still working on an opponent, but, um, a couple of our potential opponents, um, they've agreed to Saturday, October 10th for that homecoming football game.

Okay.

Do you do.

dress-up days during homecoming week?

The middle and high school will be doing dress-up

days.

Oh,

fun.

Those are not in front of me right now, but the kids always have a great time dressing up and trying to outdo each other.

And

yeah, it's just all part of that, you know, bringing enjoyment into

the school.

Yeah, yeah.

And school spirit and seeing, I love it when they do like a dress like your favorite teacher day and you get to see some of those pictures with the student and the teacher.

They're

great.

To see how they perceive

you as

a staff member.

It's great.

Yeah, it's a lot of fun.

We love it.

Well, it's been a lot of fun talking with you today, Jim.

I appreciate you being here.

I'm Melissa Kay, speaking with Port Edwards District Administrator and Envoyer Elementary School Principal, James Beena.

Thank you, Jim.

Thank you so much, Melissa.

And thank you to listeners joining us for news in our community on Perspective, 1320 a.m.

975 FM WFHR.

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 Feuer elementary school principal James Beena on Wednesday September 9th Thank you for joining me Jim to bring an update from the Port Edwards school district.

Good morning, Melissa.

It's very nice to be here.

So you are now

Two weeks into school for one of your schools and one weekend for another.

Tell us about the differing start times for your school year this year.

Absolutely, Melissa.

The 26-27 school year is off to an outstanding start in Port Edwards.

We started last Wednesday, September 1st, with our middle school and high school students.

They started one week before our elementary students because we were finishing up the final details of construction at Ed Hoyer Elementary School.

And we built that extra week into the calendar to allow for that construction and that work to finish up.

So our elementary, excuse me, our middle and high school got off to a great start last week.

We started out on that first day.

It's kind of a new tradition that started a couple of years ago.

Our middle and high school principal, Shane Steltenpole, he has started a big pep rally

on that

first day.

Everyone goes into the gym, all the students at 8.30 in the morning, and then the lights are dimmed, and there's some flashing spotlights around, just like you'd see at an NBA basketball game.

Then the middle and high school staff.

They're introduced one at a time.

They come running

through the door.

And it's just a great way.

It's a fun way, a celebratory way to start our school year.

And I got the opportunity to high five the students or the teachers this year.

And it was just a great way to start the year.

You really help everybody

out.

It peps them up.

The message is, we get to be here.

We have a great school.

We don't have to go to school.

It's not this big chore or this big job.

This is a great place to be young men and young women.

Let's show our gratitude.

Let's show our gratitude to the staff.

And let's really practice gratitude for having this opportunity to be in a great school district.

Yeah.

And learning is fun.

It's a great place to be.

It really is.

And our teachers, really, they work to make it fun.

They work to make it enjoyable.

And that all comes from the great relationships that they have with the kids.

Yeah.

Well, and that is

You said that the the school year you set us off to a good start and let's talk a little bit about student enrollment counts

Sure, absolutely all student enrollment count is taken officially on the third Friday of September each year and that's her first semester and then the Department of Public Instruction who does those official counts

We do them in-house, but then we send them to the DPI

in

the Department of Public Instruction.

They note that for each public school district.

third Friday in September and second Friday in January for the second semester of each school year.

So we're not at that third Friday yet.

So our unofficial count shows a nice increase at both of our schools.

We've been very fortunate over the summer and over the late spring months.

We've had a number of new families move into the Port Edwards Village.

We've had a number of families open and roll their students from neighboring communities.

We are hearing from our families that they are choosing the Port Edward School District because they have heard good things about our culture.

They've heard good things about our education that we offer, great things about our staff.

So we're very happy to hear that and we welcome all those new families with open arms.

Well, and that that third Friday count is super important because that

helps or it has to do with funding that's received from the state.

Absolutely.

The primary mechanism for funding for public school districts is student count.

So with each student...

Additional student that we have in that student count we get an additional amount of money.

So

That is that is how the funding formula works right now for public schools

I found that interesting when I worked in a school years ago to know that well They have to physically be there that day to be counted.

Yes,

it's not that you well This is the number of students we have right, but it has to be this is the number of students We have in this building on this day

right students in the seat on that third Friday.

Yeah,

so it's very very important

that we have our children there, that's our count day.

Absolutely.

Well, another thing about attendance at school, that is the reason, well, missing school is not a good thing.

Right,

absolutely.

I mean, like missing work, missing school, you don't want to do it.

But also, just the number of absences that a student has in a year affects their ability to learn and to keep up in their class.

Absolutely, Melissa.

There is all types of data out there that indicate the number of absences you miss as that number increases, the amount of learning, the amount of social connection, the amount of...

positive behaviors that you establish, work behaviors, and things like that, those things decrease with each day of school that you miss.

So yeah, it's very important.

We really stress good attendance in our school districts.

Of course, there are traditionally those excused absences.

When you're sick, we really ask that students and staff stay home to prevent the spread of that.

Boy, we really, really want our students to be there every day they can.

Now, for the Ed Hoyer Elementary School, which just started this week, well, as you are listening to this now, it will be this last week, but for the week of September 9th, the beginning of the year theme, let's talk about this.

Oh, absolutely.

Every year we talk about different themes and we want to make it fun just as they have the pep assembly and the kickoff at our middle and high school at Ed Hoyer Elementary School.

The theme that our staff chose this year is a new chapter begins.

So a new chapter as children go into a new grade, they might meet some new friends, they might meet new teachers, they're gonna meet some new staff.

It's a new chapter for them.

And of course that plan words, the new chapter that fits in with

our English and language arts as well, and we always are encouraging our students to have a book in their hands and read because we know that as our literacy rates increase and our literacy gets better, all learning improves as well.

Well, and reading just broadens your horizons.

It opens new doors that

And it can take you places that you couldn't go otherwise.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

We have a strong emphasis on reading all the way 4K through grade 12, right?

And at the appropriate level, whether it's picture books with our younger students, beginning reading in our elementary and more advanced novels in our middle and high school.

I was talking about data just a moment ago, but there's all kinds of data out there that shows the stronger the literacy rate our children have, the better they're able to critically think, be good decision makers as adults, and just to have a better educational process overall.

And to be able to retain information when it's coming at you, whether it's verbal or...

words on a page to be able to understand and comprehend what you're taking in.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And that starts when our children are very young and we are very fortunate.

Our teachers all understand the importance of literacy and with our very young children, our teachers are reading to them when they're just beginning to learn their alphabet.

We're very fortunate to have some retired teachers that come into our elementary and they read to our younger children every week.

That's such a benefit.

We're so thankful for them.

And then again, the encouragement of reading through all of our grades up through 12th grade.

And another thing you really encourage is kindness.

Absolutely.

Yes, we, once again this year, Ed Hoyer Elementary School is going to have different character traits each month of the school year.

And these are positive character traits.

They're universally accepted for the most part.

It's traits that we want our children to develop and instill in themselves as they become

become adolescents and then as they become adults, we really want to give them a lot of positive affirmation for practicing these different traits.

And our trait for September is kindness.

Kindness is discussed every day during our morning announcements.

We give examples of how

children can be kind in school, and we talk about them in our morning meetings as well.

And then at the end of the month, we have a program called School Families, where we mix all of our children up in the entire elementary school into a group of about 10 to 12 students, and they go with a separate classroom teacher, and they do individualized activities for about a half an hour to 45 minutes on that month's character trait.

And so at the end of September here, we're gonna

get in those Black Hawk families and really work on kindness.

So just for those of us who maybe don't know at the elementary level students are mainly in one classroom with one teacher and for the most part there's maybe a couple like art music things like that where they will go elsewhere but so they're they're with the same students.

in that classroom at the time.

So now what you're saying is that they'll kind of mix it up and be with other students from other classrooms.

That's one time a month.

Yes,

for a

very short amount of time.

But we, you know, we get together in our school families or our Black Hawk families so that they can get to know other students and our older students.

We talk about role modeling for our younger students.

Sometimes those older students will read to our younger students during Black Hawk families.

It's just a really nice time to build those social connections.

Sometimes

from kindergarten or first grade up with our third and fourth graders.

Whereas you said, Melissa, if they don't have an older sibling or a younger sibling, they don't always get that opportunity to build those strong social connections.

And we

want to do that through our family's program.

That's wonderful.

Yeah.

Well, here's a good part for a moment for us to take a short pause to hear from our sponsors.

I'm Melissa Kay talking with Port Edwards District Administrator Jim Bina and you're listening to Perspective on 1320 a.m.

97 5 fm WFHR.

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 Edwards District Administrator and Ed Hoyer Elementary School Principal, Jim Beena.

And we've been talking about some of the initiatives that you have going on in your middle school or your elementary school with kindness as the attribute of the month that you're working on.

As you go through the school year, you're going to be doing more of those character traits that you want your students to embody as they progress through life.

Absolutely, Melissa.

Yes, kindness is our character trait for the month of September.

And each month we're going to be doing a different positive character trait that we want our children to learn.

It's a universal character trait, be it kindness, empathy, generosity, work ethic.

things that are going to translate for them into adolescence, as a teenager, into adulthood.

There are universal traits that are going to benefit them and those around them.

Well, now let's transition to talking a little bit about some of the projects that you've been working on in the school district.

Over the summer, you had a lot of construction going on.

Let's talk about it.

Sure, absolutely.

We've talked about this quite a bit, Melissa, here during the monthly podcast segments and the progress has been outstanding this summer at both our high school and at both our elementary school as well.

Summer referendum projects.

are about 95% complete as of today at our elementary school.

This summer, all of the heating and air conditioning units were replaced at Ed Hoyer Elementary, as well as a new generator was installed at both the high school and at the elementary school.

These projects if anyone listening has built a home or done major renovation work of any type of building It's much more complex than I just described there's Supply

chain issues

countless staff

multiple, multiple contractors with all different types of areas of expertise.

We're in our building, our elementary this summer and they have to plan schedules with each other.

They have to work with one another.

It's a lot of logistics.

There are a great deal of logistics and we've been very fortunate.

We work with CESA 10.

CESA 10 is based in Chippewa Falls and they're our project manager for all of our referendum projects and they've done a very nice job for us organizing, managing and overseeing the

Logistics of all these contracted staff members.

So as I mentioned at Hoyer elementary projects are about 95% complete this summer All new heating all new air conditioning those units were original to 1968 when

the building

was built So a little bit of quick math.

That's about about 58 years old so

we certainly got our useful life out of all of those units.

And they were running at very low efficiency and some weren't running properly at all.

So it was certainly time to replace those.

And

those

were replaced with the capital referendum monies that were approved by our district taxpayers in April of 2024.

And we know that anytime you replace a less efficient.

mechanism with a more efficient one that cuts down on your heating and your electricity bills.

Absolutely.

So that can only help you.

And I bet right now you're really glad you have new air conditioners.

Well, they are in place, Melissa, but they are not up and running yet.

Okay.

As I mentioned, we're about 95% complete.

There's still some insulation that's happening up in our mezzanine area at the elementary and in the boiler room.

So they're not operating right now, but by the end of the month, they should be completely operating.

rating at the elementary.

Wonderful.

Well, that's good.

And then you also got some new...

Internet cabling and public address system and phone system.

Those are those are some projects that are coming up in the future.

Those are those are scheduled

for next summer.

I read ahead.

Oh, you're fine.

Those are scheduled for the summer of 2027.

Our telephone system, you know, by all experts account is nearing the end of its useful life as well.

So we're going to get a new K 12 telephone system.

The public address system was

brand new last summer, 2025 at Ed Hoyer Elementary.

It is past its useful life at John Edwards Middle and High School, so we're going to get a new PA system there next summer.

I

have to ask, do you sound like Charlie Brown's teacher when you talk on that PA system?

It's not quite that old.

But we certainly have some issues.

It's certainly outdated.

It's certainly time to be replaced.

Yep, so we are going to replace those and we're going to be getting modern Internet cabling throughout the middle and high school as well next summer So just as the elementary school this summer of 26 was a really massive construction zone Next summer our middle and high school building will be looking like that as well There's going

to

be many many contractor teams working You know that first day that they can write up until the last day in August to install

all that new heating and air conditioning in our high school area, the new phone system, the new PA system, and the new internet cabling.

they are big projects, but they're somewhat behind the

scene projects.

Yeah, I was gonna say,

they're not flashy ones.

They're nothing that, you know, there's no, not gonna be a ribbon cutting where you walk into a new section of a school

or something

like that, but they are essential

to

their necessary to running a comfortable and a modern building.

Well, and another, speaking of new things, you have a new club this year.

Yes, we do.

Let's talk about your middle school science teachers, new

agricultural club.

Yeah, very exciting.

I want to give a big shout out to Mrs. Kira Lepeck.

Mrs. Kira Lepeck is

fifth and sixth grade she teaches science and some other courses for us.

And Mrs. Leapack has a strong history in agriculture.

She graduated from Gresham High School where she was heavily involved in the ag program there in the FFA.

She taught in Adams Friendship where she was heavily involved with agriculture there as well.

And she developed a lot of leadership skills and she had really learned the value of agricultural education.

We do not have ag education.

in our program at John Edwards Middle or High School.

So Mrs. Leapack is forming a club.

She's going to be forming a middle school agriculture club that's going to be meeting after school this year.

And she is going to be...

leading agricultural education.

She's going to be doing field trips.

As I mentioned, educational projects.

There are a lot of leadership opportunities through ag education, and she's going to be introducing our middle school students to agricultural leadership opportunities.

So we're very, very excited.

for having Mrs. Leapack on board as a staff member and for all the energy that she is bringing to our middle school about the Ag Club.

Well an Ag is so vitally important here in Wisconsin.

powers a lot of our GDP and Everybody knows or I shouldn't say everybody but there's a lot of us Especially here in the rural areas who have family members who are farmers or grandparents who were it's it's a vital part of our our state and our economy

you're absolutely right Melissa and This is a great way to expose some of our students who may not have a lot of real direct connections to agriculture Get them exposed to agriculture and see

if they have an interest in that as a possible career opportunity.

And there's a lot of different things like you don't necessarily have to plow a field.

Right.

But there's a lot of behind the scenes stuff that happens in agriculture as well.

Oh, absolutely.

More and more with each passing generation, there is so much modern technology that goes into education.

And you may have an interest in the outdoors, in natural resources, in technology, egg industry.

There are so many different.

facets that

that all play a role in for our farmers

that

our students can get interested in.

We could go off on a whole tangent about cheese.

But we probably shouldn't, Jim.

Oh, maybe we should sometime, though.

Sometime.

But we should talk about Homecoming Week.

That's coming up in a very new future here in October.

Yeah.

Homecoming is about one month away.

Homecoming is such a great tradition at most school districts, I should say.

And it's a great tradition.

for the Port Edward School District.

Homecoming in 2026 is Monday, October 5th through Friday, October 9th.

We have a great parade.

I encourage anyone listening to come out and see our parade.

That is Thursday evening October 8th.

at six o'clock.

It winds around through the neighborhoods in downtown Port Edwards and it comes up Market Street.

It goes east to west along Market Street.

That's a great place to stand.

Our parade is known for a lot of candy.

We throw a lot of beads.

It's a

great way to see all the clubs, all of the volunteer

different activities.

The marching band?

The marching band.

There's, you know, our athletic teams.

There's so many different things that play a role in that big parade.

So that parade is Thursday, October 8th.

It's at six o'clock.

Um, the football game this year, you know, the football game kind of ends homecoming week.

It's going to be on Saturday, October 10th.

Um, I believe it's tentatively scheduled for 12 o'clock noon

at John

Edwards High School.

So again,

do you know who you're planning yet?

Um, we're still working on that.

We had our team cancel on us.

So

we

are, we're still working on an opponent, but, um, a couple of our potential opponents, um, they've agreed to Saturday, October 10th for that homecoming football game.

Okay.

Do you do.

dress-up days during homecoming week?

The middle and high school will be doing dress-up

days.

Oh,

fun.

Those are not in front of me right now, but the kids always have a great time dressing up and trying to outdo each other.

And

yeah, it's just all part of that, you know, bringing enjoyment into

the school.

Yeah, yeah.

And school spirit and seeing, I love it when they do like a dress like your favorite teacher day and you get to see some of those pictures with the student and the teacher.

They're

great.

To see how they perceive

you as

a staff member.

It's great.

Yeah, it's a lot of fun.

We love it.

Well, it's been a lot of fun talking with you today, Jim.

I appreciate you being here.

I'm Melissa Kay, speaking with Port Edwards District Administrator and Envoyer Elementary School Principal, James Beena.

Thank you, Jim.

Thank you so much, Melissa.

And thank you to listeners joining us for news in our community on Perspective, 1320 a.m.

975 FM WFHR.