You're listening to Perspective on WFHR 1320-A of 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, September 25th, 2026.
Thank you for joining me, Ron, to bring the community an update from the Wisconsin Rapids Public School District.
As always, glad to join you.
And you have brought us guests with you today.
Tina Wallner is the principal at Grove Elementary.
Welcome, Tina.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you both for joining me today.
We are about a month into the new school year, and I imagine the kids are settling into their routines and the staff.
Let's start with
you.
How are things going from the administrative perspective?
Yeah, we've had a great start in the school district.
We didn't have a lot of construction projects this summer.
The major one was the Howe Parking Lot project, and parent pick up and drop off, and that has gone really, really well.
Oh, good.
We've instituted the process there.
I know we've spent time in prior episodes of
perspectives discussing that so that has gone really well and the pavilions soon open and the grass is all coming in so that's those are all the positives.
We've had to deal with a lot of flexibility due to all the road construction around so I just do want to give a shout out to our van drivers and bus drivers and parents for their flexibility because some of our routes have been a little extended of trying to get around the construction and either coming and going to Rams or if you live up in the Beeren area and
that having your students dropped off probably a few minutes later.
So thank you for that.
But in the in the buildings, it's been really good nicer that it's a little cooler out right now.
The first week and a half was a little unbearable in our buildings that don't have air conditioning or parts of buildings that don't have air conditioning.
But as students are beginning to adjust to routines.
Frequently as I said, I'm in the buildings pretty much throughout the week and students are on their learning environment, which is where we want them at this point.
That's wonderful.
And Tina, you're the principal at Grove Elementary.
Tell our listeners how things are going from the elementary building level.
Are kids excited to be back in school?
Yeah, it's always great to see their smiling faces the first couple weeks.
Parents, of course, are happy to have kids back in school and kids are having a great time getting reacquainted with their friends.
meeting new teachers and learning the new routines is going really well.
Do you have more new staff at Grove Elementary?
Yeah we do have a couple of new teachers and that's going really well.
We've got our teams working hard to talk about kids needs and and work on those beginning of the year routines and expectations.
It's going great.
Yeah in that first it's not really 30 days but it's the first month things have got us
start settling for and kids get their minds wrapped around what the new routines are.
I imagine that's a nice step to accomplish.
Yeah, it is nice.
And then when you take the time to do it.
Well and intentionally the first several weeks of school it makes weeks after that
a lot more learning is
able to happen because kids know the routines and the expectations
Yeah, it was nice to kind of ease into the school year a little bit We had two four-day weeks with you know not starting till September 1st So on that Tuesday and then having Labor Day the following the following week So that assists a little bit too rather than starting out strictly with the five-day week right away as well
give the kids a little bit of a break ease in
weekend to get used to things all and have that fun time.
It's a whole new sleep pattern.
Kids have to get used to right up in the mornings.
Yeah.
And getting into those routines.
Tina, one of the things that I know you wanted to talk about is the character development lifelong skills curriculum that you're working on this year.
Is this specific to Grove?
Actually,
it's district-wide.
We're using a program called Character Strong and it's
4k through fifth grade.
Every month we focus on a different character trait.
So like kindness, empathy, respect, cooperation, courage, creativity.
And they focus around three key parts of wellness for students like social skills.
So we focus on being kind and there's traits that fall into that category.
And then executive functioning skills like how do we
problem solve and think through tasks and that's we say be strong and then be well is our emotional regulation
and
helping kids recognize emotions and how they regulate after an upset so be kind be strong and be well are kind of our overarching themes of our of the program and it it's really good we're really enjoying it yeah
I find it fascinating that because I recent
In recent years read a study about that that if you don't identify what the emotions are you don't you you don't learn them
Right.
We kind of have to catch kids in the moment when they're in an upset to help them name what emotion they're feeling so you can say you seem angry and then they can Practice noticing.
This is what my body feels like when I'm angry.
So then we can move forward with
what are some strategies that might work for you?
It's okay to feel angry, we all do, but finding strategies in every kid is a little bit different,
just like
adults, right?
How we regulate different emotions varies from person to person.
So helping our little tykes figure that out is part of the
plan.
That's going to be very encouraging to see and for them to understand, okay, this is
Anger, this is frustration.
They're different.
Right.
And if you don't help them identify the differences, they don't know.
And the go-to is just always angry.
Right.
Because there's a few select emotions that are, what are they?
It's like angry, happy, sad.
Okay.
And anxious is sometimes in there or scared.
Yeah.
But those are the go-to ones.
And if you don't branch out into, okay, but this is frustration.
You're frustrated right now.
Right.
And the older kids get, you
branch out into more in-depth.
feelings, beyond just those core four.
That's encouraging that they're learning and growing, not just their academic skills, but also, like you said, their social skills and being able to self-regulate, because that is something that even as adults, we need some practice.
Everybody
needs to practice that a little bit.
Things get hard sometimes.
We gotta find ways to work through them.
Now, there's new playgrounds at
meant all of our schools, right?
Maybe except Lincoln.
they have a playground there, although they should really.
How are the kids enjoying the playground?
They love it.
We're the girl of Evergreens, so we named our new playground the Treehouse Playground because we've got like looks like little tree taps and they the slides we have a roller slide spinner
and great swings.
You can put three people on one swing.
Oh, my.
And
they're fantastic.
They're used nonstop at recess.
We put three people on a swing when I was in school too, but it wasn't built
And for people that don't know where Grove is, I was looking at the map and from kind of like the bird's eye view, it's like a straight shot over from Culver's.
It's
about the location, right?
Yeah, it's one thing that it's location and we have students that come from both on both sides of A Street.
So before school and after school, that's the crossing guard there.
So we just encourage people once again is when schools in session, just be careful as you're throughout the neighborhoods, especially on those opening and closing times and especially on A Street.
So we know traffic can get a little fast, but to pay attention, it's pretty lighted pretty well there.
And we do have a crossing guard there, but.
Just make sure our kiddos are safe.
Yeah, that's a really good note because definitely want to watch out there.
They're shorter, especially at the elementary age and harder to see sometimes, but always be cautious and be, you know, help to keep our kids safe, like you said.
And you mentioned the playgrounds.
And the playgrounds are an important part where the character is strong and those skills actually play out from, you know, your collaboration, your teamwork, you become frustrated in a game of what's happening and to understand those different emotions in that play.
is really important for students as well.
Yeah, and the resources that are available for teachers in the program include playground resources, school-wide resources that we use for like warning announcements.
So it kind of ties every part of the school together with the same themes,
the same
ideas.
So it really does.
Blend well across the school day,
and that's really good then too that it's across the district so that because I'm sure kids have friends from other schools or That they will run into and they're all learning the same character development skills at the same time
Yeah, they're all gonna be together in sixth grade at Rams.
So yeah, they'll have some of those shared Values
shared language
And that's one of the things of being a larger school district.
Obviously, we have 4,400 students within our district.
I think some people believe all the curriculum at Grove is different than the curriculum at Grant.
And we really try to do a nice job of having that consistency amongst curriculum across our buildings.
So because we know families move across our districts, you may move from the Grant to the Grove or the Grove to the Washington.
Attendance area and it'll be it's pretty easy to slot in because you're pretty consistent across the district and but being the large district We have so many of those opportunities when you get older of co-curriculars extra cookers course offerings But at our at our elementary levels I mean our class sizes range across the district about 12 up to about 20 the average class size in the elementary is anywhere between 16 to 18 fifth grade might be around 22 23 so
You get a lot of those large school opportunities that you have, but yet at our elementary level.
So we do have those small class sizes that people look for.
Yeah.
And more of that one-on-one time with teachers if it's needed or some extra tutoring.
Right.
Right.
Extra support.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, this is a good spot for us to take a short moment to hear from our sponsors.
I want to say thank you to Tina because we've covered everything and I know you need to get back to school.
So we'll let you go for the second segment.
But thank you for being here, Tina.
Thank you very much.
And I'm also talking with Ron Rasmussen.
We'll get more of a district-wide update when we come back.
I'm Melissa Kaye and you're listening to Perspective on 1320 a.m.
975 FM WFHR.
Welcome, you're listening to Perspective on WFHR 1320 AM, 97.5 FM.
I'm Alyssa Kay bringing you news in our community.
I'm speaking with Superintendent Ron Rasmussen with the Wisconsin Rapids Public School District and earlier we heard from Tina Wallner with the Grove Elementary.
We had to get her back to school, but Ron, I'm gonna keep you for a little bit longer.
Sounds great.
And let's talk about some of the things going on in the district.
You mentioned the Howell-Monterey parking lot.
Is that going well?
Yep, everything's going really well over there.
We have adjusted, you know, just how we imagined it when it's in the drawing stage and now that it's implementation and working with parents.
So yeah, we're excited and the pavilion is now open.
So that's available for parents to pick up with the weather is unfavorable.
As we enter the fall, pick up their kid after school and then just, you know, just trying to be good neighbors.
I think that's been nice in that area to add more green space, trees, et cetera.
We always want to be good neighbors with those around us.
And then more safety for the children to
have
one spot where they cross.
Yes, yes, exactly.
Um, so let's talk a little bit about the grant elementary they received an award.
Yeah, we're really excited.
Uh, grant has been recognized as a model professional learning community at work school.
Um, only one of 33 schools in the state of 600 in the country and in Canada.
So you may go, what is a professional learning community?
What does that all mean?
So, um, professional learning community is really how we grow, um, as educators and collaborate.
all for student learning and improvement.
So it's analyzing student data, analyzing our instruction.
What does that look like?
How do we have student growth?
And that staff at Grant had set a goal that they really wanted to become a model school.
And it's a lot of paperwork to complete to become that as well and visits and working with other individuals.
But it really shows the commitment when our...
Teachers who are the front line of working with our students, you know really have that commitment for student growth and learning We're immensely proud of that staff at grant and Caring those principles as well to other buildings and in great levels throughout the district So obviously when you have a model school within your own district You're going to grab those concepts and so on there on our late start Mondays.
That's really our PLC time some of that
A lot of that learning occurs at Grant during that time, but we also have district level collaboration time so all the fifth grade teachers can meet virtually.
And so sharing those concepts so it can grow into our other elementary buildings as well.
So I just want to congratulate the staff at Grant and Principal Nikki Kelto for their hard work and efforts on student achievement.
Yeah, that's wonderful.
And great for our students too to have...
that prestigious, that level of involvement from their teachers.
Yeah, and it's really cool when you walk in to their meetings on Monday morning is that they'll be analyzing, let's say, the math assessment from the prior week and what students learned it, what students really excelled, so how can we push them further, and what students didn't get that concept, and then they're developing the plans of how to have students get that concept.
So really those three tiers and just seeing that discussion amongst
educators because we're not all experts at everything, especially at the elementary level.
You know, they have to teach all the subject areas and all the differing needs and for them to just have that time to spend with a colleague about.
I just can't get Ron's kid Jonah.
What is he not getting and then hot and to get other ideas and a collaborate to have foster that student learning is just excellent.
Well, because getting those core, especially in math and a lot of classes, but math is a big one of understanding those core concepts before they go on to the next grade level is just so fundamental in them being a successful student.
And then we often hear as we're adults, oh, I'm just not good at math.
I may have said that a time or two wrong.
I feel targeted here.
But it is some of those foundational concepts that at some point, because math does build upon itself.
And it's not necessarily that you're not good at math.
You just have maybe missed the foundational concept that makes it difficult for you to make the connections in math as you.
gain further education or later in life.
So we're really excited that they were that model school, really shows that their focus on learning, their really results oriented and just that collaborative culture.
So pretty exciting, only one of 33.
schools in the state.
That's
incredible.
Yeah.
And then you also have some exciting things happening at Lincoln.
You have advanced placement scholars.
Yeah.
So, uh, so we have a lot of differing offerings for students at Lincoln.
Um, as I talked about earlier in the earlier segment about, you know, many opportunities for kids.
So we really stress for students to take dual enrollment courses either through mid state technical college or UW Green Bay who are two of our higher educational partners.
Um, but if we don't offer something that we have a dual certified.
instructor to provide those advanced placement offerings for students.
So last spring we had 247 advanced placement exams taken by 184 students and just under 80% earned a three or better, which means they can earn college credit along the way.
But then 41 students were named AP scholars.
So that means they scored a three or better, they have higher grade point and how many AP exams they've taken through their high school career.
So what's cool about that is
We have 15 students who were AP scholars with distinction, which means they earned a three or more, five or more advanced placement exams.
And what's pretty cool about that is I pretty much guarantee most of those kids probably are enrolled in our dual credit courses through Mid-State.
Which means they're earning college credits at
a high school level.
At a high school level.
So I know we have two graduates from the class of 25.
one who had 51 credits when they went off to school and one who had 47 credits through the AP and their dual enrollment.
And that is such a jump
start.
Almost your junior year already for these kids or at least halfway through their sophomore year.
So those are great opportunities.
And is
that at no cost then to the students and the parents?
Generally, the AP there is a cost for the test.
I think this upcoming year is $99.
OK,
but that's $99 for
three credits.
$99 for tuition, yep.
Our dual enrollment with mid-state are at no cost.
to the student.
And then the UW Green Bay courses, which are primarily our English courses that are dual credit, do have a tuition cost associated with them.
I want to say it's about $105 or credit, so $315 for a three credit course.
So it's about half the tuition that you would have if you were going off to school.
So that is quite the discount.
So it is quite a discount.
So we really encourage students to try to take those opportunities as possible.
And it shows because, I mean, Lincoln just inducts.
36 new members of their National Honor Society.
So those students are committed to their learning and what they want to do after high school.
So those are phenomenal things to share of what those excellence like Lincoln was also just named to US News and we'll report top high school.
Wonderful.
So we're very proud of that effort.
So it's just all those things that that work through and when we talk about AP and we talk about dual credit, that's just not in math, English, science and social studies.
The great majority of our dual credit courses with Med State are in foods,
business, it's career and technical education, that TechEd, the A courses.
So students all across the spectrum what you want to do after high school if you're focused on just getting a certificate from mid-state in a certain area or if you're looking at a four-year.
all those offerings across the board for students, even those students that are interested in going directly into the workforce.
At some point, you're probably going to go to mid-state or another technical school and get a certificate for future learning.
Those credits will transfer and then make that happen.
Yeah,
because a lot of employers are looking for that.
They want to see that you have higher learning and that you are willing to put in the work.
Yeah, and that's why we're excited this year.
We've launched that.
business associates agree with mid-state.
So we have our first class going through that.
They started this summer.
These incoming freshmen had a credit of college.
before they even entered the doors of Lincoln.
So pretty neat experiences for those students as we grow that program.
So speaking of doors and buildings and boundaries, let's hear from the Boundaries and Buildings Task Force.
You have an update?
Yeah, good transition there.
I like that.
Yeah, so the Boundaries and Buildings Task Force, as we've talked about in prior episodes, about 40 individuals, staff, community members, parents really looking at the district overall, our physical plant of our 12 buildings.
We're beginning to wind down.
finishing up our tours we've toured every single building within the district.
As of October 6th, we'll be done with tours of the buildings.
Really looking at current usage of our buildings.
And then do we need to maintain that physical footprint?
Or can we rework some boundaries at the elementary level to more effectively utilize our buildings?
So that committee, as I said, by middle to end of October, we'll hopefully have some recommendations and discussion about guiding the district as we move into the future.
It's been very interesting of the diverse perspectives on that group.
But in addition, such as last month, we toured East Junior High, Old Lincoln High School, and some of the members of the committee
graduated when it was Lincoln.
So some even remember their locker.
I could not tell you where my locker was in my old high school, but they could remember their locker.
But just the, as they said, good bones of East Junior High and how can we as a district more effectively utilize that building?
Yeah.
And the other part they stated they had no understanding of how much the community uses that building already.
Yeah, because there is a lot of other community events going on there.
City Park and Rec uses that building and
the fall, winter and spring, primarily for a lot of the city rec, Monday through Thursday, youth groups using it for youth soccer, youth basketball on Fridays or Saturdays, wrestling, usage, children's theater, blood drives, all that, all those.
other things that, oh, that's just that E. So that's just an old the Lincoln.
But when you add it up on a calendar, that building is extensively used by a lot of by the community and the importance of maintaining that.
And but in order for us to maintain that, what will that look like in the future for the community usage?
So
this committee is really beginning to die, has died in and will continue those discussions and what that looks like and the recommendations.
So I want to make sure that's out there because it's boundaries and buildings.
And what does that look like as we move forward in the future?
And how can you be good stewards of your taxpayer
dollars?
Correct.
correct and that may mean that our physical plant of our district reduces itself and we look at what that looks like but how can we most also effectively utilize staffing.
One of the things that the committee's been pretty clear on maintaining our school psychologists and counselors in every building so
If you have less students and less resources, those things become stretch things because you have less revenue coming in.
So does that mean we need to look at a reduction of a building or two within the district to maintain those other services that students really do need?
And speaking of staff, you do still have a couple open positions?
Yeah, we do.
So we're still looking for some higher rates within districts.
So professional staff, we're looking for a reading interventionist.
a special education teacher at Washington Elementary, and then an egg and a tech ed teacher.
So we know in the egg tech ed area, those positions are harder to fill as time goes on, but they're individuals within the community that may have that real life experience expertise in those areas and we can get them certified to be a teacher.
So that voucher is our auto teacher at Lincoln.
came from that non-traditional background and is a phenomenal teacher, extremely growing our auto program at Lincoln.
So if you have any of that experience, want to get an education, more than willing to sit and listen.
People can apply on WeCan, which is available on our website.
But also we have a few, I think we have four special education, paraprofessional openings across various buildings within our district.
So we do have positions open in the district and looking for individuals, hopefully to want to join our team.
All right.
So you can head to thewrps.org.
website to easily find the link there for applications.
Yeah, and then before we're done today, I do want to give a shout out to Jair Fluno in the class of 1959.
I know recording on Friday, but last week Friday the UW band was at Southwood County Stadium that night with assumption playing Gilman at four o'clock and Lincoln playing Eau Claire at 730 and just a big shout out to Jair Fluno in the class of 59 for bringing the W band.
to Wisconsin
Rapids.
And that's an exciting and fun thing for students and staff
to experience.
Yeah, it's exciting and not many communities can say they bring the UW band entirely to perform at a football game on Friday night.
So they often do parades across the state in the summer, but we're excited to have those opportunities.
And I think it's the third or fourth opportunity that they've been at Lincoln.
So I'm just really appreciative of that support of the class of 59 in Girifluno.
Wonderful.
And in our last minute here, why don't you tell us we've some upcoming no school days?
Yeah, so Friday October 2nd is a professional development day for our teachers.
Our teachers will be there, but no students.
So I don't like students sitting out waiting for a bus when there's no school.
And then on Friday October 30th is autumn break.
And so it's no school for staff and students.
It is a full autumn break day, partially because on Saturday we do host the W.A.
State Cross Country Meet at the Ridges.
So that'll be on Halloween, Saturday, October 31st.
Will they be in costume while
they're running?
They will not be in costume while they're running.
I might be while I'm announcing, but who knows.
But we're excited, once again, to bring almost 15,000 people to Wisconsin Rapids Friday night and Saturday into our community.
but also a big thank you once again to the Ridges because it does take a partnership to pull this off and they've been so gracious in allowing us to use the course out there.
So yeah, so no school on October 2nd or 30th for students and then the 31st will be a big day in the community.
Wonderful.
Well, I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today.
I'm Melissa Kay speaking with Superintendent Ron Rasmussen and in our earlier segment with Tina Wallner, Principal at Grove Elementary, both with the Wisconsin Rapids Public School District.
Thank you for taking the time today, Ron.
Thank you.
And thank you to listeners joining us for news in our community on Perspective 1320 AM, 975 FM WFHR.
You're listening to Perspective on WFHR 1320-A of 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, September 25th, 2026.
Thank you for joining me, Ron, to bring the community an update from the Wisconsin Rapids Public School District.
As always, glad to join you.
And you have brought us guests with you today.
Tina Wallner is the principal at Grove Elementary.
Welcome, Tina.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you both for joining me today.
We are about a month into the new school year, and I imagine the kids are settling into their routines and the staff.
Let's start with
you.
How are things going from the administrative perspective?
Yeah, we've had a great start in the school district.
We didn't have a lot of construction projects this summer.
The major one was the Howe Parking Lot project, and parent pick up and drop off, and that has gone really, really well.
Oh, good.
We've instituted the process there.
I know we've spent time in prior episodes of
perspectives discussing that so that has gone really well and the pavilions soon open and the grass is all coming in so that's those are all the positives.
We've had to deal with a lot of flexibility due to all the road construction around so I just do want to give a shout out to our van drivers and bus drivers and parents for their flexibility because some of our routes have been a little extended of trying to get around the construction and either coming and going to Rams or if you live up in the Beeren area and
that having your students dropped off probably a few minutes later.
So thank you for that.
But in the in the buildings, it's been really good nicer that it's a little cooler out right now.
The first week and a half was a little unbearable in our buildings that don't have air conditioning or parts of buildings that don't have air conditioning.
But as students are beginning to adjust to routines.
Frequently as I said, I'm in the buildings pretty much throughout the week and students are on their learning environment, which is where we want them at this point.
That's wonderful.
And Tina, you're the principal at Grove Elementary.
Tell our listeners how things are going from the elementary building level.
Are kids excited to be back in school?
Yeah, it's always great to see their smiling faces the first couple weeks.
Parents, of course, are happy to have kids back in school and kids are having a great time getting reacquainted with their friends.
meeting new teachers and learning the new routines is going really well.
Do you have more new staff at Grove Elementary?
Yeah we do have a couple of new teachers and that's going really well.
We've got our teams working hard to talk about kids needs and and work on those beginning of the year routines and expectations.
It's going great.
Yeah in that first it's not really 30 days but it's the first month things have got us
start settling for and kids get their minds wrapped around what the new routines are.
I imagine that's a nice step to accomplish.
Yeah, it is nice.
And then when you take the time to do it.
Well and intentionally the first several weeks of school it makes weeks after that
a lot more learning is
able to happen because kids know the routines and the expectations
Yeah, it was nice to kind of ease into the school year a little bit We had two four-day weeks with you know not starting till September 1st So on that Tuesday and then having Labor Day the following the following week So that assists a little bit too rather than starting out strictly with the five-day week right away as well
give the kids a little bit of a break ease in
weekend to get used to things all and have that fun time.
It's a whole new sleep pattern.
Kids have to get used to right up in the mornings.
Yeah.
And getting into those routines.
Tina, one of the things that I know you wanted to talk about is the character development lifelong skills curriculum that you're working on this year.
Is this specific to Grove?
Actually,
it's district-wide.
We're using a program called Character Strong and it's
4k through fifth grade.
Every month we focus on a different character trait.
So like kindness, empathy, respect, cooperation, courage, creativity.
And they focus around three key parts of wellness for students like social skills.
So we focus on being kind and there's traits that fall into that category.
And then executive functioning skills like how do we
problem solve and think through tasks and that's we say be strong and then be well is our emotional regulation
and
helping kids recognize emotions and how they regulate after an upset so be kind be strong and be well are kind of our overarching themes of our of the program and it it's really good we're really enjoying it yeah
I find it fascinating that because I recent
In recent years read a study about that that if you don't identify what the emotions are you don't you you don't learn them
Right.
We kind of have to catch kids in the moment when they're in an upset to help them name what emotion they're feeling so you can say you seem angry and then they can Practice noticing.
This is what my body feels like when I'm angry.
So then we can move forward with
what are some strategies that might work for you?
It's okay to feel angry, we all do, but finding strategies in every kid is a little bit different,
just like
adults, right?
How we regulate different emotions varies from person to person.
So helping our little tykes figure that out is part of the
plan.
That's going to be very encouraging to see and for them to understand, okay, this is
Anger, this is frustration.
They're different.
Right.
And if you don't help them identify the differences, they don't know.
And the go-to is just always angry.
Right.
Because there's a few select emotions that are, what are they?
It's like angry, happy, sad.
Okay.
And anxious is sometimes in there or scared.
Yeah.
But those are the go-to ones.
And if you don't branch out into, okay, but this is frustration.
You're frustrated right now.
Right.
And the older kids get, you
branch out into more in-depth.
feelings, beyond just those core four.
That's encouraging that they're learning and growing, not just their academic skills, but also, like you said, their social skills and being able to self-regulate, because that is something that even as adults, we need some practice.
Everybody
needs to practice that a little bit.
Things get hard sometimes.
We gotta find ways to work through them.
Now, there's new playgrounds at
meant all of our schools, right?
Maybe except Lincoln.
they have a playground there, although they should really.
How are the kids enjoying the playground?
They love it.
We're the girl of Evergreens, so we named our new playground the Treehouse Playground because we've got like looks like little tree taps and they the slides we have a roller slide spinner
and great swings.
You can put three people on one swing.
Oh, my.
And
they're fantastic.
They're used nonstop at recess.
We put three people on a swing when I was in school too, but it wasn't built
And for people that don't know where Grove is, I was looking at the map and from kind of like the bird's eye view, it's like a straight shot over from Culver's.
It's
about the location, right?
Yeah, it's one thing that it's location and we have students that come from both on both sides of A Street.
So before school and after school, that's the crossing guard there.
So we just encourage people once again is when schools in session, just be careful as you're throughout the neighborhoods, especially on those opening and closing times and especially on A Street.
So we know traffic can get a little fast, but to pay attention, it's pretty lighted pretty well there.
And we do have a crossing guard there, but.
Just make sure our kiddos are safe.
Yeah, that's a really good note because definitely want to watch out there.
They're shorter, especially at the elementary age and harder to see sometimes, but always be cautious and be, you know, help to keep our kids safe, like you said.
And you mentioned the playgrounds.
And the playgrounds are an important part where the character is strong and those skills actually play out from, you know, your collaboration, your teamwork, you become frustrated in a game of what's happening and to understand those different emotions in that play.
is really important for students as well.
Yeah, and the resources that are available for teachers in the program include playground resources, school-wide resources that we use for like warning announcements.
So it kind of ties every part of the school together with the same themes,
the same
ideas.
So it really does.
Blend well across the school day,
and that's really good then too that it's across the district so that because I'm sure kids have friends from other schools or That they will run into and they're all learning the same character development skills at the same time
Yeah, they're all gonna be together in sixth grade at Rams.
So yeah, they'll have some of those shared Values
shared language
And that's one of the things of being a larger school district.
Obviously, we have 4,400 students within our district.
I think some people believe all the curriculum at Grove is different than the curriculum at Grant.
And we really try to do a nice job of having that consistency amongst curriculum across our buildings.
So because we know families move across our districts, you may move from the Grant to the Grove or the Grove to the Washington.
Attendance area and it'll be it's pretty easy to slot in because you're pretty consistent across the district and but being the large district We have so many of those opportunities when you get older of co-curriculars extra cookers course offerings But at our at our elementary levels I mean our class sizes range across the district about 12 up to about 20 the average class size in the elementary is anywhere between 16 to 18 fifth grade might be around 22 23 so
You get a lot of those large school opportunities that you have, but yet at our elementary level.
So we do have those small class sizes that people look for.
Yeah.
And more of that one-on-one time with teachers if it's needed or some extra tutoring.
Right.
Right.
Extra support.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, this is a good spot for us to take a short moment to hear from our sponsors.
I want to say thank you to Tina because we've covered everything and I know you need to get back to school.
So we'll let you go for the second segment.
But thank you for being here, Tina.
Thank you very much.
And I'm also talking with Ron Rasmussen.
We'll get more of a district-wide update when we come back.
I'm Melissa Kaye and you're listening to Perspective on 1320 a.m.
975 FM WFHR.
Welcome, you're listening to Perspective on WFHR 1320 AM, 97.5 FM.
I'm Alyssa Kay bringing you news in our community.
I'm speaking with Superintendent Ron Rasmussen with the Wisconsin Rapids Public School District and earlier we heard from Tina Wallner with the Grove Elementary.
We had to get her back to school, but Ron, I'm gonna keep you for a little bit longer.
Sounds great.
And let's talk about some of the things going on in the district.
You mentioned the Howell-Monterey parking lot.
Is that going well?
Yep, everything's going really well over there.
We have adjusted, you know, just how we imagined it when it's in the drawing stage and now that it's implementation and working with parents.
So yeah, we're excited and the pavilion is now open.
So that's available for parents to pick up with the weather is unfavorable.
As we enter the fall, pick up their kid after school and then just, you know, just trying to be good neighbors.
I think that's been nice in that area to add more green space, trees, et cetera.
We always want to be good neighbors with those around us.
And then more safety for the children to
have
one spot where they cross.
Yes, yes, exactly.
Um, so let's talk a little bit about the grant elementary they received an award.
Yeah, we're really excited.
Uh, grant has been recognized as a model professional learning community at work school.
Um, only one of 33 schools in the state of 600 in the country and in Canada.
So you may go, what is a professional learning community?
What does that all mean?
So, um, professional learning community is really how we grow, um, as educators and collaborate.
all for student learning and improvement.
So it's analyzing student data, analyzing our instruction.
What does that look like?
How do we have student growth?
And that staff at Grant had set a goal that they really wanted to become a model school.
And it's a lot of paperwork to complete to become that as well and visits and working with other individuals.
But it really shows the commitment when our...
Teachers who are the front line of working with our students, you know really have that commitment for student growth and learning We're immensely proud of that staff at grant and Caring those principles as well to other buildings and in great levels throughout the district So obviously when you have a model school within your own district You're going to grab those concepts and so on there on our late start Mondays.
That's really our PLC time some of that
A lot of that learning occurs at Grant during that time, but we also have district level collaboration time so all the fifth grade teachers can meet virtually.
And so sharing those concepts so it can grow into our other elementary buildings as well.
So I just want to congratulate the staff at Grant and Principal Nikki Kelto for their hard work and efforts on student achievement.
Yeah, that's wonderful.
And great for our students too to have...
that prestigious, that level of involvement from their teachers.
Yeah, and it's really cool when you walk in to their meetings on Monday morning is that they'll be analyzing, let's say, the math assessment from the prior week and what students learned it, what students really excelled, so how can we push them further, and what students didn't get that concept, and then they're developing the plans of how to have students get that concept.
So really those three tiers and just seeing that discussion amongst
educators because we're not all experts at everything, especially at the elementary level.
You know, they have to teach all the subject areas and all the differing needs and for them to just have that time to spend with a colleague about.
I just can't get Ron's kid Jonah.
What is he not getting and then hot and to get other ideas and a collaborate to have foster that student learning is just excellent.
Well, because getting those core, especially in math and a lot of classes, but math is a big one of understanding those core concepts before they go on to the next grade level is just so fundamental in them being a successful student.
And then we often hear as we're adults, oh, I'm just not good at math.
I may have said that a time or two wrong.
I feel targeted here.
But it is some of those foundational concepts that at some point, because math does build upon itself.
And it's not necessarily that you're not good at math.
You just have maybe missed the foundational concept that makes it difficult for you to make the connections in math as you.
gain further education or later in life.
So we're really excited that they were that model school, really shows that their focus on learning, their really results oriented and just that collaborative culture.
So pretty exciting, only one of 33.
schools in the state.
That's
incredible.
Yeah.
And then you also have some exciting things happening at Lincoln.
You have advanced placement scholars.
Yeah.
So, uh, so we have a lot of differing offerings for students at Lincoln.
Um, as I talked about earlier in the earlier segment about, you know, many opportunities for kids.
So we really stress for students to take dual enrollment courses either through mid state technical college or UW Green Bay who are two of our higher educational partners.
Um, but if we don't offer something that we have a dual certified.
instructor to provide those advanced placement offerings for students.
So last spring we had 247 advanced placement exams taken by 184 students and just under 80% earned a three or better, which means they can earn college credit along the way.
But then 41 students were named AP scholars.
So that means they scored a three or better, they have higher grade point and how many AP exams they've taken through their high school career.
So what's cool about that is
We have 15 students who were AP scholars with distinction, which means they earned a three or more, five or more advanced placement exams.
And what's pretty cool about that is I pretty much guarantee most of those kids probably are enrolled in our dual credit courses through Mid-State.
Which means they're earning college credits at
a high school level.
At a high school level.
So I know we have two graduates from the class of 25.
one who had 51 credits when they went off to school and one who had 47 credits through the AP and their dual enrollment.
And that is such a jump
start.
Almost your junior year already for these kids or at least halfway through their sophomore year.
So those are great opportunities.
And is
that at no cost then to the students and the parents?
Generally, the AP there is a cost for the test.
I think this upcoming year is $99.
OK,
but that's $99 for
three credits.
$99 for tuition, yep.
Our dual enrollment with mid-state are at no cost.
to the student.
And then the UW Green Bay courses, which are primarily our English courses that are dual credit, do have a tuition cost associated with them.
I want to say it's about $105 or credit, so $315 for a three credit course.
So it's about half the tuition that you would have if you were going off to school.
So that is quite the discount.
So it is quite a discount.
So we really encourage students to try to take those opportunities as possible.
And it shows because, I mean, Lincoln just inducts.
36 new members of their National Honor Society.
So those students are committed to their learning and what they want to do after high school.
So those are phenomenal things to share of what those excellence like Lincoln was also just named to US News and we'll report top high school.
Wonderful.
So we're very proud of that effort.
So it's just all those things that that work through and when we talk about AP and we talk about dual credit, that's just not in math, English, science and social studies.
The great majority of our dual credit courses with Med State are in foods,
business, it's career and technical education, that TechEd, the A courses.
So students all across the spectrum what you want to do after high school if you're focused on just getting a certificate from mid-state in a certain area or if you're looking at a four-year.
all those offerings across the board for students, even those students that are interested in going directly into the workforce.
At some point, you're probably going to go to mid-state or another technical school and get a certificate for future learning.
Those credits will transfer and then make that happen.
Yeah,
because a lot of employers are looking for that.
They want to see that you have higher learning and that you are willing to put in the work.
Yeah, and that's why we're excited this year.
We've launched that.
business associates agree with mid-state.
So we have our first class going through that.
They started this summer.
These incoming freshmen had a credit of college.
before they even entered the doors of Lincoln.
So pretty neat experiences for those students as we grow that program.
So speaking of doors and buildings and boundaries, let's hear from the Boundaries and Buildings Task Force.
You have an update?
Yeah, good transition there.
I like that.
Yeah, so the Boundaries and Buildings Task Force, as we've talked about in prior episodes, about 40 individuals, staff, community members, parents really looking at the district overall, our physical plant of our 12 buildings.
We're beginning to wind down.
finishing up our tours we've toured every single building within the district.
As of October 6th, we'll be done with tours of the buildings.
Really looking at current usage of our buildings.
And then do we need to maintain that physical footprint?
Or can we rework some boundaries at the elementary level to more effectively utilize our buildings?
So that committee, as I said, by middle to end of October, we'll hopefully have some recommendations and discussion about guiding the district as we move into the future.
It's been very interesting of the diverse perspectives on that group.
But in addition, such as last month, we toured East Junior High, Old Lincoln High School, and some of the members of the committee
graduated when it was Lincoln.
So some even remember their locker.
I could not tell you where my locker was in my old high school, but they could remember their locker.
But just the, as they said, good bones of East Junior High and how can we as a district more effectively utilize that building?
Yeah.
And the other part they stated they had no understanding of how much the community uses that building already.
Yeah, because there is a lot of other community events going on there.
City Park and Rec uses that building and
the fall, winter and spring, primarily for a lot of the city rec, Monday through Thursday, youth groups using it for youth soccer, youth basketball on Fridays or Saturdays, wrestling, usage, children's theater, blood drives, all that, all those.
other things that, oh, that's just that E. So that's just an old the Lincoln.
But when you add it up on a calendar, that building is extensively used by a lot of by the community and the importance of maintaining that.
And but in order for us to maintain that, what will that look like in the future for the community usage?
So
this committee is really beginning to die, has died in and will continue those discussions and what that looks like and the recommendations.
So I want to make sure that's out there because it's boundaries and buildings.
And what does that look like as we move forward in the future?
And how can you be good stewards of your taxpayer
dollars?
Correct.
correct and that may mean that our physical plant of our district reduces itself and we look at what that looks like but how can we most also effectively utilize staffing.
One of the things that the committee's been pretty clear on maintaining our school psychologists and counselors in every building so
If you have less students and less resources, those things become stretch things because you have less revenue coming in.
So does that mean we need to look at a reduction of a building or two within the district to maintain those other services that students really do need?
And speaking of staff, you do still have a couple open positions?
Yeah, we do.
So we're still looking for some higher rates within districts.
So professional staff, we're looking for a reading interventionist.
a special education teacher at Washington Elementary, and then an egg and a tech ed teacher.
So we know in the egg tech ed area, those positions are harder to fill as time goes on, but they're individuals within the community that may have that real life experience expertise in those areas and we can get them certified to be a teacher.
So that voucher is our auto teacher at Lincoln.
came from that non-traditional background and is a phenomenal teacher, extremely growing our auto program at Lincoln.
So if you have any of that experience, want to get an education, more than willing to sit and listen.
People can apply on WeCan, which is available on our website.
But also we have a few, I think we have four special education, paraprofessional openings across various buildings within our district.
So we do have positions open in the district and looking for individuals, hopefully to want to join our team.
All right.
So you can head to thewrps.org.
website to easily find the link there for applications.
Yeah, and then before we're done today, I do want to give a shout out to Jair Fluno in the class of 1959.
I know recording on Friday, but last week Friday the UW band was at Southwood County Stadium that night with assumption playing Gilman at four o'clock and Lincoln playing Eau Claire at 730 and just a big shout out to Jair Fluno in the class of 59 for bringing the W band.
to Wisconsin
Rapids.
And that's an exciting and fun thing for students and staff
to experience.
Yeah, it's exciting and not many communities can say they bring the UW band entirely to perform at a football game on Friday night.
So they often do parades across the state in the summer, but we're excited to have those opportunities.
And I think it's the third or fourth opportunity that they've been at Lincoln.
So I'm just really appreciative of that support of the class of 59 in Girifluno.
Wonderful.
And in our last minute here, why don't you tell us we've some upcoming no school days?
Yeah, so Friday October 2nd is a professional development day for our teachers.
Our teachers will be there, but no students.
So I don't like students sitting out waiting for a bus when there's no school.
And then on Friday October 30th is autumn break.
And so it's no school for staff and students.
It is a full autumn break day, partially because on Saturday we do host the W.A.
State Cross Country Meet at the Ridges.
So that'll be on Halloween, Saturday, October 31st.
Will they be in costume while
they're running?
They will not be in costume while they're running.
I might be while I'm announcing, but who knows.
But we're excited, once again, to bring almost 15,000 people to Wisconsin Rapids Friday night and Saturday into our community.
but also a big thank you once again to the Ridges because it does take a partnership to pull this off and they've been so gracious in allowing us to use the course out there.
So yeah, so no school on October 2nd or 30th for students and then the 31st will be a big day in the community.
Wonderful.
Well, I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today.
I'm Melissa Kay speaking with Superintendent Ron Rasmussen and in our earlier segment with Tina Wallner, Principal at Grove Elementary, both with the Wisconsin Rapids Public School District.
Thank you for taking the time today, Ron.
Thank you.
And thank you to listeners joining us for news in our community on Perspective 1320 AM, 975 FM WFHR.