Welcome, everybody, to Midday Magazine for this Friday, October 25th, 2024.
Have your host, James J. Mailov here.
And today, we're welcoming in the studio, not only are good friends, Wisconsin's
rabbis public school, Superintendent Ronald A. Rasmussen, Ron.
Good to see you, sir.
Good to see you, James.
Thanks for being here.
We got some people here from Washington Elementary.
We have Kelly Schaefer with us, along with Jade Beardenbender.
Is it?
Beardenbender.
Beardenbender.
Thank you, Jayden.
Thank you both for being here.
Appreciate you all being here.
Thanks so much.
Journalistically, I mentioned things for the audience, and I should let the audience
know right away.
I went to Washington School in fifth and sixth grade.
It's one of my favorite schools.
I'll ever attend.
And I attended a lot of schools, you guys.
It was one of my favorites that I've ever been to, so there's no journalistic integrity
with this interview.
I love that, I love that school, and I'm so happy to have you guys in today, but looking
forward to this all week to talk about Washington and the great dome over there and all the wonderful
things that go on at Washington School.
And thank you very much for being here, Kelly and Jade.
Ron, you can have some time off here.
You can take a break.
All right.
Sounds good.
I want to get into Washington Reads program and a couple of other things, but I was looking
at your newsletter, which encouraged people to sign up for.
And I see today is a fall harvest day over at Washington.
What does that mean, Kelly?
It is.
What is a long standing tradition at Washington where we find a way to celebrate all the good
things that fall has to offer and make sure everyone is included.
So we're celebrating, of course, harvest, but also the things that we've been doing in
the school and the things that we're reaping the benefits from.
But we celebrate.
We are addressing in our flannels and we're celebrating maybe some scarecrows, things like
that.
Our parent organization does a fantastic job sponsoring the event.
They provide money to classrooms for crafts.
They provide extra snacks.
And the big showstopper, Tom Peas, over 30 years he's been coming to Washington and giving
concerts to the kids on fall harvest day.
So we tap it off with that this afternoon.
That's fantastic.
A big thank you to Tom for doing that.
That's really cool.
That's really putting back into your community too.
Absolutely.
It's so cool for these things.
And I know that this was always a special time of year over there, Washington.
It's fun to hear.
That's really fun hearing some really good stuff going on over there.
I want to get into the Washington Reads program.
Before we dive too deep into this, Kelly, can you tell us a little bit about what this
is?
Well, when I think of elementary school and I'm thinking curriculum, reading is at the
top of it all.
If a child isn't learning to read in kindergarten and first grade and 4K and all the way back
at home, and we're learning those basics so that we can then take what we've learned
to read and read to learn, that's our goal at an elementary school.
I'm a former reading teacher, so it's kind of where my heart is as well.
It's a wheelhouse.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
But I'm also very fortunate to have other experts working with me in the building and that's
why I brought Jade with me today.
To show all of the different ways that we work with our community and things we do in
our building and with our families to promote reading.
Jane, I appreciate you being here again.
Thanks so much for the time to put you on the spot.
I mean, ask you a couple of questions.
For one, can you give us some examples of what Kelly is talking about there?
Absolutely.
One thing that Washington is very fortunate to have is our Reading Corps program.
That's through AmeriCorps.
We have reading tutors who come to the building and they are there every day working with kids.
They're a building relationship and helping kids really learn to read and getting those
foundational skills there.
When it comes to one thing that I note right away with this program is the involvement
of parents and kids.
It's not just all of the kids, the parents being involved as well.
We see from the statistics that that is just way so much of more of the way kids learn
and retain information.
Is that what you guys are seeing?
Seeing the parents involved with this program and things like this really helping kids get
better at reading.
Absolutely.
I think the biggest thing is parents don't always know how to do that.
So how do we promote that with our families?
We do that through some great community events that are partnered with our school.
We partner with the Rafter Reading program in the spring to encourage families to do their
reading so that they can get tickets to go to a game.
We worked with McMillan last year.
Do you want to talk about our family read-aloud?
Yes.
So one thing we started two years ago was a family read-aloud.
Every family gets a copy of a chapter book and families are encouraged to read those
at home.
We send questions and activities for them to do together and then that gives the families
an opportunity to have a talking point.
It's things that kids can talk about at school and then we celebrate it at McMillan last
year.
Together, we watched the movie of the video and then they were of the book and they were
able to then sign up for library cards and check out the McMillan as well.
Big shout out to those groups for being a part of this as well.
We love our friends over there, both of those great groups.
With the kids, what are the response you're seeing with this from them?
How are they responding to this program?
The kids are absolutely loving having that read-aloud.
They're talking about it with their families and then they're talking about it with their
friends too.
They're enjoying the characters of the stories and really starting to grow as readers through
these programs.
It seems like low-hanging fruit, but every generation does this to the next generation
talking about what they're doing this or they're doing.
I don't like that or what have you.
One of the bigger complaints or bigger things we hear nowadays is getting kids out of
tablets, getting kids out of electronics and some of that and that certainly exists to
a degree.
But I think that there's another side to this too that we're not talking about and
hitting out enough that where we're generations that grew up with books first, grew up with
reading first.
This is a generation that grew up with electronics first.
For us, what books are, we come back to our whole lives.
Some of us are avid readers, some of us find a book every once in a while we get into
that we read before we go to bed at night or something like that.
These kids growing up with electronics and everything, that stuff becomes a little stale
to them, like almost everything, but you give them a book then they're not used to this
and they're not used to having to create their imagination, all the sudden takes over.
They are the director, the casting director, they do it all in their heads.
And I've noticed that from my nephews or from other kids and stuff that when I've been
a part of reading programs with the United Way or anything else, their minds just light
up right away as soon as you start reading that book.
And I think that there's an opportunity there with that and we can find out more and do
more with programs like this and getting kids involved in books.
Kids, no matter what the age, you tell them to do something and they may or may not listen.
But if you give them something to do, if you give them an opportunity to do something
and just try to spark that in them, it's not just that we might be creating new readers
out there or people that are going to find a love affair with books for the rest of their
lives, but the influence that that can have, the knowledge that can come from reading,
so much of it, there's no job in life that they're going to do where reading is not going
to be vital.
So hitting on that is certainly important.
And then there's the parent aspect of this and I want to come back to it for a second
because we put a lot on kids' shoulders and we ask a lot of kids when it comes to
some of these things.
Nothing more that we weren't asked or anything that isn't a part of life and everything,
but there is a lot there if you're not used to these things.
But parents, it's our job, whether you have kids or not, I believe, if you're an adult,
this is part of being an adult, is being an example to children and being a good example
of that is big doing by doing, not necessarily just staying there.
You have to be an avid reader, you know, not be an avid reader, show them what it's like.
And when you're putting in that time, that is, they're seeing that and they're being
influenced by that.
And I know this for a fact because I was not a reader and I learned to read late in
life and it was not easy for me, but my mother is one of the biggest lovers of books you
will ever meet.
A woman reads a Stephen King book within an afternoon, I don't know how she does it.
But she's so much in growing up seeing that and she's the smartest human being I've ever
known.
So of course, it made me want to read more, maybe want to work at it more.
I'm not alone in that.
Most kids are influenced and see, they see their parents doing something, they're going
to want to do it.
So it's all the big tip of the hat to the adults and the parents involved in this one,
and you all for doing something like this because it's not just setting kids up to succeed
and setting kids up to get good habits in life or anything, but you guys showing that you
are doing them as well.
It's very difficult if you're sitting there on your phone, twiddling around or you're
on your tablet doing that and telling your kid to read a book.
It's a little tough.
It's so much more better when you're part of these things.
With the Washington Reads program, are there other parts of this that we can touch on?
No, United Way has been with us at Washington for 14 years through the mentor program.
So we have a long established community connection with them.
So that's one way to connect kids, but I also would shout out to our library staff.
We have a beautiful library at Washington.
We have many, many books that are circulated throughout the year and our kids love it because
it is novel.
Yeah.
It becomes an experience for them, which they don't always have.
Are there any, two parents out there, whether it's at other schools or in other markets
that's listening to us or anything like that, are the things that they can do at home to
to kind of kickstart this or get this going and really be a part of this in a way?
Jade, do you have any examples?
Yeah.
Absolutely.
There is Dolly Parton's Little Free Library, and she sends free books if you sign up
in a area that gets them when county does get those.
And so even if you don't have access to the books, you can get the Dolly Parton books
or we have Little Free Libraries so frequently throughout our community.
They're at parks and they're at all of our elementary buildings.
And then just spend time reading with kids.
Make it fun.
Choose a favorite book.
Most of your adults out there, you had a book that you loved growing up.
You had a book that meant a lot to you or influenced you or just was enjoyable and everything.
Sharing that with them is often a good start-of-go way to get this going and such.
And thank you so much for bringing up Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
I'd say for about four years now, I've donated to that every year.
It's one of the best things I do every year as far as investment, especially, I waste
money, you know.
I don't know.
This is a much better use.
This is a much better use.
But it's a great program.
I encourage people to find out more about it.
Imaginationlibrary.com is the website.
You can go to for that.
Terry Johnson and I will be talking about that certainly as we go through campaigns season
at the United Way.
And I know noteworthy to hear that.
I appreciate that, Kelly.
When it comes to Washington School in general, I certainly wanted to get into anything else
going on over there that we can discuss.
We can get into any other fun highlighted things because I do want to mention again the
newsletter.
I check that out recently and encourage people to sign up for that.
You can do that and find out more at wrps.org.
You can find all of our local schools that way.
Kelly, I see that you guys have a great before school program that's available for kids
as well.
We do.
We partner with the Boys and Girls Club for our morning jumpstart program.
So that's available right in our building.
After hours, they can actually take band transport straight to the club.
So we have that available for all of our kiddos six and older.
So that's another great community partnership that we have.
And really it's simple for parents to sign up and be a part of.
They just reach out to the Boys and Girls Club and they walk you through that step and
we take it from there.
I shout out to them and it's a great to see those partnerships and those things exist.
I really appreciate that.
Both of you, thank you so much for what you're putting into our community and the time
today.
Thank you for joining us.
I appreciate you.
Hopefully gave you a break a little bit too.
I was thinking that when we had the kids in for these interviews and everything and they
get a little bit of time out of school, the same thing for teachers, the same thing for
you guys as well.
We have super intended to Wisconsin's campus public schools, Ron Rasmussen with us here.
And sir, one of the put you on the spot, talk to you a little bit.
Sorry.
Keep doing that.
Always good to see you, Ron.
How you been?
It's good.
It's been good.
I wanted to start right away.
Again, I'm being a complete homeer today, Ron.
I'm hitting on Washington School and now I'm going to Lincoln High School where I graduated.
I just want to send a special shout out to Lincoln High School and to their theater department.
Lincoln was recognized and received the National Recognition for Theater Education Program.
Theater Program.
This is something I hit home a lot.
I'm not just a big fan of education and our educators out there, but the arts.
It hits home close to me and it's something that's very important to me.
And as I mentioned, any chance I get Wisconsin finished dead last in the arts in the union.
I know one thing about Wisconsinites, you guys are proud of being from Wisconsin.
Make some pride in your arts and let's raise that up.
And one of the ways we do that is with things like this.
Hopefully with not only this comes some not only recognition, but some understanding from
the state, from the community of how important the arts are and how much it benefits children,
how much these kids may not grow up to be the next Paul Newman or Sally Field or something
like that.
But whatever they do, they're going to be building confidence through these programs, whatever
that wherever they go in life.
And that's part of our job is building these kids up and giving them some real confidence
to build on.
The arts does that.
Public speaking is something that every one of these kids is probably going to have to
be asked to do.
Very similar to what we say with the reading program.
It's all ties together.
Whether they go into a world of the arts or not, the arts are part of where they build
their base, who they are from.
It's so important to have and it's great to see this recognition.
Yeah, we're lucky.
We have a world-class facility in the Performing Arts Center for Wisconsin Rapids.
I think our students, I often tell them that when they, when they graduate from Lincoln,
they may not go perform in a facility as nice as what they have in the PAC.
And we're extremely, you know, grad, we have a lot of gratitude for the community members
25 years ago who decided that facility was going to be there to allow our students
at the opportunities to perform in such a great facility.
You know, our arts, I want to shout out Sarah Danky, who is our drama instructor and
Eric Brittnocker, who is a Performing Arts Center coordinator for the work that they
do, allowing students to have that opportunity, you know, really, you want to say 24-7,
but some nights they're in there very, very late performing.
But as you hit on James, I think just the confidence is really important for a student
to get on stage in front of their peers, in today's environment of social media and
not wanting to look different, is really important to gain that confidence on the stage,
performing in front of 833 individuals that are performing arts center, that collaborative
atmosphere, the creativity, those three C's are really important.
Their skills that are not reading, writing, and arithmetic, but those creativity, collaboration
and confidence and communication is really important, it's going to carry them far after
high school.
And the arts program is just part of that.
And we're really proud.
I think we're the only school in the state recognized for this theater award nationally.
If you come in the student parking lot entrance at Lincoln, there's a huge banner now to the
left to publicize that, just like we want to publicize our athletic teams, we want to publicize
our students who are in the arts and all our activities.
So it's really important for them to have that recognition and that to be shared.
Got Nikusa football playoff action tonight on our sister station, WIRI, shameless plug
right there for that, but we do, you're right, the arts, the sports, all of these things
we love to embrace and promote around here and as a community.
Not just for these kids, but for the next kids and the kids after that and everything.
It's really cool to see.
Yeah.
And just our growth of our theater program in our community for our middle school students,
we're making some investments as a school district in the theater at Rams.
And I know they have some upcoming performances as well.
So just that growth of that, it used to not be involved in our middle school very much
and it was a high school thing.
And we have a really strong community theater program in our community also with Gretchen
Powers at the community theater.
And so just having all of us work together and grow that to provide outlets for kids, that's
an extremely positive thing for them.
The kids at Rams have, this is being recorded on Friday.
So their show is premiering tonight of the Wizard of Oz over at the Rams Auditorium.
Check that out.
They got a couple of shows lined up for you.
You can find out more about that at WRPS.org, WRPS.org and Ron, before we wrap up, I did
want to remind everybody again about Parent Square and that wonderful app.
I've heard some really good things about that now.
Yeah, the parent communication tool that we're utilizing across the district.
So it doesn't matter if your students are in sports or drama, a student is just a
tensed elementary building, middle school high school building, we're consolidated all
our communications into one application to try to ease that for parents.
And a reminder that will be a message going out, we do not have school next Friday.
It is an autumn break day.
So really important, there'll be no school next Friday, but that's partially that reason
is that next weekend, like in high school in WRPS, host the WIA State Cross Country
Meet at the ridges.
So we'll be having about 13,000 extra people coming to rapids next weekend, which is great
for our community as well, and a big shout out to the ridges and the GASCA family for
allowing that event to host at the ridges.
Yeah, big thank you to them.
And that is going to be a fun event.
That's going to be a great one.
It's awesome.
Do you guys ever go to school on day you didn't have to?
I went to school.
I was like my junior year or something and there was a snow day.
But I didn't, I don't know how I didn't know or whatever, I went to school, man, it's
a rough one.
That's a rough one.
The janitors just looking at your shaking their head.
It's just like, oh, man.
And speaking of that, the inclement weather information will be coming out very shortly via
parent square and to our local media partners of what that will look like.
We think hopefully the winter will be mild, but we'll see.
Well done.
Well done, sir.
If people have filed questions, one of them more about some of what we talked today
when it comes to Washington School, Kelly, how can they find out more information sent
into the website?
Absolutely.
They can go to our website, they can give us a call, they can always come to visit.
I know Jays is always available as well and we love to have people in.
You have something to bring to the table or to read with a child, we're always looking
for individuals.
I can't thank you both enough for being here today and everything you put into this community.
Thanks a lot, you too.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And Ron, if people have filed questions, would like to know more of talking with you, how
can they do that?
Yup, WRPS.org will have my contact information or you can call or email me at Central Office.
And of course, WRPS.org is the website, you can find out not only all this information
we've talked about today, but more out there and all of our schools are listed on there.
You can find them all under schools at WRPS.org.
We should file them on social media as well.
It's a great way to keep up to date on your schools and what's going on in your area.
And of course, share that on your page.
You just never know who might see it otherwise.
Thank you again all for the time today.
Appreciate you all.
And we want to send a special thank you to our good friend, the heart of this station,
Pam Hilke, and the amazing scheduling she does week in a week out.
We appreciate you, Pam.
We'll be back with more Midday Magazine coming up for you on 975 FM, 1320 AM, WFHR.
We are locally grown radio.
