Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools – Howe Elementary – September ‘25

Hello world, welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report and probably brought you by

Pocketceptic for this Friday, September 26th, 2025. Have your host James here. We're

joined right now by a couple of members of the Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools

System. First off, we have Superintendent Ron Rasmussen with us. Ron, who is

good to have you with us. Hi, James. Thanks for being here and you brought

our friend Steve Thayer with, Principal of House School and Future WFHR

remember just because you're here a lot Steve. You just automatically get

brought in. You can, we'll put you right next to Ron's cot in the back. We'll

just put you right there. It's an honor James. I tell you what, so glad to be

back. Appreciate the time from both of you and it's certainly deeply

appreciate all the work that you individuals and your teams put into our

schools and our kids. Thank you very much for that. And as many of us know

out there, new year, new school year and all that, what is the focus at how?

How do you get the ball rolling if you will over their Steve? Yeah, so we

start every year by really reminding our students what it means to be in a

school setting, right? They've just been running around all summer and like if

we remember, the rules of summer are just different, right? They're just

different. They're not bad. They're just different. So every year when we come

back, we start with what I like to call our four pillars of being a bulldog.

We're responsible, we're respectful, we're safe, and we're a learner. And those

are those four areas. So at the beginning of this year, we really started it

on that. I do a video announcements every day with my students. And so we spent

some time talking about each one of those areas and how it applies to the

school. Our teachers have classroom commitments for each grade level of this

is how we're going to act in these four areas while we're learning in the

classroom. And then we talk about it in our common spaces as well, especially

the cafeteria and the the playground are our two biggest areas because you

get a lot of kids at once. And we talk about how is it important to be even a

learner in the cafeteria? You know, I don't want to just sit down with my best

bud and just have our heads buried in conversation with each other. We talk

about growing our group and being a learner even in the cafeteria. Find

someone you've never met before, invite them to sit with you. And even you can be

a learner in that area as well. How do you find ways to do that with the kids? And

especially with multiple grades? One of the ways that we do is we we have a

week a boot camp for lack of a better term at the beginning of the year where we

just talk about all of those different areas. And like this year, I had the

opportunity to pull each grade level out to the playground. And we just sat on

the playground together and we talked and we said, all right, you know, fifth

graders, like you guys tell me what are areas that you can respect one another on

the playground? What are areas that you can be responsible for the equipment and

responsible for the younger kids, too, because they have those opportunities as

well. So I had that great opportunity to sit down with each grade level and have

that conversation this year, which was a great opportunity. When it comes to what

you just said there, I think there's a I don't want to skate past it. It's so

important to listen to kids. It's so important to ask kids. And I don't put this

on anybody. There's not blame anywhere here and nothing like that. The older we

get, the more we think we know. And we do to a degree. But there's plenty of

things that these kids know that we could learn if we listened to them and

talked to them. And certainly when it comes to what you're talking about right

there. And it's there is no downside to that. There is no negative side to that

or anything. And that only does it first off. I mean, we all know that kids

don't always do everything we ask of them. It doesn't mean that whatever they say

we're going to do, it just means that we're hearing them. And that right there

is a win. That right there makes them feel important makes them feel more

confident, maybe to talk to another adult about something. And certainly if

there's heavier issues involved there for that child or something, it is a win,

win type of thing. Absolutely. I agree wholeheartedly. And really what I always

try to remind our older students is remember what it was like when you were in

second and third grade. You knew every single fourth and fifth grader. You knew

everything about them. You knew what they like to do. And I just remind them,

I'm like, look, you guys like you're that fourth and fifth grader now. Like they

know everything there is to know about you. And so it's not just modeling that

now, right? For the for the first time in some of our fourth and fifth graders

lives, they get to actually live out being a leader in what that means. And so not

only do we talk about it, but we also give them opportunities to start

fleshing out that leadership and what that means. We have a great program, not

just at how, but in our whole district called playworks. And we have junior

coaches in every elementary building. And they take a position of leadership. So

we have a handful of fourth and fifth graders that they go and spend time at

recess with first and second graders with kindergarteners. And they help them

learn different games. They help them resolve conflict. And they help like

really just model to them what it means like to be responsible, respectful,

safe, and a learner on the playground. And so we really try and give them

opportunities to live that out. Not just sit here and talk about it.

And talking with kids, not just talking at them or something goes so far, but

something else you mentioned there too, about peers and people a little bit older

than talking to them. They listen to that so much more. They hear that so much

more to go so far with that. And those kids know what it's like better than we do

in that regard. The other part of it too that stands out to me, we'll kind of

use this to branch into the next part of things. When it comes to

modern kids in modern schools and modern learning and so much of that,

you too and your teams individually know this way better than I could. My kids

are in there mid to late 20s. But even with them being relatively younger,

I still have no idea what it's like for a young kid to deal with social media

or dealing with technology or just having this super computers we're walking around

with on our hips or any of that. All of that said, being able to do those things

you were talking about before, I think it makes it all the more noteworthy to be

able to do it. Any generation, any group of kids, certainly. But in this day and age,

man, that's it's incredible work you guys are doing. And the way you're breaking

that down goes so much farther than I think we can really put in the words.

Well, you're absolutely right. You know, just even the brain functionality of an

elementary student now compared to when we were in elementary is so different.

And we can attribute a lot of that to just the use of technology. But the effect

on our students' psychology of, you know, being on screens at home, being on

screens when they're outside. And then coming to school where a lot of times there's

limited screen time. And when you do have screen time, it's not just

relaxed time, it's directed, right? We're using our technology for a learning

tool, not an entertainment device. And so there's such a difference for that. And we've

actually learned that they that requires different tools for us to use.

And I'm so proud of of my staff and some of the work that they've done on this

specifically. We have a whole new space within our building. We call it how we's

placed, right? We're the Bulldogs. And so how are the Bulldogs? He's my guy, right?

And so we have how he's placed at how and essentially what it is is it's a sensory

regulation space. Any student at how can get permission from any staff member to

come into this place and regulate. We have a whole menu of options on the wall

for them to be able to, some kids just need to sit and quiet. So we might have a blackout tent

that they can just crawl into. And for three minutes, just be alone. They might need to swing

or spin. And so we have opportunities for them to swing or spin or use their hands and dig into

things. Take some therapy, putty and rip it apart and just get some frustration out. But that's

becoming more and more needed for today's student, especially as they learn to regulate some of

these emotions that they don't even know what they are yet. And to that point and some of the

things we're talking about here, it's why it's all the more important that our schools are so

adaptive to modern families and modern parents and offering resources to support not only those

things but academic learning. Can we touch on that a little bit? Yeah, it's it's hard to be

apparent. Holy cow. I think all of us right in here. It is hard to be apparent today. Our kids,

you you said at James, they are dealing with things that we never imagined when we were growing

up, right? Never imagined. And so we recognize that there's also a role for parents or for family

or wow, let me start over. There's a role for schools to help families learn how to reengage,

right? Because it is. It's not only is it different raising kids, but the education is different now

that our kids are receiving them. We had it, right? So we are really trying to take up the role of

providing parents resources as well. And how can I actually help my kid academically at school?

And so one of the things that we've done this year at how is we we've partnered with an outside

organization called the parent institute? And they provide some newsletter resources and the

the newsletter that we've subscribed to and the first one will be coming home in October to our

families. It it's called helping kids learn and it's a one-pager front and back of just practical

tips on how parents can help set their kids up for success at school. Everything from the importance

of setting routines at home to setting a hard cutoff time at night to say, okay, we're done with

screens. Let's put those away and let's get ready for the next day. And the list goes on and on,

but we recognize that because our kids are different now, we also as parents need to engage them

differently. And we want to as a school invite parents in in different ways to do that.

You know, so many of the things when we talk with people it's meeting people halfway or some of

that. I am blown away by our public schools and every time I talk with you guys, it's more than

halfway going above and beyond and literally doing whatever you can to reach these families and

reach people. And at the very least, open have that open that offer that opportunity for families

and that. And I would encourage and certainly there's never been a time in human history where

parents shouldn't be involved with their kids and be in tune with their kids. It's probably never

been more needed for that. And not just for all the basic reasons that we all hopefully know out

there, but also for again, going back to it, we don't know what it's like to be that, to be in

that age, to be in this day and age, that young you yourself as an adult are going to learn more

about that and be that much more in tune with it. And maybe even learn some of whatever the new

cool words are to say, because I don't know what the new lingo is. And it's a big part of this.

It changes, right? We could go through all the lingo that we know right now. And by the time we

air this, right, it's going to be different. It's going to be different. Or just as adults saying it,

we will kill the word. Oh, yeah. That's kind of fun too to see our kids cringe, you know, when

when you when you drop some of those, it's a lot of fun. But you know, James, you're 100% correct.

And we really look at and I tell you what, how families are the best. Like you, I will debate

you on that and stand on that hill for the rest of my life, because they are the best. And we have

such a great parent organization whose goal is to provide opportunities and times for families

just to be together, right? And that's hard with the increasing number of distractions that we

have in our world and youth programs and some of that. Sometimes it's just hard to be together.

And so one of the great things about being at how is we have monthly family nights. And our first

one is coming up this Monday night from five to six. We're going to have a school kickoff picnic

right on the front lawn. So as you're driving down eighth street from five to six o'clock on Monday

night, you're going to see a lot of people because we had almost 80 families register for this event

to come and just spend time together. You know, next month in October, we're going to do a

trunk or treat event around back and our staff loves it. They get all dressed up and we open up

our trunks and it's just another opportunity to provide for families to be together. Because that's

so important as we continue to have a lot of these technology advancements is just to put it all

away and just be together. Well said and always good talking with you, Steve. Is there anything

else you wanted to touch on before we put Ron on the spot and get to him a little bit? No,

I don't think so. It's just it's a great time to be at how and it's a great time to be in WRPS.

Go Bulldogs. That's right. That's awesome. Thank you, Steve. We'll get your contact information

get that to the audience before we wrap up here. Ron certainly wanted to talk to you about a

couple of things and something we were talking about in our pregame a little bit. You have a new

community survey coming out. I was really curious about this. Yeah. So approximately five years ago,

we did a community survey within our community regarding operations within the school district.

And we're going to be bringing that back into October or board will approve it. Hopefully in

mid-October here, illicit opinions on operating our budget. Obviously worth the end of a five-year

non-reoccurring referendum that the taxpayers gracious gave us approximately five years ago. So

we're going to look at that and then continue to explore capital and needs within our school district.

We're all aware that there's a declining population within the state of Wisconsin with students

within our school system. I was in a meeting this morning that said there's 5,000 less students

in Wisconsin schools this year than last year and just to maximize our resources within our

community. It's important for us to do that and it's important for us to continue to work with

our collaborative partners and we do that. And I brought this up earlier for a reason knowing we

are going to be talking about this. I was talking about how our public schools do such an amazing

job going over above and beyond and reaching out to families and not just meeting them halfway,

but you know over 75% of the way most times and you know making it that way. This is where it comes

on families to put things into action too and when it comes to these surveys and filling these

out and taking the couple minutes it takes and literally minutes it takes to fill these out.

If you want to be heard, if you want your community to be represented right or to get the right

things done, you have to fill out these surveys. We know that people see some of the same numbers

you do or see some of these things. This is how we make change or change if it's needed for things

and add to things. Yeah, one of the questions that's going to be on the surveys, how else do you

want our schools to be open? What else do you want us to be exploring doing? We know our schools

are open almost every night for Boy Scout. It's basketball practices. We know we're a community hub

and such as at the Old Field House at East is open on my city wreck almost every single night

of the year and so we really want to know how can we utilize our facilities and what do the

community needs are that they want us to continue to explore and Steve talked a lot about parental

programming. How do we do that and what do parents want us to do as an operation outside the

traditional school day to make our community a better place? Is there a time when we should be

unluck out for that? It will be right at the end of October. It'll be due back in mid November

but just kind of want to put it out there in everybody's timeline right now so you can just be

expecting it coming forward. We'll be sure to remind people as we get closer to it. I appreciate

that Ron and something else that came up that I thought was quite interesting is the idea of a change

in our calendar. Yeah so we're looking at a change in our school calendar as we're really good

partners with our procule and our private schools and our community with assumption and

Emmanuel and all our other community partners and historically assumption Emmanuel have started

a school before WRPS and there's a state statute that WRPS cannot begin till September 1st.

This last year we've adjusted our spring break to work better with our procules schools

so we were not having spring break during Holy Week because obviously they want their students

in their school system at that point so we've adjusted our school calendar so we're looking at

bringing forth a proposal to adjust our school calendar to begin the same time they begin.

It's a dollar savings there because we're obviously supplying transportation all at once for all of

us. They're gracious enough to work with us in our professional development days or days we need

off to just stay cross country here at the end of October and so we're just continually looking

for that so our hope is that we can operate on the same school calendar makes it easier for families

within our community as well if all of us are on the same calendar. At first off it's a credit

in that we're a better community all communities that are able to work together like this and whether

it's private schools we're talking kids we're talking education that's what matters and I just

find that so encouraging and so cool to hear you know it wasn't always that way so it's such a

cool thing to have that dead in this day and age and the idea of changing the calendar to adjust to

it I'll be honest with the audience I this the first I am hearing of it today when we talked about

it but just on the surface I'm having my brain is designed to see like to counter whatever you're

saying Ron and I got nothing I feel this seems like a really win-win kind of situation the nice

thing is we started at the same time as our public our perocials and our privates and if that came

to fruition for this upcoming year we'd end before Memorial Day and so there's that added benefit

for families there is that you know school is done before Memorial Day I know in sports and

everything started in August at the middle at the high school and some at the middle school level

so those kids are already gearing to get back in the things in August but there's no school at

that point and this year we had kids come all for sports once school started and so they just

didn't have a ride or other options and so we just feel it to win win all the way around and honestly

anything that helps save a couple of dollars here or there or something like that is vitally

important for us and we all get that whether you have kids in school or not so I will be following

that story really interesting to see where that goes and I just wanted to hear another speaking

of saving dollars one of the cool things that we have coming up we've recently partnered with

mid-state technical college and a business associate's degree that will be start is really

going to be starting next school year but is already in effect this school year that students

who attend Lincoln and complete the program will be able to earn an associate's degree from mid-state

in business before they even graduate from from Lincoln they'll cross the stage at mid-state before

they'll come to Lincoln really excited about that opportunity for students we've had lots of

parents reach out to us houses actually going to work and we're excited about that and it just

continues that partnership that we have with with mid-state technical college and UW Green Bay

I know this last year we have two students that graduated in the class of 2025 one got 51 credits

at their college and another got 47 credits so almost already junior status based upon what they

earned at Lincoln High School and you know I not to get let this get lost in the shuffle if it does

to anybody take that those individuals and okay so they're not as in they don't need as much

college and I didn't college for as long so they're in the workforce that much faster and a taxpayer

that much quicker like the the the process of this getting fine tuned as we're seeing more and

more over the years is really impactful not just on a personal level for these individuals before

us as a society it it has an impact it has a a domino effect to it there and and just a shout out

to mid-state I love that mid-state is always doing things like this working with things like this

we we hear about them and talk about this kind of thing all the time we're going to see more of this

I think going forward and it's only to the betterment of our education system and and for me

as somebody who just has been in love with learning my whole life I I am champion this kind of stuff

I think it's great then you look at the economic impact it can make that's gigantic on a personal

level as much as anybody else it's a really good one and also an incredible segue there nicely done

right love love a good well I got another segue if you need one James so economic impact at the

end of the October I'll be in before then but we do host a stay cross country me at the end of

October so October 31st is a no school day also we have a no school day on October 3rd that's

professional development day for our staffs of love no students on October 3rd or October 31st but

working with Meredith at the CVB area we worked with discovered Wisconsin tourism and we host

stay cross country me we're lucky as a operation as a school this year we host three w a state

meets throughout the year this cross country stage gymnastics and march and eight man football in

November and sometimes that becomes why are all these people in town what's going on etc but we

had some numbers ran for us and that state cross country economic impact on our community is about

800 over 800 thousand dollars a year it's incredible and so I just want to throw a shout out to all

the volunteers and organizers of that Jim Newman Chris fight CJ Kelto and Kale Bennett's at Lincoln

just for that organization and that economic impact is the hotels the restaurants the gas stations

athletes get in their hair cut the night before they want to run they'll be a little faster

a little less excitement there I know I know I don't have much up there but that we're good there

but those are the events so it takes those people to bring that economic impact in our

community so we're excited but those are some relatively new numbers overall we're almost a

million dollars into our community every single year in the economic impact just from those three

events that's so cool to hear and encouraging and looking forward to seeing how that grows too

as it goes because that's the you're only going to see more things going on over there I think

I wanted to wrap up talking a little homecoming with you right yeah it's exciting it's that time

of year we have lots of events and homecoming is the week of October 5th through the eleventh with

the dance on the eveningly eleventh and the cool thing is this homecoming is obviously a high school

come back to high school but our elementary and all of our buildings do dress updates throughout the

week I'm reading newsletters from buildings earlier this morning about their dress updates for

that week but at Lincoln on that day on 12 o'clock they have class poster making on Sunday a cornhole

tournament which is ever popular at nuis the powder buff which is the volleyball at two and then

powder puff which is football at 3 30 Monday is their first school assembly and that's just

internal assembly Tuesday is boy soccer versus wasa east Thursday is really neat is they're going to

do a tailgate luncheon outside for all students and it's free so it's going to be a cool idea hot

dogs and burgers for all the students at lunch hopefully the weather continues just great as it

has been and then obviously Friday is the homecoming assembly and then the game that night versus

new Richmond and the dance on Saturday and if you're listening in dress updates throughout the week

and if you're listening to this podcast today on friday we play marshal tonight at home and it is

I'm excited that it's the hall of fame game as well of those getting inducted into the athletic

hall of fame jare hamil jim hamil and supecial getting inducted into the athletic hall of fame so

we're excited to welcome them into that prestigious honor tonight as well very happy for both them

in both very deserving of that when it's really cool to see and of course we'll that game you

mentioned there Ron we'll have on 105 five wi right marshfield at Lincoln we will have that

game for you our pregame will kick off at 650 we've been dubbing that the battle of wood county exactly

they haven't some fun with that one it's going to be a great game it's all versus the north yeah be sure

to catch it everybody it's going to be good 105 five at 650 and gentlemen if people have

follow up questions want to know more about some what we talked about today for you Steven how can

they get in touch with you one of the best ways is to just give me a call at school right you can

reach me at seven one five four two four six seven seven two i'd give you my direct extension but

there's no guarantee that i'm in my office right so the best thing to do is just call that number

and then someone can get a hold of me and i can get back to you but you could also email me as well

at steven dot fair at w rps dot net and you can find that on our school website as well um

run how about for you yep same thing on the website or seven one five four two four six seven

zero one or Ronald dot rasmus in it w rps dot net and that website again w rps dot org be sure to

find that and book market everybody keep up the date and the things that are going on in our public

schools and i encourage you to go to social media and follow w rps as well uh and go even further

than that your former high school following them i get a big kick out of that i love it so i

encourage you to do that out everybody and share what you see on social media share them on your

page you just never know who might see it otherwise gentleman thank you for what you do in the

community and hanging out with me tonight thanks shames thanks for having us big thank you to all

of you for joining us for another edition of w f a char's rabbits report