Oh
Well, I'm coming face to face of my conscience
Twenty-twenty-four
Coming to stand on my ass
Give it to seven o'clock in the morning
Clear it
This week in Buckesaw, on W-A-U-K
I'm your host downtown Daddy Brown
Coming to you live local from the office of former alderman Don Paul Brown here in the walk radio studios
Right around the corner from the Adora Yalman's Park where we are proud to honor our suffragette heritage here in the Shaw
And I am joined by Johnny on the board and on the jukebox and
I have
Really three guests one of them is a co-host and
We'll we'll put a pin in that for now introduce him momentarily, but
Last week as you recall my guest were
Challengers if you will candidates for the Wachsha school board today. We are honored to have
Two incumbents up for re-election
Anthony Zinobia and Kelly Piazik welcome
Thank you. Good morning glad to give you here so early and then
To make sure that
That this is a
Shall we say a fair objective?
Environment
I'm honored to have a very dear family friend
One of the leading scholars an American public policy
Dr. Robert Kaufman from Pepperdine University Bob. How are you this morning?
I'm doing well. It you are so desperate for a conservative you had to get me on the west coast
To appear on the program, but I'm happy to be here. Thank you. Glad to have you by you know, I was I was texting
brother's Raymond and
Terry very two very good friends of Bob that in the re got very upset that I would wake you up so early in the morning
But I explained to him that you're you're up at four your time anyway to to
Hit the gym correct. Yeah, he knows that he's just being a mock sympathetic
He can't help it
so and
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention this is St. Patrick's Day weekend
So happy St. Patrick's Day to all of us who have of Irish descent of all of those who
Choose to be Irish on this wonderful weekend
So and I know that now includes you Bob right after an ancestry test
Thanks to ancestry dot com. I learned that my maternal grandmother grazed in other pastures
Use the words of Maurice of all yeah, yes
Fantastic so and one of the I guess one of the the proud Irish moments this week before we begin our
discussions
Was that the Oscars when Killian Murphy became the first Irish born actor to win the Oscars and
For those of you didn't catch it because he kind of just said at the very end of his acceptance speech after he
He dedicated
His award to all the peacemakers in the age of Appenheimer
He said a few words in galeic that very few people I could catch and it was a
Goramila Mahogav, which means a thousand thank yous so
So if I if you hear me saying that a lot in this show that's what that means Goramila Mahogav
So and more on other exciting things
So we have as my friend James Centella has says an ambitious but very achievable
Agenda of course the focus here are our two candidates. It's a incumbent seeking reelection
We're gonna spend some time on the Carol minute where we have
An all-american or should I say a repeat all-american here in our university city
We have some more high schoolers celebrating great success and state competition
Not only here in Waukeshaw but around Waukeshaw County
and
Some more voting of information. We do have the election
Is April 2nd and now we're gonna talk a little bit about
National reading month so but first some very important time-sensitive news is that
At 10 a.m. This morning Saturday, March 16th
Waukesh at the Waukeshaw South soccer field there will be an Easter egg hunt
so and it's
For kids ages birth to eight so sorry Johnny you and I are you know, we're not welcome in that regard
but
It is presented by the Waukeshaw South's student council so knowing how nice and spring like the weather's been that could be a fun thing for
Families to do so keep that in mind
so
Again with our guest here and Wauk 101.1 FM 540 AM
We have Anthony Zinobia and I'm pronouncing your name correctly, right? Yes, you are terrific and Kelly Piazik and I pronounce your name correctly
Fantastic, so let's start tell us about yourselves or wants to go first
Well, I will go first. I appreciate you having us here on this fine Saturday morning
Hello, Professor Kaufman out there. I know if you've seen your sunset yet
Not quite the good morning getting there, huh? Yep
In honor of St. Paddy's day my son turns eight tomorrow, so fantastic. He's got some Irish on on his mother's side
So he's terrific fully ready for green green beer. I think no, sure. I think
So yeah as far as
My background I
I'm a father of three twelve ten and eight
lived here grew up here
Just a maybe ten minutes west
um
And uh, you know my father moved here for a job and manufacturing on 75
so family of six kids um
And uh, they've lived in the area
my wife and I
moved back into the city and
Where we currently live back in 2010. So um, I enjoy a lot of things. I enjoy to get out
And the outdoors is probably one of my favorite things
um
On my own business I work in um, you know, mainly buying and selling equipment for
Manufacturing, metal fabrication, metal working
Uh, is what I've been keeping busy with for
Um, on my own probably eight years, but probably been in that industry about 20 years and before that consulting financial services
So um, yeah, glad glad to be here and glad to talk about all the wonderful things happening on the walker show school board
Sounds great. Thanks Anthony Kelly your turn
Good morning. Thank you for having us um
Yeah, I've been in Wisconsin since uh, I started at Marquette University
So quite some time once I got here. I didn't want to leave um, but I grew up in northern Illinois. Um, I've my um my family owned a family service station
Oh well, so I grew up around cars and pumping gas and doing minor car repairs and things like that. So
Went to public school and Catholic schools at a combination of both and um
Um, neither my parents are college educated just built an incredible um, family enterprise there in Illinois and
That's great. I came to Marquette. I studied biomedical engineering
Uh, I'm a PhD in biomedical engineering from Marquette and the medical college at Wisconsin and
I've been working in
Healthcare product development and healthcare research for the last 25 years. So it's really been my passion
Probably explains a lot of my personality, but sure sure
I have three kids in the district as well. We have three teenagers. Okay
And I saw two of them play a basketball JVN varsity for walks on north and uh, yeah, lots lots of athletes
Very competitive good play great shooters. Yep. That's for dangerous from the three point line. That's for sure
So you should be very proud
That's probably hey, can I ask because I lived in Chicago and for like almost 20 years. Where what town did you grow up in? Rockford, Illinois
Oh, rockford. Okay. Yeah, sounds great. So a little further out west a little further, but it's about a hundred miles from here
So a little fun fact my parents run a
National level BMX track in rockford, Illinois
So anybody who's related to the BMX sport around here has probably been there and oh wow
We've been doing that for over 40 years. Okay, and it's um
And Bob if I remember correct. I believe you're a cheap trick fan. They're from rockford, Illinois
I don't know if you knew that or not
They are
I'm a beach boy. Yeah, Bob's a big beach boys guy. So
Well, we'll be talking more about that later. I should have, you know, Bob. I apologize
I didn't pick out any beach boys songs in my uh my repertoire today
So but uh, well, they'll have you back on again. Just have a we could have a focused beach boys show just for you
Well, why don't you see how today goes before you make a
reckless commitment fair enough fair enough so but it one quick story in rockford too was um we used to have a show on
That's now been replaced by Matt and air and air but at the end of the kind of the title sequence
You would hear hello Wisconsin, which is also in that 70s show
And where that comes from and I learned it here in civic media is that um
When the cheap trick would play a lot of concerts in Wisconsin because they weren't
They were still like high school age and you couldn't you know the drinking age in Illinois was 21
But in Wisconsin it was 18 for many years
And so they would do a lot of uh concerts just north of the border there
And that's how they they would start every show by hello
Wisconsin and they probably have a couple sodas and um, you know
To help them help them along the way so that's terrific. So I appreciate you both sharing uh your your your personal
upbringings and backgrounds how have these experienced uh
Experiences help make you better in your work and um
Or inspired you to be school board members
I
I'll start with that. I mean my my parents you know not having a college education
They were really focused on making sure that we had the best pathway to whatever was next
And we had a lot of a lot of family friends
Who were in the trades and so um there were so many paths, you know, we had respect for every different
career path and so that really keeps my mind very open to what all is out there for kids
You know, not everybody has to go to college
But you need to learn the the core skills to be successful and um, I think growing up in a in a service oriented business
And also being an engineer, you know, focusing on problem solving
But also you know being being there present with the person that's in front of you
I think a lot of times we get so wrapped up in technology and devices and not interacting with people
But at the end of the day the person that's in front of you
Is the person that you should be engaging with and so that they really has
Influenced some of what I've seen over the last 15 years or so with how education has evolved and you're really trying to get back to
You know that hands-on learning hands-on doing things and being prepared for whatever path you have in front of you
And like I said not everybody's gonna gonna choose the more traditional path
Sure, how about you Anthony? Well, I think the biggest thing for me is is probably
Family, I mean I grew up with with four brothers in the sister
My father was
You know the primary breadwinner, so my mother raised us
Um, and just just the sense of how important that is to
um
Have the stability and the security of you know two people that are
uh married for you know 57 years
um
Dedicating sacrificing working for their family and so when I found my wife
amazing as she is um
we
You know, knew we wanted children. We knew we wanted to uh, you know, raise them in a community like Walker Shaw
so
That you know that thrust of of saying hey, this is what's important
Um
I've always followed
politics in life. I've always been an observer of what's going on
um, but when uh the opportunity presented itself when when schooling got tough during COVID
Um, it said hey, maybe it's time for me to get involved in that so that's good
We're going to continue this conversation with Anthony Zenovia and Kelly Piazek
and come into the school board as well as um, give uh professor robber coffin a chance to tell us about his background and uh
Um, especially his educational background and and why he's here today
As this week in Walker Shaw continues
That's
The
You're listening to this week of August.
And that is a great band from Chicago called Solis. One of their band members, the great John
Williams, not the John Williams of a movie fame, but an accomplished musician in his own right in
all Ireland and other awarded highly decorated concertina player. And he plays other instruments.
And John's family is from the same part of Ireland in the West and County Claire is my family,
my father's family, and my mother's family too. And I mentioned this because there's a great
movie out now. And Bob, you would enjoy this. It's called The Job of Song. And it chronicles
musicians in County Claire in the village, the wee village of Dulan on the coast. Beautiful
then just down the road from where my my father's families from. And one of the musicians is a
guy named Owen O'Neill who was invited to play in a mayor in Chicago when I was managing
Irish pub there and met Owen back in the 90s. We've remained good friends through Facebook
ever since. So Owen O'Neill is included in that movie as well as look a bloom and other accomplished
artists. So that's my idea of having a great St. Patrick's Day, not the green beer and all the
other shenanigans. But so Bob Kaufman, my guest again,
our watch chess school board incumbents, Anthony Zinobia and Kelly Piazik. And then my moderator,
all the way from the left coast, Professor Robert Kaufman of Pepperdine University. Bob,
if you don't for the benefit of our local listeners here, tell us by yourself.
I'm an example of downward mobility. My income goes down after reach degree. I have too much
education. My parents were educators. My mother a very successful AP history teacher in a
parochial school. My father was an elementary school principal in Sharon, Massachusetts,
very successful excellent school system. And as for me, I hope you have the rest of the show.
I have four degrees from Columbia, including a PhD in political science,
a law degree from Georgetown, and an advanced law degree in alternative dispute resolution
from Pepperdine, sort of an anecdote because most of my writing has to do with the use of force,
usually advocating it. So that's my educational background in a nutshell. And I want to
commend both of these candidates for running because you're running really at a pivotal time.
Whatever your position, I think one thing is clear. COVID really took the scab off
what's happening in American education. And it has made parents much more disturbed
and much more engaged. So I think that's one issue. And also from my end of it at the university
end, and I'm not single enough public schools because the private school kids aren't much better.
There's been a real deterioration in civic education, basic skills,
English literacy, expertise in the STEM subjects. And my parents were exponents of the
liberal arts. And one of the reasons is that a liberal arts education gives you the ability to
learn for your lifetime. And as you know, when the upper Midwest, you've learned the hard way,
these students are going to have to retool many times in their lives. This is not going to be
like working at GM or Ford for 40 years. And so one of my concerns, and I think parents are concerned,
are the schools aware of the absolute imperative of improving skills and improving the capacity
of students, not just to learn from cake through 12, but for a lifetime.
Excellent. Excellent. Do you want to respond to that?
Well, absolutely. I very impressed to hear all of your background, Professor Kaufman.
It's interesting. I think you said something in there about some of your degree pointing
you toward the use of force. And I know that's been a subject that some others have written about.
I think Heather McDonald comes to mind, but very important in our current state and politics in
this country and what's important. How do we tackle some of the issues around rising crime and
some of the issues that we've recently just, you know, have happened with how we treat our police
forces. And so all very important. That's kind of what thrust me into running for school board was
COVID. My oldest son was two years at Rose Glen. When my daughter was ready for school, we decided,
you know, we wanted to send our kids to a smaller school where they also got some education in
Christianian values of the local prokule school. So that's how we were raised. That's the type of
schools we went to. So we wanted that for our children. But COVID affected every school and a lot
of the decisions that were made at the local level were just that if the local school boards
doing something, all the other schools followed suit. So that kind of engaged me to go into that.
It really was, look, we all know our education systems been in trouble for a long time.
And I really do feel like, you know, looking at other options, teaching kids how to thank,
rather what to think, having them look toward the future of, hey, I'm going to go into the workforce,
I'm going to go into college. How am I going to transition either through that career and
or into something else as I go along? Because you're right, no one's going to work 40 years and
a manufacturing facility, probably in the foreseeable future. So. Sure. Kelly, how about you?
Yeah, very impressed with Dr. Kaufman's background and
completely agree that this scab coming off is something that we all as parents kind of experienced
in different ways. But when you're faced with your kids learning from home and trying to understand
how to support them and how to help them, I think, I think like a lot of us went along thinking
that our kids were just doing okay and you're looking at how your child's doing and you think
that the time at school is well spent. But you do start to hear things along the way and see things
and forms come home or projects come home or book assignments and things. And then you start
to question, is this going to contribute to your education or is this something that is a different
intent? And so just starting to ask questions. And I mean, for me, it started all the way back in
2010 when when my oldest started school common core was all the rage, right? And as parents,
we were looking at that saying, what is this? How are we supposed to get our kids through this?
And what does it mean for them? So I think it's been a long time coming, but I think over the last
four years has really been what we've been exposed to some things we need to think differently about.
That's great. We're going to continue this conversation with Kelly Piazek and Anthony Zenovia,
incumbent candidates for Wachsha School Board and the April 2nd election as well as our moderator
professor, Robert Kaufman. And the Carol Minute and so much more. I guess next week is a
Hyrule Praktor Daytona Creepo. Here in this week on Wachshawn WAUK 540 AM 101.1 FM and the
Siddick Media app.
And I'm frightened of that day.
You met me in a bar and place. You walked me to the hill.
We were so good for each other then. I know we could be still.
You couldn't have come at a better time.
You couldn't have come at a better time.
You couldn't have come at a better time.
You couldn't have come at a better time.
You couldn't have come at a better time.
You couldn't have come at a better time.
Another great Irishman.
Younger brother of Christie Moore, a famous Irish folk singer.
I forgot to mention for Robert Kaufman's benefit.
The second song you heard was Les Paul and Mary Ford.
The world is waiting for the sunrise.
Bob, are you aware that Wachshawn is the home of Les Paul?
I didn't know that.
Fantastic.
All right.
It's designated by Gibson Guitars as one of eight guitar town U.S.A.s,
based on the influence of the guitar.
And so you have like what are some of the cities?
You know all the big cities.
L.A., Chicago.
Obviously Memphis and Nashville.
You know these big cities are familiar to most of people.
And then Wachshawn Wisconsin, home of Les Paul.
So a lot of fun here.
I am joined again by Anthony Zenovia and Kelly Piazik.
Candidates incumbent candidates for re-election
to the Wachshawn school board.
And that elections on April 2nd.
And just for everyone's benefit.
I mentioned this on last week's show.
Absentee voting starts on Tuesday, March 19th,
and runs through Friday the 22nd from 8 to 430.
Monday, March 25th through Thursday, March 28th, 8 to 430.
And then Friday, the last day for early voting, March 29th from 8 to 5 pm.
So if you can't get there an election day, take advantage of that.
And also look for any postcards you get in the mail if you have a new polling place.
If you're unsure, be sure to call City Hall,
call my good friend, Gina Coslick, who I learned is leaving.
I guess she's going to Dowsman.
So sorry to see her go.
She's been excellent in her role as City Clerk.
And also too, she's in her team have made sure we've had great
and fair elections here in Wachshawn.
A really well-organized team throughout all the different polling places.
So keep that in mind.
And question, first question out of the gate for our candidates is,
and we'll start with you, Kelly.
What would you say have been your biggest achievements in your recent term on the board?
Definitely the curricular resources that we've implemented.
I mean, we've got so many things to be proud of.
We've got a balanced budget.
We've done a ton of improvements without having to go to referendum.
I think the financial piece is great.
But I'm really most proud of the work that we've done on curriculum.
When I came onto the board, and I saw this with my own kids,
there wasn't consistency from school to school.
There weren't great transitions from elementary to middle to high school.
So just having that evidence-based curriculum and sequence that makes sense
in terms of how kids learn science-based,
that's been a big lift for us.
We've implemented 11 curricular resources that are multigrade level.
And then another 14 or 15 individual courses that we've replaced the curriculum.
And so all told, we've probably spent about $6 million on new curriculum for the district.
And that also helps us from school to school.
We want every kid at every school in the district to have access to the same quality of curriculum.
So I feel like that's been just time well spent,
and it will make a big impact on our academic outcomes over time.
Before we get to Anthony, just want to remind,
we're taking your calls this morning at 855-752-4842.
That's 855-752-4842.
And if you happen to be catching this show on the radio, 548 AM or 101.1 FM,
you can also catch us on the go by downloading the Civic Media app.
And you can take it within.
Civic Media has over 20 stations around the state.
So for those of you who like to travel or have places up north,
great place to catch local programming as well as brewers, badgers, packer games out in that area.
Great. I love sports on the radio.
So just keep that in mind.
And I know Bob Kaufman does.
But so Anthony, what would you say have been Anthony's and Obi-Wan?
What would you say have been your biggest achievements in your recent term on the board?
This is your only, you've been on one term, correct?
Yes.
Then Cal, how many terms have you been on?
One.
One.
Okay, so each one term.
Okay, so go ahead, sir.
Yes. So I really feel that what we've accomplished, what I ran on is what I'm proud of.
I kept the promises to the people that I spoke to in the community about what I wanted to do,
what I felt was important, you know, going back to have to rehash COVID again.
But that was the central theme of the 21 election, was getting kids back to school,
putting them back into the environment that they used to be in,
where they weren't constantly being quarantined.
So the big issues were getting our kids back to school,
which in Waukeshara secondary kids were in a hybrid program,
which had ended just prior to what's getting elected in the winter.
So that was on the change.
But we were still quarantining kids who were coming in contact.
And before you know it, 5, 10, 15 kids in a class are at home for two weeks.
In addition to that, it was the masking.
So when we came on, those were kind of the first two orders of business.
Kelly was the one who called on emergency meeting to end the quarantining policy and keep kids
in the classroom who were not sick. A couple weeks later, I made the motion to end the masking
mandatory masking when we made it optional. So those are two huge things.
The community was dying to have happened and wanted to see happen.
That really was the thrust of us winning that election.
In 21, I really believe parents wanted their kids back to school.
They wanted them learning and they wanted a lot of these mandates that were
hurting their education both at home and in school.
After that, the two things that I really ran on was,
you know, let's depoliticize the environment of schools.
And a lot of that stuff that was in the schools and still is a distraction to learning.
I truly believe if we're not educating kids properly, how would they ever be able to engage
like we had said earlier in the civic process? So it's really was bringing a balance to the
environment that kids learn and to not have it overly political. And of course, there's other
issues of that one being inappropriate materials, but I think we'll get to that soon.
I want to interject real quick that the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin launched.
It's vote411.org voter guide for the April 2nd spring election. It's a good chance
for you to check out other elections going on. I know there's not many this time here in
Waukeshaw as well as the candidates in our school board. Next question, and we want to give
Professor Kaufman a chance to weigh in on this is because it is a national issue and we have a
teacher shortage. And what would your plan be? What will your plan be in your next term? Should
you be reelected for attracting teachers to Waukeshaw School District? Or wants to go first?
Well, let's maybe just start by talking about the situation that we have here in Waukeshaw.
I think where we need to have our focus. I know there's been a common narrative that there's a
mass exodus. I think the entire industry has seen a significant turnover. The resignations
and retirements over the last few years have been unprecedented. I think the state of Wisconsin
is close to 16 percent. In Waukeshaw, we've actually been hovering around 10 or 11 percent.
So we've actually retained more teachers on average than most districts, which has been
a positive. We onboarded 140 plus teachers this year. We've been able to fill those positions.
We have a lot of incredibly talented teachers who want to work in Waukeshaw and we've got a great
mentor program. So that's actually been going very well. I think that the challenge across the
industry is that there just aren't enough teachers. And people talk about things like tuition
forgiveness and non-traditional pathways and things. It's not enough to just have a financial
solution. We really need to have different paths for people to come into the profession. We need to
have people who have other degrees. There are some emergency paths and those do work in some cases.
I think there are some really interesting proposals out there around apprenticeship type programs
where teachers don't want to be in the classroom. Don't want to spend four years
sitting in a classroom being taught to. They want to be in the classroom. So I think the sooner
that we can get teachers into the classroom through apprenticeships, through mentoring experiences,
the better. And then also considering you need a four-year education degree to teach
in a second grade math. What is it about the foreign language requirements in your college program
that's going to help you be a good elementary teacher? So I think just understanding,
what are we asking of teachers to come into the profession? And where do we find some more
non-traditional pathways into the profession? Professor Kaufman, what are your thoughts on addressing?
Well, I've had a lot of experience in this, unfortunately. And it's a multifaceted problem.
One, you have to pay teachers better. But secondly, teachers have to be more accountable.
I am for tenure. I have it, but one of the degrees I got was very late in life. I was over 60
and got the advanced law degree. And my children really inspired me to do it.
They told me, Dad, you have no idea what it's like being a student these days.
And I said, Sure, I do. I've been in the classroom. My parents were educators.
It's a dad. You don't know what you're talking about. It's usual. They were correct.
And one of the things I learned being a student and deliberately not asking for preferential treatment,
there's some very good teachers. And there are some very bad teachers. And part of teaching and improving
it is making the teacher. If you're going to reward teachers, you have to make it accountable.
The third problem is, unfortunately, the lot that education schools and teachers' unions
have on access to being a teacher. It's like a medieval guilt.
One of the emblematic cases was, in the state of New Jersey, Henry Kissinger wouldn't have
been allowed to teach in a high school because he didn't have an ed degree in process.
We have to be able to hire more people in mid-career who have an expertise in a subject.
This is certainly true. For K through three, I get the process emphasis.
But for the upper levels, particularly fifth grade on, we need more people who are in teaching
who have substantive knowledge. And then finally, we need a better legal environment.
Every day I walk into my office at Pepperdine and I have it in the out chair.
I have joke with our administrative assistant. Is there a title nine against me today?
And one of the things that teachers have to deal with, particularly if you're on my side of
the spectrum, is sort of the weaponization that really not only chills learning,
but is a real barrier to entry for teachers. And honestly, one of the reasons teachers
are retiring in droves is the same reason that policemen are retiring in droves.
They find the atmosphere, demoralizing, and they have a point. But part of it is also that teachers
have to be more accountable. If teachers want rewards, nobody functions well without accountability,
be included. Excellent point. Thank you, professor.
Want to Johnny, how we do an untime here? Okay. Yep. So one minute, I want to make a quick
announcement for the second consent. This is for Carol University. For the second consecutive
season, Carol junior Olivia Randhal has been named to the women's basketball coaches association
division three, all American honorable mention team. This announcement came on Wednesday,
the day after she was named to the D three hoops, all regional first team. And congrats to her
teammate sophomore Natalie Grisius for being named second team all region. It really was a wonderful
year for Carol women's. They had the highest ranking 13th in program history, national ranking.
And the most wins in program history with 23 and also capturing the regular season in tournament
championships for the first time. So we will return with Kelly Piaznik and Anthony Zinobia.
And as this week, we want to continue and my good friend, Professor Robert Cosman.
You're listening to the Shaw W-A-U-K.
540 AM 101.1 FM in the Civic Media app. My apologies. We're moving to a new 800 number and it
doesn't appear to be working today. We will have a 414 number available for you momentarily. In fact,
it's on the bottom of the W-A-U-K radio.com website. So again, our apologies as we sort that out,
but we do want to take your calls. Anthony wanted to talk more about the addressing the teacher
shortage. Is that correct? Anthony Zinobia? Yeah, well, I wanted to just briefly respond to what
Professor Cosman said. I think he's absolutely right on most of those points.
Some of the issues that we've had to address, I know there's a narrative that wants to say,
well, the school board has done a lot of things. We don't like so a lot of teachers have left.
And there's probably a few of those for sure. But we've had 141 that do want to work
with with Walker Shaw and have come into the district. I think there's a sense among
teachers as in any profession that they want to work in an environment that is about the work they
do. We know our teachers are passionate about all this stuff. They want to work with kids
they don't want the distractions. Some some great things about our district and Kelly mentioned
about all the curriculum we have put in. I think that really begins you know that that curriculum
had gone in across all grade levels. And when you have new teachers whether they're they're brand
new teachers or they've been teaching for a long time, they come in and they're able to you know
step into curriculums that are proven that they can get on board with quickly and begin to teach
without having trying to pick up things that are another teacher had done this no longer there.
Our teachers salaries in in this state for the size of our district are in the top seven
percent. And so we certainly pay our teachers well because we value our teachers.
But again back to the bureaucracy of the state. I mean why why Wisconsin is ranked so low in
education is baffling. And one of the only things that I can think is the problem is that we have
a Department of Public Instruction. We have a state government that puts too much regulation
in restriction on how we can educate our kids. And you know the sooner we can remedy some of those
situations. I think the more teachers will attract across the board. But our our population is
also aging. It's affected other things like like transportation. Okay. Hey real quick the number
to call in. And again our apologies is 414-441-2941. That's 414-441-2941. And it looks like
someone got through Johnny. Is that right Tom? Are you there? Are we might have lost him?
Oh no we got looks like Susie. Susie are you there?
Hello Susie. I'm not getting anything from Susie's end here. It's like fishing. Yeah.
Oh here we go. Hi Susie. Yes. Thank you. What's down your mind?
It's good morning. Mr. Snovia, Dr. PSX, Mr. Brown, and hello Mr. Klachman. Welcome to the
Wackishaw area. Thank you. Good morning. Thank you. Good morning. I want to thank you for taking
my call. There is so much positive activity and great news coming out of our Wackishaw school.
I think we might have lost Susie again. Well actually we got another caller. We got Mike.
Mike, can you hear us? Mike, what's down your mind buddy?
It's Mike, your friend. Yes it is. Good to hear your voice.
Hey thanks for putting this together too Mike. Mike had a big hand in this.
No problems. No problems. So I actually kind of want to address some Dr. Koffman said about
peeling the scab off and I remember in Wackishaw where the scab was peeled off. It was actually during
COVID that there was an open records request that actually was sent to the district and it was
the district actually charged $531 to get the information that should have been free and the
information actually exposed the failure rates at all of our high schools and when that got out
and it got out in the media it actually there was other parents around the state then that
actually took action and tried to get the same type of information and it was so damning to
the school districts that actually the price kept going up a thousand two thousand it took out
up to like $10,000 and I just what I want to do is I would like our candidates there to actually
kind of talk about some of the successes in math and the court curricula that the Wackishaw has
actually done since then because it's so important because you know there's so much misinformation
out there and I think they're doing great but I got to hang out with them going into work and I
appreciate you letting them on screen. Hey thanks for the call Mike Happy St. Patrick's Day.
Go ahead Kelly or Anthony were I'll start with that. I was I was part of the the parent group that
was really asking a lot of questions about how our kids were doing and we could see that you know
that they weren't prepared for the test they weren't meeting the standards there just wasn't a lot
of learning happening and so on a positive note I think that that the threshold wasn't lowered
because the kids weren't learning but the grades were abysmal and so we started asking questions
about how it was going and we're really kind of surprised that it was going to cost a lot of
money to understand how our kids were doing what we learned is that that you know people really
weren't paying attention those in the district side weren't paying attention to how the kids were
doing which was you know kind of shocking but once we looked at that data you know when
when I decided to run for school board it was very much on you know returning some normalcy but
also getting back to this learning recovery as fast as we possibly could and then digging into
the curriculum and seeing what we had to do to get it better you know that the challenge is that
that when you have three disrupted years for kids you know you're it's not like you're starting
over again with a whole bunch of new curriculum you're starting from where you are so the time
that it takes to actually recover when you've got a fifth grader who's lost you know two years
of very foundational learning is that it's really hard to catch up you can't just throw
new curriculum at it but but the first step is having science-based sequenced structured curriculum
that's going to work and we've already seen some really great outcomes in our elementary schools
I think a lot of our high schoolers have recovered to a good level I think the challenge we have
right now it fundamentally is at middle school because the kids who are in middle school right now
missed some really formative time in elementary school from academics and behavior and social
engagement and so that you know that's the biggest challenge but at the elementary level social
studies math reading have all seen a significant improvement over the last few years in terms of
outcomes and and our improvement is actually outpaced what's happening at the state level so
we know we're moving in the right direction sounds great and Susie's back we can fit you in real
quick or if you don't mind hanging on Susie are you there hey Susie let's hello yes now can you hear
we sure can yep actually Susie can I put you on hold here we're going to move into the second
hour but we want to hear your question here and this week in Wauksha with my guest Anthony Zanobia
and Kelly Piazik and come in candidates for Wauksha school board