you
We have a full week of shows here on The Morning Show and a good way to kick it off with our good friend Lauren Glassbrunner, River Valley District Administrator.
Doing anything fun this summer, Lauren?
Sure,
I mean everything's fun in the summer.
It's a different speed a different rhythm around that school district I go there every morning like I'm supposed to but it feels lighter of course because there's not as many kids around but it's funny Phil you kind of get into the parking lot and we have summer school again at our elementary school and the kids start to kind of want to be back a little bit in July you see more bikes around the
our campus and you see more kids around town and once they leave in June it takes them a couple weeks before they start driving their bikes or walking around our campus but by July kids want to know who's my teacher next year and people want to know what's going to happen in August and all those things so yeah it's lighter but it's still fun absolutely fun so yeah just had some fun last week I got to spend
Friday afternoon and morning up at the Sock County Fair.
I get to be lucky because River Valley covers three counties, so I get to go to the Sock County Fair, the Iowa County Fair, and the Richland County Fair.
And Sock County Fair on Friday was helping out in the Dairy Ring with Ms.
Sherry Grafunder, who's our FFA advisor and our agriculture teacher, and just had a great time up there.
All the Sock
county educators were there for agriculture.
And it's always fun to see, you know, the kids in those summer activities.
And I think the county fairs are a great way to see how kids out of school get to do many fun things that really round out their education as well.
So it was really fun, got to be a part of that dairy show, got to go see some of the beef kids, got to see some of the things in the small animal husbandry and things like that.
So, Sok County Fair is a great fair.
Looking forward to the Iowa County Fair, that'll also be around.
And then
the Richland County Fair so all of those things are a fun way to kind of keep school moving in my head while we get to do the fun things out in the out in the burbs I guess I would say out in the different parts of our district.
Also behind the scenes you have a new River Valley school board member.
Yeah we're excited to welcome to our team at the River Valley school district district board is Jenna Poad and Jenna will be representing Lone Rock
Lone Rock is a great little town, one of our four towns.
And within that, I just am excited for Jenna because she's a River Valley School District graduate.
She's a mom of a couple of our students.
She's got a master's of business administration.
So that's a great thing to have with a board member that understands that fiscal responsibility and all the things that it takes for that.
And she also works at UW Health.
So she kind of gets that large picture of commerce, but she also has that regional kind of focus, but she can bring it right
down to the hometown and really think about it and how would that apply to lone rock.
So whenever we have any kind of opening on a school board, I guess I just want everybody out there to know that within an elected position, if halfway through that electorate time,
It has a pause or I have a school board member that needs to step away.
There's an entire process for public notice of a vacancy that goes to board clerk that goes to board president that then we have to look for an up qualified Elector to take over that geographic area.
And so we did that and we had our out there and we had the candidates for vacancy send us letters of interest and we just had one and it was Ms.
Jenna poad and she is over qualified to be on our board.
She's an excellent addition and we're just excited to have her aboard.
It seems like she just graduated high school though.
Isn't
that funny?
How that
happens?
Yeah, it does happen and we're excited to have her aboard but it's always good to make sure that everybody in the community understands that they are represented in River Valley is one of those districts that also has kind of zones of representation.
There's rural Lone Rock and then there's Lone Rock proper within the town of Lone Rock.
And so that's true for all four of our communities.
And so we have nine different, I guess I'll call them districts within our school district that then have to have someone from that space that sits on our school board to make sure that there's equal representation for the large area that we have.
Recently, Lauren, I know you did a presentation on rural poverty or poverty in general in Wisconsin.
What can you tell us about?
Yeah, I think what's really interesting about summer is it allows us to take some time to step away and think about the challenges within our family.
Some of it's geographic, some of it might be social, but a lot of it ends up coming down to kind of the monetary, I guess,
background of a family and how that can really put some challenges on a kid.
When we look at the research, we really can see that a kid that's not doing well in school often comes from a home that is really struggling in some way.
And one of the ways that they can struggle is within poverty.
So within Wisconsin, I guess I want you guys to hear that in 2024, because we always have to look at lag data, about 12% of the United States and about 10% of Wisconsin really sits in
a non-cash benefit or they have basically poverty.
Poverty in the sense that their family needs extra help in order to survive.
So one out of ten kids coming to the district comes from a house that's really impoverished and that's really hard for us sometimes to realize.
The other thing that's really important about that is that child poverty and rural poverty is higher than usually what's happening in Wisconsin.
So within Wisconsin, there's about that 10% of poverty.
But when you look at rural poverty, it's slightly higher.
And then when you look at kids impoverished, that's even higher when you look at those percentages.
So that's something that's really interesting to kind of sit through.
The other thing that I have to report
is that within River Valley, then, when we look at poverty, the Department of Public Instruction has us look at free and reduced rates for lunch, and that's how we measure poverty in a school district.
And in River Valley, we're at around 36% of our kids need free and reduced lunch.
That's one in three kids comes from a home that doesn't meet that threshold of being able to afford lunch and or breakfast.
And that really does affect the kids.
Now, that doesn't mean we change any expectations for that kid.
That means that kid still has to behave and learn and lead and be the best kid that they can be.
But it is important for us to realize that those kids have extra challenges.
I can also think, and I can hear people in the back of my head say, well, if those parents would just get to work, just get a job.
Come on, don't sit there and
kind of hang out and wait for the government to give those handouts.
I need you to hear also that statistically in River Valley, 92% of our parents are working.
So if 35% of them are in free and reduced, but 92% of them are in the labor force, that tells you that there's really people giving it a good try and they still just can't afford the prices that are out there today.
And that could go for mortgages, that could go for food, that could go for cell service, that could go for a lot of different things.
So I just want people to know that throughout summer when we look at these things,
It makes me as a district administrator think about what supports can I put out there in the community to make sure that those kids feel like they fit in.
And so within the giving communities that we have, I just did a presentation on what are the ways that you can really help out a River Valley kid.
And so within our community, there are lots of things that we do and we have very giving communities.
Whether you're in Ithaca, Richland Center, whether you're up in Western or whether you're over an arena, lone rock, plain or spring green, there are people
in your community that are pushing forward that are trying to help out the kids.
In River Valley Proper, we kind of have a handout that we've really focused our families into.
If they want to give to our district, there's six different ways they can do so.
So right now, we have a school supply drive open.
And there are big buckets in several businesses around the area.
And those buckets basically are for school supplies so that kids and teachers can get the things they need in case a kid comes in without any of those things.
The other thing that we often have is we have a weekend backpack program.
We have monetary donations that have us then by bulk food, which we then place in the kids' lockers as soon as kids are back at school, and that food goes home with those kids so that there is food in that house over the weekend.
So very anonymously, we'll go to that kids' locker and we'll place in groceries so that that kid can have something to eat because for some of these kids, like I said, that 35%
school lunch and school breakfast might be their two big meals of the day and so this allows us to give those kids some additional I guess pieces or items of food for the weekend we also have project lunchbox so we have monetary donations coming where we can help kids with food and security so again if their account gets
void or if their account gets really low and they can't afford food then we can help them out with school lunch power.
We have empower her, we have project hygiene, those are two different things where we really look at personal care items and that comes right before Thanksgiving and then right around the Christmas time we also have an entire process with our local police department to make sure that every kid can have gifts for Christmas.
So I guess what I'm saying is
just because we're not in school doesn't mean that we're not thinking of these kids and those kids go home during the summer and sometimes they don't have the great things that we offer them as a school district so continue to think about those kids during summer continue to get those kids to the local services that are out there
We're so lucky to have like a St.
Vinnie's or to have all sorts of food banks around our areas that really help out these families in need.
And I guess I don't want anybody ever to feel like that's a bad thing that they have to need it.
But also, if you have the means, always feel free to donate because we'll make sure that we get the right things to the right kids for the right
reason.
We had some representatives from St.
Vincent DePaul on our morning show last week, and so they've got a new building coming up.
The food pantry in Spring Green has another thing.
Absolutely.
And it's called, you know, right in the circle, not too far from the school, isn't it?
Yeah, we're really excited about that.
So the Spring Green food pantry will be right there.
They will serve any family that comes there.
The St.
Vincent DePaul, we will have a new building in Spring Green proper for people to make donations.
That'll be opening somewhere, I believe, in October, right at the beginning of October.
And yeah, it's right down
right down the road from the school district.
people will be able to access, you know, kind of the great things that you would need for a kid, you know, a good education, some good groceries or some good clothing to really help the kid live their life without all those worries of insecurity as they
move forward.
36% for free and reduced lunch is a possibility that could be higher than that, you know, because maybe not everybody signs up or not everybody admits it.
Well, of
course, Phil.
I mean, we are part of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin is that Midwest nice, right?
You're supposed to
do what you're supposed to do and not complain about it.
And I have a lot of families that will say, nope, we don't want to apply.
But
that makes me feel like there's so many more out there that could be reporting.
So if that number is at 36%, a lot of districts believe if you're in the 30s, you're really in the 50%.
That about half of the kids coming into your building have a need where their family of four, and I think the threshold's right around $40,000 for a family of four, that they're not making enough to really take care of everybody's needs in that house.
So yeah, that number is definitely low because it's based on self-reporting.
Mm-hmm.
You want to talk a little bit about Wasbow?
Yes.
And could you fill us in on what that's about?
Yeah, so recently there's a great article that was presented by Wasbow.
And Wasbow is the Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials.
So there's a principles association, and there's a district administrators association, and there's a business officials association in Wisconsin schools.
And those are the folks that really look at the money
for our districts and really think about what's going on in our districts.
And recently, it was actually this last, I would say spring, the Wisconsin PTA, the Parent Teacher Association, filed a lawsuit against the state of Wisconsin.
And that lawsuit is around the idea of whether or not Wisconsin is funding the schools based on what's in our Wisconsin state constitution.
So our constitution in Wisconsin states.
that in part legislation shall provide by law for the establishment of district schools, which we have, we love.
But within that, we shall as nearly uniform as practicable and such schools shall be free and without charge of tuition to all children for the ages of four to 20.
And I think where Wasbo is really pointing out a discrepancy is that that line in there that speaks to as nearly uniform as practical.
When a district as large as Middleton Cross Plains can have administrators beyond compare and yet a small district like Ithaca can only have two, there's a real interesting kind of disparity there that the state of Wisconsin really needs to take a look at.
And every time I come, I try to talk about how I love this job and I need to be here to fight for the kids of the rural districts.
Part of that is to educate the folks in rural areas that the state constitution has said whatever tax dollars they receive, they need to give back to the districts in as uniform a manner as practicable.
And I don't think that's happening.
The little districts are getting littler and they are not funding them the same way that they are funding those big districts.
If they are, it's not going to do the work that they intended it to do in the Constitution.
Again,
We spend a lot of time talking about how property tax is where a lot of our funding comes from and a lot of that property now is not owned by the people that live there and there aren't as many students there.
So for us to rely on property tax as our major contributor and to do it by a head count of the number of kids off that property is a very old way of thinking.
And so I think what this lawsuit really does do is it pushes at the state to think about
different options and you Phil have looked at me multiple times and said well who's doing it better how could we get better at this really what this lawsuit does is it says should the legislature fail to establish a new finance provision it shall make them go together in a timely family
fashion and establish a schedule, a new way of adopting and implementing a new school finance system.
And really what this lawsuit is doing is forcing the hand of legislators to really take a hard look at it and really think about maybe, maybe I'm just out of the box and I'm not thinking about the best ways that I can do it, but it's really forcing our legislators to get at the table, talk about the deep disparity that's happening between rural suburban and urban and really finding a new way to figure that out.
Lots of times we have legislators on this program and they'll always point to declining enrollment, which is true.
It's a fact, but you're asking even more of the schools in terms of special education and different things and technology upgrades and things like that that's just not keeping pace, right?
Correct.
I mean, there's a lot of mandated things that people don't realize that we have to do.
I'm thinking to one of the most recent mandates that came through that said you need to really focus on
early literacy great we will happy to do so and so they wanted a more consistent way to look at early literacy and they said well you should be using these curricula okay use these curricula we can do that so then we have to train our staff into the new that curricula and then we have to buy that new curricula and then we've got to make sure that we support that new curriculum there's not a lot of money in the state to do all of those things and so it puts the burden back on to the district for that new
expense.
I guess it's the best way to say it.
It talks about, you know, health provisions.
It talks about how we have to teach certain things in a certain way.
And again, those are all really good ideas.
I'm not saying that they're asking us to do things that are unreasonable, but they're not funding it.
They're just mandating it.
And some of those things cost a lot of money for rural districts where we don't have 100 teachers teaching the same thing.
So we've really got to implement things differently in rural districts that you don't have in suburban or urban districts.
So it costs us a little bit more.
And I don't think they always think of that.
Great ideas, legislators.
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
But where's the funding to make sure that it can happen?
And so I think sometimes they have great ideas, but they don't always come up with a checkbook to make sure that it balances out.
A lot of people were hoping they were going to get back in session this summer, you know, call it call the emergency session, but it hasn't happened.
No, it hasn't happened.
And there was a lot of talk around increasing special education funding at the beginning of summer or late spring.
And they had a bipartisan agreement on it.
And when that got to session, they turned it down, which again, there's got to be reasons of why they turned it down.
I'm not judging their.
process I am judging whether or not then are they having the next conversation are they thinking about what's coming up alternatively and I think you'll hear from one side of the aisle we've done our best that was them over there and on the other side of the aisle they said well we did our best and they point to the other side and I just wish they'd all come to the table for a bipartisan
conversation around school funding because it's a big topic in every community throughout the state.
Yeah, and I've said before, you know, they need to pick the brains of people that are out in the trenches, you know, I mean, honestly, bring you in Steve Bord from Richland Center and because you guys would have some good ideas.
I think we would.
And I think there's a lot of people throughout Wisconsin that could represent really creative ways to get better funding formula.
And as I research it a little bit, there's so many more states that are trying to ban the lens kind of
not only property tax, but federal taxes, but sales taxes, but income taxes, and they kind of spread the wealth amongst those taxes rather than where in Wisconsin we kind of heavily utilize that property tax.
And so I think they just got to look at different states.
Other states are doing this better than we are.
And I don't know why they're not willing just to go back to that kind of idea and kind of
do some homework.
Right.
Get some research out there and really look at what states are doing it differently and see if it would fit the model of Wisconsin.
At what point do you look to the new school years?
Is it happening now?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
You got the pass behind
you.
The race is on, right?
The race is on.
And here comes pride through the back stretch, right?
Yeah.
Great song, by the way.
You know, yeah, I give myself to my birthday.
Right?
Like my birthday's June 16th.
I think, okay, the school year ended around June 6th.
I give myself till about the 16th before I start thinking about, oh, I got to get ready for August.
And so in June, I try to leave everybody alone and we kind of have a very free flowing schedule.
But as soon as July comes, we're ready to go.
So July brings around the ideas of those 4th of July parades, the marching bands hit.
the ground running and off we go to try to get things ready for August.
So my teachers will be returning to me August 21st is when my newest teachers will come.
So my brand new teachers and new staff orientation will happen August 21st, which means a month prior to that, I've got to make sure that everything's ready for the mailer to get it out there.
So July 21st is about a week away.
So I'm about a week away from all the mailings and everything that's got to get out there for my educators and then thinking about our parents, we have
to flip over our statistics in our school system.
So we've got to make sure we get out of the 2526 system and into the 2627 system, which just blows my mind, the idea of 2027.
But then we have staff training for 24, 25, 26, 27, 28.
Got to make sure that I have everything ready for that.
We get ready for that long weekend of Labor Day that comes up and then kids come in on September 1.
However, we all know that kids will be on our campus for athletics, for registrations, for open houses right away in August.
So these next two weeks will be really busy, Phil.
Yes, we're on the big push to get ready for everything.
And then in River Valley, as we do it beyond compare, we get everything going in September and then head into that homecoming week.
So our homecoming week, which is the 21st through the 25th,
Um, that has just all the highlights in there.
And then on the 25th, we have our school fair.
So that will be an incredible school fair again.
And our whole homecoming kind of theme is once upon a homecoming.
So kind of like once upon a time or once upon a mattress was a famous musical.
It's kind of.
in that Disney-esque theme, I guess I would say, but it's very much about princesses and princes and castles and all the great things that go along with that kind of wonderful idea of once upon a homecoming.
So we are plugging on and getting ready, I guess is the best thing, and we're excited for all the things that fall will bring.
As you talk about that theme, I'm picturing the boulevard leading into the school and how it's going to be decorated.
Yeah, that's a great tradition.
So our fall activities, whether they're a sport or a different activity like FFA or all the different things, they will take over that boulevard.
And so it will be illuminated, right?
It will be fully engulfed with all the decorations for each team and all the great things.
And what River Valley does well is that school pride.
They'd really believe in their school district.
We really have that
pride to do our very best.
And so that just really kind of is shown during that homecoming week with our big parade, with the school fair, with the great night of football.
But all that week, we had the great volleyball things.
We've got great cross country events.
There'll be all those different things that week.
And so we just get ready for it.
And we really think about celebrating everything good in River Valley as we try to push forward as being one of the best rural districts in Wisconsin.
Absolutely.
What about hiring?
You have all your positions filled
then.
We are in the
process right now of hiring a couple I think we signed on a new special educator last Thursday night at the board meeting and I'm in negotiations with a new business manager as we kind of push that forward which will be on our administrative team so we're trying we're trying there's a couple positions open and they can always come look at RVSchools.org but I think we're ready to go.
We may have one teacher assistant position open and we may have one food service for like a a cook.
in one of the buildings open.
But beyond that, we are ready to go.
Wonderful.
And we appreciate you coming back here, a monthly guest here on the program.
And the next time you come back, you'll be knee-deep in it, right?
I will be
knee-deep in it.
And we're already, I would say, ankle deep.
But I will be knee-deep in it.
That's for sure by the time you see me next.
Sounds good.
Good to see you, Lauren.
Thanks, Bill.
You bet.
Have a good rest of your summer there.
Lauren Glassburn of River Valley District Administrator joining us on this part of the morning show.
On today's morning show, we put the focus on Okuch Mountain Humane Society.
We want to talk about some fine points of this organization, some things they're doing in the community, and also a look ahead at the future.
Join us in the studio today, Jane Muller, Diana Marshall, and Linda Simmons.
Terry McGraw.
So Jane, Diana and Linda are all board members and Terry McGraw former board member, but a volunteer as we look at this organization.
So we'll start with you, Linda.
As we look at the past, you're kind of looking to the future.
Maybe you can bring us up to date.
I know there have been some public criticisms and things like that.
We kind of wanted to tackle that right out of the gate if we could.
Yeah.
I think first of all, I want to say that, you know, over the past several weeks, board members have been a subject of
conversation and criticism and that kind of thing, and some other serious accusations, but we just want the public to know that we hear their concern that's underneath of all of this criticism.
And so that's basically why we're here today, is to make sure the public knows how much we care, and that we have been very cautious in responding to the situation because we're not able to discuss personnel matters.
But right now, our focus is on continuity, animal care, moving forward, so that we can do this respectfully.
We want to assure everyone that the quality of care for animals is our immediate priority.
And the board has been working directly on continuity planning and seeking professional help to come in.
and make sure that the animals are okay.
So that's kind of where we are right now.
Animals are the main focus
there.
The main thing, right, cats in particular.
Okay.
That's who's in our shelter.
Sure.
What we'd like to say is all the cats in the main shelter have been identified and matched with medical records, even though some of those records were incomplete, which gave us kind of a stumbling block.
We're collaborating with trained experts to come in and evaluate the animals and to give us advice on providing care.
All the cats in the shelter right now are getting the care that they need.
They're not happy.
No cat in the shelter is really terrifically happy.
They're stressed.
There's a lot of cats.
There were over 250 cats in the shelter.
Some of those were in cages and were a cage-free shelter.
So they have a lot of healing to do.
And so the shelter was really not okay when the shelter manager was terminated.
It's a sad thing.
The volunteers are great.
They love the animals.
We would welcome them back at some point.
So I'll let somebody else talk.
Sure.
Well, I will ask Terry as well as a volunteer.
First of all, why do you volunteer?
Well, my two cats that passed away, I got out of Phyllis Paul's barn before Okuch
Well, O'Cooch was just a concept.
And I knew Carletta, Marilyn, Judy forever, just to get involved with the organization for, what is it, 30 plus years.
So I'd always done volunteering like the Animal House Food Stand, garage sales yada yada.
And about a year ago or more, I was asked to be on the board, which I was on the board for a while.
And then things started to take a turn when we recognized we needed to intervene to get numbers under control.
And fortunately for health reasons had to resign.
But when it was clear we had to go another direction, I was asked to kind of come back in because I was instrumental in getting a hold of
the ASPCA, UW, Shelter Management, and now the Federation of Humane Societies who have all come together to help us through this transition.
So that's been my role primarily here lately.
Getting the CAT numbers down, how did you go about that then?
Well, what eventually happened is once we were able to make contact with the head veterinarian at UW,
She contacted a network, this Federation of Humane Societies, and called out an all-call, and they've just been coming and helping us out.
And so different humane societies have come as we've learned.
There's a limit on how long cats should be in a shelter, and they rotate them so there's a more likelihood that they get adopted.
And through that, too, we've also had a team of vets come in and analyze everybody, helped us with medical records that were missing and getting the cats treated as need be.
So, unfortunately, we found a lot of things that surprised us and needed a lot more intervention than we anticipated.
It's been really...
a godsend to have these people come in and help and support us.
It's across the nation.
So it's bigger than just here.
And we're getting different input and ideas on what our shelter can be and how we can manage it and support it.
Go
ahead.
Also along with that is the Association of Shelter Vets that put out recommendation, recommended practices.
That was our intention to start following and implementing over a year ago.
Um, but so we're back to that philosophy and trying to implement that and being a professional, healthy organization.
Oh, let's talk about your organization.
Now move over to the other side of the room.
Diana, uh, tell us a little about O'Cooch overall in terms of, you know, what entails, uh, in terms of, you know, the community, maybe what it means to the community in your mind.
Well, we did have a nice newspaper article that we had put out last year in the Richland Observer, and it was a nice long article.
It gave the history of O'Cooch, which I did not realize how long it has been.
It was created in 2001, and because prior to that, you know, we had Friends of Animals, and when they had to
they, you know, came to O'Cooch and so then O'Cooch helped them with the transition of what they had remaining and incorporated into the Humane Society that is today.
It's very needed in this area for the cats and for the TNR programs to help
with the cats that are strays, you know, to you can at least with the teen art programs, you know, trap, neuter, release, so at least to help the population of the cats
go
down.
I got involved with O'Cooch with a prior co-worker and when he passed away, you know, he was very
involved as a lifetime member of Okuch.
And so his passion for cats and continuing the care of cats, his whole estate was for Okuch to help care for the cats.
So I'm very passionate about his involvement that he had and his way of wanting to care for the cats around this area.
took care of his estate and everything that was sold or whatever of his property, it all went to the Cooch for the help of the cats.
And I truly want to keep his legacy going for a Cooch.
So that was how I got involved with Oakooch and I have I've lived on a farm for many years I've had many many animals on my own many cats I am very much a cat lover a dog lover a horse lover cows and so I I do care and I do want to see
This organization continue to survive.
We do have a lot of long the original founders still involved with old coach and for their benefit, too We want to keep it going the best we can Unfortunately, it costs money to keep this going.
We appreciate all the donations we get from my volunteers donors our fosters we We are still trying to reach out to
to collect the information that we are missing, but please know that everything we do is for the cats and for the organization and we want to keep that going.
I can't help but think as we talk about it about Carletta Heidi, you know, we're talking about that, but I still think of her when I think of O'Cooch, Jane.
And Carletta was wonderful.
You know, she was a community leader.
She was involved in so many different community projects, you know, throughout her lifetime.
She was an extremely organized individual.
She was the secretary on our board for many years.
And, you know, she brought a joy to the organization and to all of the events that we had.
So we miss her dearly because she was a wonderful, wonderful board member.
and person in the community.
As well as many other people in the past that have been board members have been instrumental in the growth of the organization from a group of dedicated people in 2001.
I was an original board member back then.
anyhow, but it's grown.
So it's grown from a smaller shelter with 20 cats, 30 cats to, again, due to our donors, due to our supporters and all the people that have come forward with their time and their money, we have become a larger shelter.
And we want to continue to maintain the quality of care for our cats as we did when we were really small shelter.
And, you know, so that takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, and the commitment, you know, to the organization.
You have the food stand, the Okuch Mountain Humane Society food stand from time to time.
Is that like one of the main
Fundraisers but you do
it's one one of the fundraisers that we do and we've we have rummage through the rabbit rummage romp is another one We have the pause for the holidays is another event So we have events throughout the year to help bring in money Mm-hmm and to provide just a fun time for everybody
Mm-hmm You talk about cats do you do you take in dogs as well?
I'm the dog coordinator.
Okay, and I will say that
In years past, it seemed like we had more people coming that needed help with dogs.
That sort of slowed down lately.
But again, I think there's a lot more dog rescues out there than there used to be.
There's a lot of startup rescues around this area.
So I think that's part of the reason.
And some years I'd place between 10 and 15 dogs a year.
was my norm.
But with the last couple of years, not so many dogs have come our way, but we always find good homes for them.
Helped a little Chihuahua get placed in January, so that was great, and we're all fostered.
If somebody calls and they have a dog that they'd like help with, you know, there's a lot of different things we can do and we can find fosters or we can keep the dog in home because that's less stressful for the dog to be moved and then, you know, look for a home, you know, to go directly from one home to another instead of having to go into foster care.
Is it harder to find a place for a dog or a cat?
Oh, I would say cat, definitely.
I think just because there's so many.
And that is a problem in all communities is overpopulation of cats.
And thus, the trap neuter and release program is great because that way you're not adding to the population.
And cats can reproduce, I think it's four times a year, three or four times a year.
And if you start doing the math,
That's a lot of cats and you know and it goes badly for the cats usually if there's an overpopulation in the community
And we were talking I believe maybe before we went on the air about cats They're stressed out lots of times when they're in cages correct
correct and that's why the original founders decided to go to an open
kind of room environment for them so nobody goes into cages.
So they can move around and they can drink water and they can go to the litter box and that kind of thing.
There's not in a three by four kind of area.
You're trying to reduce the number that you have on hand.
So you're here to say they're up for adoption, right?
They're up for adoption and we have a lot of nice cats to choose to come and visit and see how they match with your personality.
And you have pictures available online, do you, for the cats?
We do.
Through all of this, we lost some control over what we could put online, and now we're getting that back.
So there is a Facebook now.
Our website isn't up yet.
So Facebook is probably the best place to see the pictures of our cats.
And
do you have open hours during the week?
We're there.
You're always there.
Well, not always there, but if you give us a call, we will be there.
Okay.
We have not stabilized enough to actually have regular hours that were open, but we're completely easy to contact.
And we'd love to work with you.
And if you want to volunteer, give us a call.
We'll walk you through and see if this is the right place for you.
So we're heading in new directions and more stable directions, I think.
You talked a little bit about our fundraising.
One of the things that we've done from the very beginning is look for opportunities for investment.
So if there's funds, we do investment.
invest them, they grow, and I think that we have some stability behind us, so if the economy erber falters, we're there, we can keep on supporting the cats for a while.
They talked about TNR, that's an important program.
That's something we can't really do successfully without the community's involvement, so they understand what it is and what it means for them, because it takes the whole community to help with that.
It's not just us.
TNR is Trap, Neuter,
and release.
We can't keep those cats in the shelter because they don't really belong in the shelter.
They're not healthy there.
So it's just a piece of where we're going.
We see bright things in the future.
Great.
Terry, what would you like to see in the future as far as goals for Okuch?
Well, we obviously need to get down to a reasonable level and we're working with these organizations to determine what exactly that is.
We're thinking around 60 cats.
The shelter was built for 80, including the infiltration system, our isolation room, so on and so forth.
So at 200 plus cats, we just couldn't maintain a healthy environment.
So to get back to that healthy environment, implement some unified standards and policies that we could all agree on and continue with a legitimate shelter.
I would like to say, though, too, we do need volunteers.
There's rumors out there that we're not accepting everybody.
And that's true.
We have had a lot of negative interactions, some pretty drastic stuff.
So we are going to be selective.
We have to be selective because of the repercussions we have faced.
But we're open for volunteers.
fill out an application, come talk to us.
The other thing that we lost in this process is who our fosters are.
So if the fosters could reach out to us to let us know who you are, what you need, so on and so forth, and with the past volunteers that are willing, ready and willing to move ahead with our mission.
And so.
So the main thing you want to say today, Diane, is Okucha's alive and
well.
Well, we're alive and going.
We're kicking anyway.
And
going, okay.
Yeah, kicking, yep.
We do have an email address, which is the OMHS2026AM at gmail.com, where they could email us.
Or we do have a new phone number now, and it is 608.
475-9964 and they can call, leave a message on our phone too if we're not able to answer.
And then of course the new Facebook page, if you search for O'Cooch Mountain Humane Society, you'll see the new Facebook page.
We are trying to get more pictures of our kitties out there and I myself is not real savvy with Facebook so
I struggle with the use of that, but we do have another person that is working with us to get the Facebook out there better and more noticeable for people.
So we do, you know, advise people to search for that new Facebook page and look us up.
Yes.
And we appreciate, you know,
comments from people you know and course positive ones are always better for us but we can always we're open for improvements you know we're all volunteers too so you know if you've got some suggestions or ideas we would welcome them
you
know these cats need all opportunities possible for them so we you know
You
know,
we would really like to get to know the people or, you know, the new volunteers or adopters or the fosters and communicate with them the best we can.
And we're not trying to stay hidden or back.
It's just that we're being cautious about the next steps to make sure we're going in a good direction for everybody and for the cats mostly.
Yes.
location.
I don't know if we talked about that where you're located at.
We are located up on Carson Street and then we have the sanctuary which is what we call on the back of the building which is called Hazeltine Street.
We're right next to the roller rink if everybody kind of knows with that.
So if you go up Hazeltine Street we're just basically across the street from the town hall and it's you know it's kind of at the end of the road there at the top so.
Then we've used the term foster.
What is being a foster entail if you'd like to somebody who would like to be interested in that?
Well, basically old coach would provide you know the the food the medical care You know the food for the for the cat or for the dog Information I and that type and the foster would provide the love
for the animal, and while the animal is being advertised, and then of course a foster is very valuable because they can see, because they're around the animal all the time, they will see the personality of the animal, they will know what their character is like.
And with dogs, of course, are they good on a leash?
Are they good with other animals?
Are they good with cats?
Do they need to be an only dog?
And what are their requirements and their needs?
And that helps us, of course, find a good fit for that dog or cat when they are adopted out.
Sure.
And so people can come and take a look, as we mentioned, make an appointment.
That's probably the next step.
That would be great.
As a foster, I could see you getting attached though, I think sometimes.
That is what we hear a lot.
We're like, oh my, I don't think I could do
that
because I would want to keep that cat or that dog.
We do hear that a lot.
But if you look at the bigger picture and you realize that, you know, that you're providing a safe, warm, loving environment until the animal can be permanently placed, you know, then that makes you feel good too.
I bet.
Linda, it must take quite a while to feed that many cats, doesn't it?
I don't think you want to know.
Feeding is okay.
It's the scooping that gets.
Oh,
okay.
Right, Diana?
Yeah.
Scooping that takes, you get a good workout.
I bet.
Right.
But please, you get all the cats coming around your feet.
They all want the food.
It's kind of fun.
Their tails are up in the air.
Oh, sure.
Before we close, I'd just like to say that O'Cooch is bigger than any one person.
It takes decades of volunteers, of donors, adopters, fosters.
Veterinary partners can you guys think I think oh community members yes all who care deeply about animals And that's who we are as the board.
We're just part of the community Trying to do good for animals
Yeah, most definitely all the mics are open anything that any of you would like to add about What's been said maybe looking ahead you just want to spin this into a positive thing,
right?
Oh, we're excited about what can come ahead
We are learning all kinds of new things from our partners that were national partners.
It's very exciting.
They're excited for us.
And that makes your heart feel really
good.
For national partners, do you have to go out and search them, or do they look for your husband?
Well, you
know, we have some national organizations that do this kind of work with the federation.
Well, the ASPCA is national, and they are well connected with the UW shelter management program.
So we're very fortunate in this state.
So once we make contact with them, this whole thing just opened up.
So it's just making the right contacts.
networking within this network to get the people here that whose expertise we
need.
There's no limit what we can do for this community.
They have been very helpful with us and given us lots of
ideas and options helping us guide us in the right direction for these cats.
I mean they're looking at the behaviors and the socials and so it helps us to understand better too what is needed for these cats.
So they have been wonderful, they've been a wealth of information for us and we are continuing to work with them.
Here's the thing, sometimes you learn a little about yourselves and you turn it into a positive, right?
Correct.
That's
kind of what you're looking at doing.
Yeah.
Go ahead.
Well, it's been a pleasure to have you in the studio today.
Thank you for
having us.
Yes,
thank you for having us, Bill.
Keep us posted.
I'll get it.
Well, Cooch Mound, Humane Society, the studio, Terri McGraw, Linda Simmons, Jane Muller, and Diana Marshall in this portion of the show.
On today's morning show, we put the focus on Okuch Mountain Humane Society.
We want to talk about some fine points of this organization, some things they're doing in the community, and also a look ahead at the future.
Join us in the studio today, Jane Muller, Diana Marshall, and Linda Simmons.
Terry McGraw, so Jane, Diana, and Linda are all board members, and Terry McGraw, former board member, but a volunteer as we look at this organization.
So we'll start with you, Linda, as we look at the past and you're kind of looking to the future.
Maybe you can bring us up to date.
I know there have been some public criticisms and things like that.
We kind of wanted to tackle that right out of the gate if we could.
Yeah.
I think, first of all, I want to say that, you know, over the past several weeks, board members have been a subject of
conversation and criticism and that kind of thing, and some other serious accusations, but we just want the public to know that we hear their concern that's underneath of all of this criticism.
And so that's basically why we're here today, is to make sure the public knows how much we care, and that we have been very cautious in responding to the situation because we're not able to discuss personnel matters.
But right now our focus is on continuity, animal care, moving forward, so that we can do this respectfully.
We want to assure everyone that the quality of care for animals is our immediate priority.
And the board has been working directly on continuity planning and seeking professional help to come in.
and make sure that the animals are okay.
So that's kind of where we are right now.
Animals are the main focus
there.
The main thing, right, cats in particular.
Okay.
That's who's in our shelter.
What we'd like to say is all the cats in the main shelter have been identified and matched with medical records, even though some of those records were incomplete, which gave us kind of a stumbling block.
We're collaborating with trained experts to come in and evaluate the animals and to give us advice on providing care.
All the cats in the shelter right now are getting the care that they need.
They're not happy.
No cat in the shelter is really terrifically happy.
They're stressed.
There's a lot of cats.
There were over 250 cats in the shelter.
Some of those were in cages and were a cage-free shelter.
So they have a lot of healing to do.
And so the shelter was really not okay when the shelter manager was terminated.
And it's a sad thing.
The volunteers are great.
They love the animals.
We would welcome them back at some point.
So I'll let somebody else talk.
Sure.
Well, I will ask Terry as well as a volunteer.
First of all, why do you volunteer?
Well, my two cats that passed away, I got out of Phyllis Paul's barn before Okuch.
Well, Okuch was just a concept.
And I knew Carletta, Marilyn, Judy, forever just been involved with the organization for, what is it, 30 plus years.
So I'd always done volunteering like the Animal House Food Stand, garage sales yada yada.
And about a year ago or more I was asked to be on the board, which I was on the board for a while.
And then things started to take a turn when we recognized we needed to intervene to get numbers under control.
Unfortunately, for health reasons, had to resign.
But when it was clear we had to go another direction, I was asked to kind of come back in because I was instrumental in getting a hold of
the ASPCA, UW, Shelter Management, and now the Federation of Humane Societies who have all come together to help us through this transition.
So that's been my role primarily here lately.
Getting the CAT numbers down, how did you go about that then?
Well, what eventually happened is once we were able to make contact with the head veterinarian at UW,
She contacted a network, this Federation of Humane Societies, and called out an all-call, and they've just been coming and helping us out.
And so different humane societies have come as we've learned.
There's a limit on how long cats should be in a shelter, and they rotate them so there's a more likelihood that they get adopted.
And through that, too, we've also had a team of vets come in and analyze everybody, helped us with medical records that were missing and getting the cats treated as need be.
So, unfortunately, we found a lot of things that surprised us and needed a lot more intervention than we anticipated.
It's been really...
a godsend to have these people come in and help and support us.
It's across the nation.
So it's bigger than just here.
And we're getting different input and ideas on what our shelter can be and how we can manage it and support it.
Go
ahead.
Also along with that is the association of shelter vets that
that put out recommendation, recommended practices that was our intention to start following and implementing over a year ago.
But so we're back to that philosophy and trying to implement that and being a professional, healthy organization.
Well, let's talk about your organization.
Now move over to the other side of the room.
Diana, tell us a little about Okuch overall in terms of, you know, what entails in terms of, you know, the community, maybe what it means to the community in your mind.
Well, we did have a nice newspaper article that we had put out last year in the Richland Observer, and it was a nice long article.
It gave the history of Okuch, which I
did not realize how long it has been.
It was created in 2001.
And because prior to that, we had friends of animals.
And when they had to dissolve, they came to Okut.
And so then a coach helped them with the transition of what they had remaining and incorporated into the Humane Society that is today.
It's very needed in this area for the CATS and for the TNR programs to help
with the cats that are strays, you know, to you can at least with the teen art programs, you know, trap, neuter, release, so at least to help the population of the cats go down.
I got involved with O'Cooch with a prior co-worker and when he passed away, you know, he was very
involved as a lifetime member of Okuch.
And so his passion for cats and continuing the care of cats, his whole estate was for Okuch to help care for the cats.
So I'm very passionate about his involvement that he had and his way of wanting to care for the cats around this area.
I took care of his estate and everything that was sold or whatever of his property, it all went to the Cooch for the help of the cats.
And I truly want to keep his legacy going for a Cooch.
So that was how I got involved with Oakooch and I have I've lived on a farm for many years I've had many many animals on my own many cats I am very much a cat lover a dog lover a horse lover cows and so I I do care and I do want to see
this organization continue to survive.
We do have a lot of along the original founders still involved with Okuch and for their benefit too, we want to keep it going the best we can.
Unfortunately, it costs money to keep this going.
We appreciate all the donations we get from our volunteers, our donors, our fosters.
We are still trying to reach out to
to collect the information that we are missing, but please know that everything we do is for the cats and for the organization and we want to keep that going.
I can't help but think, as we talk about it, about Carletta Heidi.
You know, we're talking about that.
But I still think of her when I think of O'Cooch, Jean.
And Carletta was wonderful.
You know, she was a community leader.
She was involved in so many different community projects, you know, throughout her lifetime.
She was an extremely organized individual.
She was the secretary on our board for many years.
And she brought a joy to the organization and to all of the events that we had.
So we miss her dearly because she was a wonderful, wonderful board member and person in the community.
as well as many other people in the past that have been board members have been instrumental in the growth of the organization from a group of dedicated people in 2001.
I was an original board member back then.
anyhow, but it's grown.
So it's grown from a smaller shelter with 20 cats, 30 cats to, again, due to our donors, due to our supporters and all the people that have come forward with their time and their money, we have become a larger shelter.
And we want to continue to maintain the quality of care for our cats as as we did when we were really small shelter and You know, so that takes a lot of time a lot of effort and the commitment, you know to the organization
You have the the food stand the Okuch mountain humane society food stand from time to time.
Is that like one of the main?
Fundraisers but you do
it's one one of the fundraisers that we do and we've we have rummage through the rabbit rummage romp is another one We have the pause for the holidays is another event So we have events throughout the year to help bring in money Mm-hmm and to provide just a fun time for everybody
Mm-hmm You talk about cats do you do you take in dogs as well?
I'm the dog coordinator.
Okay, and I will say that
In years past, it seemed like we had more people coming that needed help with dogs.
That sort of slowed down lately.
But again, I think there's a lot more dog rescues out there than there used to be.
There's a lot of startup rescues around this area.
So I think that's part of the reason.
But some years I'd place between 10 and 15 dogs a year.
was my norm.
The last couple of years, not so many dogs have come our way, but we always find good homes for them.
Helped a little Chihuahua get placed in January, so that was great, and we're all fostered.
If somebody calls and they have a dog that they'd like help with, you know, there's a lot of different things we can do and we can find fosters or we can keep the dog in home because that's less stressful for the dog to be moved and then, you know, look for a home, you know, to go directly from one home to another instead of having to go into foster care.
Is it harder to find a place for a dog or a cat?
Oh, I would say cat, definitely.
I think just because there's so many.
And that is a problem in all communities is overpopulation of cats.
And thus, the trap neuter and release program is great because that way you're not adding to the population.
And cats can reproduce, I think it's four times a year, three or four times a year.
And if you start doing the math,
That's a lot of cats and, you know, and it goes badly for the cats usually if there's an overpopulation in the community.
And we were talking, I believe maybe before we went on the air about cats, they're stressed out lots of times when they're in cages, correct?
Correct.
And that's why the original founders decided to go to an open
kind of room environment for them so nobody goes into cages so they can move around and they can drink water and they can go to the litter box and that kind of thing is not in a three by four kind of area.
You're trying to reduce the number that you have on hand so you're here to say they're up for adoption right?
They're up for adoption and we have a lot of nice cats to choose
to come and visit and see how they match with your personality.
And you have pictures available online, do you, for the cats?
We do.
Through all of this, we lost some control over what we could put online, and now we're getting that back.
So there is a Facebook now.
Our website isn't up yet.
Yeah, so Facebook is probably the best place to see the pictures of our cats.
And do you have open hours during the week?
We're there.
You're always there.
Well, not always there.
But if you give us a call, we will be there.
OK.
We have not stabilized enough to actually have regular hours that were open.
But we're completely easy to contact.
And we'd love to work with you.
And if you want to volunteer, give us a call.
We'll walk you through and see if this is the right place for you.
So we're heading in new directions and more stable directions, I think.
You talked a little bit about our fundraising.
One of the things that we've done from the very beginning is look for opportunities for investment.
So if there's funds, we do investment.
invest them, they grow, and I think that we have some stability behind us, so if the economy erber falters, we're there, we can keep on supporting the cats for a while.
They talked about TNR, that's an important program.
That's something we can't really do successfully without the community's involvement, so they understand what it is and what it means for them, because it takes the whole community to help with that, it's not just us.
TNR is Trap, Neuter,
and release.
We can't keep those cats in the shelter because they don't really belong in the shelter.
They're not healthy there.
So it's just a piece of where we're going.
We see bright things in the future.
Great.
Terry, what would you like to see in the future as far as goals for Okuch?
Well, we obviously need to get down to a reasonable level and we're working with these organizations to determine what exactly that is.
We're thinking around 60 cats.
The shelter was built for 80, including the infiltration system, our isolation room, so on and so forth.
So at 200 plus cats, we just couldn't maintain a healthy environment.
So to get back to that healthy environment, implement some unified standards and policies that we could all agree on and continue with a legitimate shelter.
I would like to say, though, too, we do need volunteers.
There's rumors out there that we're not accepting everybody.
And that's true.
We have had a lot of negative interactions, some pretty drastic stuff.
So we are going to be selective.
We have to be selective because of the repercussions we have faced.
But we're open for volunteers.
fill out an application, come talk to us.
The other thing that we lost in this process is who our fosters are.
So if the fosters could reach out to us to let us know who you are, what you need, so on and so forth, and with the past volunteers that are willing, ready and willing to move ahead with our mission.
So, the main thing you want to say today, Diane, is Okucha's alive and well.
Well, we're alive and going.
We're kicking anyway.
We're
going, okay.
Yeah, kicking, yep.
We do have an email address, which is the OMHS2026AM at gmail.com, where they could email us.
Or we do have a new phone number now, and it is 608.
475-9964.
And they can call, leave a message on our phone too, if we're not able to answer.
And then of course the new Facebook page, if you search for O'Cooch Mountain Humane Society, you'll see the new Facebook page.
We are trying to get more pictures of our kitties out there.
And I myself is not real savvy with Facebook, so
I struggle with the use of that, but we do have another person that is working with us to get the Facebook out there better and more noticeable for people.
So we do, you know, advise people to search for that new Facebook page and look us up, yes.
And we appreciate, you know,
comments from people you know and course positive ones are always better for us but we can always we're open for improvements you know we're all volunteers too so you know if you've got some suggestions or ideas we would welcome them you know these cats need all opportunities possible for them so we you know
You know, we would really like to get to know the people or, you know, the new volunteers or adopters or the fosters and communicate with them the best we can.
And we're not trying to stay hidden or back.
It's just that we're being cautious about the next steps to make sure we're going in a good direction for everybody and for the cats mostly.
Yes.
location.
I don't know if we talked about that where you're located at.
We are located up on Carson Street and then we have the sanctuary which is what we call in the back of the building which is called Hazeltine Street.
We're right next to the roller rink if everybody kind of knows where that is.
So if you go up Hazeltine Street we're just basically across the street from the town hall and it's you know it's kind of at the end of the road there at the top so.
Then we've used the term foster.
What is being a foster entail if you'd like to somebody who would like to be interested in that?
Well, basically old coach would provide you know the the food the medical care You know the food for the for the cat or for the dog Information and that type and the foster would provide the love
for the animal and while the animal is being advertised and then of course a foster is very valuable because they can see, because they're around the animal all the time, they will see the personality of the animal, they will know what their character is like.
And with dogs, of course, that's, are they good on a leash?
Are they good with other animals?
Are they good with cats?
Do they need to be an only dog?
And what are their requirements and their needs?
And that helps us, of course, find a good fit for that dog or cat when they are adopted
out.
And so people can come and take a look, as we mentioned, make an appointment.
That's probably the next step.
That would be great.
As a foster, I could see you getting attached though, I think sometimes.
That is what we hear a lot.
We're like, oh my, I don't think I could do
that
because I would want to keep that cat or that dog.
We do hear that a lot.
But if you look at the bigger picture and you realize that, you know, that you're providing a safe, warm, loving environment until the animal can be permanently placed, you know, then that makes you feel good too.
I bet.
Linda, it must take quite a while to feed that many cats, doesn't it?
I don't think you want to know.
Feeding is okay.
It's the scooping that gets.
Oh,
okay.
Right, Diana?
Yeah.
Scooping that takes, you get a good workout.
I
bet.
Right.
But you're pleased.
You get all the cats coming around your feet.
They all want the food.
It's kind of fun.
Their tails are up in the air.
Oh, sure.
Before we close, I'd just like to say that Okuch is bigger than any one person.
It takes decades of volunteers, of donors, adopters, fosters.
Veterinary partners can you guys think I think oh community members yes all who care deeply about animals And that's who we are as the board.
We're just part of the community Trying to do good for animals
Yeah, most definitely all the mics are open anything that any of you would like to add about What's been said maybe looking ahead you just want to spin this into a positive thing,
right?
Oh, we're excited about what can come ahead
We are learning all kinds of new things from our partners that were national partners.
It's very exciting.
They're excited for us.
And that makes your heart feel really
good.
For national partners, do you have to go out and search them or do they look for you?
Well, you know,
we have some national organizations that do this kind of work with the federation.
Well, the ASPCA is national and they are well connected with the UW shelter management program.
So we're very fortunate in this state.
So once we make contact with them, this whole thing just opened up.
So it's just making the right contacts.
networking within this network to get the people here who's expertise we
need.
There's no limit what we can do for this community.
They have been very helpful with us and given us lots of ideas and options.
helping us guide us in the right direction for these cats.
I mean they're looking at the behaviors and the socials and so it helps us to understand better too what is needed for these cats.
So they have been wonderful, they've been a wealth of information for us and we are continuing to work with
them.
Here's the thing sometimes you learn a little about yourselves and you turn it into a positive, right?
Correct.
Kind of what you're looking at doing.
Good.
Well, it's been a pleasure to have you in the studio
today.
Thank
you for having us.
Thank you for having us, Bill.
Keep us posted.