Shows›WRCO Morning Show›Ithaca Schools›Transcript

Transcript

Ithaca Schools

WRCO Morning Show · Tue Jul 21, 2026

you

Good morning.

Good to be back with you in the morning show studios with us.

And today we have Paul Coonan, who has just recently been hired as superintendent for Ithaca schools.

Paul, good to see you again.

tell you what, it's great to be back here.

You know, I've been a part of the community over the past few years and you've been involved in a number of things that we've seen each other.

But in this role, I'm really excited to be back.

I can tell.

Yeah, it's hard, right?

So you actually were retired for a little while, weren't you?

I was.

I was the principal at Ithaca from 2014 to 2018.

In 2014, my son graduated.

We were living up in Hayward.

And I said to Angie, my wife, I said, hey, listen, let's let's go somewhere where

You know what people are grounded a smaller community probably a farming community where there's a little bit more peace and and it can just really enjoy the community in All of my career, you know up to you know, I came to Ithaca I'd been in a number of school districts for various reasons life different You know gives you different things and you maybe have a tech ed job here I was a tech ed teacher and tech a job teacher there and then I went into administration some changes Ithaca was the only community

in all the places that I had been that really made me feel welcome.

Like I was part of the community.

And when I ended up leaving for some personal and professional reasons in 2018, went back in the classroom and taught, I stayed here.

And Angie stayed here.

We love this community and the area and Ithaca and Angie works at the hospital.

And I drove one way an hour and a half each day for four years.

So three hours total windshield time back and forth to lacrosse district so we could stay here and continue to be part of this wonderful place.

That's

awesome.

It's no secret that, you know, maybe the last school year didn't go as well as planned.

And I think that that bothered you a little

bit.

You know, it really did feel that's a great way of putting it.

And I wanted to I wanted to help.

And the school board was committed to, you know, making some changes and, and, um, you know, correcting some things.

And, um, they had some new school board members that came on, Steve Lewis, who had been a previous school board.

Matter of fact, Mr. Lewis hired me as principal in 2014.

He was one of the people on the board at the time then.

And, uh, he was, he, he, uh, came back and, and, uh, got on the school board and wonderful person to work with.

And Steve has been very instrumental in me coming back.

And I really appreciate.

the opportunity to make, you know, Ithaca, you know, a great place.

Changes.

You're going to be looking at some of those.

I know you only been on the job for a little while yet, but I'm guessing you have kind of a plan in mind.

Yeah.

You know, I mean, one of the big things that I really am a strong promoter of is the power of positive thought, positive thinking, the way you treat people, the way that you work with people, your general attitude.

You know, I always feel like, you know, sometimes life's tough.

I always tell kids, listen, I said, life is hard enough.

Try doing it without an education.

it's really tough.

So I really encourage kids to finish school and finish their education and take it seriously and that sort of thing.

But along with that, have a positive attitude.

And as long as we've got to go through all this, and sometimes it's not the most exciting, why don't we put a smile on our face and enjoy ourselves a little bit and spread that cheer because whether people realize it or not, being happy and having a positive attitude is contagious.

Unfortunately, so is negativity.

So I want to lean towards the positivity

and get people fired up about being there, the kids fired up.

We got a couple of kids that are working there right now in the summer.

They're wonderful young men and I tell you what, I am really excited about working with those boys.

They're students is what I'm talking about.

And those two guys that are working with us right now, really impressed with.

And that's what Ithaca's got to offer is good people.

enrollment was real strong when you were there before and in the teens.

But, you know, education and things have changed a little bit since you were there.

Yeah, it really has, you know, between the pandemic and and just different changes in education and in schools and stuff like that.

It has it has changed quite a bit.

And in the four years that I was retired from then till now, it's changed.

And it comes with its struggles and that sort of thing.

We're trying to find staff people, and that's not always the easiest thing to do right now.

And we're looking at creative ways to fill our positions with high quality educators.

And I think that leads us to, you're looking at some hiring, right?

You've got a

few.

Yeah, we do have some positions open.

We're looking, we actually just offered our tech ed position to a local gentleman.

We're hoping that he accepts.

And we can move on from there, but we were looking for a math teacher, a science teacher.

I talked to a local gentleman yesterday.

and who can actually teach either or.

And I really hope he comes.

He's a high quality person from the community wants to be here.

And I believe he's the right person for one of those positions.

So we're hoping that he's listening today and takes the hint and says, yep, I'm in.

But we also are looking for a special ed teacher part time and a elementary music teacher part time.

And ideally, we would find a special ed teacher who is

Musically inclined so we could you know really kind of double do it that would definitely not be me I got a hard time holding a holding a rhythm there

I know that you've had a good relationship with Weston and that is that's only improved.

Molly Caston is a regular guest in our program as well.

Are you looking at maybe sharing some services

in the future?

You know, before I talk about that, I missed one position this Wednesday and Thursday.

I'm really excited.

We're looking at interviewing our principals position.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, we've got some real high quality candidates and I had a conversation last weekend that is really encouraging.

So we're hoping that we can we can

head down a real positive road in that position as well.

But yeah, I met with Molly Cassinup in Weston yesterday and had a fantastic conversation.

I'm really, I'm really excited about the future with Ithaca, but also there are neighbors and, you know, getting along with your neighbors is important.

When I'm gone, I hope that my neighbor keeps an eye on my house.

Just like with Weston, you know, we're both small schools.

We're trying to make ends meet.

We're trying to find teachers.

We're trying to do all these things that, you know,

larger districts is a little bit easier.

And I've been in larger districts, and I've seen it a little bit easier, but Molly and I had a great conversation yesterday, and we're both on board with working together, possibly sharing some services.

Maybe, let's say they had a part-time music teacher that could come down and teach part-time with us or something like that, where we can offer a full-time position to a person, which is better for them, and then we're able to get the services that we need within staying in their budget.

Yeah.

The whole subject of, uh, you know, school funding, and we've talked about that a lot in the program, but I think you're going to have to start thinking outside the box a little bit on all the small schools.

Oh yeah.

And, you know, and part of the way that, that it has done that is they've offered some services for the young kids.

Uh, we have a wraparound program where if kids are in 4k and they, and they go to school in the morning in the afternoon, mom and dad might be at work.

So where do they go?

You know, and so without having to cost the family.

extra money for daycare or drive and go pick them up or have the bus pick them up.

We keep them there at school.

We have a paraprofessional that takes care of those kids, and they can stay in the school environment and help keep that learning process going.

But we also offer it the other way.

So if they're in the afternoon, they can come and stay in the morning.

If they're in the morning, they come and stay in the afternoon, as well as we have some before and after daycare.

And right now, it's really reasonably priced.

It's $4 an hour.

And that's for any community.

Remember, not just Ithaca people, but anybody in the community.

We're kind of hoping that maybe we might be able to figure out a way how to just make it free.

We're really hoping that that can be but what a great service, you know and and from what I understand last year we had a person coming in that was they're really early like before you know like 5-ish in the morning so that it would help the family be able to get the kids to school and they could go about their job and you know and and have a peace of mind those kids are being taken care of they're getting to school they're getting something to eat.

You know, what a great thing for them to do.

Yeah, I

mean, they care.

That's another thing that's kind of been in crisis too, you know, for working families.

Yeah, it's pretty tough.

So if we can offer some of that wrapped around the school day between our wrap around and our before and after that can really help some families out.

How was the summer

food program going, Paul?

I was, you know, yesterday I walked into school and I went into the office and I said, there's 4,000 gallons of milk being delivered.

What's all that for?

That wasn't 400 or 4,000, but it was 310 gallons.

Cause we've got our summer food program going on right now.

And our pickup is from seven to 130, I believe.

Uh-oh.

believe that's on Thursday don't oh my gosh I hope I don't have that wrong I believe that's right yes I think so I've got so many notes here that it's hard to keep it all straight a little bit here but yeah 310 students and it's open from 7 to 130

But some people work, maybe two or three or whatever like that.

There's a phone number you can call.

There's a note on the door.

You can call the number.

You can schedule at a different time.

Or even if you just come in the office, let one of us know it will help you out.

Usually there's something in the office till 3.34 o'clock.

That's been a huge success, I think.

Oh, it absolutely has.

I mean, I was amazed.

I walked in.

couple weeks ago and there was all these bins in the commons area and food and stuff like that and I'm looking at it go holy man you know and I kind of understood what it was for but what a great service you know and also they've got the second harvest food program that's anybody that needs food and that's not you know anybody that's anybody

you know, and they have a drop off point.

And if you need more information on that, there's a website you can go to.

It's second harvest SW.

I'm guessing that's Southern Wisconsin or Southwest.org.

So second harvest SW.org.

And they deliver on the third Thursday of each month.

I think the next date is the 20th of August.

And it's really kind of neat because they drop off all this food and anybody can pick it up.

What a wonderful thing.

In the past, we've had some construction going on, which we'll talk about here in a minute, but we've got the construction is getting near completion.

Matter of fact, they told us that the blacktop is going in tomorrow, so that's going to be really neat.

The concrete around the school is done.

The blacktop is getting done tomorrow.

So in the past, we were having people go to the North parking lot to pick up their food for the second harvest program.

Well, we should be able to go back to the bus garage.

So look for that.

If you're going to come and pick up on August 20th, which is the third Thursday of the month, look to the bus garage for that.

that the only construction update then?

Or are there some other things to be?

Well,

Besides that, you know, right now we had a lot of construction torn up in the parking lot or not the parking lot, but the parking area that's to the south of the school by the ball diamond and that sort of area that where it goes out on back on highway 58.

A lot of construction there with digging up and that sort of thing, but.

That's getting finished up.

But other than that, really, we just, you know, some maintenance things.

We had a little issue with the waterline that we're getting taken care of.

Frank, our head maintenance guy, he's all over that.

He is on Johnny on the spot.

He's doing a great job there.

And we are plugging away, spiffing the place up.

I went down to the new wing, which I still call the new wing because it was new the first year I was at Ithaca.

elementary down there, it looks gorgeous.

It looks like the day we started putting kids in, you know.

what 12 years ago.

It looks great.

Those folks, those young gentlemen that are here from school plus the other staff or maintenance staff are doing a fantastic job.

They're working their tail ends off.

And when it was hot, they were still working their tail ends off.

I felt so bad for them.

It was a bad I was I just felt I felt a little guilty because I don't do well in heat and they were just working their tail ends off and the school's not air conditioned.

So it was and it looks beautiful.

It looks like it's brand new.

That's good to

hear.

wanted to make a quick correction.

I guess the summer food pickup is on Wednesday.

Oh, thank you

very much.

It's on Wednesday.

See, I had too many, I had too many notes down Wednesday.

Sorry about that.

And I was confusing it because Russell centers, I believe is Thursday.

Wednesday is the Ithaca.

I was just confused cause I'm a little bit new right now.

Well, yeah, I was going to say you've

not been long

on the

job and then you get thrown into the start of the school year and you have one of the earliest Ithaca fairs

that it

can be.

It's a very early.

this year, isn't

it?

Yes.

Matter of fact, it's the week of September 14th through the 18th, and it will be culminating with the fair, which is September 19th.

But there's some new stuff going on this year.

For starters, we're having, well, the new thing this year is we're having a Friday night block party.

And this year's theme is SIRS UP.

So, you know, break out the Hawaiian shirts and, you know, the flip-flops and the shorts.

I'm excited about that.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

And you know what is really interesting because when I left, that was one of the things I really kind of missed because what a, what a sense of community that Ithaca has with that fair.

It's amazing.

You know, and I remember the one year I was, I don't know what I was doing, but I was driving down highway 58 after I retired and the fair was on.

and the parade was on and I kind of sat there like a kid looking in the window of a candy store like oh I kind of miss that you know what a neat neat thing and they were having the parade and you know highway 58 was was shut down I had to just kind of go around it wasn't a big deal but you know what a what a neat thing so there's some new things going on there's some things that are you know that have been going on the the bulldog block race

Going again this year.

That's 7 a.m.

On the fair day the by the way the the block parties on Friday night One of the things is that they had the beanbag tournament last year.

That's gonna be in its second year They're having a volleyball tournament.

I went and checked out the sand the other day in the sand I was like wow if we need to get a load of sand.

We might have to get a load of sand.

It looks great

It looks like we just got to pull up the net a little bit and it'll be wonderful.

So you have sand volleyball.

Yes.

Okay.

Yes.

I remember playing sand volleyball when I was high school or not high school in college.

What a blast that was.

I know.

I'm not going to get out there because I got to replace me and probably, you know, a few pounds and that sort of thing.

But I'm really looking forward to some of those.

The most kids, those alumni getting out there and playing volleyball.

I think that would be fantastic.

So there's not a teacher team at this point.

Oh, well, that's a good suggestion.

I like your the way you're thinking.

I will not be on that.

OK, you can coach.

Yeah.

Perfect.

I'll be your coach.

But we got the block party going on, but Saturday morning is the Bulldog block race.

I think that's pretty neat.

That's new since I've been gone.

And it's sponsored by the Ithaca School Foundation.

And what they do is they raise funds for projects around the school.

And a perfect example is that if you've gone by the school, you see the new digital sign out there.

It's very nice.

Oh my god.

You know what?

Every day I pull in, and not every, I mean,

for the last week and a half I pull in there or last couple weeks I pull in and I look at the clarity, the color.

It's really nice and thank you to all the people that helped do that to make it happen.

But what a neat, neat thing and a great addition to our school and to kind of, you know, because if the school's kind of set off the highway a little bit and it kind of draws people.

you know, make some look at the school and stuff like that.

And we have a really nice facility.

So why not have people look at it?

The cost for that is going to be $25 per person, age 11 and up, 10 and under are free, and you get a t-shirt, a swag bag, you get entered in a raffle for a prize drawing, and we just thank you to all the donations that are so, we're so thankful for the things that they can do, the foundation, they just are involved in a lot of things, and that's part of that Ithaca pride.

That's part of what makes Ithaca special.

And it is special.

Courtney Urban is our organizer for the event.

So if you need to get a hold of her, hopefully we can get you in touch with her.

So that's one of the big things.

The mascot races are before the football game.

I believe the football game is at 130.

And we have the Hall of Fame nominations.

I'm excited to see that too.

I've never seen that before at another school.

What a neat program that is.

Looking at the the case there where all the the people are and remembering all the the people that I knew and the neat things that they've done and that sort of thing So we're really excited about that the fair of course is on Saturday There's not a whole lot changes all there's a new category.

I Was able to get them.

I shouldn't say get them the new they offered a new category for the fair.

I'm bringing pheasants

Pheasants pheasants.

Yeah, so he started your own category.

I did hopefully they will well at least they offered it I hope they were serious about it as

As you know, and as many people know, my wife Angie and I raised and trained German shorthair pointers.

We got a little kennel business, kind of unofficial, but we raised bird dogs.

And well, it takes birds to make a bird dog.

And so I've got some pheasants.

So I think I'm going to bring a couple of my pheasants and show them off at the fair.

So I got a couple of them off the side.

And hopefully those tail feathers are getting real nice and long.

And I want to be able to put my name and maybe

Just maybe even get a blue ribbon.

Yeah.

Well, if you're the only one in the category, maybe for sure.

Speaking of only one in the category, I joke about this, but years ago when we did Chrome for Kids fundraiser to fund the purchase of Chromebooks for all the kids.

We had Chrome for Kids, and Adam Hess and I did commercials and stuff like that.

And if you remember, I did an interview with the Swedish chef.

Oh, we had a lot of fun with that.

But one of the things that I constantly bring up with the school board is I was the only principal in the history of Ithaca that won a tractor pull trophy.

I won my class.

Now, there was only one other person and they got disqualified, but I still got the trophy and I'm still willing to show it off.

Now that was pedal pull?

No, that was the

real McCoy.

I didn't know that.

Oh, yes, yes.

What kind of tractor did you pull with?

I'm sorry to forget who I got it from, but I think it was an international.

Oh, okay.

You borrowed

one.

I did.

I did borrow one.

Yeah, my little LS tractor wouldn't fare well.

No, I'm not going to

do that.

Well, yeah, I would guess that would be one of the only times a principal has won that event.

Yes.

Paul Coonan, who is the new superintendent at Ithaca Schools, our guest on the morning show, will take time out and be right back.

Today we put the spotlight on Ithaca schools.

Paul Coonan, who is the new superintendent joins us in the studio to talk about the start of the school year, which doesn't seem possible, but we're not too far away.

Are we?

No, it's, it's kind of right around the corner, whether you believe it or not.

I believe, I think it's August 4th, you know, sports starts, you know, and we'll get football and volleyball started.

I'm really looking forward to that.

I really enjoyed, I've always enjoyed football.

My, I played football in high school.

My dad was a coach.

Really.

I've always enjoyed football.

And

And then really, you know, in college played a lot of volleyball.

I told this, the sand volleyball.

And so then when I, when I became a teacher many years ago, I was kind of keen on volleyball.

I really enjoyed that sport.

And the more you learn about it, it's kind of, you know, volleyball is, is a.

is a neat sport.

It's a fun sport.

So many people can play it, even me.

And it's really enjoyable and it is very competitive, you know, and there's been a lot of success in Wisconsin, the Badgers and, you know, just it's been a neat sport to watch.

It has been.

This will be the first year that Ithaca and Weston are combined for football.

This is the 11 player football.

So Weston comes back to 11 player football.

But I know both communities are excited

about it.

Yeah, we're really excited.

about it and you know there's always going to be some growing pains with that you know whether it's travel or stuff like that but even with my conversation with Molly Casting yesterday we talked about that that you know if if we don't have it you know we get a hold of them they don't have it they get a hold of us and hopefully between the school the two schools we have everything covered and you know using the resources that each school has you know whether it's our buses or their service you know we're gonna work those things out and make sure that our kids get to get

games and they have a, you know, they have a positive experience.

Are you planning a back to school night or an open house night?

We do have the open house night.

Oh, Phil.

Well, you'll be back next month.

Yeah, I'll be back next month.

Talk about that.

You kind of caught me off spot.

But yes, we are going to have that.

And I'm hoping to have kind of come and meet me night.

We're still looking for a date for that.

When I came here 12 years ago at a football game, I had a tailgate party sort of thing.

And we invited anybody that wanted to come and meet the new principal at the time.

And my wife, Angie, was there.

And we cooked and had food for people.

And Mick Hips donated a bunch of corn.

and a bunch of the school board members came down and cooked for them.

And that's part of that welcoming me into the community.

You know, I was just fresh on the job, school hadn't even started and these folks are coming out of the woodwork and they're donating time and resources and brought down like a truckload of corn and stuff like that.

It was phenomenal.

You wanna make someone feel welcome?

You know, do that sort of stuff.

It was wonderful.

And it was just a really neat experience for me.

And so then,

Coming back now, I wanted to have an opportunity where people could come in and meet me and see who their new superintendent is.

And I want to be approachable.

If someone has an issue or whatever, come and talk to me.

I want them to feel like they can have their voice heard.

That they can come in they can talk about their concerns or come and talk about the good things that they're really fired up about those are some great conversations and I want people to know who I am and Know that they can come and talk to me So I'm looking for a date for that right now But I'm I might have it like during a volleyball game where I'm I'm available there at school and we'll do something so that you know Everybody feels comfortable coming up and talking to me because I do want to meet because there's a lot of new people.

There's a lot of old familiar faces

and the kids have been, you know, just not last year, but the year before I actually subbed for Melissa Sprecher and Zach Tomey in the high school.

And, you know, there was kids that were there when I was there.

And, you know, kind of see those kids again and rekindle those memories was really kind of neat.

And I even had a student come up to me when I was there at that time who was

like a first grader or a 4k student when I first came.

And those kids would come up and they'd give you a hug.

They'd like, I'm not very tall, but they would hug my leg.

Like, you know, they were short and they would hug my leg.

This, this student came up and gave me a hug and said, oh, Mr. Coon, it's good to see you.

Those relationships that I built, it was really neat to see that they were very positive with those kids that they remembered.

And there's still a good number of kids, especially at the high school level that

were here when I was here and I'm hoping that they believe.

I'm hoping that the families believe.

I'm hoping that the community believes in their school and in me and that it's gonna be a great place.

Ithaca has always had such a wonderful reputation and last year was a tough year and I know that.

we're headed in the right direction.

We're in good shape.

And your hours you're going to be at the school most days?

Yeah, I'm planning on being at the school.

You know, I mean, all the time, you know, I like going to events.

I want to be at as many events as possible.

I do have a personal life.

So I've got to make sure that the dogs are fed and all that sort of thing.

And Angie and I have some commitments and that sort of thing.

But, you know, I've kind of taken on that my life is the school now for the next few years to

you know, do that again.

And really, quite frankly, it's always been a goal of mine, not to be a superintendent, but to be a superintendent at Ithaca.

In 2000, I believe it was 16, I went back to school to be a superintendent when I was a principal at Ithaca, not because I wanted to move on, but because I wanted to be a superintendent at Ithaca.

When that didn't work out, I continued and finished my school and I never,

I never went anywhere else that I finished my career as a teacher and said well I guess and it was always kind of in the back of my mind like I had a little unfinished business I want I always said I wanted to retire from Ithaca now I retired but I might be able to re retire

you know, from Ithaca down the road, a piece after, you know, we got things, the things going good again and it's a great place.

So in other words, if another school would have come calling it, you might

not.

No, I have no interest.

I have no interest.

I might not be like Peg Durkin and bleed purple, you know, or some of these other people from Ithaca that bleed purple.

But, but I am a believer.

Like I said, they made me feel so welcome, you know, years ago and into this day.

To this very day, I have maintained friendships with a number of people from Ithaca and really enjoy those.

It sounds like open enrollment is still open for area schools.

Yeah, yeah, we've got alternative open enrollment now.

They get a form online, but they get filled out and they can bring it in.

We had some students that left.

We would just, we would love for those students

To come back we really we have a number of them that were kind of indifferent about things But there's a number of them also that that know that mr. Coonan is a straight shooter and that and that he's a positive person and he tries his hardest to make a You know it a great place because you know it is a great day to be a bulldog every single day but We really invite those students giving us another chance.

I don't think you'll be disappointed

free and reduced lunch you want to speak about

that yeah i wanted to talk about that a little bit uh... we uh... we really encourage people uh... to come in and apply for free and reduced lunch uh... it really i can't tell you how much it helps out helps us out for funding funding the food uh... service program and that sort of thing uh... it really just really helps a lot and you know i i know that sometimes that can be hard to do but uh... it

it's a great thing to do because you help your kids, you help other kids, you help the school with funding, that sort of things, as well as riding the bus.

You know, we encourage kids to ride the bus.

You don't have to ride it every day, but you know, ride the bus and it helps us with funding, which helps us

provide services, whether it's bus drivers or people that help maintain the buses or so that they can go on sporting events or whatever like that, it just helps us.

And I know there's a lot of kids that drive and drive into schools, a neat thing and it's kind of that right of passage that they do.

And I get that, but if you can ride the bus, and like I said, not every day, but

right bus um now and then or whenever you can and and it really will help us because we can count those kids and and and it helps us with grants it helps us with funding and it really does help the district in general.

I presume that parents can be looking for the bus times and roots and things like that before too long.

Yeah, that'll be coming down the pipe here, especially when we hit August 1st and things start really happening.

As a matter of fact, we have online registration will open up as of August 1st.

That'll be open so you can register your student online.

Once school hits, then we usually like for you to come in so we can show you around and that sort of thing.

that, you know, and that's August and that, you know, it's the 21st today, you know, so we're right around the corner is August and once August hits.

It starts to happen and start coming back and getting involved in things.

Yeah.

The first of August is a week from Saturday already.

So that's

hard to believe.

It really is.

I'm having a hard time keeping track of the days.

You know how they say about retired folks, you know, keeping track of the days.

And now I'm like, okay, I know today's Tuesday, you know, no more, no more excuse of forgetting what day it is.

Can't do that.

It's going to

come back to

you.

Yes.

You came in this morning, Paul, uh, with a really nifty looking book bag.

Yeah.

This is an example.

We got a fantastic donation from Land O'Lakes Dairy.

Not 20 or 25 of these things.

96 of them they gave us.

They're fantastic.

And it's not just a book bag for kids.

And right now our goal is we're going to target

You know first through sixth grade and it basically is our first come first serve because you know some people have stuff some people they they bulk buy You know and they have stuff and that sort of thing But if before people go to Walmart or whatever and start buying pens and pencils come to school and get one of these book bags You know it's got all kinds of stuff in it not only the book bag

It's got pens, pencils, eraser.

It's got a little bag for the pens and pencils and eraser, that sort of thing.

It comes with a notebook, folders, calculator, ruler, scissors.

There's all kinds of things in there.

And it might not be everything, but it's a good start.

But yeah, we'll get one start, we get an August, we'll get the list up and the bus times and all that sort of thing.

But I believe the school day is gonna be the same times.

is in the past, really looking forward to seeing kids again.

And that backpack will be available in the school office?

Yes.

Somebody stops by.

Yeah, you come into the office and we'll hook you up and we've got them hidden in a very secretive place, math room, and we will make sure that you get a book bag for your student or students if you have multiple students.

Paul Kuhnen, Superintendent of Ithaca Schools, our guest.

Paul, I think one of the first focuses that you'll have too as you get back to it in August is you'll be working directly with the staff.

And maybe you could talk about some

of the things you'd

like to

maybe have

as a goal there.

Yeah.

Well, I tell you what, one of my goals in all honesty, when I first came to Ithaca, I coined the phrase, it's a great day to be a bulldog.

And when I,

I always used to love to do announcements every day.

My mother was the school secretary at my high school.

And she was just like the lady on grease, you know, with the big hairdo and the cat eye glasses.

That was my mom.

And she had her little xylophone and she would do that.

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

Good morning.

Welcome.

You know, and today's announcements are this.

So when I became the principal at Ithaca, the first thing I did

was I got my xylophone from my mom.

And I said, mom, can I have your xylophone?

And she said, yep, absolutely.

And so I would, every day when I was principal, I would do announcements.

And at the end of each day, and I think this is really important, I would encourage and I encourage every student, parent, worker, staff member, I don't care who you are, if you're in those walls and I'm reading announcement and said the announcements every day, I'm going to say, and it's a great day to be a bulldog.

And I mean that.

I really mean that.

I want them to cheer it.

If that means you're loud, well, then we're gonna be loud.

You know, everybody always talks about, you gotta be quiet in school.

It's not, you know, it's okay to get fired up.

I get fired up.

You know, loud and proud.

It's a great day to be a bulldog.

And I remember going down to the elementary one day because for some reason I couldn't do announcements.

and whoever did the announcements they followed suit with that same enthusiasm and the elementary level sounded like it was just a cathedral just the yelling of kids it's a great day to be a bulldog they said it's so loud and proud and that positive attitude that positive energy is infectious and i want that again i'm excited about that again it's not just a saying we throw on a piece of paper or a t-shirt or whatever like that it's a way

to approach education and school every day.

And if you like being there, you enjoy being there.

Being there is fun.

You're gonna do better.

Kids are gonna do better.

I remember when I did a little state testing, I told him, I said, all right, I'm giving you all a smart pill.

That was a mint, you know?

But it gave him the, I said, this little smart pill here, which was a mint, is your license to do well today.

on their testing.

And they like that, you know, and stuff like that.

That positive attitude just permeates everywhere and just will really help kids learn, teachers teach, everybody do a good job.

And hopefully it helps me lead because I can't stand being a negative person.

I'm not going to be.

What notes do you play on the xylophone, by the

way?

Oh, I don't know.

I don't have to get it out and practice.

My mom, my mom actually passed in 2018.

And when I, when I left Ithaca, I had that xylophone and I just, you know, obviously I couldn't get rid of it.

It was just a memory of my mother.

And for me to be able to, I knew exactly where it was in my basement in the box.

and it's in my truck right now.

You want me to go get it?

I'll play for you right now, Phil.

I'm in.

Maybe next time.

Okay, I'll bring it next time.

I'll bring it next time.

We can start off the show like that.

But yeah, and so I want to do announcements every day.

So I want to be there every day.

And it's important for people to know that you care and be in there, you know, shows you care.

And it's part of doing a good job.

And I want to do a good job.

And I want,

Ithaca to be proud of our school and the job that I've done and the job the teachers do and the job the kids do.

And I'm really looking forward to seeing the smiles everywhere.

The

future of small schools, that's been discussed a lot lately.

How do you see it?

What are some things that you think that small schools can do to survive basically?

Oh my goodness.

You know, I had a conversation with a good friend of mine and we were kind of brainstorming ideas for my opening speech when I invite the staff back.

And he and I talked about it and that was one of the subjects we talked about.

And one of the things that

You know, I've been in large schools.

I've been in division one schools in Central Wisconsin in the Wausau area.

I was in a larger school.

Hey, we're doing a little bit larger school.

And I'm seeing some on Alaska.

I started my administrative career as the assistant principal at Onalaska High School.

And it's not always easy for larger schools to give personalized service.

To be able to go down the halls and say hi or good morning to kids,

by name, to have that real personal connection with your students, with your staff, where people feel valued.

Kids feel like, hey, I'm safe.

They know who I am.

They know my parents.

It isn't just a face.

It's a person.

It's part of a family.

That's part of our family, the Bulldog family.

And I really believe that

large schools may try to do that, it's just something that small schools thrive at.

We thrive at that, we thrive at getting to know our people and our kids and our families and our parents.

And it was really kind of interesting because all of a sudden when I came back, the flood of memories just came back and I saw people and I'm like, oh my gosh, I remember you, you know, you're so-and-so and so-and-so and how is your son,

you know, whoever doing and that sort of thing, what a neat, what a neat, neat thing to be able to rekindle those relationships.

And, and that doesn't, that I, I may not remember those families from some of those larger schools I've been in, but I remember them here because you got to know them.

Your relationships with your families and your kids and your staff are just a little bit more meaningful.

And we can offer some personalized service.

We have smaller class sizes.

We're a little bit more flexible with our scheduling and that sort of thing.

And I always tell people, hey listen, if you've got something special going on at home, it might not fit into the exact dimensions of how the school runs, let's say attendance or something like that.

Talk to us, we'll see what we can work out.

Where our door is always open.

And if there's a problem, come and see us.

And that doesn't always happen at those larger schools.

I just think that smaller schools in general have ability to do that.

And I remember so often when I was at Ithaca years ago, and I'm looking forward to doing this again, giving people tours, people that were looking to open and roll.

Give them a tour and say, hey, here's what we're going on.

Here's so-and-so.

Here's what's going on in this classroom.

Here's what's going on in that classroom.

And they may come in and they may have a special request.

Well, let's see how we can make that happen.

I'm open to that.

I like to think there's a little bit of flexibility in everything that we do so that we can meet the needs of our students and

our families.

Yeah, another thing is I think small schools kids can get involved in a lot of different things.

I mean, you know, maybe, maybe you're not an athlete, maybe, you know, math team or

whatever it

might be.

Those opportunities exist.

I think maybe you got a chance to be a star in a certain subject that maybe you couldn't have a bigger.

Yeah, excellent point.

You know, we have, we have a lot of activities too that are available for students to get involved in.

And like you said, you know, and here's the thing too, there might be kids that excel on the football field and the volleyball court on the basketball court.

on the wrestling mat, on the ball diamond, whatever that case be.

But then there's maybe that group of kids that, boy, you know what they excel at?

Quiz bowl or math league or whatever, you know, some sort of academic endeavor.

And one of the activities that I did years ago, which we'll probably try to fit in somewhere again too, is where we did like a scavenger hunt.

But that scavenger hunt involves all aspects of the school community and includes the kids that

Maybe aren't in sports, but are in those math leagues and stuff.

So it challenges everybody and it's a lot of fun.

So we'll, we'll see where we can fit that in.

Yeah.

You're just looking forward to getting the school year going.

It sounds

like I really am, but I've got some, I've got some teaching positions of Phil.

I'm really, um, when I get those, I'll be able to sleep.

I've been up since two o'clock this morning, trying to scratch my brain and figure things out and that sort of thing.

And preparing for this because I had to have my notes.

Uh, but, uh, yeah, I'm,

I'll feel better once we get those positions filled.

So if somebody knows of somebody and maybe are laying in the weeds and are willing to come and teach, might be a retired person or maybe that somebody just fresh out of college.

You know, I contacted some universities looking for teachers and even then they don't have many coming out.

You know, whereas years ago they would have many looking for jobs.

You know, now, you know, I'm saying, okay, who's coming, who's, you know, when are they done?

You know, maybe we can, you know, that sort of thing.

So we're, we're, we have.

very positive attitude about we're going to fill these positions.

But right now I'm still looking for folks.

So if you know somebody contact the school, ask for me personally.

I'll appreciate your call and we'll see what we can do.

We look forward to working with you.

And I know that as you mentioned, you're in it for a few years.

Yeah, I'm not going to just be like one and done or anything like that.

I want to I want to see this through.

I want to see us do some good things.

And I want to have a succession plan so that the people or the person that comes in and fills my shoes down the road, they understand.

They understand what a special place Ithaca is, what a special school it is, and they want to be here.

You know, I want to be here.

And I want somebody that comes in after me that hopefully I can work with, coach them up, coach them up in the Ithaca way in the Ithaca manner so that they understand how important this community is and how important the school is to the community and the community is important to the school because there's so many people that just from the community step up and do whatever they can for the school.

It's such a source of pride and that's part of that whole

that whole package of making people feel welcome and valued if you work there and if you teach there or if you're an administrator there or whatever.

It's just, it's a neat place.

Indeed.

And a good relationship is mentioned with the staff, the school board.

You'll be working hand in hand.

Yeah, I'm really excited about the school board.

You know, I used to go to school board meetings years ago and I didn't.

I didn't like know anybody or and I'm not talking about if I mean what at other schools if I didn't know anybody and they were you know this person and that person and they were kind of kind of often unattainable and our school board is very approachable.

They really care.

they care a lot.

And that they've they've showed me that and they show I think they've showed the community that that they care they they are headed in the right direction.

And Mr. Lewis coming on has been very helpful.

And like I said, he he's a friend of mine.

And I really appreciate his connection.

He helps me a lot tips me off the things.

Hey, you know, have you thought of this and stuff?

And he feels comfortable doing that, which I always encourage and I appreciate that.

But the school board

is very approachable, very approachable.

And I'm looking forward to working with them.

Great.

Well, we'll see you in August and you'll have more of your ducks in a row than a little bit.

Yeah, you know, ducks in a row, as far as, as far as where we're headed for the school year and that sort of thing.

And hopefully we have, have some of these positions filled and we can, you know, announce and on our Facebook page, we have some of the new folks that have already joined us.

Great.

Thanks for coming in today.

Hey, one last thing.

Don't anybody forget.

It's a great day to be a bulldog.

I knew that was coming.

Good way to end.

Paul Kuhn and who is the new superintendent for Ithaca Schools, our guest down today's morning show.