you
Good morning and welcome to our morning show visit today on WRC.
Oh, we have friends from Riverdale schools in to join us as Riverdale school district administrator Jeff Campbell is in with some friends.
Larry Swigam and Calico are here.
We'll talk about their roles at Riverdale and their programs and what they have going as well.
Well, happy summertime here, Jeff, but not for long, right?
Yeah, no, it's a.
It's quickly approaching.
I think when we left in June, we were like, we'll see each other in July.
The year had just wrapped up, and now we're late July, and things are getting real.
We're into the second session of summer school, so that's kind of the indication that it's getting closer.
It is.
You're kind of off the hit the ground running a little bit.
And I think it's, isn't there a dead week in here for the WIA and not scheduling anything for one week?
Yeah, there is.
It's next week.
Next week.
Yeah, it's our vacation time.
So we always look at that every year.
I got two boys heading into football now.
So it's like, that's the week that we finally have off to kind of go do some things.
So I think it's a good break for everybody before you kind of hit that start of August.
And I think football gets going that first week.
And then we have
you know, volleyball and cross-country will follow, I think, in the two weeks after, and they get rolling into their stuff.
So, but yeah, our kids have been busy.
The school buildings you think in the summer are quiet, but not down at Riverdale.
It's been a lot.
And Callie and Larry will talk about a number of things that have been going on in our programs this summer.
And there's kids around every day, you know, every day at Riverdale.
And we got the second session, which Larry will get into of our summer school off and running.
It's been a nice success.
Are you working on painting and
sprucing up things during the summertime?
We do.
Tim Redman and his staff, our custodial staff, work year round.
They just do a tremendous job.
They finished up our junior high high school early on in June, towards the end of June, finished up some.
touches.
We got a couple little things through some we're doing some lighting changes and stuff like that that kind of was needed at the junior high school, but not a whole lot of things there right now.
They finished up all the cleanup rooms and they move themselves in between the summer school sessions over the elementary trying to get some of those rooms done before summer school session two started and now continuing cleaning rooms that aren't in use for our summer school session two.
So those were kind of some of the things that they were busy with in both
buildings.
We've got a couple projects that should be starting here soon.
We've got a new storage shed, which I've talked about on a couple other shows that work
Finally got some of the final approval and paperwork and that some of those projects take a little time to get approved We're hoping to have a little bit further on it before the start of the school year, but we'll we'll finish it up in timely manner and So that should be starting soon here towards the middle of August We should be able to start pouring concrete and start putting bids out for the construction part of the shed here in August too So that's been that's been one of the big ones.
We also have another big one that a parent group kind of spearheaded in our community
pretty excited about it.
We had a parent group that kind of wanted to update our res gym with a video board that we're able to use for a number of different activities now.
We can play videos in that through there.
We use it a lot at our elementary junior high events and then also during our sporting events, obviously.
So we're in the process right now.
This was this parent group did fundraising with the help of our local businesses and
and area businesses, not just in Muske, but in the entire area, and helped raise the money for this new video board that will go up.
We're hoping to have it installed by September for the first volleyball match, I think, which is September 10th.
And then with that, we're looking at installing new scoreboards too with the fundraising that they have done.
So just a tremendous job by our community and some of our parents of banding together and helping out when budgets, those kind
of things aren't necessarily in our budgets right now as we kind of work through our project list that we have from the last couple years.
So it was really nice to see the community come together and and support and I think it's going to be a great addition to our elementary gym which is our main athletic gym through the school year.
You mentioned some of the applications for the new board that you have.
You can show pictures of some of the athletes and do some things like that.
Yeah we are.
It'd be a little bit of learning crew with the program but
But I know the group went and visited Bosqueville, which recently put one in.
It's going to be very similar to theirs.
Talked with Minerva Point who had one similar to them.
But they've been big helps.
Those two schools have been and just kind of given us information.
And when I say us, not really me, they spearheaded the program.
And I just can't say enough of the work that they put in to do that.
And met with them the other day to get an update on it.
Now we're working with the technical side of things to make sure we're ready for the install.
And yeah, the things you can do with it,
it sounds endless really with the program and the technology we have now.
And so it'll take a little bit to get it to the point that we wanted and how we're gonna use it, but I think it's gonna, we'll showcase at the volleyball time and then we'll roll right into the basketball season with it and we'll use it for a number of elementary events, number of our programs have different events in the gym, which we'll be able to use it for in graduation.
We've done a pulldown screen for a number of years, we'll be able to feed it through this board now, which will be clearer for everybody and I know our skits
at homecoming should be a little clearer.
Sometimes the sound in that gets a little difficult, but this should help that out a little bit.
And we'll have the sponsorship boards around the outside so people are gonna know who those people were that contributed to this project.
So we're excited about it.
With the scoreboards going in, I'm guessing there's thought about the new shot clocks, which are going to be implemented for sure.
So I'm guessing they'll be added on somewhere along the line too, right?
Yeah, they'll have to.
We're waiting for the final vote from the WIA with the membership in April.
So once that vote is, we'll know for sure whether it's a goal or not.
So we're kind of holding off on that when I was meeting with the people for the scoreboards.
They talked a little bit about that.
We're a little hesitant because there's not really guidelines of where it has to be yet.
Um, and I know I talked to Larry a little bit about it and it's like, uh, in time, that's probably going to happen.
I see it happening in time and that will be another, uh, costing that we'll have to work around, but we'll, we'll find a way to make it work.
And, um, you know, so that we get that in there.
So we're compliant with what the WIA asked of us.
So yeah, just another step forward in the, in, in stuff that they're trying to move forward in the, in the world of sports.
Yeah.
Very cool.
Larry is here.
We'll let him comment on that shot clock.
Uh, yay or nay on that, Larry.
You know, with Minnesota and Illinois already implementing it, it's probably needed, I think.
It's going to change the style.
I know this summer we've played in multiple tournaments where we've played teams from Illinois and from Minnesota.
And we played at the turbo, actually, in one of the Illinois teams.
We were up
Six points with three and a half minutes left and they forgot that we didn't use a score a shot clock so we kind of milked down two minutes before they realize.
Oh man we gotta actually get up and play some d right now so i think it's a positive thing overall.
But I also understand the idea that, you know, a lot of school districts, it's going to be a strain.
Who's going to run the, the shot clock, who's going to do those things, the costs.
It sounds like it's a, you know, three to $4,000 per shot clock.
So I understand the resistance there as well.
I think it will make for a better overall game
though.
Yeah.
You'll have to actually hire another person to run that though.
And that's part of that.
Yeah.
And there's a lot of games and a lot of, I don't know, I haven't even looked, I assume it would be mandated in JV games as well.
So you're talking, you know, another staff member for two.
games every time you host a game.
So yeah, there's definitely going to be cost to it.
Interesting.
Well, maybe you talk about your role at Riverdale and the many hats that you wear.
Yeah, yeah, lots of hats.
I teach a little bit of sixth grade math to start today.
I am the dean of students, which I've been on and talked about as well.
I'm also the summer school coordinator, girl's basketball coach.
help with the pitchers for the high school baseball program.
So, yeah, very involved.
Blessed to be serving a lot of roles.
Probably didn't take a lot of the summer off then.
It sounds like a few things going
on.
No, not at all.
Actually, our first summer school session started that Tuesday.
So we've ended school on Friday and we were back in session on that next Tuesday.
So we had a wonderful first session.
Had over 130 students signed up.
That first session for our K2 was just a lot of math, reading, fun activity.
like that.
Our third through sixth graders, it's like an enrichment.
They get to choose the classes.
That looks, it's all based on what they're interested in.
So we have multiple PE classes, multiple STEM classes, a lot of art and craft things.
We had a baking class, which is absolutely super popular.
All kinds of different things.
So the third through sixth graders absolutely love it.
It's really enjoyable.
We also have credit recovery during that time where students are making up
Um, any credits that they didn't earn throughout the school year.
Um, so yeah, we had a great participation in our first session.
It was very successful.
That sounds good.
And yeah, it isn't just a credit to catch up.
Uh, you know, in other words, it's, uh, for everybody,
right?
It is.
Yeah.
I mean, we're, we're 4k through 12th grade are going to be 12th graders during that session.
So, and that, that session also involves, uh, we also have T ball and coach pitch during that session.
So every Monday and Wednesday night, um, we had over 85.
4K through second graders signed up for that.
I will say this was my fourth year doing it.
This was the absolute worst weather year we've ever had.
It seemed like every Monday or Wednesday at about four o'clock we had a really heavy storm come through.
We had to reschedule.
I added two dates the last week of July and that's where that
um heat came in and it was up over 95 with advisory so we had to cancel that monday we were able to get another wednesday in but yeah we ended up getting four out of the eight dates in but it was it was kind of a frustration i i know at during the first summer school session i would have the 4k and 5k students ask me every day at breakfast hey are we having tea both i'm like
buddy i really hope we are you know i can't control this weather but yeah it was uh... that's all part of that we have swimming lessons we have a babysitting course this year that we added uh... it's really all-encompassing it's uh... it's a busy busy month
three mentioned you had uh... the summer school session one session to that's underway than
right now session to start this monday up session to recall our jump start so what we're trying to do with that session is we're trying to get our
4k through 6th graders just ready for the school year.
So it's a lot more reading, a lot more math skills, kind of a review of the stuff that they learned the year before just so that they're not taking multiple months off from those skills.
Really developing those.
Another really neat thing we do is we bring in our incoming 4k students with Mrs. Drone and Ms.
Penfield.
So they come in for a week each.
So we have three different sessions.
I actually have a daughter that's doing the third session or third week.
And it's just a great opportunity to come in, see the classrooms, meet your teachers, meet some of your classmates, see that school routine so that they
come back on, you know, September 1st, and it's not the first time seeing all this.
So there's some tears sometimes right away to get through it, but I would say that this first, uh, first group that we've had in there, I would say that their most comfortable group I've seen so far.
So we've got a decent size, close to 40 incoming 4k students.
So great opportunity for them as well.
And you show a little bit of everything, even the bus too, don't you?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We have some students that you get bused in.
If they live in Muscaday, their parents usually bring them in, but they're in the Blue River or Volca communities.
We have a bus pickup in that spot as well.
So.
Yeah, they're getting all the, all the routines down.
I know I was at JC Park one summer night.
It got a little warm there a couple of times this year, you know, for your t-ball and
everything.
It's been, we had parents bring a popsicles.
We tried to get a bunch.
We did everything we could, you know, but a lot of times with those, especially first time playing a sport like that, we had a lot of kids.
sitting in the grass doing those things.
So yeah, it gets warm out there.
No doubt about it.
So you mentioned girls basketball at Summer League.
How did Riverdale do this year?
It's been fantastic.
I actually went through and counted.
I think we will have played 30 varsity games and 14 JVM.
So almost 50 games between our high school program.
We played in, it'll be four tournaments.
We played last night.
We hosted Richardson Center in Wazika last night.
it's it's three to four days a week and it's it's been a lot but we've uh we've really we we we take june and we kind of take a look at what we have coming back and what it's going to look like and now now that we're in july we try to be a little more competitive with it and say hey this is what we need to look like come november um you learn a lot so like last year to give you like a analogy i guess like i would say we played really a ground in pound football style like a lot of free throws a lot of offensive rebounds a lot of
post touches from there.
This year is going to be more like that high flying, running the court, faster pace, shoot probably more three pointers and things like that.
So we see that that is the need for our next group.
So the summer is all about figuring out your identity, I think.
And the girls, I give them credit every week.
I tell them how grateful I am for their commitment.
It's difficult with kids being spread in so many different directions.
But I have a really, really dedicated
dedicated group of girls.
So very thankful for
that.
Yeah.
Schools Riverdale side, especially you've got kids, you know, playing volleyball and playing softball and summer or whatever.
So you got to kind of have that fine line.
Absolutely.
And you don't, you don't want it to be where they're having to make choices than in feeling.
bad about that.
So we try to really work together with the volleyball and softball coaches.
I added on Thursday nights.
So we play two nights a week in league now.
I have the girls come in and shoot two to three times a week as well.
And then we just try to find like three or four tournaments.
So we actually next Wednesday night we host this will be our second time doing this.
We host an 18 tournament at Riverdale where we call it the end of summer shootout.
So it's the last night that we have contact with the girls and the girls will get four games in it in about four hours.
It's eight teams.
We actually
B Fennelmore in the championship last year.
So it was a great way to cap off the summer.
Um, so we're hope we're looking forward to, uh, having local teams in this Wednesday.
So sounds good.
Sounds
exciting and honing your skills a little bit.
Callie Co is here as well.
Kelly, maybe you could give us a recap of the ag program for this past year.
Absolutely.
Yeah, we've been at it as well.
We just returned from our chapter officer retreat or our leadership training for our officers.
We actually just got from back some camping yesterday where we kind of set our schedule for the year.
We go through what we're going to improve, what we need to, you know, ideas.
Are we creating programs this year?
Are we are we going to ditch some programs?
And then all in all, just get the get the officer set up for what their role is and what they need to do as we move forward throughout the year.
And and like Larry mentioned,
many of our kids are involved in all kinds of things, so I appreciate their time.
They took two days to camp.
Granted, I think I'd rather camp than play basketball.
Where did you camp at?
We actually went to Laval, or I guess it's technically...
We went to Chaparral campground.
We've been there a few times.
They have a different kind of, they have like a lagoon with some different activities we can do.
Plus we do a lot of team building when we're on that trip.
So it's, there's some fishing opportunities.
They get a chance to cook out and each team member is assigned a task, whether it's breakfast, lunch, dinner, dishes, whatever.
And it kind of takes some of the
It makes it a little bit more entertaining.
A lot of good stories coming back.
We had a lot of pop tarts, a couple failed breakfasts.
That's just how it is.
It was fun though.
We had a blast.
And they really came up with a great calendar for the year.
And I think this is going to be a strong team again.
I'm always really impressed with how they start, how they finish, how well they grow together and learn their strengths and weaknesses of each other.
And I think we start out strong.
Plus the rest of the summer, we started out.
Day after we got out of school, we had Iowa County Dairy Breakfast.
We helped out in the kids' corner.
and numerous other places there.
We had tractor safety as part of that first session of summer school.
We had a student compete in the state.
Safe tractor driving contest last week at farm tech days.
He took sixth, which was pretty impressive young man's Lucas putts He's gonna be a freshman so sixth place as a freshman and a state contest is pretty cool And then we also commit we went to a state FFA convention and had a lot of winners there, which was really exciting
That's awesome.
How many seniors did you lose the graduation from your your leadership team from last year?
We lost six
from the leadership team.
So that's another reason why officer retreat or training is such an important deal this year.
We have six completely new officers and two returning.
So that's, yeah, that's a different team entirely.
Usually we don't turn over quite that many, but we have a really good group of seniors, exceptional group that left us in.
And many of them also got their state FFA degrees at state convention, which was pretty cool.
It's kind of a culmination of their high school career.
I know you had most of them in here this last school year and I was impressed how many want to get back into the agriculture field.
You got to be pretty proud about that.
Oh yeah, I think they're going to do a lot for the egg industry in the future here.
You know, like to keep in touch with them and find out where they're going and what they're doing.
I'm seeing a few of them over the summer, but.
I, you know, I think several of them will be starting school in the fall here and that'll, that'll be a different change for them.
I'm guessing I'll hear a little bit from them in the fall when they come back to ask questions or get my opinion, hopefully on a few things.
Awesome.
And then you said some state winners at the convention as well.
Yeah, we had quite a few sectional winners for what they're going to call now the SAE awards, but it used to be called proficiencies.
They just changed it this summer, actually, to a different name.
But SAEs are supervised agricultural experiences.
Basically, they're like work-based programs.
where they fill out an application to explain what they do.
Some of them are entrepreneurial, some of them are placement.
So Carter Dagenhart was in the top five.
He ended up placing fourth in egg mechanics with his work at 70 Tire with his family, but he's developed a ton of skills through that over the last six years.
And that was again, like kind of the culmination of his awards there.
We had Joe Matthews.
He took third in food service.
He works with his family through events at Castle Rock.
They do some catering up there.
So he's learned a ton of skills in the food service industry.
And then we also had some sectional winners.
Kayla Dahlberg was a sectional winner in specialty animal production.
She works at Richland Humane Society, her volunteers there.
And then Olivia Meese was a sectional winner in dairy production.
So all in all, we had, and we didn't learn that until we got to convention.
So that was all pretty neat stuff.
We got quite a few pieces of hardware to take home.
We also had a couple winners in, we had a first place,
From Derek Potts, he took some artwork down to a state convention.
And then we also take our scrapbook, which is made by our historian, which was Grace Wannick last year.
She also received a ribbon on her scrapbook.
So yeah, it's kind of impressive, the amount of things they can really incorporate into state convention.
They have talent shows and band and choir and all those things.
So it's neat to have kids experience different.
Successes in different areas.
Yeah, it's so much broader than it used to be isn't it?
Absolutely.
Yeah, there's there's even have a tractor restoration show We didn't take ours.
We should have but it ended up just being a lot of logistic issues
Yeah, what's what kind of tractor did you restore this last year?
We did a Ford Nine and oh Turned out really nice.
We actually had the tractor donated for next year.
I think it's an H a farm all age and I think we're gonna
possibly restore that and try to sell it.
We'll see how it goes.
But we try to do whatever the kids in the class are interested in first because I feel like if we're doing one for
Somebody's family member in the class it tends to there just tends to be more commitment all around and there's more pride in that But we did get a tractor donated which runs and drives which is pretty cool And it just it needs a lot of body stuff and maybe a wiring harness and some things like that But some basic stuff and then like I said if we don't have any kiddos step up and volunteer their own tractors from their families We'll we'll probably restore something like that then
And you have a booth at the school, don't you?
Where you can paint?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We had a, it's just a kind of, it's like a blow up paint booth that we got from the Riverdale Community Education Foundation.
Gosh, I think we got three years ago.
I love it.
I love that thing.
When you talk about tractor safety too, what kind of tractors do they work with?
Do they work with these old timers or is it something that I wouldn't know how to drive?
Well at our tractor safety we run a tractor from Richie's implement that is donated and we actually got our equipment from or our implement from Johnson tractor this year.
Thanks to Darren Meese.
We had
We actually had a disfine on there, which was pretty challenging for a lot of them to back up.
So you have to back that up.
Oh yeah, there's a course.
They got to drive quite a bit.
They got to pass the driving test, and then there's a written test.
Instead of tractor safety, it's more all farm safety now.
We cover everything from grain bins to hydraulics, PTOs, obviously are a big thing.
We also cover first aid.
I have Tanner Williamson come in with the Blue River Fire Department truck.
and show them a bunch of different equipment.
We have EMT stuff.
We had some guest speakers that were survivors.
So Larry Steadley, for example, and Dylan and Amber Meyer come in on their own time and tell these kids different experiences that have happened to them.
And we kind of talk about, you know, what would you do differently?
How would you have prevented this?
And it's all about exposure.
Because this is like a 12 to 14 year old class typically and they just they just don't know what's out there for hazards Sometimes it's just kind of a they know what they've seen and and yeah, they know that things can happen and accidents happen things tip over whatever but Giving them more
knowledge, really.
And again, exposure.
And then obviously the driving portion is big too for a lot of kids.
There's some kids that come in, you know, pretty much got the course under control the first day.
But we still got to go back through and talk about those basic things, you know, seatbelts, check in neutral, making sure that our PTO is off before we turn it on, things like that.
But in a lot of the newer tractors, that's not such an issue.
But in older tractors, like
We run at our house.
I mean, we can't afford anything super fancy, but the PTO would turn on if we turn on our tractor, if the lever is up.
So that's kind of something we have to consider.
You know, probably these kids aren't going to go home and drive brand new stuff.
Usually your first year on the job, you might be raking or something like that, where you're probably not going to have the nicest tractor on the place.
And we just talk about all the variety of things that encompasses old, new,
We even talk UTV safety because that's a big issue these days.
So yeah, and I teach the tractor safety course at Southwest Tech too.
So I've had nine days tractor safety this summer.
We've been through it three times.
Oh, that's awesome.
But yeah, working the old tractors and restoring them, I mean, those are the kind you can still work on and learn about motors and things like that.
Oh yeah, I don't think.
My husband works on the newer tractors, not me.
Good stuff.
Well, we'll talk more about Riverdale Schools.
Callie Co is here.
Larry Sviggum and Jeff Campbell and we'll have more on the morning show after the break.
Welcome back to our morning show studios.
Henry Braid just threw Larry Swig him out.
Oh, well, welcome back to the morning show.
We're talking about Riverdale schools during the summertime, which is quickly fleeting.
Jeff Campbell is in with us.
I know you want to talk a little bit about your facility study, Jeff.
Yeah, so we had performance services who had done our addition on our school, had done a facility study for us back in 2020, but they only did the junior high school.
So I had them come in.
This is going to mark the 30th year of our elementary school.
Hard to believe, I think, when you're in that building that's been up for 30 years, but it's kind of our forward thinking approach that we've taken on with the district is we need to be prepared for what's
coming in the future.
And so that we can plan accordingly.
Once you reach a building at 30 years, you've got to make sure that if there's some things that you know in the future, some higher cost things that might be coming up, you need to make a plan, you know, three, four years in advance.
So you can start to budget appropriately for those things and keep your community updated.
So, so they came in, they redid their facility study with the addition on there from our 2021 for our junior high school and then our res building our elementary
school.
That was the first one that they had done.
So we're waiting for some of those results.
They'll get back to us.
We'll present to the board about some things and it will help us in our strategic planning as we move forward in the next couple years of ideas that we need to things we need to approach like roofing and different things within the facility that need updating so we can keep it what it looks like.
So pretty excited about that.
That's just a forward thinking approach that we wanted to have with them.
We really like the relationship
we had with them and what they did with our junior high school and they do a pretty thorough inspection of our buildings.
It seems like that building isn't that old.
You know, I mean, when you think about how fast time goes, I was there for the groundbreaking and
it doesn't
seem like that many years ago.
Yeah, definitely.
I was eighth grader.
We're the first eighth grade class in that building.
So it is, it's been, it's been a while.
Tim Redmond and the staff, the custodial staff, I know I mentioned it a lot, but they do, they take a lot of pride in that.
And the people that came before them to that, you know, built the facility and kept it up.
They've just done a wonderful job taking pride in it.
It's a great building.
And you walk into that gym, it's our main gym for most of our events, our commons areas used for a number of different programs.
It's just really done well.
One of the biggest things as a district that we're looking at is safety.
And that's our top priority, anything we do.
And I've talked about it on a few other shows too, is that building was built at a time when entryways and that were designed differently.
And now we're at a time where we need to get as safe of entryways as we possibly can.
And we've done that with our buzz-in system, but there's ways now that are recommended as far as where your office is positioned, where the, you know, they enter doors where people come in, where they pass through before they enter into the building, you know, after receiving that buzz-in.
We need to look at that and we need to make sure that we're making the decisions and things
that make our kids and our staff and our facilities the safest they possibly can be.
So we're looking at a little bit of that.
That was part of the facility study too.
I've kept the school board updated.
We are gonna have to look at a new way to enter our buildings and that's gonna take some planning.
It's gonna take some projects and those are things that we've been saving up on for different projects of that.
It's our junior high school.
We did have an entryway in our last referendum when we did the addition.
We just weren't able to do it because of rising costs.
at the time.
So we're looking at that and we'll re-approach that in the next couple of years and see what we can do as a district and as a community together to use some of the funds that we've been trying to save up for projects like this to make sure we are putting our kids in the safest environments possible in the Riverdale School District.
Yeah, High School Junior High, the office is right there at the entryway.
It is, yep, and they want a lot with the entryways.
Now they want you going through the office first.
So when you enter in a lot of the new
facilities and things and the recommendations are you enter in you get buzzed in and you walk into the office first.
So you're not like buzzed in now and you're walking straight into the building.
So there's another avenue that you go in and then you do your check in internally in the office before progressing into the school building.
So that's another buys a little bit more time in a situation that does become dire, you know, needs and in every second is going to count in those kind of situations.
So that's the recommendation.
That's the
all the new buildings are going now.
A lot of times you don't notice it when you go in athletic events because you have doors that open then for athletic events when you have those where they don't process.
through the office area.
But so yeah, it's going to be a little bit easier at the junior high school at the elementary.
It's going to be a little more difficult and we need to look at our options and our ideas and those take time and and it takes time and and so we'll have to do that.
But yeah, those are those are kind of things that we have front and center in front of us to update our facilities because the idea of building a new facility doing that stuff that that's not
possible in this day and age with the money and the budgeting, but adding on to your facilities and keeping them upgraded, those are possibilities.
And we realize that so little by little, we'll try to make those changes within our school district.
Are you working on curriculum this summer as well?
We definitely are.
We were fortunate enough to receive a DPI reading position, which is 50% position.
So we're going to do some transitioning.
We hired a new staff member that will be a 50% person that retired from teaching.
That's coming back to work half time for us.
It's DPI funded.
This will allow our reading specialists to kind of move into that more of a coaching hands on role with our staff.
We're excited about that.
So we've been working through that process all
summer with DPI, that's a two-year contract with them.
Really excited about what that's going to bring to our classrooms.
I think just elevate our reading because right now the state is on a huge, huge push to increase our reading scores and to make sure that reading is front and center for all of our kids, rightfully so.
And so we've got a lot of new curriculum changes in there, so teachers are learning.
Last year was the first kind of step in that process.
Now this is going to free up our specialist in that area to kind of get in there more and
really be hands on with our teacher.
So we're excited about that.
We've done a little bit with our strategic planning.
Year number two, we'll get that out.
I presented to the board in June on our progress in year number one.
I'll get an update to the staff at the beginning of the year and we're already into our goal setting for what year number two is gonna look like with our strategic planning.
So we're pretty excited about that.
Our new staff members we have coming in.
We have four new staff members this year.
I'll bring them in on the morning show in September probably.
and we'll bring them in and get to meet them, but we're excited about what they'll bring to our district.
And they're starting August 17th, will be a day when they come in, meet with our administration, meet with our coaching team, and they'll start with their...
start in Riverdale, really.
They've already been in, they've already been working since approved, which is kudos to them.
They don't have to be doing that, but the 17th is when they really get going, and we really give them the orientation to Riverdale.
And then our staff in service starts August 24th, so we're excited about that.
Get the entire staff together.
We've got some new programs this year, some different ways of doing things with our educator effectiveness that will kind of ease the burden, I think, on our teachers a little bit and just focus more and more on their classroom.
which I think they'll appreciate.
And then always registration for Riverdale for returning students August 3rd.
Any new students you can register right now by going to our website and registering as a new student.
But our returning students and families August 3rd is the first date when that opens up on Skyward.
And you can get in there and it's about the third or fourth year we've done online.
So everybody does a great job.
We usually get all the kids registered in plenty of time and look forward to the numbers
trickling in.
We've had a good summer.
We've had a nice increase in kids.
Larry talked about our 4k numbers solid again.
We've had a nice increase of new students, open enrolled students.
We're really trying to close that gap and get more open and rolled in than out.
And we're closing that gap.
And I'm excited for what the final numbers will bring in October when we when we sit down and get those from the state.
Yeah, Larry, that has to excite you to hear about incoming numbers.
It is.
Yeah, even up until last week, we're still taking
new registrations for session two and all these students are coming from different places and I got back into the office last Thursday and I'm like, oh man, we've got four new 4K students here.
We got this that we didn't have before.
I think it just is a testament to the great things that are happening at Riverdale.
I think people want to be a part of our district and it's a wonderful thing for us.
Dean of students, then you're in charge a little bit of a discipline then.
Yeah, I mean, I don't like to call it discipline.
We spin it positive.
Absolutely, yeah, that's a big part of my role, especially working, trying to be proactive, especially with our younger kids, teach them the Riverdale way and what's expected on the playground and the hallway and the classroom, just being great, great kiddos.
And that's a big part of it.
I try to have those positive interactions.
I always tell people I would like to have 100 positive interactions to that one correction if I can.
And yeah, that's a big part of it.
And I'm excited my role.
I've freed up some time in the morning this year where I'm going to be able to spend more time with our younger students out at recess and in the hallways and things like that and getting to know them.
That's going to be a big part of my job.
So I feel like if we can be proactive using our SEL program and just be more proactive, I can get ahead of things if that makes sense.
So hopefully there's less corrections to make, but absolutely new students to the district.
And yeah, it's a great role.
We do a lot of celebrations.
A lot of my role is celebrating the positive things that are happening, planning out different events for that.
Just like I'll be doing in summer school as well.
Yeah.
It has to help you as coach as well because you're in the halls.
You know what's going on day to day.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yes.
The coaching, I'm very hands on all the way down to to kindergarten, you know, 4k students with basketball and with baseball.
I'm actually going to be taking on a role.
It sounds like as a third and fourth grade flag football coach, apparently my wife signed me up for that last night.
So yes, I definitely get a chance to see the students outside of the classroom, but throughout the school day at the swimming pool in the summer, having four students of my own or kids of my own that are all going to be in the Riverdale school district starting this
year.
Obviously, I get to know their families, you know, their friends, families and things like that in my various roles.
So it's a really great job.
Indeed.
Summer is going fast, Kelly.
What are some happenings going on this summer for the egg program?
Well, one of our biggest things that's coming up here is actually for the Riverdale FFA alumni, which the FFA is also going to partake in in various ways.
And that is we are going to be hosting a Dairyland donkey baseball show in Muscaday at the JC Park on August 16th, starting at 6pm.
And it is a family show.
A lot of laughs.
You could see Jeff and Larry both ride donkeys and try to play baseball at the same time.
We're going to have four teams, hopefully, with the Riverdale staff being a team.
Our Riverdale FFA chapter, they have to be 16 and older.
So our juniors and seniors in FFA are going to participate on a team as well.
And then we're also going to have an FFA alumni team.
And they will be pitted against each other while new rodeo stars are going to be born that day, I think, is what we're looking at here.
But they're going to be pitted against each other in kind of a four team format as of now.
And we'll have concessions.
There'll be grandstand seating as well as if you wanted to bring blankets and your own chairs, there'll be outfield seating as well.
And then down the baselines, come enjoy an entertaining show.
Pre-sale tickets are 10 bucks at the gates 15.
So I think pre-K is free.
So if you're interested in kind of a family fun night, it's gonna be
a lot of laughs, I think, a lot of good commentary.
We're also looking for sponsors for that as well.
Just a plug for the alumni side of things.
You can sponsor a donkey.
Our inning sponsorships are already taken, but there are donkeys left to sponsor, and they have names like Widowmaker, Elvis.
Just all kinds of fun will be had that night.
And that'll be a really big local turnout, I think, in terms of we have quite a few local people riding, and hopefully they bring their family and friends to come cheer them on, we'll say.
for now.
And I think it'll be, it'll be a good time for everyone.
But it is a fundraiser for us and that the proceeds from the alumni will also inevitably come back to the FFA later on through scholarships.
Oh, that's perfect.
Yeah.
And in this summer, how do the crops look at the school farm?
Oh, they're coming along.
Yeah, we actually ended up side dressing some fertilizer here in the beginning of July.
Yeah, they're coming along and we planted pumpkins this year and I've been out there checking on them meticulously.
But that's coming along to our school
Farm managers have been doing a phenomenal job keeping things mowed up, keeping our pumpkins weed free, cutting down some trees because we had some poor weather there.
So keeping the trails clean.
Otherwise, yeah, things at the school farm are looking good.
Looking forward to a bunch of events this fall, September and October are always really busy for us out there.
Try to get people out there while the weather's good, while there's a bunch of things to see in the fall as well.
So we'll get the first graders and the third graders out there in the fall for sure.
Yeah, really nice classroom.
You've kind of expanded a little bit too, haven't you?
Yeah, absolutely.
We're always kind of doing something different out there.
Currently, like I said, we're doing pumpkins.
So we always carve pumpkins with the third graders.
Typically, they're donated by Stormdale Holsteins.
But this year, we're going to attempt to do something where we can pick our own out there.
I don't know that we'll have enough to make it work, because it's our first try at it.
The goal is to have just an all-encompassing event for the third graders out there.
We also take the first graders out there for harvest.
Then we have our Haunted Walk, which is a big community event out there.
That's going to be October 15th.
It's a little early, but we decided with the other things we have going on at the end of the month, that's the night we had to pick.
As far as expansions and things like that, gosh.
Let's see here.
I'm trying to think of anything we've purchased recently.
I'm sure there's something.
I just can't think of it off the top of my head here.
But we're always changing and trying to...
be proactive, like Jeff says, kind of like, what do we need next?
What would benefit us?
What could students benefit from?
What opportunities could this new thing provide for students?
And there's always kind of things going on that maybe take precedence, you know, like, well, this is the thing we probably have to have first and the next thing and the next thing.
But we're always looking forward to, well, our bathrooms is, I guess, one big thing that we've been talking about since spring.
And I think I did mention it last time we're here, but hopefully going to get the bathrooms in here in the
future when we get some water and septic hooked up but we're in the process of that I think and it's coming it's coming forward so looking forward to that I guess and again equipment is always something we're looking at to make our lives easier to make opportunities for kids.
When the school year gets underway you hit the ground running because you have homecoming and you have you know conventions and things right away in the fall don't you?
Absolutely our September is pretty busy.
We have a couple fairs that we're active in here.
Richland County Fair being one of our more active fairs for our members.
We'll also have Driver Tractor to School Day and a tractor parade where we meet with the elementary kiddos.
That's in September for National Farm Safety Week.
We'll also have a leadership workshop, World Dairy Expo judging, River Ridge judging.
So yeah, we always, and we have state soils like almost right away too.
I think that's the first week of October.
So yeah, and that's agriculture, right?
We try to get things done while the weather's good, while we can get outside.
enjoy it and do it.
And then winter slows down a little bit.
That's more a heavy application season.
We turn in a bunch of different awards and things like that.
Still stay busy, but it gets a little harder to get out and do stuff that time of year.
And then spring again picks up, like we said, planting things like that as well as different contests that require outdoor use.
There's no time off.
No FFA's every season.
You bet.
Awesome.
Well, congratulations on such a great program and good luck in the new school year too.
Thank you.
Appreciate
it.
Jeff, anything else?
I know you wanted to add a little bit about the upcoming golf outing.
I heard you're going to try to win it all this year.
Yeah, I will be out on vacation at that time.
Yeah, they're not going to, it will save everybody some embarrassment watching me, but.
August 1st at Fenimore Riverdale Education Foundation golf outing.
If you're interested, contact Greg Kinney.
He's been, and I have not heard an update.
Usually it fills up pretty quick.
So he may not be accepting team, but you can always check.
There's always the opportunity just to stop in, donate or donate to the foundation.
prize or anything that they put on that day.
So just another great outing for the Education Foundation, one of their three main fundraisers throughout the year.
That's in Fenimore.
Yeah, I think you can just stop by and bid on some of the items that day and help out that
way too.
Yeah, just be there and maybe catch a meal too, you know, at the time.
The other thing, we do have a
plan power outage at a res building today.
I just wanted to make that known, uh, working with the, the, um, community village has to do some work.
So they have to shut down our res from one to three today.
So, and our district office is being cleaned.
So please contact the junior high school afternoon today.
If there's any reason you have to contact the school, um, I'll be over at the junior high school today, kind of makeshift office.
And then, um, the res won't be, you won't be able to get through.
So that's just a planned outage today.
We got some signs up there to let people
know but just today otherwise then all three offices are will be in open the rest of the summer
good well enjoy your time off you deserve it and and you'll be all rested up the next time you come back in August
yeah I appreciate it looking forward to it it's getting close
Jeff Campbell Riverdale administrator also dean of students Larry Sviggum in here in Calico representing the Riverdale ag program and FFA on today's morning show
