Ithaca Lions

you

The Ithaca Lions Club will be very busy.

Well, they always are, but the coming days, they have a fundraiser.

They have a Stuff the Bus event coming up next week as well at Ithaca schools.

Joining me is Ithaca Lions president, Dean Reinhardt.

Secretary Deb O'Connell is in the studio as well.

Dean, here we go.

This is an annual event for the Lions, isn't it?

We're off

and running again.

Yep.

Here we go.

How's the park looking Ithaca Lions

Park?

It looks awesome.

I'll tell you, Fred Fry keeps that place just amazing.

He puts in a lot of hours up there.

We've got

the shelter all cleaned up, he keeps the place mowed, it's looking really nice.

The chicken barbecue is coming up on Sunday so people will get a chance to see it.

It'll be Sunday, yep this Sunday we're going to start serving at 11 o'clock and serve till we're gone and we're going to have all kinds of stuff, we're going to try and have some cornhole boards there and we're encouraging kids, well anybody want to bring a ball and bat and a glove going out and play ball on the diamond and

So it should be a good day.

Feel the dreams out there.

There you go.

Yep.

Ethicals version.

Yeah.

So this is one of your main fundraisers during the year, isn't

it?

It is.

Yeah.

The money will be going to our Lions for Kids Christmas fund.

So that's, that's going to be one of our big ones.

Deb O'Connell is here as well, Deb.

This is a big event for you guys, very much needed for the kids for Christmas, isn't

it?

It is.

We really have to raise at least $10,000 every year, if not a little bit more, because of the number of children we service.

And it becomes one of the big events that we can do, as well as the ones at Oakwood.

So we have two broad stands coming up at Oakwood Fruit Farms, two weekends, one in September on the 19th to the 20th.

the other one is on October 17th to 18th with again all the funds going towards the Lions for Christmas fund.

How did it go last year for that?

Was it pretty successful?

We had 300 plus children and we also had over a hundred families that got involved with that.

So people are very grateful when they come through and we do it as a drive-through and they fill out forms at the

social services building and yeah it runs very well.

The only problem we had is we have people who don't seem to understand that Lions for Kids Christmas has taken over for the smiles for a child and so people thought that we didn't have that

Program anymore, and it's just a name change And so I had kind of at the end of the season where people were saying we didn't realize that this program still existed So it's really important for us to get that name change out there and to make sure people understand that we still are Available to help kids and families

for your fundraiser you mentioned around ten grand I'm guessing the cost of things going up all the time.

That's probably maybe even a low estimate isn't it

it probably

is to be very honest I really do look at this program all year long you know I look for toys that are coming on sale I look for things that are in the clearance aisle that I know kids are going to be asking for but it comes down to the nitty-gritty when they ask for something very specific and they and I think the parents are very cognizant of the fact that they toys are expensive now and so they look at what's on sale what's coming up for Thanksgiving sales and they put down what

The child really wants and so there's this end of the time crunch where we're trying to give the child really what they would like and Kind of give them some extra things in there too that if they ask for an art supply What age group do I have that I already have some art supplies and things with so it's kind of interesting but very busy

Yeah, you'll be coming back later in the fall to talk a little bit more about it, but it'll be happening.

People will be signing up usually right around November, right?

Yes.

I actually increased it an extra week this time.

So maybe to give people a little bit more chance to get their names in and maybe to get the word out a little better.

So usually it's the second week in November, but I'm going to see if I can get the forms in by November 2nd, which is a Monday.

And then I always want to pick them up the day before Thanksgiving.

at the end because of the Thanksgiving sales that come up because we do have a lot of shopping right in there.

of all the lion's things you're involved in.

I know the lions help out all kinds of worthy causes, but this has to be about number one for you, isn't it?

Yeah, it is.

For me personally, it is.

And I know that all the other members really participate.

I mean, the fundraisers are time consuming and everyone participates a lot.

I have people going out and shopping for the gifts.

So we have Sundays that we get together and we all shop.

We do that for a few weekends.

But that's why it's important to get those forms in early so that we can

them and not have 300 gifts to have to get at the end.

That's

pretty hard to do so.

Can

someone

just donate any time of the year to the cause?

They could.

I do keep a supply.

I, you know, some in my house and some at where we keep our our extras that are left over.

We do have some that we keep.

We try to give as much away as possible.

But we've also given to people, children who've had fires in the homes, you know, and lost their toys.

And we try to help out in that, you know, that area as well.

So yeah, they can.

There's a good need for it.

Dean, maybe you could go over all of the schedule of events for the Chicken Barbecue Fundraiser coming up on Sunday then.

Yes, it's going to be this Sunday the 16th.

We're going to start serving at 11 o'clock in the morning.

And the menu, we're going to have a half a chicken, potato salad, cowboy beans and a dinner roll.

And the cost is going to be a free well donation.

So it's not a specific charge, whatever you want to throw in, if you want to throw a hundred dollar bill in, we'll take it.

One thing I do want to mention, I talked to Garrett Vitesnik, at Vitesnik Power Sports, and they are donating the use of a 4 seater UTV, because it is a long walk from the parking lot into the shelter.

So that'll be my job.

You know, that day, that real rough job of driving that UTV back and forth.

And so there will be a ride available from the parking lot into the shelter, courtesy of the Tesnicks.

Um, they volunteered you to do that.

So you wouldn't be doing the cooking probably,

right?

Oh yeah, you don't want me cooking.

Give

him a job.

Yeah, great.

Get him out of here.

We don't have to deal with it.

I presume you're going to be starting that chicken pretty early in the morning Sunday.

I'm thinking we probably are.

Yeah, I might have to be there before the before sunrise.

I'm not sure what time we're starting, but it'll be ready.

Ready to go by 11 o'clock.

Yeah, that's that's awesome.

Let's switch gears a little bit.

Put on another hat, but the stuff, the bus events coming next week too.

Yeah, we're holding our annual stuff, the bus.

It'll be on Wednesday, August 19th.

It'll be at the high school driveway there in Ithaca where we always have it.

There'll be a bus there and people sitting there waiting to take anything you want to bring in.

We'll be there from noon until 6.30 on Wednesday the 19th.

You've been there before.

Are you impressed by the way the community responds to

this?

Like I say, every time I'm here it's just amazing how this community steps up and supports so much.

There's so much going on this time of year and the community is there to support everybody.

And we hope they come out this Sunday and again, first off the bus.

We'll take any kinds of school supplies, notebooks, pens, paper, you know, whatever.

Cleaning supplies, all the wipes, the Kleenex and any but anything, monetary donations.

If you want to just stop in, write a check, hand us a cash.

We'll take that too.

And then we can buy whatever we don't get donated as supplies.

Now this is important in this day and age not only for students but for the school as well to have some of the supplies on hand isn't

it?

Yes because you know you get those cheaper supplies in August when the stores you know provide them and then a lot of people will buy the extra and then donate it.

to the schools and donate it to our stuff, the bus.

But the kids run out of these supplies during the school, and so during the year.

And so it's nice to have those extras that they can just provide when they're a little more expensive again.

So yeah, it's a good fundraiser.

So the teachers will have some of this on hand, like in the supply closet to use during the year than another.

Correct.

And if it's a monetary thing, then we have the money that they can go back out and get some of the things and possibly that the teachers have rather than just the students, maybe on white boards and that type of thing that they can have the, the markers and then the erasers that work on those.

So whatever technology has changed.

Sure.

Um, and then other things you're taking, like Kleenex's and

those kind of things?

Yeah, I think the Kleenex has run out very quickly, especially depending on what the season is, as well as wipes.

We really do try to keep the facility clean and allow the students to be safe in the environment.

What about food items like snacks or is that, is that a different ball

game?

Yeah, I don't think we really get involved in the snacks as much.

Um, and I don't know if they're asking for money, you know, we, I haven't heard that yet, but I know that they do provide those at the school.

I just don't know that we've gotten involved in that part yet

for school supplies, Dean, like notebooks and crayons and things like that too.

yeah little scissors

little scissors we'll even take 64 bucks of crayons with the sharpener with the

sharpener

yeah

I never got one of those.

Did you when you were growing up?

Oh,

no,

no, they

never

had

anything that fancy when I was

in school.

Yeah.

And they aren't as expensive as they used to be.

I don't

think for sure,

but a good donation there.

So you'll be stationed at Ithaca schools, North parking lot.

I presume next

week.

Yep.

The driveway going up into the high school.

You'll see the bus sitting there.

There'd be an awning out there and people sitting around and looking for something to do.

So stop in and drop off.

Make us work.

Awesome.

Anything else you'd like to talk about in terms of the Lions Club, anything coming up this fall, Dean?

I think that's going to be about it.

We're going to start concentrating on our Lions for Kids Christmas now.

And like Deb said, we have the two Broadstands coming up at Oakwood.

The first one I know is homecoming weekend.

We had a little discussion about that.

But I think we're going to be able to pull it off that we will have the Broadstand at Oakwood.

And then the next one is in October.

We're ready to go.

You talk about foot traffic for a broad

stand.

Oakwood

is very busy that time.

Oh, that's an awesome place.

And they help us out so much that anything we need, we just say it and they send somebody after it or whatever.

But that is a really nice place to have a broad stand up there.

So watch for further community calendar announcements.

We'll have more info on that when we get a little closer.

You do want to mention the Facebook page so we do have an Ithaca Alliance Facebook and so you can find information on there as well.

Good.

You guys have kind of come up to date a little bit then.

Right?

Yeah, for those of them that know what they're doing, yeah, they have it set up pretty good.

Great to have you both in here.

Anything else you'd like to add, Devin?

I don't think so, except that I do really always appreciate the community involvement in these programs because we can't do it on our own and they are right there to help us out with everything.

So, thanks.

Thanks to the Ethic

Alliance.

That's true.

The school does show so much support letting us have our

pancake breakfast there, the stuff, the bus, and all of this.

And now we've got Vitesnik Power Sports donating the use of the UTV for this Sunday.

And of course you guys are always awesome.

Even Hank, I hate to say it.

He's okay.

He's okay.

Yeah.

You guys do an awesome job with everything in the community here.

We really appreciate you.

Glad to help.

Keep up the

good work.

Dean Reinhardt, President and Devil Connell, Secretary for the Ithaca Lions Club.

Don't forget, Chicken Barbecue is coming up this Sunday, August 16th, from 11 until gone.

you

Today is our day to put the focus on Ithaca School District and we have in the studio

We have Paul Coonan, who is the superintendent of schools.

We also have the brand new principal, Dwayne Daly.

We'll introduce you to him in just a little bit.

Paul, exciting things going on here as we get ready for the school year.

Oh, I can't tell you how exciting it is, Phil.

I really appreciate being able to come and talk to you.

And I am extremely excited about how the school is starting to shape together.

We feel like we've kind of been behind the eight ball this summer with not a lot of time, but to say we've been truly blessed to have some of the higher peoples that we've hired.

come to us is just absolutely been astounding and one of them is sitting right across from me right now.

Mr. Dwayne Daly, our new principal, we're just so incredibly excited that he's here.

Yeah, that's one of those release when you get everybody on the dotted line and get ready for the school year, isn't

it?

Oh, absolutely.

You know, and it's been a struggle.

I'm not going to lie to you, but it's been tough going, but we have had a couple out of the park that are just truly amazing.

Right.

And otherwise things are going well.

Football practice is underway and

everything is going.

Um, it's sometimes, I would love to be able to walk out to football practice, but we've just been really busy, uh, trying to get things going, get the schedule set, uh, uh, you know, for the school year that's been set, but I mean, for the new teachers are returning staff.

Um, we've got some new exciting things going on our new virtual school and it just, it's taking time and it's taking

and we're spending a lot of time and effort getting those things done.

And wrap around care, you're gonna take care of that again

this

year?

Yes, we're doing the wrap around care and for those of you that don't know what that is, wrap around care is like when you have a 4K student and they go to school in the afternoon but you maybe work all day, we have a service where you can drop them off in the morning or they can come to school in the morning and they're under supervision, they're at school, we've got people assigned to that room and then they go into school in the afternoon and they can go home on the bus as normal.

vice versa maybe they're in school in the morning where do you go with them in the afternoon well we have that wraparound service at no cost and actually it's a community-based program so if you have a child that's that age level and let's say a neighboring school doesn't have a school that day you can bring them the Ithaca

and at no charge, we will take care of them.

That's a rarity, isn't it?

Yeah, it is one of those.

But that's just one of the things that a place like Ithaca offers.

They offer those kind of personalized services to our family, our Ithaca family.

Because when you're part of our school, you're part of our family.

We had virtual school during the COVID year, and I know that's always been kind of around, but you're kind of going full force.

Yeah, we partnered with the Wisconsin Virtual School, which is out of CESA 9 up in Tomahawk.

They have been phenomenal and we're partnering with them.

We're offering virtual classes to our students, maybe on a blended type of program where they're partially in here for the day or maybe they've got a school to work program and they can't make it back to class for that that 8th hour.

English class, whatever they can take on their virtual online.

We also have a virtual coach that we're in the process right now of hiring.

We were hoping that he comes our way.

I think it's gonna work out, but an outstanding human being to run our virtual school within our school, or within our building, so that they have a coach on hand all the time.

24 hour tutoring, just a variety of different things.

But one of the things that it really will appeal to, or one of the families,

the families that are currently homeschooling their students or home educating their students we can offer free of charge to them computer plus the curriculum that they can utilize that at home they become a student of our school so that means that they're eligible to graduate with their peers they can play in sports they can be in clubs they can come and take some of those encore classes and still

have the ability to do their studies at home, and this is a big one when they graduate, they're eligible for some of those great scholarships that Ithaca is known for.

So they could come play in the band, you

know, if they needed that course.

We would love that.

Yeah, absolutely love that.

So it offers a little bit for everybody.

And we've even got some, you know, some elementary folks that are homeschooling their students right now are really excited about the fact that their kids then can also be tested through like the I forward or other exams that

students can be tested in throughout their years in school.

And so they have those assessments to make decisions.

We'll talk more about that coming up.

But you brought in a guest today, which you'd like to introduce

to us.

Yes.

I would like everybody to get to know our new principal.

Very excited about having Mr. Daly on our team.

And I'm going to turn it over to him and let him talk a little bit about himself.

Well, good morning, Dwayne.

Good morning.

Good

to have

you in.

Thank you.

I'm thrilled to be back in this part of the state.

I've had the opportunity to be a part of great school districts throughout the state, my 20-year teaching career, and coached football and wrestling for 26 years in different parts of the state.

And growing up in the Iowa Grant School District and living in Livingston, I'm kind of back where I come full circle back to.

the southwest part of the state.

So excited to be back.

You told me a little bit ago that you actually knew Richland Center pretty well as a kid growing up.

Yeah, I spent a lot of summers in high school up here.

I was a part of Wisconsin high school rodeo team and our state finals rodeo was always at Richland Center every summer.

So from 94 through 97 it was state

finals.

What event did you do?

I did

several events.

So I was in

team roping, calf roping and cow cutting were my three main events.

So awesome.

Yeah.

Try to ring rodeo to, uh, Ithaca then too.

Maybe,

maybe we do in the week.

Yes.

There's an a question club.

I heard.

Yeah.

So that's great.

So, uh, let's talk a little bit about, because you had experience in larger school districts.

So what about the advantages of a school district, the size of Ithaca?

Sure.

For me.

My focus coming in is going to be connection, belonging, identity and productivity in that order.

I feel like you need to have that connection and belonging piece for students to be successful.

Small schools offer those opportunities that maybe don't come along in a larger school where you just don't have the face time with students and don't get to see them and don't have enough paths crossing throughout your day to make those connections.

So that's what I'm excited about for Ithaca.

Yeah.

And actually.

Being aware of the students, students maybe not falling through the cracks, so to speak, and that kind of

thing.

Absolutely.

I feel like when you get to know students and they get to know you as a staff member, they start to form their identity.

When staff members focus on giving them opportunities where they can actually find their interests and hobbies and opportunities that match their skill sets, they start to develop their identity and get to really know who they are and then have a better idea where they want to go with their future.

Lots of times in a small school,

they have a chance to be a part of clubs and there aren't cuts in those kind of things for some sporting events too, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

I feel like when kids are involved in one thing, they tend to be involved in more just because they see the benefit socially.

They're getting a lot of their social-emotional needs met by being involved with other students.

And what's cool about a small district is when you see different students in different contexts, you get to know them at a whole new level than you might otherwise, where if you only see them in one

sport or you only get to see them in one activity.

When there's crossover of activities and athletics and you see people in different environments, you get to know them in a different kind of way.

Paul, you wanted to add?

Well, I just, I think one of the big things that I've always, I've always enjoyed about Ithaca, you know, for when I came as a principal in 2014.

And even when I was gone, it never changed is that the community is the Ithaca school.

in the school is the community.

And they're so intertwined and there's so much support there from these people.

It's just a really neat place.

And those kids that are in that school right now, they get that personalized service.

We care.

We want to get to know them.

The numbers aren't so great that they become a number.

They're individuals.

And what parent doesn't want that for their kids?

They want their kids to be individuals.

They want them to be known for who they are, not just, oh, that's a fifth grader.

No, that's Joe.

or that's Josie or whoever it is.

They want that to be known and that's one of the great things and why I'm back is because I like those relationships and building those relationships with the staff as well as the kids.

And you're looking to develop those relationships with staff and students and the community alike, I'm sure you're

doing that.

Yeah, absolutely.

I'm going to have a lot of new faces to meet and names to memorize, but

I'm looking forward to it because that's going to be a collaborative culture.

It's going to be something that we are all focused on as what is best for students.

So, and everything we do in and out of the classroom, it's going to be for the benefit of the students at Ithaca.

Are you good at remembering names and faces?

I'm sure you are.

Certainly as far as opportunities for students so I think a well-known for you know not only its sports, but you know music and Forensics and and all kinds of things I'm sure you're you're being made aware of that if you weren't before

yeah, absolutely I think

As mentioned before like with the crossover of students being involved in different things That's something we're gonna focus on is there might be crossover of what currently is available But what is some interest of maybe that something we don't have offered so we're always gonna be focused on innovation and always investigating

new and further opportunities for students.

Yeah, sometimes I think the belief is that it's a smaller school, there's less opportunities

for

different types of learning.

Yeah, I think the misconception is that small districts are limited, but it doesn't have to be.

Not in today's culture, not in today's society with the technology the way it is.

That was a motivator for us to bring on Wisconsin Virtual School as being a small school, we can still offer world-class education in terms of opportunities that are available outside

at our brick and mortar walls, course offerings that maybe we wouldn't have specialized staff for.

We'll have the ability to do that for students.

Well, is there talk to possibly combine with other districts, like maybe a staff member for a program that you don't have,

or is that different?

Yeah.

And I've mentioned this before.

Molly Casting up at Weston has been very, very helpful.

I really appreciate having her to bonus ideas often.

She's kind of helped me learn a couple of things because I am new at this position.

And we've talked about that.

right now both districts kind of have gone the route of hey listen we need to figure out what we need individually and that kind of they got a head start on that earlier in the summer now we're having a little bit later start on that because we just came on board but but Molly and I have also talked about that down the road that there may be like hey listen we've got a halftime position and they've got a halftime position maybe we can make that a full-time position so you can retain those people longer than just until they get a full-time position.

And Weston joins for football this fall too.

Yes, they do.

This is, I believe the first year and there's a scrimmage tomorrow.

Um, and so I'm kind of excited to hear all they do and, uh, talk to the coaches and see how things are going.

Yeah.

I guess.

Are you one that would, uh, vote for school to start earlier?

Because it always seems to me that you get the extra curriculars going.

Yes.

I'm one of those people.

Yes.

It's kind of, it's starting.

You know, you get about the, the 20th something of August and school is underway is I am one of those people.

Unfortunately, we can't do that.

Right.

I know.

Yeah.

But the students probably aren't chomping at the bits.

I remember August 26th always being a big day on the calendar years ago for starting school right on that 25th, 26th day.

So otherwise this year, it is what day?

Uh, September 1st, September 1st.

So we'll get it going.

I believe it's a Tuesday.

Let's talk a little bit more about alternative learning opportunities to Wayne.

Are there some opportunities coming up this year for Ithaca that maybe you didn't

have in the past?

Yeah, so the big one is the virtual school option and then We're gonna be figuring out ways to flex staff possibly in situations to where Students are gonna be having higher level opportunities And so we're looking into all avenues to make sure that students needs are getting met and opportunities are getting

offered to students.

Yeah, one of the terms she used was build pathways.

I like that.

Yep.

Yep.

And I think, um, our job isn't really to make every student fit the system.

It's our job is to make the system responsive enough to serve the student.

So we're focused on that.

That's one of the things that is really neat that Dwayne brings to the plate here is he's got a lot of knowledge for some other really good school districts and he's been able to, um, you know, kind of bring some ideas in that we didn't think about.

And it's been very refreshing.

Right.

And you mentioned you've been a head coach.

That's probably not something in the, in the, in the future, but that's in your blood.

Would you

like to help out sometime along

the way?

I'll always be a consultant role whenever given the opportunity.

I've been fortunate enough to be in some really successful programs around the state and both wrestling and football.

And so I'm willing to impart any kind of knowledge that was passed along to me and pay it forward if I had the opportunity.

But I know I'm going to have my hands full with the principal.

ship and curriculum.

So I'll be focused on that first.

Your dance card is full.

So far.

So, you know, it's only been a brief time that you've been at Ithaca, but what are some things that strike you doing that you've seen early on?

Sure.

You know, I think initially for me, it's I just felt the genuine

sincerity from people, people being down to earth and grounded.

It was very appealing to me.

I felt kind of at home from that standpoint and fitting in with the people here.

A lot of districts sometimes tout their facilities or tout certain offerings they might have to offer, but when it comes down to it, the successful schools are about the people.

people in the building and in the community.

And so very impressed with the people I've had the opportunity to meet and the people I've been working with thus far.

Indeed.

And both of you guys, I think, you know, you want to be available to the public too, Paul, you want to be there if somebody

has.

Yeah, absolutely.

I'm kind of.

jumping at the bit a little bit for get some of those athletic events on so I can go and see the kids.

I've been working with the business end of things and hiring and working with Dwayne a lot here, but I'm really excited about getting into the school year, seeing the kids, seeing them at the sporting events and going in the evening and seeing a volleyball game or a football game or in the winter, the different sporting events in the spring again.

I enjoy that and it's neat because being part of the community is always important.

And I've told that story time and time again of eight districts that I was involved in in my 35 years in education.

Ithco is the only place, the only place that really made me feel welcome in a part of the community.

And it's even stronger now than it was eight years ago.

It's a neat place.

It's a special place.

And just recently,

You know, I went up to Oakwood for an event that they had to help a person in our community and it was amazing, the outpouring of people.

And I say amazing because it was so impressive.

But I expected that.

because I've seen that before.

Down at school, I went for an event down there to help a local person with some medical needs and stuff like that.

And it's elbow to elbow.

And the outpouring of people and the outpouring of love and support is amazing.

And it's really neat.

It's a genuinely a special place.

And I don't know if people, unless they experience it, they just don't understand it.

But Ithaca is definitely a neat, special place where

you can be part of a community and not born and raised here.

And I wasn't.

But I definitely feel part of this community and it feels great to have that.

They drug you out of retirement.

They did.

They did.

And, and, and, and, you know, Steve Lewis has been very instrumental in that.

Steve and I have retained a friendship through all the years from the first day I was at Ithaca, you know, 12 years ago to this current day.

And, and he's been very instrumental and, and kind of keeping me on board.

So to speak, we've talked through the years and, and had dinner, his wife and my wife and I. And, um, I've always enjoyed his company and,

and having Steve as a school board president has been really great because I have somebody that I trust that I can talk freely with and talk things through and, you know, he texts me and I text him and just the communication is there and he feels very comfortable telling things to me and I feel comfortable saying things to him and we can speak freely and then ultimately coming up with some, I think some great answers to some issues that we're having to deal with.

Yeah.

And that's what it's going to take that cooperation.

Absolutely.

Positively.

And I feel, I'm really starting to feel like Dwayne and I still have that chemistry as well too.

And I think that we make a great team.

We're different though.

He has a

story

about

that.

How

are you different Dwayne?

So, um, growing up where I did, my family, uh, used to do a lot of hunting with dogs and we do go coon hunting.

And my dad always had different types of dogs.

He had dogs that would bark on trail and then he had dogs that were silent trackers.

And I would like to say and describe Paul and I similar as I'm the silent tracker and Paul is the one barking on trail.

So we, we, we work pretty well together and we're, we're definitely in the hunt.

The same goal.

The same goal.

Same goal.

Same, we're hunting the same thing.

What is best for students?

Right.

We got to go to break.

I feel like I should have an outro of who let the dogs out.

There you go.

We'll be back with more in a moment on today's morning shows.

We spotlight Ithaca schools.

you

On the morning show today, we're talking about Ithaca schools.

Paul Coonan and Dwayne daily are in and we're talking about Ithaca schools moving forward here into the 2627 school year.

Dwayne, let's talk about student identity next and what that kind of means to you.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think when students are in a school environment, you know, they might have some answers about who they are coming in, but really that's an answer question.

They're constantly asking is who am I?

Where do I fit?

what can I contribute?

And so it's our job to provide those environments where they can decide to be an athlete, an artist, a leader, a problem solver, entrepreneur, tradesperson, scientist, caregiver, community leader, innovator, or just whatever they might find a niche in to match their skill sets or their strengths.

And sometimes they have a strength they don't even know about.

And so a student's future begins with an adult seeing something in them that they haven't even seen in themselves yet.

And I think we just have to pull that out of students sometimes.

Yeah.

And I think it's very important because you never know on your staff who's going to connect with a student.

I mean, it could be, it could be a custodian.

It

could be a

cook or whatever.

Yeah.

There's a lot of research on it.

Hattie's research.

John Hattie's done a lot of research.

And the number one indicator of student success is teacher efficacy.

Everybody being on the same page that they can contribute, make a difference for students.

Number two is student relationships.

Having a student.

having an adult that they can connect with and make a connection with is another strong indicator for student success.

So

what about test scores and how do you get those where you want them to be?

Yeah, I think it has to start with the foundation of that relationship piece.

Students are not going to know how much

content area knowledge you have, they don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

And so you could have a doctorate in any kind of content area, but that information can only fully come to fruition if it has that fertile ground of a relationship with a student.

Yeah, Paul, anything you want to add?

Well, I just, you know, I can't help but echo.

um, the idea of positive relationships.

I think that's so important.

I remember, you know, so often when in years of school for me, whether it was high school, even college and stuff, I remember I met a custodian in college.

And I would see him just out of this class.

He was always there and we got talking and stuff like that.

And that meant something to me.

And in colleges, when there's a lot of kids and you feel like a number, being able to see that one person and his name was Dave and I would see David, hey Dave, you know, and say hi to Dave and talk to him after my power class down at the one hall.

I don't remember where it was at Stout, but that was really important.

And we have people that are willing to make relationships with kids.

all across the board, every avenue.

And I was talking to Laura in the office yesterday, and she pointed out a kid and said, he needs to come back here.

We really love him.

We want him back.

And so I was put on special assignment.

And I've been very busy calling families and leaving the door open and saying, hey, listen, you may have opened and rolled your student out, or maybe you had opened and rolled in or going back to that district.

I just want to leave the door open.

I want to leave the door open and invite people to say, hey, if there's something better we can do, let me know because we want to be better.

But I think that you never go wrong with building relationships with kids.

Yeah.

And I think it's good that you're not shying away.

You're going, you know, you can only get better if you get a little input.

Absolutely.

You know, I've always said, you know, for starters,

I can't make stuff and I can't lie because my dad would have my hide and I wouldn't be able to sleep.

And this is no different in transparency and, you know, I make mistakes and I've already had to apologize for some of those mistakes.

And I'm not against that because how else do you learn and how else do you grow and how else can you build trust with people than, you know, to be completely honest with them.

And that's how you build relationships.

And I really enjoy the relationship piece of what I'm doing right now.

And that's part of why I'm really excited about the school year is building some of those relationships with those kids.

And we have a couple of young men right now at our school that are helping out with the cleaning and maintenance that's going on.

And they've been very pleasant.

And if they're a representation of what's going on at Ithaca, I'm pretty excited to meet the rest of them.

Education Dwayne has changed since the time you've been in education, too.

And there's a lot more school to work opportunities than there used to be.

And we're seeing that a lot at Ithaca, I think,

too, aren't we?

I think what you want is try to determine what success looks like for students.

And you want to teach them how to be skillful participants, skillful contributors, and skillful providers eventually, because those are the three roles that they're going to have when they're in the real world, when they're done with school.

In any capacity, they're going to be one of those three things.

And so we want to make sure that we're teaching students how to be confident leaders, responsible citizens, problem solvers, collaborators, communicators, leaders,

teach some resilience skills and just teach them how to be contributing members of their communities.

We want students to leave Ithaca not only knowing more, but knowing themselves better.

I think you bring up a good point too, and when you're out in the public, maybe you don't have as good a resume as the other person, but communication skills, if you look at somebody in the eye, that goes a long way sometimes.

Yeah,

those intangible pieces.

I think whether it's in a school environment or a workplace environment, those intangible pieces help make bosses happy, right?

You're a good contributing member.

You treat people well.

You're reliable and productive wherever you are.

A question for the superintendent here.

What are you hearing from families about what they want from their school,

Paul?

Well, you know, I think one of the big things is they want their kids to be known.

They do want strong academics, and as I call people, they want to make sure that there is definitely a strong sense of safety and belonging.

One of the first meetings I had when I started a month ago was with our Sheriff Porter and Lieutenant Mike Sizz from the County Sheriff's Department to extend a hand that I want to work with them, and we need them.

to help us be safe.

We have a strong sense of I think

I don't want to say discipline, but also in the school, Dwayne and I have been talking about being transparent with kids so they know expectations I think is probably a better term.

And when kids know that, those expectations, they can rise to the occasion.

I've seen it before and we'll see it again.

But that helps with our safety.

That helps with the way that things go through calmly within the school day and kids can enjoy it.

because they don't want things to be crazy.

They want them to be controlled and they want to be working with people as well and enjoying their day because we want kids to enjoy the day.

We want our staff to enjoy the day.

And all I ask is that we're gonna meet every kid every day with a smile on our face and a spring in our step.

And our model this year is we build it, they will come.

We want to provide structure and support.

I think

it's important to have both.

Sometimes you can provide students too much structure and not enough support and they begin to start doing things because they feel like they have to and not because they want to.

When you add that supportive piece and meet their social-emotional needs, give them the resources that they need to be successful, now all of a sudden they're doing things because they want to, not because they have to.

Let me ask you about discipline here now.

Is that heaven forbid, but is that mostly fall under your shoes?

Well, we're going to team it up this year just because initially we're both new in our roles, but we're going to have a very common language.

It's going to be used across the board throughout the building at all of our school levels.

We're going to have a behavior flow chart where that's going to use the common language where the people in the office, the people in the classroom and the people on the grounds are all going to have the same concept of what

that behavior expectations should be.

What about Paul, your collaboration with Duane and how does that work?

Well, it's been kind of one of those things where I throw an ID at him and he runs with it.

When I was a principal, one of the biggest things that I did was I created a rubric for behaviors and consequences.

So it was transparent.

And when I was in situations where it

previously had not been transparent to kids.

Kids were pretty quick to say, well, you did that because I this, or you did that because they wanted to look at what was going on or kind of throwing the blame off themselves.

And by doing this, you can come to that common language where it's like, hey, is this what happened?

Yes, we agree that this is what happened.

Here's what it says.

And I'm doing this for everybody.

And because it's written down and it's communicated, it's much easier for everybody to handle and it really

does reflect in the students throughout the day of how they respond to things.

And it's much easier to work with kids and they understand that, you know, we got a job to do and we got to keep a little, uh, law and order, so to speak.

Um, but that means that, uh, why can't we do that with some transparency?

So they understand.

Sure.

Dwayne, anything you wanted to add?

Sure.

I think it's a collaborative thing, right?

It has to be a collaborative effort between admin and teachers.

Um, you know, we're, we're, we want to,

model what we are going to do with staff, just like we would want them to do with students.

So as administrators, we're going to be listening to people.

We're going to be open to input.

We are going to be open to suggestion.

We're going to be open to innovation.

Those are all things that we want teachers and to return and

pay forward with the students and have those same offerings and expectations for students.

Yeah.

And I think that's key.

One of the things I was going to mention too is, you know, we've talked a lot about the relationship between you guys and the students, but it's also important with the staff

too, do we?

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think.

I think sometimes everybody is so focused on the standardized requirements and meeting certain assessment marks and everything as teachers and getting through certain curriculum benchmarks that they forget that we're in the care of students and we're in the care of people.

And we're also in the care of each other as colleagues.

And so I think it's important for people to relate to one another.

You know, some person might not be able to understand what it's like to be that other person and that other person might not be able to understand what it's like to be the other person.

But when they try to have some empathy and practice active listening with one another, then they can get some common ground and then have some common results.

Well said.

I see why you hired this guy, by the way.

Absolutely.

Are you kidding me?

Was it no brainer?

Well, let's talk about the future of the Ithaca district.

Duane, you think the big picture looks like it maybe excites you the most about

the

future.

As I said before, one of the first impressions I had was the people at Ithaca.

And I just sense that the ground is ready for growth, right?

The ground has been worked and it's fertile and ready for growth.

And so what I'm excited about is kind of like five pillars or focus that I want to have kind of uphold the work that I do with people.

I want it to be focused on relationships, belonging, identity, opportunity, and innovation.

And I feel like if we can focus on those things, the soil is ready for all kinds of growth.

Paul?

Yeah, I can't echo that enough.

I'm just really excited for the year.

I'm excited to get going.

And I can't dwindle enough for all the things that he's bringing to the table here.

I mean, he's got things down.

I mean, very well organized and prepared for his future.

Indeed.

Speaking of which, school year starts September 1st, Ithaca Fair, right

around that corner.

Right around the corner.

I believe it's the 18th and 19th of September.

We've got the block party on Friday the 18th and homecoming game and all the festivities and the fair on Saturday the 19th.

And I'm kind of looking forward to that because the last time I saw it, I was a passerby going down the street before they shut the street off.

And I'm excited to be there again for the festivities.

I normally am gone at that time of the year out to North Dakota, but I'm going to be back in time this year to be here for that.

So I'm pretty excited about that.

And they're very busy.

All the people involved, they're very dedicated to having the fair go off without a hitch.

And all the activities are getting prepared.

And I even got a whole bunch of really neat decorations.

because this year the block party is like surfs up or, you know, kind of that Hawaiian theme.

So we got a whole bunch of decorations for that.

So I'm pretty excited for this year.

Look for

Mr. Cooner to be rocking the

Hawaiian shirt.

I need to get one.

I need to get one.

I don't have one.

Well, Dwayne, that'll be the day when you really officially are a member because people from the community will meet you and you know, hundreds come back for the fair.

Absolutely.

Betrayed in the dress shoes

or boots and for sandals that

day.

Yeah, there you go.

I know before we went on the air, you talked about a motto moving forward.

Could you give that to us

as we close?

Sure.

It's just something I come up with.

I just feel like I wanted to have something, a motto that would be encouraging to everybody.

And since our mascots, the Bulldogs, I come up with something called a Bulldogs Best.

And it's simply do the best you can with the best that you have because the best is yet to come.

And I think that applies to students, staff, community members.

Um, we all have different situations, different things going on in our life, but we can just try to remember to do the best we can with the best we have.

And it gives us a positive outlook on what's moving forward.

So

it's pleasure to meet you doing.

Thank you.

We'll be talking again.

Paul, we'll see you soon.

Absolutely.

Hey, and don't forget it is a great day to be a bulldog.

That's how we close the Ithaca portion of the morning show here today and WRC radio, new principal Dwayne Daly and superintendent Paul Kuhn and joining us.

you

The Ithaca Lions Club will be very busy.

Well, they always are, but the coming days, they have a fundraiser.

They have a Stuff the Bus event coming up next week as well at Ithaca schools.

Joining me is Ithaca Lions president, Dean Reinhardt.

Secretary Deb O'Connell is in the studio as well.

Dean, here we go.

This is an annual event for the Lions, isn't it?

We're off

and running again.

Yep.

Here we go.

How's the park looking Ithaca Lions

Park?

It looks awesome.

I'll tell you, Fred Fry keeps that place just amazing.

He puts in a lot of hours up there.

We've got

the shelter all cleaned up, he keeps the place mowed, it's looking really nice.

The chicken barbecue is coming up on Sunday so people will get a chance to see it.

It'll be Sunday, yep this Sunday we're going to start serving at 11 o'clock and serve till we're gone and we're going to have all kinds of stuff, we're going to try and have some cornhole boards there and we're encouraging kids, well anybody want to bring a ball and bat and a glove going out and play ball on the diamond and

So it should be a good day.

Feel the dreams out there.

There you go.

Yep.

Ethicals version.

Yeah.

So this is one of your main fundraisers during the year, isn't

it?

It is.

Yeah.

The money will be going to our Lions for Kids Christmas fund.

So that's, that's going to be one of our big ones.

Deb O'Connell is here as well, Deb.

This is a big event for you guys, very much needed for the kids for Christmas, isn't

it?

It is.

We really have to raise at least $10,000 every year, if not a little bit more, because of the number of children we service.

And it becomes one of the big events that we can do, as well as the ones at Oakwood.

So we have two broad stands coming up at Oakwood Fruit Farms, two weekends, one in September on the 19th to the 20th.

the other one is on October 17th to 18th with again all the funds going towards the Lions for Christmas fund.

How did it go last year for that?

Was it pretty successful?

We had 300 plus children and we also had over a hundred families that got involved with that.

So people are very grateful when they come through and we do it as a drive-through and they fill out forms at the

social services building and yeah it runs very well.

The only problem we had is we have people who don't seem to understand that Lions for Kids Christmas has taken over for the smiles for a child and so people thought that we didn't have that

Program anymore, and it's just a name change And so I had kind of at the end of the season where people were saying we didn't realize that this program still existed So it's really important for us to get that name change out there and to make sure people understand that we still are Available to help kids and families

for your fundraiser you mentioned around ten grand I'm guessing the cost of things going up all the time.

That's probably maybe even a low estimate isn't it

it probably

is to be very honest I really do look at this program all year long you know I look for toys that are coming on sale I look for things that are in the clearance aisle that I know kids are going to be asking for but it comes down to the nitty-gritty when they ask for something very specific and they and I think the parents are very cognizant of the fact that they toys are expensive now and so they look at what's on sale what's coming up for Thanksgiving sales and they put down what

The child really wants and so there's this end of the time crunch where we're trying to give the child really what they would like and Kind of give them some extra things in there too that if they ask for an art supply What age group do I have that I already have some art supplies and things with so it's kind of interesting but very busy

Yeah, you'll be coming back later in the fall to talk a little bit more about it, but it'll be happening.

People will be signing up usually right around November, right?

Yes.

I actually increased it an extra week this time.

So maybe to give people a little bit more chance to get their names in and maybe to get the word out a little better.

So usually it's the second week in November, but I'm going to see if I can get the forms in by November 2nd, which is a Monday.

And then I always want to pick them up the day before Thanksgiving.

at the end because of the Thanksgiving sales that come up because we do have a lot of shopping right in there.

of all the lion's things you're involved in.

I know the lions help out all kinds of worthy causes, but this has to be about number one for you, isn't it?

Yeah, it is.

For me personally, it is.

And I know that all the other members really participate.

I mean, the fundraisers are time consuming and everyone participates a lot.

I have people going out and shopping for the gifts.

So we have Sundays that we get together and we all shop.

We do that for a few weekends.

But that's why it's important to get those forms in early so that we can

them and not have 300 gifts to have to get at the end.

That's

pretty hard to do so.

Can

someone

just donate any time of the year to the cause?

They could.

I do keep a supply.

I, you know, some in my house and some at where we keep our our extras that are left over.

We do have some that we keep.

We try to give as much away as possible.

But we've also given to people, children who've had fires in the homes, you know, and lost their toys.

And we try to help out in that, you know, that area as well.

So yeah, they can.

There's a good need for it.

Dean, maybe you could go over all of the schedule of events for the Chicken Barbecue Fundraiser coming up on Sunday then.

Yes, it's going to be this Sunday the 16th.

We're going to start serving at 11 o'clock in the morning.

And the menu, we're going to have a half a chicken, potato salad, cowboy beans and a dinner roll.

And the cost is going to be a free well donation.

So it's not a specific charge, whatever you want to throw in, if you want to throw a hundred dollar bill in, we'll take it.

One thing I do want to mention, I talked to Garrett Vitesnik, at Vitesnik Power Sports, and they are donating the use of a 4 seater UTV, because it is a long walk from the parking lot into the shelter.

So that'll be my job.

You know, that day, that real rough job of driving that UTV back and forth.

And so there will be a ride available from the parking lot into the shelter, courtesy of the Tesnicks.

Um, they volunteered you to do that.

So you wouldn't be doing the cooking probably,

right?

Oh yeah, you don't want me cooking.

Give

him a job.

Yeah, great.

Get him out of here.

We don't have to deal with it.

I presume you're going to be starting that chicken pretty early in the morning Sunday.

I'm thinking we probably are.

Yeah, I might have to be there before the before sunrise.

I'm not sure what time we're starting, but it'll be ready.

Ready to go by 11 o'clock.

Yeah, that's that's awesome.

Let's switch gears a little bit.

Put on another hat, but the stuff, the bus events coming next week too.

Yeah, we're holding our annual stuff, the bus.

It'll be on Wednesday, August 19th.

It'll be at the high school driveway there in Ithaca where we always have it.

There'll be a bus there and people sitting there waiting to take anything you want to bring in.

We'll be there from noon until 6.30 on Wednesday the 19th.

You've been there before.

Are you impressed by the way the community responds to

this?

Like I say, every time I'm here it's just amazing how this community steps up and supports so much.

There's so much going on this time of year and the community is there to support everybody.

And we hope they come out this Sunday and again, first off the bus.

We'll take any kinds of school supplies, notebooks, pens, paper, you know, whatever.

Cleaning supplies, all the wipes, the Kleenex and any but anything, monetary donations.

If you want to just stop in, write a check, hand us a cash.

We'll take that too.

And then we can buy whatever we don't get donated as supplies.

Now this is important in this day and age not only for students but for the school as well to have some of the supplies on hand isn't

it?

Yes because you know you get those cheaper supplies in August when the stores you know provide them and then a lot of people will buy the extra and then donate it.

to the schools and donate it to our stuff, the bus.

But the kids run out of these supplies during the school, and so during the year.

And so it's nice to have those extras that they can just provide when they're a little more expensive again.

So yeah, it's a good fundraiser.

So the teachers will have some of this on hand, like in the supply closet to use during the year than another.

Correct.

And if it's a monetary thing, then we have the money that they can go back out and get some of the things and possibly that the teachers have rather than just the students, maybe on white boards and that type of thing that they can have the, the markers and then the erasers that work on those.

So whatever technology has changed.

Sure.

Um, and then other things you're taking, like Kleenex's and

those kind of things?

Yeah, I think the Kleenex has run out very quickly, especially depending on what the season is, as well as wipes.

We really do try to keep the facility clean and allow the students to be safe in the environment.

What about food items like snacks or is that, is that a different ball