Riverdale School District

you

Riverdale schools are topic today as you put the shine on the sheftens here today in the start of schools right around the bend here.

So we have members of the admin team.

Jeff Campbell is here.

Sarah Pluckleman, Sarah Groen and Stacy Sosinski.

We'll talk about what's happening with Riverdale.

Here you go.

You look pretty well rested, Jeff.

I'm ready.

I'm ready

to

go.

Yeah.

We're ready for those teachers on Monday to come on in and, uh,

It's, uh, yeah, it's, it's pretty much go time now.

So we've been talking about it for the last couple of months and here

we are.

My first time to get into schools usually is with volleyball, but you know, you get into the school the first time and you start smelling like the wax or the painter or whatever, but even smelling that all summer,

I guess.

Yeah, we have our custodial crew led by Tim Redmond.

They've been, they've been working hard.

They got a little bit ahead of schedule even this year, a good group of people.

They're working in the rooms and uh, we're able to get things cleaned up.

And that's always nice too, because we've got summer school,

packed up right there.

Some teachers don't get an opportunity to get in their room very early.

So they're doing their best to get them in there as quick as possible.

And yeah, we've had a number of teachers are always in early working throughout the school.

So both schools have been pretty busy since they've been given the go ahead and getting ready for the year.

Then you have football practice well underway, and I think volleyball and cross country this week as well.

Yeah, it's been it's been a lot of kids, a lot of kids around.

There are a lot of kids around all summer with workouts and different activities we had, but you really see it now.

All the high school kids back in football is, you know, three weeks in with the first game this Friday at home.

And then our volleyball started on Monday.

Our cross country started on Monday and both them will get an action next week.

And I think volleyball even scrimmages this week.

So it's been

been nice to see everybody around and see the kids back in there.

And numbers are pretty solid and everything right now in the fall sports.

So we're pretty happy with where we're at with those and should have a nice start to the year.

School starts a couple of weeks from now.

But I always say when this stuff gets going at just school, just as well be in session.

But I know that's a state thing, isn't it?

Yeah, it is the state.

They did.

free up a little bit more opportunities to start early.

They said that you can kind of prove that you know some of your scores in that have gone up so you can apply for a waiver and then you have to kind of set a goal and reach that goal and show that and then you kind of got to do that every year.

On top of if you have construction or if you're transporting private school children a lot of times they'll let those schools start a little earlier since you're doing the transportation anyways.

That doesn't pertain to us and then

We did do with some projects we had a little bit earlier start one year to get done a little bit earlier.

So we could have the construction started on time.

But it would be nice.

I continue to tell our association it would be nice if we start about mid-August because I feel like the kids are here.

Everybody's kind of in the mood to get going.

And then it also gives them a little bit more time at the end of the year.

And it gives you a little more flexibility with your calendar too.

Right now you're scrunched into certain

time constraints in that because families want to wrap things up by June and want to, you know, have their kids out and then you want to get summer school in and there.

And so I always thought that starting that mid-August time would be good.

We'll see if it looks like some progress has been made.

We'll see if it gets some things changed in the next couple years.

Did you have some construction going on on the grounds this off season?

Yeah, we have.

We've started a shed project.

Got the approval from the village and state to do that.

Had some excavating done on that will be

cement here within this week and then the bid process is out right now so if anybody's listening in is interested in that they can email me for the plans and we have the bid process going through September 3rd right now and we can send you the plans and then you submit your bid and then we'll look at approving that at our September board meeting so we can get that put up that will help free up a lot of storage.

It'll help us remove one of our buildings that are kind of caving in a little bit and having some leaking issues.

So we'll be able to get rid of that building and fence in our security fencing around our high school finish that off.

So that's been our main project right now.

We're looking at a couple other projects here in the future, but that's kind of our main one this off season here.

Your FFA alumni hosted the donkey baseball.

Did you play in the game?

I did.

I

had the

opportunity to do it first time ever.

I've been a donkey.

anything.

But yeah, I enjoyed it.

It's actually there's a lot to it.

Then it's really interesting to watch at first the first couple innings or so you're just trying to figure out the rules.

That's the biggest thing they give you this big waiver pretty much signing your life away on it.

It looks like with all these things that could happen and then the guy's given all the directions and he's talking about how this happened and this happened and this person got hurt.

So we talked as a team, we said as a staff team, our goal was not to be the example that the guy went to

another program and talked about this happened at this community.

So we tried to play it safe, but it was a lot of fun.

It was a tremendous turnout, beautiful night for the FFA and just the support you have for that program and our community, the people come out and it was a fun experience.

I think I've got some ideas now.

It's like, if we do this again, I mean, we're pretty competitive.

We weren't as competitive this time because I think we're a little older and, you know, those younger kids, they take a few more, they just

They just go all out and we're just a little bit, we got a little bit more, uh, if we get injured, that's going to come back to on us.

But, uh, it was a lot of fun.

It was nice to see the kids, uh, have a good time against the staff and, uh, the staff that turned out for it.

And it just, uh, yeah, I think I got some ideas the next time around.

We kind of know the rules and that, and, uh, we're going to put some runs on the board.

Oh, he didn't score this time.

No, I don't think we did.

We, we were close.

Did

we get

Chelsea scored once and we were close to scoring and another time.

And.

We just got beat at the end, so it's all right.

It was a fun night.

Yeah, I was going to say that's kind of a nice little bonding night for you and the community.

Yeah, just a chance to kick off the year in that kind of an environment was neat.

And a lot of laughs, a lot of fun.

And it was nice to see the community get involved to with the alumni team.

It just wasn't a school event.

It was the FFA alumni.

I think they had some people, they said, from the Blue River Fire Department.

It was a co-op kind of team.

Yeah, I think it could really

role in time if you did it again and it was a it was a neat experience not something you get to see every day.

Well I told you you know you told me who was coming today and I said you always surround yourself with good people so tell me about the admin team.

Yeah we have our admin team and it's been a quick two years we all kind of started in our roles together so Sarah Plechleman took over the elementary principal role same time that I went to district administrator and then we brought in Sarah Gruen and Stacy Zizinski to fill the

junior high high school principal and the director of spec ed positions.

And we're into our third year together.

And I talked at CISA the other day at a training just saying that, you know, now we're progressing in that way where we've kind of laid the groundwork for things that we want to do.

And now we're kind of continuing on those initiatives that we have and progressing forward as, you know, the staff has gotten to know the admin team really well, and we've gotten to know the staff really well.

So we were kind of at that stage.

of growing those initiatives and pushing those initiatives and especially in our second year of our strategic plan, it's been a benefit to be together and they're an exceptional team that I can rely on for anything.

It makes my job a lot easier because

They're handling a lot of those issues within the buildings and they're not getting to me.

And that just shows right then and there that they're doing, you know, a tremendous job and we're excelling.

So they'll talk about some of the new things that they're going to have in their buildings and kind of let people know a preview of the year a little bit.

Wonderful.

Sarah Plucklman is drawing the short straw.

She goes first here today.

I mean, he had been team.

Good morning.

No, I

thought that made me the winner here, Phil.

You're freaking

on me first.

No, maybe you are.

Yeah.

I was going to say, just going back to the donkey baseball, that was an awesome time.

And like Jeff said, the alumni, how they've come around and just supported some of the team members were like recent grads.

And then they had somebody who was like 56, 57.

So had been around for a while, but everyone was there supporting.

So that was really cool.

Really cool to see.

All right, so a couple things that we have going on at the elementary school.

Like you mentioned, the fresh paint and the fresh wax for sure.

Tim and his team have done a great job getting the building ready.

We're ready to welcome back students.

We did have two sessions of summer school this summer.

The first one was three weeks in June, and then we had the last two weeks of July, first week of August.

We had kind of kids in and out, but it was nice to see them back for that time.

And I think a lot of them now are gonna be ready and excited come first day of school.

We do have our back to school night.

at both buildings next week Wednesday, the 26th.

It's from four to seven at the elementary school.

The kids can come in, families can meet the teachers, kind of get reacquainted with the building.

Fifth and sixth graders do not have just the one single teacher for their main subjects they rotate around for their ELA, their math, science, social studies and their specials.

So they'll be able to get their schedules printed that night, get their locker assignments and can start bringing in their school supplies that night.

Also we do have a few

families who have not completed our online registration yet at the elementary school.

So we'll have teachers and devices available if we still need to do that.

The support will be there to finish registration that night.

So a big night that night and it's an important one.

If somebody misses it, can they

come in some other time then?

Absolutely, they can always call the main office.

If we have new families coming in and would like to schedule a tour, we can provide that before or after that evening as well.

And we use Skyward as our student information system with family access so parents can find teachers' names, students can log in and get their schedules as well if they don't get a chance to get the printed one on registration night.

As Jeff mentioned, you guys all kind of came together at the same time.

Do you still miss the classroom though from time to time?

Yes and no, I still get the opportunity to speak Spanish.

I was a Spanish teacher at the Junior High School Building.

We have a few Spanish speaking families, so it's nice to be able to conduct with them that way and still get to use my Spanish.

And then, of course, I get to get in the classrooms most days and enjoy that.

I do get an opportunity sometimes to even cover classes.

So I've gotten to teach and 4K up through the sixth grade classrooms and get that opportunity as well.

So I still get in and still get that connection.

Are there some new initiatives for the upcoming school year?

We

do.

We're actually starting a new program.

It's called the Seven Mindsets Program.

And it's like a social-emotional learning program.

We have recognized some needs in some mental health areas, even at the elementary school.

And teachers have been looking into different things.

And so as a team, we found the Seven Mindsets Program.

And it's really designed to foster happiness, resilience, and personal achievement.

It emphasizes success that relies primarily on how a person thinks rather than what they know.

So the seven mindsets are everything is possible, which encourages dreaming big, embracing creativity, thinking positively, and taking action while adjusting along the way.

So that'll be the first ones that we kind of greet the students with in September.

And it really will start to get them thinking big and big possibilities for their school year and then beyond.

After that, we'll cover passion first, which focuses on discovering individual strengths.

exploring personal interests, aligning actions with core values, and staying authentic.

The next one is We Are Connected, which emphasizes building positive relationships, seeking synergies, surrounding yourself with a supportive dream team, and leading with value.

Next is 100% Accountable that teaches personal responsibility, overcoming limiting beliefs and fears, effectively managing time and energy, and continually growing.

The next one is Attitude of Gratitude.

focusing on recognizing your personal worth, practicing daily gratitude, and expressing appreciation to others.

The next one is live to give, which highlights the power of serving others, making a daily positive impact, and gracefully receiving help.

And then the last one for the end of the school year will be the time as now, which will focus on students taking purposeful action in the present, staying in a constructive mindset, and accepting vulnerability.

So we really appreciated these mindsets, the things that will

the values that it will grow in our students.

The program is really connected, not only from classroom to classroom, grade level to grade level, but from different areas in the buildings.

It's gonna be evident in the cafeteria, in the hallways, with our custodians and bus drivers.

It's really designed to set up strong positive relationships from students to staff, students and their peers, and it really,

is gonna help us focus in on creating a welcoming environment that starts when students get on the bus or enter the school doors and we'll continue throughout our whole building.

How do you foresee implementing those?

How does it work?

Is it each quarter?

How do you?

Well, there's seven mindsets throughout the nine months of school.

So

each one will have a focus for four to five weeks.

We actually have a training for all of our staff Monday on our first in-service day back to school for the teachers and the staff.

We'll talk about that implementation then.

But the program comes with ways to introduce it.

There is a new quote every day that is directed toward each mindset.

So we'll include that in our morning announcements.

So we can just kind of have that focus, that reminder, and then teachers not only will present the seven mindsets lessons a little bit each day through their morning meetings, then there's also other times where they could include it in their writing.

time at the end of the day that they can have some prompts to reflect on how students can implement these mindsets and what it would look like in their daily lives.

Are there new procedures this year that you'd like to talk about?

Yeah, we have taken all, Jeff is actually really good at taking a look at the safety of our students and our staff and we do

have like practice drills every year on like intruder drills, building safety.

We talk with local law enforcement and make sure that we all know what to do in the case we would have that kind of incident.

And we're just taking a look at what kind of procedures do we have, practices that we have that can just make us more secure.

So one thing we noticed is we could have our

like kind of visitor policy tightened up.

And so that's what we're gonna do with the elementary building starting this year.

Parents are welcome to come in and walk their students down to classes.

A lot of them have done for the first two weeks of school to kind of help with that transition back, especially with our younger students.

But then starting Monday, September 14th, parents will need to check in the office and won't be walking their children down.

We're gonna promote like some independence with our students.

And we've noticed a lot of them during summer school,

don't really have parents walking them in and they're able to get into their team pretty quickly.

We have a lot of paraprofessional support.

Individuals who will be greeting students as they come in the door and will help transition them to class.

So that kind of just limits the amount of people in the building throughout the school day.

It will increase our safety, as we said, will help us to get focused on instruction and really protect those instructional minutes as well.

they come to the front door like during the day and be buzzed in as you

absolutely and then they come right to the main office sign in you know if parents are concerned about not being able to you know reach teachers they can always do that via phone calls email schedule meetings I know any concerns can still be brought to us

if they have those.

Okay, welcome back to you though.

Yeah, nice start today.

Yeah, Sarah Buckelman joining us.

Sarah Gruen is here as well.

Sarah, good morning.

Good morning.

Good to have you back here.

Thank you.

I think, is this the second time you've been on or is it the third?

This will be my third.

So you've come each year then.

Yes, I have, yes.

Yeah, how fast time flies, you know?

So looking back on your first couple of years though, any highlights, anything that you look upon as, you know, successful and things like that?

I'm just really blessed to be here, honestly.

I talk about it often about how I feel like the staff and the students, but my staff is just stellar.

I have a good group of people who are hardworking, dedicated, loyal.

They've been in a lot this summer, getting ready for the school year, getting ready for our kids, and so I just feel blessed to be part of that team.

Yeah, three years ago when you were here, you know, it was getting to know faces and names and things like that.

Does it make it easier now getting into the school year?

Yeah And I create a welcome back video each year in the first year I can remember just asking my secretaries about every picture like who's this?

What do they do?

I had no idea who I was creating this video for But this year and even last year I feel like I know everybody and I'm creating a video that I

of people that I care about now, and yeah, it's a lot more fun.

What's a typical day like for you, or is every day a little bit different?

Oh, I would say every day is different.

It can range.

Some days I go home and I think, oh, yeah, that was great.

Had a great day.

Easy.

And then some days I go home and I can't even believe what had just happened.

So yeah, it just ranges.

But I love it.

I do love this role.

Back to school night is coming up here.

Anything you want to hit on as far as that?

Yeah, well, Sarah kind of touched on a little bit, but our back to school night is the same.

Wednesday, August 26 from 4 to 7 p.m.

Our students and parents can come in and meet their teachers and pick up their schedules.

Their lockers will be given to them so that they can drop off any supplies that they might want to bring in.

Our office will, of course, be open, so Becky can help with registration needs.

She'll collect fees like lunch money or sports fees or registration fees.

Sherry will also be in there, and she can answer any questions about food service and maybe help families apply for the free and reduced meals.

Also, Lenore Wilkie will have the art room open so that she can hand out the old, or not old, the previous years, 2025-2026 yearbooks.

And of course, Mrs. Troxel will have her door open and help with any schedule changes or needs.

And any new initiatives.

We talked to Sarah Plekelman about that.

Yeah, I have a couple new this year.

Our juniors and seniors will be able to apply for a.

half credit of PE waiver if they've successfully completed two athletic seasons.

So if they complete the two seasons with solid attendance and in good standing, meaning no disciplinary issues or code violations, then they could wave a half a credit of FIED.

I think that this is going to open up their schedules a bit for some students and allow them to take other classes that they might not

otherwise fit in their schedule.

I also think it rewards our athletes for their time and commitment and hard work that they put into their sports.

So I think it's a great opportunity for our juniors and seniors.

And then one other initiative that we're implementing is this year eligible students will be

able to waive their semester final exams.

So in the past, every student had to take every final exam, no matter what.

But this year, they could waive it, possibly for one or some or all of their classes.

In order to do this, they would have to have no more than two absences in the semester, no more than two tardies in the semester, no in-school or out-of-school suspensions in the semester, and they have to have a grade of a B minus or higher in the class.

I think it's going to push some kids to improve their attendance, their tardies, their behavior.

And most importantly, they're academics.

So I do think that it's a great incentive for students to have good intent, good behavior, and good grades.

Right.

You never have any trouble with behavior, though, do you?

Right?

Once in a

while.

Once in a while.

That's expected, though, right?

In terms of anything else you want to talk about as far as procedures during the school day, anything changing that way,

Sarah?

Not really.

I'll touch on the cell phone policy.

We did have to reword it a little bit in our handbook to comply with the state law.

But for the most part, I feel like we were already doing what we needed to be doing.

Our students in the junior high and high school will have to have their phones powered off and out of sight in all academic classes.

But they still can use them during lunch, during passing times, before and after school.

And even the high school students will be able to use it during study hall, as long as they're passing their classes.

Junior high kids will not be allowed to use their cell phones in study hall, but it is a good incentive for our high school students.

But for the most part, we were already doing most of that.

So I think that's going to be an easy transition.

It really hasn't been a problem at Riverdale?

I think no.

I think that our students are respectful.

But when our teachers ask them to keep their phones away, they keep their phones away.

So I really feel like it's been pretty seamless, honestly.

I know the state law went into effect July 1st, but I think every school is able to adapt their own policy, right?

Yeah, as long as you keep with the wording of what their requirements are, then yes, we can all do our own things as long as it's out of the instructional time.

Yeah.

Do you have any new staff they'd like to focus

on?

Yeah, so we just have a few at the junior high and high school.

Addie Byrd was hired as our new speech and language pathologist and she'll be working with students really across the district.

She's a Riverdale grad herself, so she's coming back to her roots and we're happy to have her.

Amy Seguin is our new sixth and seventh grade ELA teacher and she'll be working with both

the elementary school students and the junior high kids.

She comes to us with a lot of experience and is already busy in her room preparing for our students and learning a new curriculum, so we're excited to have her at Riverdale.

And we also have a couple of new custodians this year, Michelle Foyt and Brent Hudson.

Both I believe live in Muscaday and seem to be go-getters.

So we're excited to welcome them on board as well.

So I really think we've hit the jackpot with really all of our hires.

I think we had great candidates this year.

So I'm excited to work with our new hires.

Good deal.

And school year starts, it's a Tuesday, right?

Tuesday,

yes.

September 1st.

Wow.

right around the bend.

We'll come back and talk more about Riverdale schools in just a moment here.

This is The Morning Show from WRCO.

Welcome back to our morning show studios on WRC radio.

And today we're putting the focus on Riverdale schools.

And Stacey Sosinski is in to kind of go over the review of the special education program at Riverdale.

Good morning,

Stacey.

Good to have you in here in the studio.

So what excites you about the new school year?

Oh, man.

I think year three feels good.

Like we've talked about already, knowing all of the staff.

I also think, you know, like Sarah Gruen had mentioned, we have just a phenomenal staff and I get to see them all because I get to work in both buildings.

So I feel really lucky that I get to develop relationships and just see the magic that happens all the way from early childhood, all the way up through 12th grade.

We've had a couple of new staff members joining our special ed team.

Sarah had mentioned Addie Bird is joining us at Speech and Language.

pathologist, which is awesome.

And then we have Emily Powell joining us as a K2 special ed teacher.

And I mean, she used the exact words that come to mind for me too.

We really just continue to hit the jackpot, especially with special education staff, which I know can be really, really challenging to find.

It feels like the staff we, you know, was already there when I came on board is phenomenal.

And then everyone we've added to that since has just continued that.

I mean, we are so fortunate in the staff that we have and the way that they care for the kids and they care for each other.

Working at both buildings.

Again, I think we talked to Sarah grown about this too, but no day is probably the same, right?

There's a lot of variety in your job.

There's a lot of variety.

I love it.

I think it's great.

I mean, to some degree, we have.

the same challenges that most public schools face but I think we also have an extremely strong admin team which is very very helpful and our staff just generally seems to care about each other and to really care about the students and I think that sets us apart.

When challenges do arise we're able to handle them and to come together and to remain student focused and it's just it's great.

Since the time you've been in education, there have been a lot of new movements in terms of special education.

Probably, does it make it any easier or how do you look at

it?

Oh boy.

I think that the changes that they make in special education, which usually come down from above us, you know, DPI kind of guides us in that.

They are always very well intentioned.

I think they are always trying to really center the students and what's best for them and families.

It's just unfortunate that sometimes the other side of things like funding and stuff like that can make it challenging to execute them, maybe the way that they're intended to be or written.

But I think we continue to grow.

We continue to learn and do our best.

It's a challenging career teaching in general.

I think we ask a lot of our teachers and a lot of things that trickle down from other parts of society kind of land in the classroom and that can be really hard but I feel very fortunate that we have a really strong team and a really great team and a really good community that wants to support the school as well and I think that helps a lot with some of those challenges.

Yeah, it's a challenge to be a teacher at any level.

I know.

I think there is a higher burnout rate with special education.

I'm not mistaken.

What keeps you going?

What keeps you fresh?

The kids and the staff, too.

But the kids are, I mean, you just, like, I'm so excited for them to all be back in the building.

They just bring such an energy.

And, yep, they make every day different.

And sometimes, like Sarah, you go home and go, oh.

Man, I think I should write a book after

that

day.

But they also are just, you can't not think that they deserve the best when you're with them every day and want to give that to them and want to show up for them and to do your best every day.

So it's really the students.

Will you have anything special coming up for the back to school nights and those things that are going on next

week?

Not really.

I mean, we're doing a lot of work right now, just making sure that we have everything ready for our kiddos that receive special education services.

So that means we might have some IEP meetings coming up, just meetings with our paraprofessional staff, just doing what we can to get things ready.

But our special ed teachers are there for Open House.

They love when people pop in to meet them, whether or not you're receiving special ed services, they're a part of the whole team.

So they love to meet all of the kids.

parents do have questions about anything.

I'm there too for open house and also available anytime for them to call and reach out to.

Indeed.

You work through the summer time then too?

Yeah.

You're there all the time.

Not all the

time.

Not all the time.

Not as much

as everybody else.

But I'm there during the summer.

Yeah.

Enough, right?

So back to it what next week then and the anything special coming up for the school year that does anything else you'd like to talk about?

I don't think so.

I'm just excited to get going and to be able to support some of the new initiatives

that we have going, that social-emotional piece in the elementary school, I'm really excited for that, and what that's gonna do for the well-being of our students and our staff.

Right, and I think that was, when Sarah talked about that, you know, that's one of the first things I thought of too, is mental health and awareness and things like that, and making, you feel like you've made strides in education with that.

Yeah, I think that, especially, I mean, I just, I think it's so amazing that

as a district we're able to recognize that that's such a need and to put the resources into addressing that with our students and our staff and so I feel very fortunate to be in a district that cares about that.

Sarah Peckleman certainly anything else you want to talk about other items at the rest building this fall.

Well absolutely first I'd like to say that Stacy is pretty modest over there.

She didn't mention that she wrote and was awarded a grant to transform some of our spaces in the office you know kind of going off that social emotional learning and just really working on protecting students and staff mental health.

So she was awarded some items that are going to make some of the office spaces a little bit more welcoming for students.

I know traditionally you think

of as students being sent to the office as a negative thing, right, usually for poor behavior.

But sometimes we just have students who need a break.

So she was able to get some resources that are going to help provide some spaces for that, make it more welcoming, make it more kid-friendly, and just allow students to kind of have like a calm down time, a calm down space.

And it could be coming just for their mental break.

It could be even for negative behavior, you know, because when kids are escalated,

we're not going to say or do anything that's going to change that behavior or change that pattern.

So the resources she's got is going to help them to kind of calm down when they are escalated and then allow us to address behavior in a more effective way.

So we're really excited for that as well.

And again, all thanks to Stacy's efforts, but she's not going to toot our own horn.

I will for her.

Would you like to expand on that in terms of some of the items that you have or some things that you're going to utilize in the office?

Sure.

I mean, they're pretty simple.

And I mean, again, I have to say, like, yes, I

Got that.

Thank you, Sarah.

But it is only with that coordination with Sarah and having that support of the building leader to say, yeah, this makes sense.

Of course, even when a student does inevitably need a consequence for a behavior, we want them to be in a space where they're regulated and able to talk through that and that.

And for her to recognize that, again, so lucky.

Because not all people in education do, and that's a huge thing.

So I just appreciate that.

And yeah, I mean, it'll be simple adjustments to a space, but I think like she said, make it a little bit more kid-friendly and just...

more what we want it to be, and able to get those kids in a good space, get them regulated, work through any problems, and get them back in the classroom to learn.

Right, well congratulations on that.

Also, for the first day of school, anything, any changes, Sarah Pluckerman?

At the elementary building, all students will start on September 1st, but there are a couple of different changes at the junior high high school that I'll let Sarah Groen mention.

Oh, Sarah Groen.

Sure.

So at the junior high high school, it's a little different.

So on Tuesday, September 1st, it's the first day for just our seventh grade, our freshmen, our Academy kids, and any new students.

It's just an orientation day, so they can get acquainted with the school, the building, and their schedules.

We'll also talk to our freshmen about all the great things available to them as high school students.

And then the first full day for all 712 students would be Wednesday, September 2nd.

It's coming up right around the bend, ready or not.

Anything else either of you two would like to add this

morning?

Yeah, I would just like to give a shout out to our new staff members at the elementary building.

Sarah and Stacey had already mentioned adding Addie Bird.

We have Emily Powell joining us at the elementary building and Amy Seguin who's going to be teaching seventh grade ELA at the junior high high school and will be teaching kind of an elective course if you will like a sixth grade technology course that kids will get for a quarter and then she'll teach one of our sections of sixth grade ELA.

We have a couple of transitions.

Margaret Emerson is moving to 5k.

Sarah Johnson is moving to sixth grade to help out with some bigger sections there.

We have Penny Boehringer joining us as a reading interventionist and we have Aurora Schmidt joining us this fall as a third grade intern.

Intern is similar to like a student teaching position but as an intern she can actually teach up to 50% of a teacher's load like on her own as a almost certified teacher and that will just allow us to maintain some smaller class sizes at that third grade level.

Wonderful.

Jeff, anything else you want to add?

You know, one of the first big days will be Friday night with football, right?

Yeah, it will.

It'll be nice.

Our pep band's been practicing getting ready for that.

So we'll have them involved too.

It's a little harder to get those kids in, but they're also a group that's been into our music students and they've been working to prepare for that performance.

So that will be nice.

It'll be a nice atmosphere.

I think it'll be a nice night.

It should be a great game of two local communities, actually three now with Weston in there too.

So it will be nice.

I think, you know, we're looking forward

forward to it.

Our football team's got some high expectations this year with a lot of seniors on the team and another second year through with the coaching staff.

So it should be a good night for Riverdale football to get started.

Other than that, just I think going into this school year, something we've

talked about even since the beginning was just that relationship building with our staff.

Our SEL is kind of our next step in building that and just understanding the social emotional learning of our staff members on top of our students also.

I think we we try to do a lot of things to encourage that for our staff and for them to recognize you know their own social emotional

uh, state and it's, it's difficult at times.

They've got a lot of things going on and they got to take care of themselves.

So we really focus on that.

We focus on ways we can do that throughout the year.

Um, our new staff members will have them on.

Um, I've got a couple of them coming in September, couple in October.

So everybody will get a chance to kind of hear from them as they start into school and, uh, get to know them a little bit and,

um, is that a part of the job interview?

Like, uh, you will be on the radio.

I didn't tell them until after the new teacher in service.

I sent on email yesterday and said, oh, by the way, you're going to be on WRCO on this date and this date.

So I've at least given them a little bit of time.

So it's like, yeah,

it's

good.

So I was like, prepare something to say.

So we didn't tell them that when we hired them.

But they're on now.

They've got the date set, got the calendar invite.

They're ready to roll.

And we'll have some stuff on AI this year.

It's not new.

I mean, AI is not new, but it's going to be new in the way we approach it with our staff.

And it's going to be new with the way we approach it with our kids.

Safety will be a number one concern.

Kelly Schaefer is kind of headed that curriculum and technology.

So we're reporting to our board what we're doing in early September and then she'll be on on the next show in September to really talk about how we're approaching in a district and the safety measures we're putting in place to make sure that it's just not a wide open zone for everybody and the kids and we need to protect that and we're doing some things with all of our programs because it's a scary world out there and we got to make sure we're following that.

And then the other thing with the elementary we understand

that that's been something that we've done for a long time where parents have always walked their kids down all year.

What I'm trying to do is be a little more proactive in our safety measures than reactive if something were to happen.

There was nothing that alarmed us of this.

Every year I look at ways.

I study other handbooks, talk to other administrators, how are you handling safety when we're at, you know, learn from trainings and that.

And we just want to make sure that we're taking every precaution we can to make sure our kids are safe and our

families are safe and we'll still have opportunities for people to come in we're not pushing people out it's just we need to make sure we know everybody that's coming in and around our kids at every part of the day now it's an ever-changing world and this is one of our safety measures that we're gonna increase and you also hear me talk about throughout the year a couple other things a large reunification training that we're gonna do with our staff this year we did a pre-one last year but this one we'd be full-fledged not with kids but just those kind of things so we're prepared

and we're on top of things and ahead of things before they become an issue with our students.

So we'll work with families.

We know it's going to be a change, but it's time to make sure that we're safe in all situations within our school.

We had talked in the past about doing some things differently with the entrance for the junior high and high school.

Is that changing this year?

We've looked at it.

We've had some companies in to take a look at it.

Right now, they're kind of putting plans and things together.

So I'm sure you'll hear me talk about

throughout the year once we get those back and talk about maybe some plans in the future we have for some remodeling to make those spaces.

But yeah, that was another thing this summer.

I just noticed we need to look at our entryways.

We have the buzzing system, which is great, but there's some new ways that they're recommending you build your offices around those entryways.

And we need to keep up with that.

And those are things that I'm progressing forward in just in the planning stages.

And then as we come out and we feel it's necessary, we'll look at those

plans for the community.

Indeed.

Well, we've got a lot of talk about this school year.

I look forward to always having you on because you do a great job of spotlighting Riverdale's.

Yeah, it's a great place and we're looking forward to seeing the kids next teachers next week and the kids the following week.

And we didn't even talk about the best donkey rider here.

Stacy is the right.

She set the tone.

She set the tone early on.

We batted her up in the order and let us all know that

This is a dangerous sport.

So she did a great job.

So, um,

yeah, we're

proud of her.

How are you feeling today too?

Like, like I fell off a dog.

Yeah.

Her and Larry Swigam.

Yeah.

Larry went overboard.

So next time you see Larry, ask him about

it.

Yeah.

Well, I'm sure it didn't hurt him very much.

Oh, he

was, he bounced right back up.

He was ready to roll.

So thanks guys.

You're bad.

Thank you.

Good to talk about Riverdale today.

Jeff Campbell joining us along with Sarah Pluckleman, Sarah Groin and Stacy Sosinski.

you

Riverdale schools are topic today as you put the shine on the, the sheftens here today in the start of schools right around the bend here.

So we have members of the admin team, Jeff Campbell is here, Sarah Pluckleman, Sarah Groen and Stacy Sosinski.

We'll talk about what's happening with, uh, with Riverdale.

Here you go.

You look pretty well rested, Jeff.

I'm ready.

I'm ready.

Yeah.

We're ready for those teachers on Monday to come on in and, uh,

It's, uh, yeah, it's, it's pretty much go time now.

So we've been talking about it for the last couple of months and here we are.

My first time to get into schools usually is with volleyball, but you know, you get into the school the first time and you start smelling like the wax or the painter or whatever, but even smelling that all summer

again.

Yeah, we have our custodial crew led by Tim Redmond.

They've been, they've been working hard.

They got a little bit ahead of schedule even this year, a good group of people.

They're working in the rooms and uh, we're able to get things cleaned up.

And that's always nice too, because we've got summer school,

backed up right there.

Some teachers don't get an opportunity to get in their room very early.

So they're doing their best to get them in there as quick as possible.

And yeah, we've had a number of teachers are always in early working throughout the school.

So both schools have been pretty busy since they've been given the go ahead and getting ready for the year.

And you have football practice well underway and I think volleyball and cross country this week as well.

Yeah, it's been it's been a lot of kids, a lot of kids around.

There are a lot of kids around all summer with workouts and different activities.

we had but you really see it now all the high school kids back in footballs you know three weeks in with the first game this Friday at home and then our yeah our volleyball started on Monday our cross country started on Monday and both them will get an action next week and I think a volleyball even scrimmages this week so it's been been nice to see everybody around and see the kids back in there and numbers are pretty solid and everything right now in the fall sports so we're pretty happy with where we're at with those and should have a nice start to the year.

School starts a couple of weeks from now, but I always say when this stuff gets going at just school, just as well be in session, but I know that's a state thing.

Isn't it?

Yeah, it is the state.

They did.

free up a little bit more opportunities to start early.

They said that you can kind of prove that you know some of your scores in that have gone up so you can apply for a waiver and then you have to kind of set a goal and reach that goal and show that and then you kind of got to do that every year.

On top of if you have construction or if you're transporting private school children a lot of times they'll let those schools start a little earlier since you're doing the transportation anyways.

That doesn't pertain to us and then

And we did do with some projects we had a little bit earlier start one year to get done a little bit earlier.

So we could, you know, have the construction started on time.

So, but we haven't, it would be nice.

I continue to tell our association, it would be nice if we could start about mid August because I feel like the kids are here, everybody's kind of in the mood to get going.

And then it's also gives them a little bit more time at the end of the year.

And it gives you a little more flexibility with your calendar too.

Right now you're scrunched into

certain time constraints in that because families want to wrap things up by June and want to, you know, have their kids out and then you want to get summer school in and there.

And so I always thought that starting that mid August time would be good.

We'll see if it looks like some progress has been made.

We'll see if it gets some things changing the next couple years.

Did you have some construction going on on the grounds this off season?

Yeah, we have.

We've started a shed project, got the approval from the village and state to do that.

Had some excavating done on that will be

pouring cement here within this week and then the bid process is out right now.

So if anybody's listening in is interested in that they can email me for the plans and we have the bid process going through September 3rd right now and we can send you the plans and then you submit your bid and then we'll look at approving that at our September board meeting so we can get that put up that will help free up a lot of storage.

It'll help us remove one of our buildings that are kind of caving in a little bit and having some leaking issues so we'll be able

to get rid of that building and fencing our security fencing around our high school finish that off.

So that's been our main project right now.

We're looking at a couple other projects here in the future, but that's kind of our main one this off season here.

Your FFA alumni hosted the donkey baseball.

Did you play in the game?

I did.

I

had

the opportunity to do it first time ever.

I've been a donkey.

anything.

But yeah, I enjoyed it.

It's actually there's a lot to it.

Then it's really interesting to watch at first the first couple innings or so you're just trying to figure out the rules.

That's the biggest thing they give you this big waiver pretty much signing your life away on it.

It looks like with all these things that could happen and then the guy's given all the directions and he's talking about how this happened and this happened and this person got hurt.

So we talked as a team, we said as the staff team, our goal was not to be the example that the guy went to

another program and talked about this happened at this community.

So we tried to play it safe, but it was a lot of fun.

It was a tremendous turnout, beautiful night for the FFA and just the support you have for that program and our community, the people come out and it was a fun experience.

I think I've got some ideas now.

It's like, if we do this again, I mean, we're pretty competitive.

We weren't as competitive this time because I think we're a little older and, you know, those younger kids, they take a few more, they just

They just go all out and we're just a little bit, we got a little bit more, uh, if we get injured, that's going to come back to us.

But, uh, it was a lot of fun.

It was nice to see the kids, uh, have a good time against the staff and, uh, the staff that turned out for it.

And it just, uh, yeah, I think I got some ideas the next time around.

We kind of know the rules and that, and, uh, we're going to put some runs on the board.

Oh, he didn't score this time.

No, I don't think we did.

We, we were close.

Did

we get

Chelsea scored once and we were close to scoring and another time.

And.

We just got beat at the end, so it's all right.

It was a fun night.

Yeah, I was going to say that's kind of a nice little bonding night for you and the community.

Yeah, just a chance to kick off the year in that kind of an environment was neat.

And a lot of laughs, a lot of fun.

And it was nice to see the community get involved to with the alumni team.

It just wasn't a school event.

It was the FFA alumni.

I think they had some people, they said from the Blue River Fire Department, it was a co-op kind of team.

Yeah, I think it could really

role in time if you did it again and it was a it was a neat experience not something you get to see every day.

Well I told you and you told me who was coming today and I said you always surround yourself with good people so tell me about the admin team.

Yeah we have our admin team and it's been a quick two years we all kind of started in our roles together so Sarah Plechleman took over the elementary principal role same time that I went to district administrator and then we brought in Sarah Gruen and Stacy Szynski to fill the

junior high high school principal and the director of spec ed positions.

And we're into our third year together.

And I talked at CISA the other day at a training just saying that, you know, now we're progressing in that way where we've kind of laid the groundwork for things that we want to do.

And now we're kind of continuing on those initiatives that we have and progressing forward as, you know, the staff has gotten to know the admin team really well and we've gotten to know the staff really well.

So we were kind of at that stage.

of growing those initiatives and pushing those initiatives and especially in our second year of our strategic plan, it's been a benefit to be together and they're an exceptional team that I can rely on for anything.

It makes my job a lot easier because

They're handling a lot of those issues within the buildings and they're not getting to me.

And that just shows right then and there that they're doing a tremendous job and we're excelling.

So they'll talk about some of the new things that they're going to have in their buildings and kind of let people know a preview of the year a little bit.

Wonderful.

Sarah Pluckleman is drawing the short straw.

She goes first here today.

I mean, he had been team.

Good morning.

No, I

thought that made me the winner here, Phil,

freaking on

me first.

No, maybe you are.

Yeah.

I was going to say, just going back to the donkey baseball, that was an awesome time.

And like Jeff said, the alumni, how they've come around and just supported some of the team members were like recent grads.

And then they had somebody who was like 56, 57.

So had been around for a while, but everyone was there supporting.

So that was really cool.

Really cool to see.

All right, so a couple things that we have going on at the elementary school.

Like you mentioned, the fresh paint and the fresh wax for sure.

Tim and his team have done a great job getting the building ready.

We're ready to welcome back students.

We did have two sessions of summer school this summer.

The first one was three weeks in June, and then we had the last two weeks of July, first week of August, we had kind of kids in and out.

But it was nice to see them back for that time.

And I think a lot of them now are gonna be ready and excited come first day of school.

We do have our back to school night

at both buildings next week Wednesday, the 26th.

It's from four to seven at the elementary school.

The kids can come in, families can meet the teachers, kind of get reacquainted with the building.

Fifth and sixth graders do not have just the one single teacher for their main subjects they rotate around for their ELA, their math, science, social studies and their specials.

So they'll be able to get their schedules printed that night, get their locker assignments and can start bringing in their school supplies that night.

Also we do have a few

families who have not completed our online registration yet at the elementary school so we'll have teachers and devices available if we still need to do that.

The support will be there to finish registration that night.

So a big night that night and it's an important one if somebody misses it can they

come in some other time then?

Absolutely, they can always call the main office.

If we have new families coming in and would like to schedule a tour, we can provide that before or after that evening as well.

And we use Skyward as our student information system with family access so parents can find teachers' names, students can log in and get their schedules as well if they don't get a chance to get the printed one on registration night.

As Jeff mentioned, you guys all kind of came together at the same time.

Do you still miss the classroom though from time to time?

Yes and no, I still get the opportunity to speak Spanish.

I was a Spanish teacher at the junior high school building.

We have a few Spanish speaking families.

So it's nice to be able to conduct with them that way and still get to use my Spanish.

And then of course I get to get in the classrooms most days and enjoy that.

I do get an opportunity sometimes to even cover classes.

So I've gotten to teach and,

you

know, 4K up through the sixth grade classrooms.

You didn't get that opportunity as well.

So I still get in and still get that connection.

Are there some new initiative?

for the upcoming school year?

We do.

We're actually starting a new program.

It's called the Seven Mindsets Program.

And it's like a social-emotional learning program.

We have recognized some needs in some mental health areas, even at the elementary school.

And teachers have been looking into different things.

And so as a team, we found the Seven Mindsets Program.

And it's really designed to foster happiness, resilience, and personal achievement.

It emphasizes success that relies primarily on how a person thinks rather than what they know.

So the seven mindsets are everything is possible, which encourages dreaming big, embracing creativity, thinking positively, and taking action while adjusting along the way.

So that'll be the first ones that we kind of greet the students with in September.

And it really will start to get them thinking big and big possibilities for their school year and then beyond.

After that, we'll cover passion first, which focuses on discovering individual strengths.

exploring personal interests, aligning actions with core values, and staying authentic.

The next one is We Are Connected, which emphasizes building positive relationships, seeking synergies, surrounding yourself with a supportive dream team, and leading with value.

Next is 100% Accountable that teaches personal responsibility, overcoming limiting beliefs and fears, effectively managing time and energy, and continually growing.

The next one is Attitude of Gratitude.

focusing on recognizing your personal worth, practicing daily gratitude, and expressing appreciation to others.

The next one is Live to Give, which highlights the power of serving others, making a daily positive impact, and gracefully receiving help.

And then the last one for the end of the school year will be the time as now, which will focus on students taking purposeful action in the present, staying in a constructive mindset and accepting vulnerability.

So we really appreciated these mindsets, the things that will.

the values that it will grow in our students.

The program is really connected, not only from classroom to classroom, grade level to grade level, but from different areas in the buildings.

It's gonna be evident in the cafeteria, in the hallways, with our custodians and bus drivers.

It's really designed to set up strong positive relationships from students to staff, students and their peers, and it really...

is going to help us focus in on creating a welcoming environment that starts when students get on the bus or enter the school doors and we'll continue throughout our whole building.

How do you foresee implementing those?

How does it work?

Is it each quarter?

How do you?

Well, there's seven mindsets throughout the nine months of school.

So

each one will have a focus for four to five weeks.

We actually have a training for all of our staff Monday on our first in-service day back to school for the teachers and the staff.

And we'll talk about that implementation then.

But the program comes with ways to introduce it.

There is a new quote every day that

Is directed toward each mindset so we'll include that in our morning announcements So we can just kind of have that focus that reminder and then teachers Not only will present like the seven mindsets lessons a little bit each day through their morning meetings Then there's also other times where they could include it in like their writing

time at the end of the day that they can have some prompts to reflect on how students can implement these mindsets and what it would look like in their daily lives.

Are there new procedures this year that you'd like to talk about?

Yeah, we have taken, Jeff is actually really good at taking a look at the safety of our students and our staff and we do

have like practice drills every year on like intruder drills, building safety.

We talk with local law enforcement and make sure that we all know what to do in the case we would have that kind of incident.

And we're just taking a look at what kind of procedures do we have, practices that we have that can just make us more secure.

So one thing we noticed is we could have our

like kind of visitor policy tightened up.

And so that's what we're gonna do with the elementary building starting this year.

Parents are welcome to come in and walk their students down to classes.

A lot of them have done for the first two weeks of school to kind of help with that transition back, especially with our younger students.

But then starting Monday, September 14th, parents will need to check in the office and won't be walking their children down.

We're gonna promote like some independence with our students.

And we've noticed a lot of them during summer school

don't really have parents walking them in and they're able to get into their team pretty quickly.

We have a lot of paraprofessional support.

Individuals who will be greeting students as they come in the door and will help transition them to class.

So that kind of just limits the amount of people in the building throughout the school day.

It will increase our safety, as we said, will help us to get focused on instruction and really protect those instructional minutes as well.

So they come to the front door during the day and be buzzed in as you

absolutely.

And then they come right to the main office, sign in.

parents are concerned about not being able to, you know, reach teachers, they can always do that via phone calls, email, schedule meetings, you know, any concerns can still be brought to us if they have those.

Okay, welcome back to you though.

Yeah, nice start today.

Yeah, Sarah Plekelman joining us.

Sarah Gruen is here as well.

Sarah, good morning.

Good morning.

Good to have you back here.

Thank you.

I think, is this the second time you've been on or is it the third?

This would be my third.

So you've come each year then.

Yes, I know.

How fast time flies.

Looking back on your first couple of years though, any highlights, anything that you look upon as successful and things like

that?

I'm just really blessed to be here, honestly.

I talk about it often about how I feel like the staff and the students

But my staff is just stellar.

I have a good group of people who are hardworking, dedicated, loyal.

They've been in a lot this summer, getting ready for the school year, getting ready for our kids.

And so I just feel blessed to be part of that team.

Yeah, three years ago when you were here, it was getting to know faces and names and things like that.

Does it make it easier now getting into the school year?

Yeah.

And I create a welcome back video each year.

And the first year, I can remember just asking my secretaries about every picture, like, who's this?

What do they do?

I had no idea who I was creating this video for.

But this year, and even last year, I feel like I know everybody, and I'm creating a video of people that I care about now.

And yeah, it's a lot more fun.

What's a typical day like for you or is every day a little bit different?

Oh, I would say every day is different.

It can range.

Some days I go home and I think, oh, yeah, that was great.

Had a great day.

Easy.

And then some days I go home and I can't even believe what just happened.

So yeah, it just ranges.

But I love it.

I do love this role.

Back to School Night is coming up here.

Anything you want to hit on as far as that?

Yeah, well Sarah kind of touched on a little bit, but our Back to School Night is the same, Wednesday August 26th from 4 to 7 p.m.

Our students and parents can come in and meet their teachers and pick up their schedules.

Their lockers will be given to them so that they can drop off any supplies that they might want to bring in.

Our office will of course be open so Becky can help with registration needs.

She'll collect fees like lunch money or sports fees or registration fees.

Sherri will also be in there and she can answer any questions about food service and maybe help families apply for the free and reduced meals.

Also, Lenore Wilkie will have the art room open so that she can hand out the old, or not old, the previous years, 2025-2026 yearbooks.

And of course, Mrs. Troxel will have her door open and help with any schedule changes or needs.

And any new initiatives?

We talked to Sarah Plekelman about that.

Yeah, I have a couple.

New this year, our juniors and seniors will be able to apply for a

half credit of PE waiver if they've successfully completed two athletic seasons.

So if they complete the two seasons with solid attendance and in good standing, meaning no disciplinary issues or code violations, then they could wave a half a credit of FIED.

I think that this is going to open up their schedules a bit for some students and allow them to take other classes that they might not

otherwise fit in their schedule.

I also think it rewards our athletes for their time and commitment and hard work that they put into their sports.

So I think it's a great opportunity for our juniors and seniors.

And then one other initiative that we're implementing is this year eligible students will be able to waive their semester final exams.

So in the past, every student had to take every final exam no matter what.

But this year, they could wave it, possibly for one or some or all of their classes.

In order to do this, they would have to have no more than two absences in the semester, no more than two tardies in the semester, no in-school or out-of-school suspensions in the semester, and they have to have a grade of a B minus or higher in the class.

I think it's going to push some kids to improve their attendance, their tardies, their behavior.

And most importantly, they're academics.

So I do think that it's a great incentive for students to have good intents, good behavior, and good grades.

Right.

You never have any trouble with behavior, though, do you?

Right?

Once in a

while.

Once in a while.

That's expected, though, right?

In terms of anything else you want to talk about as far as procedures during the school day, anything changing that way,

Sarah?

Not really.

I'll touch on the cell phone policy.

We did have to reword it a little bit in our handbook to comply with the state law.

But for the most part, I feel like we were already doing what we needed to be doing.

Our students in the junior high and high school will have to have their phones powered off and out of sight in all academic classes, but they still can use them during lunch, during passing times, before and after school.

And even the high school students will be able to use it during study hall, as long as they're passing their classes.

Junior high kids will not be allowed to use their cell phones in study hall, but it is a good incentive for our high school students.

But for the most part, we were already doing most of that.

So I think that's going to be an easy transition.

It really hasn't been a problem at Riverdale?

I think no.

I think that our students are respectful.