Joining us in the studio at this time, we have Emmett Durche, who's the superintendent of the Berlin area school district.
We kind of gave him the summer off.
Sure did.
That was nice.
Thanks, Bob.
Hope you had time to enjoy it, because I know you work through the summers.
We do.
We work all year, but it was great.
Yeah, family got away for a week, did a little bit of relaxation.
But otherwise, summers are really busy for us.
school, you know, super tenants and district administrators, a lot of hiring and preparing for the fall, but it was good.
It was a good summer.
How was yours?
It was pretty good.
Went pretty fast.
It was amazed, you know.
All of a sudden, it's like in the 60s for our high temperatures.
Yeah, but I do love the fall.
Oh, yeah.
It's one of my favorite seasons.
Yep.
So recently, welcome back students.
Maybe we can start there.
Yeah.
Interestingly enough, we're very excited this fall because we had an increase.
So typically about 70 to 80% of the school districts in the state of Wisconsin have a decline in enrollment.
We've talked about that before, smaller families and so forth.
And we're very excited to report that this fall we came in like pretty flat, even up a couple of students.
We were expecting to go down about 50.
So that's a big increase.
in our model for our enrollment.
So we're very excited about that.
And then we welcomed in new staff.
So every fall, kind of like we were talking about the fall, we're excited about the change in the colors and the cooling temperature and the bugs going away.
But we're also, as educators, we're always excited because we welcome in new students, new families and new educators.
So we had about 14 new teachers and that always brings us some new energy, which is exciting.
Right.
So now it's the...
class of twenty seven for the highest yeah it's kind of crazy isn't it just
yeah before we know it will be in our 30s 20 30s I don't
know oh my god this
is my 3050 year in education and I don't know where the time went by but it just kind of flies so
holy cow yeah all
right
So when you retire you'll probably still be working, right?
Yeah, I'm sure I will
yeah
Planning a few more years here and then our hope is to continue on working for the Department of Defense schools So overseas
my wife and
I would like to do that for a few years so
so kind of I don't want to say mission work, but kind of you know
Yeah, you know I think that one thing that appeals to me so I lived in Germany for a couple years back
in the
90s and I worked with a lot of the
military bases that were there in Germany and where my mom's from.
We'd love to return to Germany or Italy.
My wife grew up with a dad that was in the army for a long time and they lived in Italy and Germany and other places.
So we'd love to return there and continue on with our work.
A lot of our military families and their kids, they transition so much from base to base and a lot of mobility that they need a lot of care, right?
A lot of support and that sounds like fun work.
Sounds like you want to go nuts on the Autobahn there.
Yeah, that's
mostly what
I
want to do.
I want to buy a Porsche and drive as fast as I can.
No speed limit.
It's kind of crazy there though.
People are very good in Europe about like moving to the right when you're slower, which essentially
means
you're going the speed limit.
And to get out of that left lane, you know, if you're not willing to go about, you know, 90 miles an hour or better.
Wow.
Yeah.
Well, people do that over here, but they usually have so many chasing.
Yeah, that's the thing.
They're right.
Anyway, one of the other things you wanted to talk about was something called portrait of a graduate.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's something that maybe some of our listeners will have heard about.
I know the state is looking at developing a portrait of a graduate.
But a couple of years ago, I started working on one with my advisory group.
So some teachers and staff.
And we
We're all ready this summer, so we rolled it out with our staff for our kickoff.
So in August, we always have a couple events where we bring all the staff back as they're getting ready for the fall.
And then I always do a keynote kickoff presentation.
And so this year, I rolled out what's called the Portrait of a Graduate.
And essentially in Berlin, that encompasses eight traits or characteristics that we want for all of our students to develop from 4K all the way through their graduating year.
And some of those include things like being responsible, being civically minded, involved in your community, having communicative or communication skills, leadership skills, being curious, lifelong learner, those sort of things.
And there's eight of these traits.
And essentially what they are are things that we often are working towards with our students.
their softer skills, so to speak, but they're also skills and demeanor traits that encompass all of those grade levels.
So clearly all of our schools are, you know, laser focused on academics and the trades and skill-based learning.
But we also have all of these values, traits, that we want our students to develop, and that's what the Portrait of Graduate is about.
Our staff seem really excited to
consider them, think about them, talk as teams about how to incorporate them into their classroom work.
And, and honestly, most of our educators already do that work in some
way,
but this kind of gives us a framework of eight traits that we can kind of hone in on over the years.
Nice.
Very nice.
Anything else you want to talk about this morning?
I think just encouraging our public as the fall is kicking off to remember our schools and all the fun activities.
So we have student athletes out there.
We're getting ready for our musical in November.
We have music concerts that we're starting to prepare for.
Regardless of your involvement as a public in our schools, whether you have kids or grandkids or maybe you're...
You don't have any kids in our community.
Coming out to support our students means a lot to them.
So Berlin, like all the other districts, we have a robust website with all of our calendars on it.
Get on those calendars, put a few things on your personal calendar, and try to make an effort to show up for a few things every year.
Everybody, we've talked about this before, but we're all investors in our schools, right?
Whether you directly are involved or not, we're all taxpayers.
And we believe, as I do, as you do, that as we all work together, as we're all contributing to this purpose of building up our kids, we should know a little bit about what's going on in our schools.
So it's one of the things that I really
love to see when I go to events.
There's always a few families that have not had kids in the schools for a long, long time.
They don't have any grandkids there and they still show up and support and the kids notice.
So I hope everybody thinks about that this year.
Okay.
Well, Emmett, thank you for visiting with us.
It's always a pleasure.
We've been talking with Emmett Durche, who is the superintendent of the Berlin area school district.
Joining us in the studio at this time, we have Emmett Durche, who's the superintendent of the Berlin area school district.
We kind of gave him the summer off.
Sure did.
That was nice.
Thanks, Bob.
Hope you had time to enjoy it, because I know you work through the summers.
We do.
We work all year, but it was great.
Yeah, family got away for a week, did a little bit of relaxation.
But otherwise, summers are really busy for us.
school, you know, super tenants and district administrators, a lot of hiring and preparing for the fall, but it was good.
It was a good summer.
How was yours?
It was pretty good.
Went pretty fast.
It was amazed, you know.
All of a sudden, it's like in the 60s for our high temperatures.
Yeah, but I do love the fall.
Oh, yeah.
It's one of my favorite seasons.
Yep.
So recently, welcome back students.
Maybe we can start there.
Yeah.
Interestingly enough, we're very excited this fall because we had an increase.
So typically about 70 to 80% of the school districts in the state of Wisconsin have a decline in enrollment.
We've talked about that before, smaller families and so forth.
And we're very excited to report that this fall we came in like pretty flat, even up a couple of students.
We were expecting to go down about 50.
So that's a big increase.
in our model for our enrollment.
So we're very excited about that.
And then we welcomed in new staff.
So every fall, kind of like we were talking about the fall, we're excited about the change in the colors and the cooling temperature and the bugs going away.
But we're also, as educators, we're always excited because we welcome in new students, new families and new educators.
So we had about 14 new teachers and that always brings us some new energy, which is exciting.
Right.
So now it's the...
class of twenty seven for the highest yeah it's kind of crazy isn't it just
yeah before we know it will be in our 30s 20 30s I don't
know oh my god this
is my 3050 year in education and I don't know where the time went by but it just kind of flies so
holy cow yeah all
right
So when you retire you'll probably still be working, right?
Yeah, I'm sure I will
yeah
Planning a few more years here and then our hope is to continue on working for the Department of Defense schools So overseas
my wife and
I would like to do that for a few years so
so kind of I don't want to say mission work, but kind of you know
Yeah, you know I think that one thing that appeals to me so I lived in Germany for a couple years back
in the
90s and I worked with a lot of the
military bases that were there in Germany and where my mom's from.
We'd love to return to Germany or Italy.
My wife grew up with a dad that was in the army for a long time and they lived in Italy and Germany and other places.
So we'd love to return there and continue on with our work.
A lot of our military families and their kids, they transition so much from base to base and a lot of mobility that they need a lot of care, right?
A lot of support and that sounds like fun work.
Sounds like you want to go nuts on the Autobahn there.
Yeah, that's
mostly what
I
want to do.
I want to buy a Porsche and drive as fast as I can.
No speed limit.
It's kind of crazy there though.
People are very good in Europe about like moving to the right when you're slower, which essentially
means
you're going the speed limit.
And to get out of that left lane, you know, if you're not willing to go about, you know, 90 miles an hour or better.
Wow.
Yeah.
Well, people do that over here, but they usually have so many chasing.
Yeah, that's the thing.
They're right.
Anyway, one of the other things you wanted to talk about was something called portrait of a graduate.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's something that maybe some of our listeners will have heard about.
I know the state is looking at developing a portrait of a graduate.
But a couple of years ago, I started working on one with my advisory group.
So some teachers and staff.
And we
We're all ready this summer, so we rolled it out with our staff for our kickoff.
So in August, we always have a couple events where we bring all the staff back as they're getting ready for the fall.
And then I always do a keynote kickoff presentation.
And so this year, I rolled out what's called the Portrait of a Graduate.
And essentially in Berlin, that encompasses eight traits or characteristics that we want for all of our students to develop from 4K all the way through their graduating year.
And some of those include things like being responsible, being civically minded, involved in your community, having communicative or communication skills, leadership skills, being curious, lifelong learner, those sort of things.
And there's eight of these traits.
And essentially what they are are things that we often are working towards with our students.
their softer skills, so to speak, but they're also skills and demeanor traits that encompass all of those grade levels.
So clearly all of our schools are, you know, laser focused on academics and the trades and skill-based learning.
But we also have all of these values, traits, that we want our students to develop, and that's what the Portrait of Graduate is about.
Our staff seem really excited to
consider them, think about them, talk as teams about how to incorporate them into their classroom work.
And, and honestly, most of our educators already do that work in some
way,
but this kind of gives us a framework of eight traits that we can kind of hone in on over the years.
Nice.
Very nice.
Anything else you want to talk about this morning?
I think just encouraging our public as the fall is kicking off to remember our schools and all the fun activities.
So we have student athletes out there.
We're getting ready for our musical in November.
We have music concerts that we're starting to prepare for.
Regardless of your involvement as a public in our schools, whether you have kids or grandkids or maybe you're...
You don't have any kids in our community.
Coming out to support our students means a lot to them.
So Berlin, like all the other districts, we have a robust website with all of our calendars on it.
Get on those calendars, put a few things on your personal calendar, and try to make an effort to show up for a few things every year.
Everybody, we've talked about this before, but we're all investors in our schools, right?
Whether you directly are involved or not, we're all taxpayers.
And we believe, as I do, as you do, that as we all work together, as we're all contributing to this purpose of building up our kids, we should know a little bit about what's going on in our schools.
So it's one of the things that I really
love to see when I go to events.
There's always a few families that have not had kids in the schools for a long, long time.
They don't have any grandkids there and they still show up and support and the kids notice.
So I hope everybody thinks about that this year.
Okay.
Well, Emmett, thank you for visiting with us.
It's always a pleasure.
We've been talking with Emmett Durche, who is the superintendent of the Berlin area school district.
It's Wayne Mauser, Local News.
Good morning.
I'm Wayne Mauser for Civic Media News.
A 40-year-old Fond du Lac man was sentenced in Fond du Lac County Court Wednesday on a second-degree reckless homicide charge for delivering fentanyl that killed a Fond du Lac man in 2022.
Judge Laura Levy sentenced Matthew Groetzmacher to eight years in prison and 10 years of extended supervision.
According to the criminal complaint, police found the victim dead in the bedroom of a residence on East Orange Street while checking on his welfare August 29th of 2022.
Investigators were able to tie Groetzmacher to a dose of heroin delivered to the victim.
In autopsy, he found the cause of death was due to fentanyl toxicity.
District Attorney Eric Tony says, quote, no prison sentence can undo the damage done, but it's a small measure of justice for families that have been impacted by fentanyl.
Two new London men are facing cocaine trafficking and possession of drug paraphernalia charges stemming from a traffic stop on Interstate 41 in Fond du Lac County this month.
The stop was for equipment and registration plate violations.
But the Sheriff's deputy had a reasonable suspicion there was criminal activity going on.
Sheriff's canine boom was deployed and indicated on the trunk area.
A search turned up 86 grams of cocaine, a scale, several hundred dollars in cash, and drug paraphernalia.
A subsequent search of the rest of the vehicle led to the seizure of a handgun and other drug paraphernalia in the glove compartment.
The driver, a 34 year old new London man, is being held in the county jail on a $15,000 cash bond.
and also was cited for traffic violations.
The passenger, a 32-year-old New London man, is free after posting a $2,500 cash bond.
Last Saturday, the Marcus Anne Police Department partnered with the Green Lake County United For Prevention Coalition to check compliance at all local businesses that serve alcohol.
The department has a zero tolerance for underage drinking or the sale of alcohol to a person under the age of 21.
Compliance checks are done several times throughout the year.
Marcus Ann Police say all seven businesses that serve alcohol pass the compliance check.
Marcus Ann Police Chief Cody McLean sent letters out to each of the businesses expressing appreciation for their cooperation during the compliance check.
Envision Greater Fond du Lac will hold their sixth annual economic forecast breakfast on the Fond du Lac County campus in the great room from 7.15 to 9.30 p.m.
on Thursday, October 8th.
Bob Nelson.
has the story for Civic Media News.
It's the sixth straight year that Michael Gregory, the Deputy Chief Economist and head of U.S.
Economics for BMO Capital Markets, has been the featured speaker.
Envisioned CEO and President Sadie Howell says Gregory is an expert on the economy and keeps his talks fresh.
and relevant.
You will get to hear what's ahead for the economy, how can your business adapt and stay competitive amidst the uncertainty, and what Michael also does is bring it down to Wisconsin and even Fond du Lac County.
To register and for pricing information visit the Envision website and click on the events tab.
Breakfast is included.
I'm Pop Nelson for Civic Media
News.
Nina's cameras were actually already deactivated according to police chief Aaron Olson.
The city will now place bags over them and ask Flock to take them down within the next 30 days.
Olson says the technology is valuable for investigations, recovering stolen vehicles and identifying suspects, but the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
He made the decision after talking with Sheboygan's police chief.
Sheboygan's mayor said Flock cameras have been tracking driving speeds and movement patterns and that the company offered
to sell that data back to the city.
It appears the NFL could find out next week the challenges it might face in obtaining key evidence to determine a punishment for Packers running back Josh Jacobs.
On Tuesday, the victim in the recently resolved criminal case asked the court to permanently seal evidence.
A hearing has now been scheduled for next Thursday, September 24th.
A video that supposedly shows the male altercation between Jacobs and his then girlfriend at the running backs Hobart home might not see the light of day due to a request citing
Marcy's law.
In April of 2020, 75% of Wisconsin voters passed a statewide referendum to make victims' rights under Marcy's law part of the state constitution.
Governor Tony Evers is asking for a speedy federal relief for the victims of the July 27th EF3 tornado in the Fox Valley.
Evers sent a letter to the U.S.
Small Business Administration asking for a rapid disaster declaration for Winnebago County.
Last month, Evers formally requested a disaster declaration from President Donald Trump.
Preliminary damage estimates of more than 2,300 residential properties by FEMA and Wisconsin Emergency Management estimated a total of more than
$8.2 million in damage from storms that day in the Fox Valley and northern Wisconsin.
Another $13.8 million in damage was estimated to have been caused to public sector infrastructure.
Nearly $13.3 million of the total verified damage was in Winnebago County.
If the SBA rapid declaration request is granted, Evers office says homeowners may be eligible for up to $500,000 in property loans and renters may be eligible for up to $100,000 in
loans.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Community Response Fund announced that all $5 million donated by the community for Fox Valley tornado relief has been awarded to local nonprofits helping affected families and neighborhoods.
I'm Wayne Mauser for Civic Media News.
For Civic Media News, I'm Connie Feldman.
How much are you willing to pay for a hoax?
In addition to endangering much of Northeast Wisconsin earlier this week, law enforcement experts say two back-to-back, swatting calls likely cost residents thousands in wasted taxpayer dollars.
Police say swatting is when someone makes a fake 911 call, intended to get a large response from law enforcement.
That's what happened in Oshkosh on Monday when multiple agencies responded to a call from someone who said they'd shot their girlfriend and had another person at gunpoint.
The call turned out to be a prank.
The following day, another swatting call came into Calumet County.
This time, the caller reported he'd been stabbed in the chest and had shot his wife to death in the village of Harrison.
Again, multiple law enforcement agencies showed up before it was determined to be a false emergency.
Packers running back Josh Jacobs is scheduled for a status conference in Brown County on September 4th, as efforts are underway to seal video evidence for good.
Civic media's James Kelly has the story.
The video of the Josh Jacobs incident may never be released as lawyers ask to seal it permanently.
In a statement Monday, attorneys for the Packer running backs' ex-girlfriend cited privacy concerns for wanting to keep it from the public.
Jacobs last week took responsibility in the criminal case.
He pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors and got a $1,000 fine.
He faces a deferred sentence on another charge if he meets conditions over the next year.
A Brown County judge had ordered the evidence temporarily sealed.
Jacob stays on the NFL's cannot playlist during the investigation.
I'm James Kelly for Civic Media News.
The eye in the sky is watching you this week.
Wisconsin State Patrol pilots are looking for speeding and aggressive driving from the air in Dane and Waukesha counties.
Pilots who spot possible violations will alert troopers on the ground who can make traffic stops.
State Patrol says the goal is to encourage safer driving, not simply to hand out tickets.
A 40 to 50 cent gas hike overnight is sparking both candidates in the Race for Wisconsin Governor to call for a repeal of the minimum markup law, also known as the Unfair Sales Act.
The law prevents businesses, including gas stations, from selling merchandise below cost.
While campaigning in Green Bay yesterday, Secretary of State Sarah Godluschi said repealing the minimum markup law could drop gas prices by as much as 50 cents a gallon.
Godluschi is running as a Democrat for Lieutenant Governor and said David Crowley also supports repealing the law.
Republican candidate Tom Tiffany also released a statement promising to repeal the law if elected governor.
State law says prices can only be adjusted once in a 24-hour period.
A new market poll shows Democrats gaining ground ahead of the midterm elections with a 13-point lead on the generic congressional ballot among likely voters.
The market law school poll found Democrats also have an advantage with adults on the economy, inflation, healthcare, and Medicare and Social Security.
President Trump's approval rating was 37 percent down from 40 percent in July.
Republicans were viewed more favorably on national defense, crime, and immigration and border security.
Chargers are being filed against a former nurse at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Memorial Center.
53-year-old Beth Holts is accused of intentionally depriving a dying hospice patient of oxygen.
The incident happened in August of last year, with Holts reportedly telling a fellow staffer that she hoped the patient would die before the end of her shift because reporting his passing would be easier than writing up a fall that he had experienced earlier.
Holts was taken into custody yesterday on a charge of intentionally abusing a patient, causing great bodily harm.
And that's your state news update.
I'm Connie Feldman for Civic Media News.
The Brewers march on.
Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with Sports Baseball.
The Brewers made a comeback to beat the Pirates five to four Christian Yelich driving in the go-ahead run.
The Brewers have 10 games left on their regular season schedule.
Are they important to win?
Brewers pitcher Logan Henderson.
Oh, absolutely.
There's these these games moving forward are very important.
We've got a lot of ball left and you know, we're not taking the foot off the gas by any means.
So yeah, we had our fun last night, but we knew that we had to show up to work today and get job done.
the Packers held practice, defensive lineman Warren Brinson still out with an injury and defensive end Lucas Van Ness going through the concussion protocol.
Tucker Kraft on putting that loss against the Vikings behind them.
Want to know.
I'm broken record.
I say it every time.
We just have to go.
Want to know when you're up.
I mean, each guy across board consistently winning their one on one matchup.
That's what it depends on.
That's the Packers tight end.
Tucker Kraft.
They play the Jets Sunday at noon in New York with sports on Mike Clemens.
Partly cloudy today we'll get to around 71 for a high this afternoon.
Tonight partly cloudy with a low dropping into the mid to upper 50s.
Tomorrow partly cloudy with some afternoon showers and a high of 67.
I'm meteorologist Sean Cable.
Local news, local sports and local people you know.
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