We have Emmett Durchey with us this morning.
He is the superintendent of the Berlin area school district.
Good morning.
Morning, Bob.
Thanks for having me out.
It's on this beautiful morning.
So you're telling me that it's homecoming week for Berlin?
Sure is.
And I think a lot of districts this time of year, right?
You might be on Facebook seeing all the kids dressed up for their dances.
But
yeah,
this week is homecoming week, which, you know, goes back to.
um a home coming to bring in your alumni and everybody coming in to for events but it's also kind of a great week for spirit uh school spirit a community spirit so the kids are dressing up different days uh you probably get a kick out they should have like a radio announcer dress update i don't know how they dress up for that day but
i uh remember helping build the float my sophomore year in high school it was so bad that we came in
the freshman actually had a better float than oh
yeah yeah did you keep track of points for the different classes like we
still do that you know who's
dressing up the most is day the floats and
They still decorate the hallways,
each
class does.
So that's a lot of fun.
Tomorrow, we do have our parade still.
So Berlin has their homecoming parade two, 45 or three in the afternoon through the city.
It ends up at the school grounds.
So if anybody is around wants to see an old style homecoming parade with.
the band and all of the convertibles, caring the kids.
It's a lot of fun.
It's short, sweet, goes right by my house.
So that's kind of cool.
So I get to patrol the street there with my vest in front of my house.
So that's, that's a good thing.
And then the football team plays.
We've had a lot of athletic events this week, but it kind of culminates with the football team tomorrow night.
We're playing Wapan.
So that's, that's going to be a big one.
But right now the football team is doing really well there.
I think tied in their conference.
So should be a good end.
Good.
Yeah.
Nice to hear.
Yeah.
Um, you wanted to talk a little bit about parent-teacher conferences coming up.
Yeah.
So, I mean, everybody has memories of parent-teacher conferences.
I definitely remember as a kid worrying a little bit about my parents coming in for parent-teacher conference, you know, um, like what would the teachers say about me?
But, um, anyway, um,
A pair of teacher conferences are a great fall tradition where usually school districts hold them a month or two into the school year and hours are held October 28th and 29th.
So a big shout out to our teachers who are preparing.
It also reminds us of our parents sign up.
In Berlin, the sign up start on Monday morning.
It's all online now and you can go in there or you can call or email your teacher.
But they're great opportunity to come in, meet your teacher if you haven't already and have a
a few minutes to talk about how your child is doing.
So just an encouragement in whatever district you're at, if you're a parent or caregiver, like try to show up.
It's important.
Yep.
And get a different perspective from meeting the parents sometimes than from the kids.
Oh,
for sure.
Yeah.
And we really value those relationships.
I mean, different than the past, there's so many different ways to communicate now
with
families.
When we were growing up there wasn't a lot you might call them, but even teachers didn't have phones, right?
So
it
typically was you have to show up you show up after school or you come to a parent-teacher conference now with email and You know even direct messaging or just so many things there's
Social media can be a one-way communication, but sometimes you know you reach out the parent-teacher conferences still serve a purpose We did move away from spring conferences the last couple years because they were less attended But that fall conference is still really important because school just kind of started
and
Building those relationships with families or you sit down and face-to-face and meet each other really helps a lot to support our students
Okay, so again sign up starts Monday Monday.
Yep.
All right
Want to get your best time you guys?
Yeah,
it's funny So I send out an email as the superintendent this Friday so tomorrow afternoon to kind of tell parents encourage them what why our parent-teacher conference is important and Then we do sign up starting Monday morning and the reason I do it that way is if I send it
during the day or on the day of everybody's calling in because they can't get their slot.
This way they can get all prepared over the weekend to call in Monday morning or go online Monday morning first thing.
So
yep, sign up.
All right.
One more thing on the docket today.
And you want to talk a little bit about the annual meeting.
I guess you're telling me that's something that
You do by state statute.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So a lot of people don't even know about what an annual meeting is, but by state statute, every district in the state of Wisconsin has to have an annual meeting of the electors.
So that would be those that are eligible to vote within the boundaries of that school district.
And there are certain things that it's kind of a.
It's a quirky little meeting because it's actually direct democracy, meaning there's certain things by state statute that the electors have to vote for.
So the board would be representative, right?
So the school board is a representative government.
That means you vote for a school board member, then they vote for a whole bunch of different things.
The annual meeting, which happens once a year, so it's annual, and it has to be by the end of October,
is a chance for anybody that's a registered or actually a elector would be anybody that's 18 or older that lives in that district to come in and vote during that meeting on a few things.
And there's a few things like reducing the number like last year.
mentioned that we reduce the number of board members coming up.
But there's also things like there's a hearing actually around the budget.
So there's a budget hearing that happens where we go through the proposed budget that will be voted on immediately following that by the school board.
And anybody that shows up can talk about it, ask questions, but also they vote on the levy.
And then the board officially votes on approving the budget like right after that.
There's also other things that are on like The actual amount we pay the board members the board members can't vote on that themselves That's an elector piece
so at
the annual meeting that happens or providing transportation for our students which is kind of a No-brainer everybody has to
do
that by state law, but the electors actually get to hear about that and vote on it and there's certain things there's a list of things that
can be voted on at the annual meeting by state law.
Usually there's five or six that we do every year that are required.
But I encourage people, it's kind of like we were talking about before the meeting that people just don't show up for meetings that often, right?
They might watch online because we stream everything.
But I would say there's a good dozen people that show up every year for the annual meeting that don't typically come to our other meetings just to show that they're interested and they want to
be a part of that kind of unique American or Wisconsin tradition of annual meetings of the electors.
Nice.
When
is the annual meeting?
It is going to be October 28th at five o'clock in the Berlin High School auditorium.
And different than a board meeting, the board members actually sit in the audience.
versus sitting in front of the audience because they, in the annual meeting, the board members have no additional authority.
They are electors just like anybody else.
So it's kind of a
unique
little
thing.
So they, you start at the meeting, the board president usually starts it off, but then right away, the first thing on the agenda is we vote for a chairperson for the annual meeting.
And it really could be anybody that's an elector could be the chair for that meeting, even though the meeting usually is only a half hour.
But sometimes in a rare situation, well, another thing that could be voted on is like, let's say you're buying property or you're making a change with consolidating a school district.
Some of those things have to at least be brought up or a part of the process has to happen in an annual meeting.
So in some cases, they're really mundane meeting most cases, but sometimes things come up that have some real meat to it.
And it's important to look at the agenda, see if something's coming up, show up.
you know, vote
on
things.
It's a great place if you're just interested in government or how things work to be able to participate.
It's a good place to start.
No, okay.
Well, Emmett, thank you for joining us this morning and giving us a little update on what's going on in the Berlin area school district.
It's always fun.
Thanks for having me out, Bob.
We've been talking with Emmett Durche, who is the superintendent of the Berlin area school district.
Joining us at this time, we have Gina Reader, who is an administrative assistant for SSM Health's Trefort Studios in Vandalac.
Good morning and thanks for joining us, Gina.
Good morning.
Thank you for having me.
Now, you wanted to talk a little bit about some events.
First off, just talking a little bit about some of the highlights for this year and what's happened already.
Well, we had an awesome touch of truck earlier in the year.
We've done several movies, and we have more of those coming up.
We had Archipelago, which was a savant event out at the Prairie Theater, which was on the grounds of the old UW Fond du Lac that became UW Oshkosh.
So now that the county has it, we have the ability to rent out their space, and it was perfect for our summer event.
That was the old prairie theater, right?
Yes.
Yeah Yeah, it sounds like it was it was well attended.
So that worked out for you.
What was that the second year third year?
Second year.
Okay.
All right.
So is there gonna be a third year?
There is going to be I believe it's July 23rd so people can save it on their calendar It would be the Friday,
okay
of 2027.
Yeah
Yeah, you've had those events in July each year.
So for the past couple of years, um, now you've got some stuff that's coming up and let's talk a little bit about something you've done in the past is a sensory movie.
What exactly is that?
So our sensory movies, Odyssey has partnered with us and been great about letting us even have new release movies.
How oftentimes
If a movie comes out on Friday, we will have a sensory movie on Saturday morning, usually starting at around 10.
But what makes it sensory is it's just not as dark as a typical theater, and the sound is not as loud.
So even for me, I enjoy it.
I don't think that it's not dark enough or not loud enough.
It's just comfortable.
And also individuals who come to that movie may
not be able to sit the whole time.
So we have had a couple little boys that just kind of did laps around the lower section.
It's not disturbing.
They're quiet.
They just needed to move a little bit while their family was watching the movie.
Sometimes an occasional call out, but really nothing since we've been doing it almost a year now.
And nothing but positive feedback.
So the very first one we did, I think I might have mentioned this last time, I believe 72% or 77%.
of attendees, it was the first time their family had been able to go to a movie.
So, really, a need in the town that Odyssey helped us meet.
Also, helping us with that was a lot of our, still, a lot of our local service organizations.
So, Morning, New and Evening Kalanas, The Evening Optimists, the Blue Lake Smiles Dentistry have all helped sponsor a movie.
So,
even bringing the cost from six dollars, which is the special price down to three dollars.
So half price and then Odyssey honors a four dollars small popcorn and soda.
So for seven dollars, you're getting it all and that's less than the cost of probably a normal ticket.
So it's really a good opportunity for anyone, not just for people with sensory needs.
Okay.
So you got a sensory movie coming up on Saturday, November seven.
Tell us the times and what the movie is, if you would.
This is the brand new cat in the hat.
And I believe that the cat in the hat is basically on his last straw.
So he needs to be successful in this movie.
It starts at 10 a.m.
You can arrive at 9.40.
And again, it's $3 per person.
And then if you choose to get $4,
small soda, small popcorn, but normal concessions are open.
Um, everyone's welcome.
So.
All right.
So, uh, some of the people you, you have there are on the autistic spectrum?
Yes.
Some, um, on the, on the spectrum, some not some, it's just a sensory issue.
Like if it's too loud, um, we had one little girl come in the very first time and she was wearing
Headphones and she only made it through half the movie and I asked you know the mom was it something that we can improve and she said no it was just her first movie and now she's back and she Just watches the movie so
Right like you said for some of these families.
It's the first time they've been able to See a movie as a family Right, right.
Okay.
Um, do you have to sign up for that register?
Yes, we have a sign-up genius and if you go to Trevor Studios' website and then find our programming or they can just reach out to us at 920-926-800 and we can help walk them through it as well.
But if you Google search Trevor Studios, find our website and then there's like a little interactive graphic in the middle and it says program.
It will take you right to our link.
And that is for all our events.
So if anyone's ever had the QR code recently, we keep the same QR code and just update the content.
So we just had roller skating at the spectrum.
So that will drop off.
And when we add something on, it'll just be on that same tabbing.
So.
OK.
Speaking of adding something on, you have something called a sensory swim coming up on Saturday, November 21st.
Is that a first-time thing?
No, actually, we have one before that.
We have October 17th, November 21st, and December 19th.
We have three swims coming up.
I think this is the fourth time we've done it.
And basically, same thing, it's at the Aquatic Center.
We use the small pool.
They have lifeguards there, dimmer lights, a little bit of quiet music.
The kids just...
can do their own thing, float around.
Some parents or guardians swim as well.
Some just watch.
Kids use floaties or they kind of play together.
Some play on their own.
So it's just a, again, a pool can get kind of chaotic.
This is supposed to be an opportunity where it's just a little calmer atmosphere.
Okay.
Now you wanted to spend a little bit of time talking about what's coming up in 2027.
Actually, if I could shift that, because we have a little bit of change going on, so we're still kind of working on that.
Okay.
We're definitely going to continue with the movies and our Touch-A-Truck event, and we also have a few spots left for our visit with Santa, where they can sign up for a 10-minute private slot, and the family's
You can bring one child, your whole family.
We can do the pictures for you.
And Santa might sit on the floor with you.
If you are a little bit timid with Santa, Santa will meet you where you are or where your child is.
But we also have something that will be starting soon.
We received a grant and it is called AutoVision.
Strengths, I'll just read what we have written.
Strength-based media, authentic voices, and practical connections to the local and global neurodivergent community.
So basically, it's a strength-based... We are gonna have five shows under auto vision.
So auto, autie, like autism, and then vision.
And then those five shows will focus on
like one of them is called Badgers on the Spectrum.
So it's going to explore autism resources across 10 regions in Wisconsin.
Another one is Amazing Savants, and that one's going to focus on some of the savants that have already come to Archipelago, some new people that were just meeting, and hopefully that will be something that can help other people understand, because when we had our first archipelago,
When the savants were meeting each other, they said, you know, I feel like I've met my people because maybe they've never even met another savant.
So this global gathering that we have in Fond du Lac, you know, thanks to Dr. Trevor's vision, is one thing that will hopefully get information out there to people who maybe have never interacted with the savants or don't know what that means.
Then another one is our Islands of Genius, and that one is going to just help explain the Trafford approach that is designed by Dr. Trafford that we use with our autism program.
We have NeuroWorks, and that is going to be for autistic individuals, families, and even professionals to help them with getting a job or employing someone who may be neurodivergent.
And then the last one is called What?
and it stands for What's Happening at Trefort Studios.
And actually, I get to be part of that one and go behind the scenes of the other shows, but then also tell people what's coming up, like our movie and archipelago and things like that.
So that's all thanks to a grant from Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin.
Very good.
Gina, I'd like to thank you for joining us this morning.
Well, thank you for having me.
We always like sharing what's going on, so we appreciate it.
We've been talking with Gina Reader, an administrative assistant for SSM Health Trappert Studios.