August 16, 2024 • 38 mins
In this episode, we meet Mike Arendt, the newly appointed high school principal. We talk about the role of a principal, how he sees students in their path to adulthood, and what plans he has for South Milwaukee High School.
Mike comes to South Milwaukee after the departure of former principal Bryan Terry. He’s spent 17 years in education, has taught social studies, coached football and baseball, and was most recently the principal and athletics and activities director at Racine St. Catherine’s High School. He attended UW Milwaukee for his bachelor's and master's degrees.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome back to the SMI podcast and to the first episode of season three.
(00:13):
A big thanks to all our listeners.
We have had more than 30,000 downloads since the podcast started two school years ago.
Today I'm happy to have a student co-host, Kaylin Nida, a senior and a member of our
youth apprentice program who's working in the district communication office to learn
about communications and marketing.
(00:36):
And our guest and topic of the episode, Mike Aren't, the newly appointed high school principal.
Mike comes to South Milwaukee after the departure of former principal Brian Terry.
He spent 17 years in education, has taught social studies, coached football and baseball,
and was most recently the principal and athletic and activities director at Racine St. Catherine's
(00:58):
high school.
He attended UW of Milwaukee for his bachelor's and master's degrees.
And we're very happy to have him here on the podcast.
Well principal Mike Aren't, welcome to the SMI podcast.
Thank you for having me, Dan.
So tell us a little bit about you.
(01:19):
Where are you coming from?
Where were you directly before this?
Yeah, so I was the principal at St. Catherine's high school down in Racine for the last four
years.
Spent seven years there in total as an athletic director, athletic activities director, and
then became the, became the principal right before COVID actually.
(01:41):
So it was, you know, interesting transition year to say the least.
Anyways, so.
What made you want to go into education?
Well summer's off really.
It was, no, it was the first part.
Anybody who says that all teachers have summers off, they're never off.
No, it really was, I actually had a teacher in high school that I had a great relationship
(02:11):
that was like, I'm like, okay, I can be history.
Like I enjoy history.
I enjoy the stories, you know, about that through history.
So that started it and then I went, you know, went to school and started learning more and
more and more.
And it really, for me, everything is kind of about people and about learning their stories.
(02:32):
So learning their individual stories.
And as it goes back to that building relationships piece, the ability to coach too and stay involved
and stay active and that, that was kind of a, at the time that I went into education,
there were a lot of like, you had to be a teacher in order to help get into coaching.
And that was kind of the way I thought to stay involved in athletics because it was
(02:55):
a big part of who I was and what I wanted to do.
You know, honestly, like the story of how I became principal at the last school was
the principal resigned with two weeks before the school year started.
The assistant principal had left for a different job.
(03:19):
Actually he's over at Whittnall, which yeah, no, we had a boo to Whittnall, no Falcons.
But he, so he was gone and I was the only administrator in the building that had a principal
license.
So they came to me and said, Hey, by the way, you're going to be the principal.
And so two weeks before the school year started, I became, and that year I served as principal
(03:43):
and athletic director, which I do not recommend for anybody out there.
But it, it went well.
It went well.
The staff were, were great and really pitched in and helped in a lot of different ways.
And I was able to hire a couple of assistants around me that really helped out as well too.
(04:07):
And it just became, it just became, it wasn't something I necessarily had thought of at
the time, but for some reason the opportunity came up and I started to enjoy it because
I started to be able to see bigger picture things that could be done and being able to
(04:29):
be more active and involved.
And you start to build those relationships with the staff members and put them in positions.
And like I said, that genuine care piece is really treating people as people, like instead
of as just simple resources is such an important piece to leading anybody.
(04:50):
Like if you're, if you're in, you're in charge of a group of people, they have to know that
you care about them and you care about their wellbeing, not just the superficial level.
And I think that's been, that's been pretty important to me because even when I went into
education back to the original question, the relationships you build with people, I've
(05:16):
I've been in former students' weddings, I've been invited to students' weddings, you know,
players and still have, you know, we'll text back and forth with, with people that I've
coached and or taught.
And it's, it's, that's the reward that comes out of education.
That's the rewarding part of it is just, again, the relationships with people and to see them
(05:38):
succeed and see them thrive in their life is, is really just has become my reason for
education.
What in your mind is a, what's a high, what's a good high school principal?
What do they do?
Get out of the way for and let, you know, let teachers do, you know, put, put people
(06:02):
in good positions to do what is necessary to make sure they're providing the highest
quality education for kids.
Building relationships with staff members, building relationships with students, being
visible, you know, within the community.
At a private school and or public school, I think community relationships and, and how
(06:24):
you build that is such an important, important piece to that, you know, really make sure
that we're carrying on traditions and really put people, like I said, in good positions
to be successful.
So student success, teacher's success leads to school success for the most part.
Sure.
(06:45):
And I guess even from my own knowledge, just what like is a principal's job, especially
the high school level?
I can wrap my mind around elementary principals and, but you have a much larger staff and,
and some people that interact with parents and students a lot, but where does a principal
role come in there?
(07:05):
Yeah, I mean, we're really a lot, there's a lot of facilitation, you know, there's a
lot of, there's a lot of planning that goes on and most of it happens between June and
August and then once you get into the school year, it's continuing to carry through and
follow through on those.
There's, you're the, you're part HR, you're a counselor, you're a teacher, you're an administrator,
(07:30):
you know, as far as an administrator, you're a helper, you can be a custodian at times,
you can be, I mean, you literally could be in any, any capacity at any given time, which
is actually part of the, part of education that, the reason I went into education is
because no day is the same.
Like every day is different and you never know one day to the next what's going to happen.
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But you have to be organized and you have to plan and when the plan goes not as expected,
which happens quite often, you have to be able to adjust and you have to be able to
make sure, but you're always, you're the leader of the building, but you're not the only person
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out in front of it.
You got to bring everybody together, you got to make everyone collaborative, you got to
bring student voice, you got to bring teacher voice into it and everyone's got to get, your
job is to really get everyone moving in the same direction with the vision of the school
aligned to the mission.
(08:34):
Also taking into consideration, you know, the strategic plan of the district and the
direction the district is going to and then trying to get everybody on that same page
and moving in the same direction.
When did you actually start here?
I started July 1st, so it's been July 1st and I was here for a couple weeks and then
I was gone and got married and then came back and so now it's, now all of a sudden it's
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August again and school is, teachers coming back in about three weeks and so it's been
a whirlwind.
Sure.
Well, congratulations on getting married.
And what have you learned about South Milwaukee High School so far?
There's a lot of great people, there's a lot of passionate people that work here.
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There's a lot of alumni that have come back.
It's been very welcoming so far, coming, just the people that you meet and just, you can
tell their passion and everything that they do here and their love for South Milwaukee,
the community.
There's a lot of people that live in the community, they've had their kids go to school here or
are currently going to school here.
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So you can really tell that there is a sense of pride within the school and I think a real
desire to make sure that the school is doing the best that they possibly can and is providing
the best education to all the kids and is a great place to work and I've gotten a lot
(10:04):
of that in all the conversations that I have.
As I've talked to different teachers, we've interviewed obviously a few new teachers and
that's just the sentiment that everybody conveys is that it's a great place to work, it's a
great place to live, it's a great place to be.
(10:27):
I think they feel like they get to be here.
Sure, besides Kalen, have you met any other students yet?
I've met a handful of students and names, some of the names that I have met, a handful
of students that have been, some of them are working in the summer helping out the janitorial,
helping out the custodial staff.
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I've met a few students that have been in summer school and then get some of the athletes
in here that are working out in the community, in the center.
So everyone's been, like I said, great, very welcoming.
It's getting interesting to start meeting and that's kind of what my excitement is now.
(11:08):
It's like, I'm not totally ready for school but I'm ready to start seeing kids come back
in with sports starting next week.
I think that's going to be a great opportunity to start meeting more and more students.
Yeah, and because you're very focused with sports and our school is very focused with
sports, how do you think you can relate to the students with that?
Yeah, so I mean I coached, being an athletic director, I also coached baseball for 16 years
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and I was a football coach for 9 years and I officiate football and wrestling too.
So I've actually been in the school multiple times before that.
I actually, our football crew, roughed the first game on the new black turf out there.
Really?
Oh, interesting.
Yeah, lights went out but you know, so we had a little delay.
(11:56):
I was saying, yeah.
We had a little delay but yeah, so it was, but you can really see, that was another part
of that sense of community too.
Sports, it's all part of the experience.
For me, students who are active and involved and get the most, they get the most out of
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their school when they're involved in things, whether it's athletics or activities.
I was a three sport person but I also was on the math team.
I also did model UN and I was always active and involved and I think that part of it is
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super important in terms of the whole school and the approach, the whole student experience
I should say.
Because the experience that students have is so important.
So what makes you want to come back to school every day?
You have something to look forward to.
You have a relationship with a teacher, a coach, a friend that keeps you coming back
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and that engagement is so important.
There's nothing better than a pack stands on a Friday night for a football game or a
volleyball match or you go to a basketball game or a wrestling match or baseball.
You pack all these different places and the students are so involved, they're so energized
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and that energy carries into the school.
So that's such an important part of it and when you find success in those areas, you
can start to see that translate into a more vibrant school setting.
You can feel that energy as it rolls through the school.
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It's a very important part to me because I did it, I live it, it's all part of what I
do.
But it is so vitally important to just school success as a whole, the school environment
as a whole.
Sure.
This is kind of a philosophical question but what is a high schooler?
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Who is the quote high school student?
Honestly, everybody's different.
I think that's the great part about it.
One of the biggest things for me is building relationships with all different types of
students.
There are students who are just going to be students.
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There are students who are going to be student athletes, there's going to be students involved
in plays and musicals, there's going to be students that are going to be involved in
other activities.
There are students who are going to go on to four-year universities or two-year schools
or tech or trades or anything else like that.
But all of their differences is what makes them really unique and really fun to get to
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know.
That's the best thing for me is all about relationships and building those relationships
with people because the more you start to learn about people and their backgrounds and
their history, their heritage and where they're coming from, the more amazing it is to see
how they grow and develop throughout that.
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So students, they come in and they come in as freshmen and they're wide-eyed and it's
like holy cow, they're in this huge building and there's this senior who's towering over
the top of you.
But as they go through that and you see that maturity and the growth and development, it's
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really amazing to see and then the ability to hand them a diploma as they walk across
the stage four years later and see that and then follow them beyond school, beyond high
school into college and into their lives is really kind of an amazing journey to see that.
But everyone is just so different and that's what makes it really great to me.
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And that's a lot to sculpt a set of expectations around everybody being so different.
Do you have a philosophy for that and the idea that you are given this group of individuals
who are on the cusp of adulthood and how you take them from that wide-eyed freshman to
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a graduating senior?
Yeah.
I mean, it is really, I think you have to really focus on finding supports that are
going to be successful for all students, for everybody.
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You have to be able to set up classes and schedules and find those combinations for
certain individuals that will connect and providing opportunities for them, like providing
as many opportunities as possible.
There's some great things that happen here through apprenticeship programs, through dual
credit programs, through opportunities, like providing opportunities for students to have
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life experiences because that's how you learn.
That's how you're best when you're able to be active and you learn what you like and
you don't like.
You know, you go and find a job, the first job you have, you might like, no, there's
no way I'm going to do that for the rest of my life.
So you start and you find your way.
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And really, I guess, overall, the job of the high school principal or administrator is
to make sure that students have as many opportunities to experience as many different pathways as
possible so that they can find their way so that when they do get to that senior year,
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they kind of have an idea of like, this is something that I would really like to do or
like to learn more about.
And they have that energy and they have that passion for whatever it is that they've found.
So finding that self motivation, right, and giving them those opportunities.
Did you have another question?
(18:17):
What can students expect when they see you in the hall?
What are they going to, when they see Mr. Arndt, what are they going to say?
Well hopefully they say hi, at least anyways, or respond, like if I say hi to them, they
respond back, you know, and they're not looking at their phone or anything else.
But no, to me, it's going to be, I'm going to try and learn names as quickly as possible.
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And so it's always about personalization and genuine care.
I mean, that's the one thing for me.
Like I want people to know that I genuinely care about them.
You know, and for parents listening, it's, we care about each and every student that
walks through our doors.
And we want them here every day that we're having school, that we're going to take care
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of them, that we're going to educate them, that we're going to provide opportunities
for them, that they're going to be safe in this building.
They're going to have fun, right?
They're going to get that sense of pride that's going on within the school and they're going
to have all of these great opportunities.
But I'm a personal person.
Like I mean, I'm going to come up, I might shake their hand, I might, you know, tap them
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on the shoulder.
I might, you know, it's going to be, but I'm going to say hi, we're going to welcome people.
You know, we still hold those high expectations, but we also want to make this an environment
where people feel like they get to come to school here and it's a great place to be.
Also I did actually speak to a couple of students asking them like different questions that
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they would like to ask you.
And a few of them wanted to know the possible changes that might be happening to the school
within the next year.
Or if you have thought about that.
Yeah, I mean, you know, we've thought a lot.
I mean, we've thought a lot.
I mean, honestly, right now it's a lot of taking in information and getting a lot of
information just like trying to absorb as much as possible.
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This is one thing that I'm not, I don't quick, I'm not quick to react to things.
So I want to be able to, I'm very intentional and very strategic on things.
One thing that I will say is that we are going to start what's called, well, it's a leadership
academy.
We don't exactly have a name for it right now, but we're going to have, so students
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are actually going to work together and they'll have a direct line to me in terms of trying
to find students from all different areas.
You know, athletic kids and kids and activities and high academic kids and you find middle
ground academic kids and you have wide variety of students that create this student voice
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that goes right back to the administrator.
But we're also going to be working on building and developing student leaders through this
leadership academy.
So one of the things that's important to me is, is that students really take ownership
of the building itself.
So they get to have a voice and some things we'll be able to do and some things I'll
have to say, I don't know, how about this way instead, you know, but it's important
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for me that students have that type of ownership within the school because it's really their
building.
I mean, it's what, what we're here to facilitate certain things, but it's really your school,
you know, as a student, it's your school and we're here to guide and make sure that,
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you know, everyone here is, is safe and is getting the best education.
But that's probably one of the, one of the things that you'll see and those students
then can start driving some of those decisions on certain changes and certain things that
way.
But that's, I mean, that's one right now that I'm, you know, that we've talked about
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and that we're going to make sure that happens because like I said, that's just such an important
piece.
Other than that, I mean, there, you could see a few nuanced changes here and there,
but I don't know how far as total overhauls of things like that here.
I need to be able to get in and see and work with the other administrators and, and making
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sure that what we do is always going to come back to what's in the best interest of students,
you know, and the school as a whole.
And so when we take in all that information, we make those decisions and we get teacher
voice and we get student voice.
And that's, that's kind of how I operate.
How about parents?
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What, how do you see yourself interacting and communicating with parents?
Yeah.
So for us, like communication is a huge part.
And I think, I don't think you can ever necessarily over communicate, you know, and that's always
going to be the something that people say is like, that's always the criticism no matter
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where you go.
It's like, we don't communicate enough necessarily for us.
So we send out communications at my previous schools.
We've always had what are called weekly rundowns that go out to parents and community members,
updating them and just some things that are going on in the school and trying to send
reminders about, okay, seniors, your scholarship applications are due or FAFSA is opening up
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or you'll get this kind of the counselor's area, but then you also get information about
a homecoming is on the horizon.
Hey, here's how you get your tickets.
Here's information about the dance.
Here's some of the themes for the week.
Here's, you know, this event that's going on.
It's important to that we try to engage parents as much as possible.
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The more parent involvement we get as we're really happy, we have to be partners, you
know, and so transparency with what we're doing in the school to the families is such
an important piece.
Comprehensity to everybody, teachers, students, families, all the stakeholders within the
community.
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Such an important piece of being a successful school community.
So you're going to see communications coming out from the school to parents.
So make sure you check your emails and if you don't have your emails updated and infinite
campus, get all that stuff in there.
But you know, we're working district wide on a new platform to make sure communications
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get out there.
We include a text feature and so which I think a lot of people will be happy about.
But it's all about transparency and really if people want to have have the need or desire
and want to come in and sit down and talk, we can definitely do that.
And I think a lot of the what we're going to try to do some focus groups and try and
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create some parent committees to give them a voice and some things and that that they've
seen and that they have experienced because that's also an important piece for us too.
And so I know that a question hanging out there probably on parents and definitely on
students minds is if you Google you, the news coverage of what you did your last school
(25:22):
with cell phones came up.
I'm sure people are wondering, are we doing anything different this year with students
and cell phones?
This year we will not be doing anything different in terms of cell phones, which is probably
what the initial question might have been about.
But you know, no, we're not doing anything anything different this year in terms of cell
(25:46):
phones.
They've got the caddies in the in the classrooms, just teacher expectations about making sure
that we're doing that.
The biggest thing about the cell phones and why we went the way we went there with the
Beyonder pouches was it became distracting and it was just a huge distraction in the
classroom.
(26:07):
And the engagement of kids is such an important piece.
So students, you need to be able to pay attention to be able to learn things.
And honestly, one of the biggest things was is when we implemented it, it was like watching
500 kids go through withdrawals, like they're holding on to these pouches and they're like
(26:31):
literally like they're they're they're babies.
But after a while, it just becomes it becomes ingrained.
And we saw failure rates go down, we saw engagement in classrooms go up, and we saw all of these
positives, the social, emotional, the mental health pieces even going down because you're
not checking Twitter or Snapchat or Instagram or whatever else, you know, other platforms
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that are out there.
And so that engagement came up quite a bit.
But that's I mean, there's a lot of different ways to go about things.
So we just evaluate kind of what's going on here because each school is different and
each community is different.
So we evaluate and kind of see what's going on in classrooms here and the engagement levels
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in classrooms and making sure teachers are doing everything that they can to keep kids
engaged and active and what they're you know, in those classes.
And you know, it's a 47 minute class and we want to make sure that we utilize every every
second of that class to do the best we can to prepare students for what comes next in
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life.
Sure.
I don't know if this is a fair question to ask you yet, only being here a month.
But I know a lot of parents were there.
There's a lot of debate over the bathroom policy and vaping and other things.
If you had a chance to look into that and do you have thoughts on it?
Yeah.
So one of the other things that we did is we invested in vape detectors because it is
(28:04):
I mean, it's it's it's an issue everywhere.
It came up and other students that have talked to me about that, they know what they if they
said what's a what is one of the bigger issues among students.
It is that it is vaping and I know there's some overcrowding in bathrooms and you.
So there's avenues that we've looked into.
(28:24):
We haven't, you know, trying to understand and we've done some can't I know that they've
done some camera upgrades and things of that nature in the hallways to really take a look
at the ability to kind of track and monitor people.
We are going to use an electronic hall pass system this year, which is just again, it's
(28:47):
it's actually a safety measure so that, you know, like in the event of a fire drill or
something happens, tornado drill, you know what students are out and which locations
they're in so you can make sure that they get to a safe location, but also monitors
the amount of times kids are in classes or who who's going from this place to this place.
(29:09):
Or if we do have a vaping issue that we are able to hold people accountable to that because
I think accountability is one of the things that I try to stress and to all to everybody
teachers are holding teachers accountable, holding students accountable, you know, myself
accountable. That's some there's just a lot of, you know, health related things around
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that that I think students aren't aware of parents aren't aware of. I don't think teachers
sometimes know all the differences that are related to some of those some of the vaping
issues. But those are some things that we've talked about and looked into a little bit.
We don't have any specifics or specific answers on that, but it is kind of an important it
(29:58):
is a topic that's come up through the course of even interview even when I interviewed
for the position. So okay. Thank you. Yeah, I know that's that's a tough one, especially
just starting. But again, at the end of the last school year, I was pretty high on people's
minds. Yeah, I appreciate that. And like said, if things change or something needs to be
communicated, you're planning on increasing that communication. Yeah, I think you'll be
(30:22):
a lot of people will get our first information out about just the back to school the open
house nights everything all that information. Incoming freshmen will you know their their
orientation day coming up here and if you know, towards the end of the month. So we've
got a lot of important information that hopefully everyone is is checking emails and getting
(30:45):
getting that information or coming to the website and checking out everything that we
have to to communicate to them. But anything that we do, like I said, transparency is so
big. We're not here to hide anything. We're but we're going to make decisions that are
in the best interest of all the students and the school and the community as a whole. So
but anything that we do or change, we'll definitely get a communication out to everybody. And
(31:10):
not related to you being new here, but is there anything that parents need to know about
the year and how things might be a little bit different from next year? I mean, this
coming year, I mean, this year for me is going to be like I said, it's going to be a lot
of taking in information and making decisions. And I think we've got a lot of good things
in place. Moving forward. I know we've got a they've they've had a schedule change back
(31:37):
to the eight period day this year, I think you're going to see some things in terms of
some of the early release time and how we're going to utilize that a little bit differently
for students. Student benefit during those those early release days and those times when
those classes sometimes seem pretty short. But we're going to what they're going to see
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is they're going to see a school that is dedicated with to enhancing the student experience here,
the from academics to athletics to activities, and really making it a whole school, building
this whole school culture around just the pride of being here and what it means to be
(32:22):
here and acknowledging all of the great things that everybody does here and everybody contributes
to that success. I think we're going to move forward and making sure that we support all
of our students from the top of the AP students to those to the students who may need more
(32:43):
academic help, you know, for whatever reasons, you know that they may need that, but they're
going to have support here. They're going to have a place to come where they're going
to feel welcomed and they're going to feel like they belong here. And they're going to
have that sense of belonging throughout that. And I think that's what everyone is going
to hopefully that's what everyone feels when they come through and walk through the building
(33:06):
and they're going to be able to feel that energy as that goes. So, okay, so time for
some personal questions. Yeah. Favorite baseball team, Brewers favorite football team, Packers.
My family has been season ticket holders since the 60s. I actually grew up in the Green Bay
area. So yeah, it's Packers here. So you're wearing a Wisconsin shirt. You went to college.
(33:30):
Is that where you went to college? I went to school at UWM, but Badger fan in terms
of, you know, football and football and basketball, actually a former student is on the basketball
team there. So it's he hooks me up with tickets every once in a while. So it's pretty good
that way. It's a nice little connection to have. But and he's a great kid. So it's great.
(33:54):
Those are some of the relationships that are awesome to be able to continue moving forward.
You know, what do you do when you're not working? When I'm not working, I'm either let's something
on the water, golfing, spending time with family. I've got twin eight year twin nine
year olds now. Sorry, they just turned nine. So they're twin nine year olds, boy and a
(34:18):
girl. Like I said, just got married actually in Jamaica. Two would be two weeks tomorrow.
So two weeks ago tomorrow. So yeah, a lot of a lot of exciting things happening a lot
of a lot. There's never a dull moment. We'll just say that much. But we're always pretty
(34:38):
active. Love to go to concerts. Country fan. So hit or miss with some people. But yeah,
it's kind of where where I'm at with that. But I love to go to just live music and concerts
and just some of the festivals and things like that that are all it's just a lot of
fun to be be at. And like I said, it's that energy. It's just that fun, loving kind of
(35:03):
nature of everything. Most surprising thing about South Milwaukee so far. Well, did you
see the Sasquatch? I heard about the Sasquatch. I I wasn't aware that there was a connection
between a Sasquatch and but yes, the Heritage Day stuff. I think the most surprising. It's
(35:29):
not really necessarily a surprise, but I think you're just always surprised by just the willingness
of everyone to just contribute and help out and welcome you and make sure that you've
your you have what you need. You know, like I said, for me, for being out for, you know,
(35:50):
nine days, you know that the ability for other people to step up is always appreciated. It's
not necessarily a surprise, but it is something that I really think that that it's it's greatly
appreciated that way. You know, so I did hear that Sasquatch had rode in the parade. He
didn't even walk the parade, though, so I'm not sure. That's what I don't know. How to
(36:14):
get those steps. We're going to have to. Yeah, we're going to have to work on that. You know,
maybe we'll get them into the fitness center and we'll see and have them walk around.
You know, get on the treadmill. Yeah. I don't know if you can do it barefoot. Yeah. Well,
then, yeah, we might have to give them some of those some of those socks that you got
to wear in the when you're walking through a house and introduce them to Ronnie Rockett.
(36:35):
There you go. Yeah, absolutely. Well, Mike, aren't thank you so much for being on the
SMA podcast. We appreciate taking the time to introduce yourself. Yeah. No, thanks for
having me. I appreciate it. Good luck this year. Yeah. Go Rockets. That's the end of
the first episode of season three. It's going to be an exciting school year for so many
(36:59):
reasons, but I'll give you one that you can look at right now. If you haven't seen it,
check out our latest update from Superintendent Deidre Rayner on our district home page. She
recorded it in one of our four STEM labs, refurbished classrooms in our elementary schools
paid for by the safe, supported and successful referendum passed in the spring. It's pretty
(37:20):
amazing. We have dedicated teachers for those rooms to teach how science, technology, engineering
and math come together to solve problems and what careers are out there that use those
skills to make life better for all of us. Remember, too, that school starts on September
3rd. Thanks to the feedback on a parent survey, we have a new start time, 8 15 a.m. and an
(37:41):
end time, 3 20 p.m. for our elementary schools. Enjoy these last few weeks of summer. Remember
to subscribe to this podcast to stay on top of changes locally and statewide in education.
Our next episode will be out in two weeks.
Welcome back to the SMI podcast and to the first episode of season three.
(00:13):
A big thanks to all our listeners.
We have had more than 30,000 downloads since the podcast started two school years ago.
Today I'm happy to have a student co-host, Kaylin Nida, a senior and a member of our
youth apprentice program who's working in the district communication office to learn
about communications and marketing.
(00:36):
And our guest and topic of the episode, Mike Aren't, the newly appointed high school principal.
Mike comes to South Milwaukee after the departure of former principal Brian Terry.
He spent 17 years in education, has taught social studies, coached football and baseball,
and was most recently the principal and athletic and activities director at Racine St. Catherine's
(00:58):
high school.
He attended UW of Milwaukee for his bachelor's and master's degrees.
And we're very happy to have him here on the podcast.
Well principal Mike Aren't, welcome to the SMI podcast.
Thank you for having me, Dan.
So tell us a little bit about you.
(01:19):
Where are you coming from?
Where were you directly before this?
Yeah, so I was the principal at St. Catherine's high school down in Racine for the last four
years.
Spent seven years there in total as an athletic director, athletic activities director, and
then became the, became the principal right before COVID actually.
(01:41):
So it was, you know, interesting transition year to say the least.
Anyways, so.
What made you want to go into education?
Well summer's off really.
It was, no, it was the first part.
Anybody who says that all teachers have summers off, they're never off.
No, it really was, I actually had a teacher in high school that I had a great relationship
(02:11):
that was like, I'm like, okay, I can be history.
Like I enjoy history.
I enjoy the stories, you know, about that through history.
So that started it and then I went, you know, went to school and started learning more and
more and more.
And it really, for me, everything is kind of about people and about learning their stories.
(02:32):
So learning their individual stories.
And as it goes back to that building relationships piece, the ability to coach too and stay involved
and stay active and that, that was kind of a, at the time that I went into education,
there were a lot of like, you had to be a teacher in order to help get into coaching.
And that was kind of the way I thought to stay involved in athletics because it was
(02:55):
a big part of who I was and what I wanted to do.
You know, honestly, like the story of how I became principal at the last school was
the principal resigned with two weeks before the school year started.
The assistant principal had left for a different job.
(03:19):
Actually he's over at Whittnall, which yeah, no, we had a boo to Whittnall, no Falcons.
But he, so he was gone and I was the only administrator in the building that had a principal
license.
So they came to me and said, Hey, by the way, you're going to be the principal.
And so two weeks before the school year started, I became, and that year I served as principal
(03:43):
and athletic director, which I do not recommend for anybody out there.
But it, it went well.
It went well.
The staff were, were great and really pitched in and helped in a lot of different ways.
And I was able to hire a couple of assistants around me that really helped out as well too.
(04:07):
And it just became, it just became, it wasn't something I necessarily had thought of at
the time, but for some reason the opportunity came up and I started to enjoy it because
I started to be able to see bigger picture things that could be done and being able to
(04:29):
be more active and involved.
And you start to build those relationships with the staff members and put them in positions.
And like I said, that genuine care piece is really treating people as people, like instead
of as just simple resources is such an important piece to leading anybody.
(04:50):
Like if you're, if you're in, you're in charge of a group of people, they have to know that
you care about them and you care about their wellbeing, not just the superficial level.
And I think that's been, that's been pretty important to me because even when I went into
education back to the original question, the relationships you build with people, I've
(05:16):
I've been in former students' weddings, I've been invited to students' weddings, you know,
players and still have, you know, we'll text back and forth with, with people that I've
coached and or taught.
And it's, it's, that's the reward that comes out of education.
That's the rewarding part of it is just, again, the relationships with people and to see them
(05:38):
succeed and see them thrive in their life is, is really just has become my reason for
education.
What in your mind is a, what's a high, what's a good high school principal?
What do they do?
Get out of the way for and let, you know, let teachers do, you know, put, put people
(06:02):
in good positions to do what is necessary to make sure they're providing the highest
quality education for kids.
Building relationships with staff members, building relationships with students, being
visible, you know, within the community.
At a private school and or public school, I think community relationships and, and how
(06:24):
you build that is such an important, important piece to that, you know, really make sure
that we're carrying on traditions and really put people, like I said, in good positions
to be successful.
So student success, teacher's success leads to school success for the most part.
Sure.
(06:45):
And I guess even from my own knowledge, just what like is a principal's job, especially
the high school level?
I can wrap my mind around elementary principals and, but you have a much larger staff and,
and some people that interact with parents and students a lot, but where does a principal
role come in there?
(07:05):
Yeah, I mean, we're really a lot, there's a lot of facilitation, you know, there's a
lot of, there's a lot of planning that goes on and most of it happens between June and
August and then once you get into the school year, it's continuing to carry through and
follow through on those.
There's, you're the, you're part HR, you're a counselor, you're a teacher, you're an administrator,
(07:30):
you know, as far as an administrator, you're a helper, you can be a custodian at times,
you can be, I mean, you literally could be in any, any capacity at any given time, which
is actually part of the, part of education that, the reason I went into education is
because no day is the same.
Like every day is different and you never know one day to the next what's going to happen.
(07:53):
But you have to be organized and you have to plan and when the plan goes not as expected,
which happens quite often, you have to be able to adjust and you have to be able to
make sure, but you're always, you're the leader of the building, but you're not the only person
(08:13):
out in front of it.
You got to bring everybody together, you got to make everyone collaborative, you got to
bring student voice, you got to bring teacher voice into it and everyone's got to get, your
job is to really get everyone moving in the same direction with the vision of the school
aligned to the mission.
(08:34):
Also taking into consideration, you know, the strategic plan of the district and the
direction the district is going to and then trying to get everybody on that same page
and moving in the same direction.
When did you actually start here?
I started July 1st, so it's been July 1st and I was here for a couple weeks and then
I was gone and got married and then came back and so now it's, now all of a sudden it's
(08:59):
August again and school is, teachers coming back in about three weeks and so it's been
a whirlwind.
Sure.
Well, congratulations on getting married.
And what have you learned about South Milwaukee High School so far?
There's a lot of great people, there's a lot of passionate people that work here.
(09:22):
There's a lot of alumni that have come back.
It's been very welcoming so far, coming, just the people that you meet and just, you can
tell their passion and everything that they do here and their love for South Milwaukee,
the community.
There's a lot of people that live in the community, they've had their kids go to school here or
are currently going to school here.
(09:44):
So you can really tell that there is a sense of pride within the school and I think a real
desire to make sure that the school is doing the best that they possibly can and is providing
the best education to all the kids and is a great place to work and I've gotten a lot
(10:04):
of that in all the conversations that I have.
As I've talked to different teachers, we've interviewed obviously a few new teachers and
that's just the sentiment that everybody conveys is that it's a great place to work, it's a
great place to live, it's a great place to be.
(10:27):
I think they feel like they get to be here.
Sure, besides Kalen, have you met any other students yet?
I've met a handful of students and names, some of the names that I have met, a handful
of students that have been, some of them are working in the summer helping out the janitorial,
helping out the custodial staff.
(10:48):
I've met a few students that have been in summer school and then get some of the athletes
in here that are working out in the community, in the center.
So everyone's been, like I said, great, very welcoming.
It's getting interesting to start meeting and that's kind of what my excitement is now.
(11:08):
It's like, I'm not totally ready for school but I'm ready to start seeing kids come back
in with sports starting next week.
I think that's going to be a great opportunity to start meeting more and more students.
Yeah, and because you're very focused with sports and our school is very focused with
sports, how do you think you can relate to the students with that?
Yeah, so I mean I coached, being an athletic director, I also coached baseball for 16 years
(11:34):
and I was a football coach for 9 years and I officiate football and wrestling too.
So I've actually been in the school multiple times before that.
I actually, our football crew, roughed the first game on the new black turf out there.
Really?
Oh, interesting.
Yeah, lights went out but you know, so we had a little delay.
(11:56):
I was saying, yeah.
We had a little delay but yeah, so it was, but you can really see, that was another part
of that sense of community too.
Sports, it's all part of the experience.
For me, students who are active and involved and get the most, they get the most out of
(12:17):
their school when they're involved in things, whether it's athletics or activities.
I was a three sport person but I also was on the math team.
I also did model UN and I was always active and involved and I think that part of it is
(12:38):
super important in terms of the whole school and the approach, the whole student experience
I should say.
Because the experience that students have is so important.
So what makes you want to come back to school every day?
You have something to look forward to.
You have a relationship with a teacher, a coach, a friend that keeps you coming back
(13:01):
and that engagement is so important.
There's nothing better than a pack stands on a Friday night for a football game or a
volleyball match or you go to a basketball game or a wrestling match or baseball.
You pack all these different places and the students are so involved, they're so energized
(13:23):
and that energy carries into the school.
So that's such an important part of it and when you find success in those areas, you
can start to see that translate into a more vibrant school setting.
You can feel that energy as it rolls through the school.
(13:47):
It's a very important part to me because I did it, I live it, it's all part of what I
do.
But it is so vitally important to just school success as a whole, the school environment
as a whole.
Sure.
This is kind of a philosophical question but what is a high schooler?
(14:09):
Who is the quote high school student?
Honestly, everybody's different.
I think that's the great part about it.
One of the biggest things for me is building relationships with all different types of
students.
There are students who are just going to be students.
(14:33):
There are students who are going to be student athletes, there's going to be students involved
in plays and musicals, there's going to be students that are going to be involved in
other activities.
There are students who are going to go on to four-year universities or two-year schools
or tech or trades or anything else like that.
But all of their differences is what makes them really unique and really fun to get to
(14:55):
know.
That's the best thing for me is all about relationships and building those relationships
with people because the more you start to learn about people and their backgrounds and
their history, their heritage and where they're coming from, the more amazing it is to see
how they grow and develop throughout that.
(15:18):
So students, they come in and they come in as freshmen and they're wide-eyed and it's
like holy cow, they're in this huge building and there's this senior who's towering over
the top of you.
But as they go through that and you see that maturity and the growth and development, it's
(15:38):
really amazing to see and then the ability to hand them a diploma as they walk across
the stage four years later and see that and then follow them beyond school, beyond high
school into college and into their lives is really kind of an amazing journey to see that.
But everyone is just so different and that's what makes it really great to me.
(16:04):
And that's a lot to sculpt a set of expectations around everybody being so different.
Do you have a philosophy for that and the idea that you are given this group of individuals
who are on the cusp of adulthood and how you take them from that wide-eyed freshman to
(16:25):
a graduating senior?
Yeah.
I mean, it is really, I think you have to really focus on finding supports that are
going to be successful for all students, for everybody.
(16:48):
You have to be able to set up classes and schedules and find those combinations for
certain individuals that will connect and providing opportunities for them, like providing
as many opportunities as possible.
There's some great things that happen here through apprenticeship programs, through dual
credit programs, through opportunities, like providing opportunities for students to have
(17:15):
life experiences because that's how you learn.
That's how you're best when you're able to be active and you learn what you like and
you don't like.
You know, you go and find a job, the first job you have, you might like, no, there's
no way I'm going to do that for the rest of my life.
So you start and you find your way.
(17:36):
And really, I guess, overall, the job of the high school principal or administrator is
to make sure that students have as many opportunities to experience as many different pathways as
possible so that they can find their way so that when they do get to that senior year,
(17:56):
they kind of have an idea of like, this is something that I would really like to do or
like to learn more about.
And they have that energy and they have that passion for whatever it is that they've found.
So finding that self motivation, right, and giving them those opportunities.
Did you have another question?
(18:17):
What can students expect when they see you in the hall?
What are they going to, when they see Mr. Arndt, what are they going to say?
Well hopefully they say hi, at least anyways, or respond, like if I say hi to them, they
respond back, you know, and they're not looking at their phone or anything else.
But no, to me, it's going to be, I'm going to try and learn names as quickly as possible.
(18:39):
And so it's always about personalization and genuine care.
I mean, that's the one thing for me.
Like I want people to know that I genuinely care about them.
You know, and for parents listening, it's, we care about each and every student that
walks through our doors.
And we want them here every day that we're having school, that we're going to take care
(19:01):
of them, that we're going to educate them, that we're going to provide opportunities
for them, that they're going to be safe in this building.
They're going to have fun, right?
They're going to get that sense of pride that's going on within the school and they're going
to have all of these great opportunities.
But I'm a personal person.
Like I mean, I'm going to come up, I might shake their hand, I might, you know, tap them
(19:25):
on the shoulder.
I might, you know, it's going to be, but I'm going to say hi, we're going to welcome people.
You know, we still hold those high expectations, but we also want to make this an environment
where people feel like they get to come to school here and it's a great place to be.
Also I did actually speak to a couple of students asking them like different questions that
(19:46):
they would like to ask you.
And a few of them wanted to know the possible changes that might be happening to the school
within the next year.
Or if you have thought about that.
Yeah, I mean, you know, we've thought a lot.
I mean, we've thought a lot.
I mean, honestly, right now it's a lot of taking in information and getting a lot of
information just like trying to absorb as much as possible.
(20:06):
This is one thing that I'm not, I don't quick, I'm not quick to react to things.
So I want to be able to, I'm very intentional and very strategic on things.
One thing that I will say is that we are going to start what's called, well, it's a leadership
academy.
We don't exactly have a name for it right now, but we're going to have, so students
(20:30):
are actually going to work together and they'll have a direct line to me in terms of trying
to find students from all different areas.
You know, athletic kids and kids and activities and high academic kids and you find middle
ground academic kids and you have wide variety of students that create this student voice
(20:55):
that goes right back to the administrator.
But we're also going to be working on building and developing student leaders through this
leadership academy.
So one of the things that's important to me is, is that students really take ownership
of the building itself.
So they get to have a voice and some things we'll be able to do and some things I'll
have to say, I don't know, how about this way instead, you know, but it's important
(21:20):
for me that students have that type of ownership within the school because it's really their
building.
I mean, it's what, what we're here to facilitate certain things, but it's really your school,
you know, as a student, it's your school and we're here to guide and make sure that,
(21:40):
you know, everyone here is, is safe and is getting the best education.
But that's probably one of the, one of the things that you'll see and those students
then can start driving some of those decisions on certain changes and certain things that
way.
But that's, I mean, that's one right now that I'm, you know, that we've talked about
(22:05):
and that we're going to make sure that happens because like I said, that's just such an important
piece.
Other than that, I mean, there, you could see a few nuanced changes here and there,
but I don't know how far as total overhauls of things like that here.
I need to be able to get in and see and work with the other administrators and, and making
(22:27):
sure that what we do is always going to come back to what's in the best interest of students,
you know, and the school as a whole.
And so when we take in all that information, we make those decisions and we get teacher
voice and we get student voice.
And that's, that's kind of how I operate.
How about parents?
(22:48):
What, how do you see yourself interacting and communicating with parents?
Yeah.
So for us, like communication is a huge part.
And I think, I don't think you can ever necessarily over communicate, you know, and that's always
going to be the something that people say is like, that's always the criticism no matter
(23:09):
where you go.
It's like, we don't communicate enough necessarily for us.
So we send out communications at my previous schools.
We've always had what are called weekly rundowns that go out to parents and community members,
updating them and just some things that are going on in the school and trying to send
reminders about, okay, seniors, your scholarship applications are due or FAFSA is opening up
(23:34):
or you'll get this kind of the counselor's area, but then you also get information about
a homecoming is on the horizon.
Hey, here's how you get your tickets.
Here's information about the dance.
Here's some of the themes for the week.
Here's, you know, this event that's going on.
It's important to that we try to engage parents as much as possible.
(23:54):
The more parent involvement we get as we're really happy, we have to be partners, you
know, and so transparency with what we're doing in the school to the families is such
an important piece.
Comprehensity to everybody, teachers, students, families, all the stakeholders within the
community.
(24:15):
Such an important piece of being a successful school community.
So you're going to see communications coming out from the school to parents.
So make sure you check your emails and if you don't have your emails updated and infinite
campus, get all that stuff in there.
But you know, we're working district wide on a new platform to make sure communications
(24:37):
get out there.
We include a text feature and so which I think a lot of people will be happy about.
But it's all about transparency and really if people want to have have the need or desire
and want to come in and sit down and talk, we can definitely do that.
And I think a lot of the what we're going to try to do some focus groups and try and
(24:59):
create some parent committees to give them a voice and some things and that that they've
seen and that they have experienced because that's also an important piece for us too.
And so I know that a question hanging out there probably on parents and definitely on
students minds is if you Google you, the news coverage of what you did your last school
(25:22):
with cell phones came up.
I'm sure people are wondering, are we doing anything different this year with students
and cell phones?
This year we will not be doing anything different in terms of cell phones, which is probably
what the initial question might have been about.
But you know, no, we're not doing anything anything different this year in terms of cell
(25:46):
phones.
They've got the caddies in the in the classrooms, just teacher expectations about making sure
that we're doing that.
The biggest thing about the cell phones and why we went the way we went there with the
Beyonder pouches was it became distracting and it was just a huge distraction in the
classroom.
(26:07):
And the engagement of kids is such an important piece.
So students, you need to be able to pay attention to be able to learn things.
And honestly, one of the biggest things was is when we implemented it, it was like watching
500 kids go through withdrawals, like they're holding on to these pouches and they're like
(26:31):
literally like they're they're they're babies.
But after a while, it just becomes it becomes ingrained.
And we saw failure rates go down, we saw engagement in classrooms go up, and we saw all of these
positives, the social, emotional, the mental health pieces even going down because you're
not checking Twitter or Snapchat or Instagram or whatever else, you know, other platforms
(26:57):
that are out there.
And so that engagement came up quite a bit.
But that's I mean, there's a lot of different ways to go about things.
So we just evaluate kind of what's going on here because each school is different and
each community is different.
So we evaluate and kind of see what's going on in classrooms here and the engagement levels
(27:18):
in classrooms and making sure teachers are doing everything that they can to keep kids
engaged and active and what they're you know, in those classes.
And you know, it's a 47 minute class and we want to make sure that we utilize every every
second of that class to do the best we can to prepare students for what comes next in
(27:39):
life.
Sure.
I don't know if this is a fair question to ask you yet, only being here a month.
But I know a lot of parents were there.
There's a lot of debate over the bathroom policy and vaping and other things.
If you had a chance to look into that and do you have thoughts on it?
Yeah.
So one of the other things that we did is we invested in vape detectors because it is
(28:04):
I mean, it's it's it's an issue everywhere.
It came up and other students that have talked to me about that, they know what they if they
said what's a what is one of the bigger issues among students.
It is that it is vaping and I know there's some overcrowding in bathrooms and you.
So there's avenues that we've looked into.
(28:24):
We haven't, you know, trying to understand and we've done some can't I know that they've
done some camera upgrades and things of that nature in the hallways to really take a look
at the ability to kind of track and monitor people.
We are going to use an electronic hall pass system this year, which is just again, it's
(28:47):
it's actually a safety measure so that, you know, like in the event of a fire drill or
something happens, tornado drill, you know what students are out and which locations
they're in so you can make sure that they get to a safe location, but also monitors
the amount of times kids are in classes or who who's going from this place to this place.
(29:09):
Or if we do have a vaping issue that we are able to hold people accountable to that because
I think accountability is one of the things that I try to stress and to all to everybody
teachers are holding teachers accountable, holding students accountable, you know, myself
accountable. That's some there's just a lot of, you know, health related things around
(29:37):
that that I think students aren't aware of parents aren't aware of. I don't think teachers
sometimes know all the differences that are related to some of those some of the vaping
issues. But those are some things that we've talked about and looked into a little bit.
We don't have any specifics or specific answers on that, but it is kind of an important it
(29:58):
is a topic that's come up through the course of even interview even when I interviewed
for the position. So okay. Thank you. Yeah, I know that's that's a tough one, especially
just starting. But again, at the end of the last school year, I was pretty high on people's
minds. Yeah, I appreciate that. And like said, if things change or something needs to be
communicated, you're planning on increasing that communication. Yeah, I think you'll be
(30:22):
a lot of people will get our first information out about just the back to school the open
house nights everything all that information. Incoming freshmen will you know their their
orientation day coming up here and if you know, towards the end of the month. So we've
got a lot of important information that hopefully everyone is is checking emails and getting
(30:45):
getting that information or coming to the website and checking out everything that we
have to to communicate to them. But anything that we do, like I said, transparency is so
big. We're not here to hide anything. We're but we're going to make decisions that are
in the best interest of all the students and the school and the community as a whole. So
but anything that we do or change, we'll definitely get a communication out to everybody. And
(31:10):
not related to you being new here, but is there anything that parents need to know about
the year and how things might be a little bit different from next year? I mean, this
coming year, I mean, this year for me is going to be like I said, it's going to be a lot
of taking in information and making decisions. And I think we've got a lot of good things
in place. Moving forward. I know we've got a they've they've had a schedule change back
(31:37):
to the eight period day this year, I think you're going to see some things in terms of
some of the early release time and how we're going to utilize that a little bit differently
for students. Student benefit during those those early release days and those times when
those classes sometimes seem pretty short. But we're going to what they're going to see
(31:59):
is they're going to see a school that is dedicated with to enhancing the student experience here,
the from academics to athletics to activities, and really making it a whole school, building
this whole school culture around just the pride of being here and what it means to be
(32:22):
here and acknowledging all of the great things that everybody does here and everybody contributes
to that success. I think we're going to move forward and making sure that we support all
of our students from the top of the AP students to those to the students who may need more
(32:43):
academic help, you know, for whatever reasons, you know that they may need that, but they're
going to have support here. They're going to have a place to come where they're going
to feel welcomed and they're going to feel like they belong here. And they're going to
have that sense of belonging throughout that. And I think that's what everyone is going
to hopefully that's what everyone feels when they come through and walk through the building
(33:06):
and they're going to be able to feel that energy as that goes. So, okay, so time for
some personal questions. Yeah. Favorite baseball team, Brewers favorite football team, Packers.
My family has been season ticket holders since the 60s. I actually grew up in the Green Bay
area. So yeah, it's Packers here. So you're wearing a Wisconsin shirt. You went to college.
(33:30):
Is that where you went to college? I went to school at UWM, but Badger fan in terms
of, you know, football and football and basketball, actually a former student is on the basketball
team there. So it's he hooks me up with tickets every once in a while. So it's pretty good
that way. It's a nice little connection to have. But and he's a great kid. So it's great.
(33:54):
Those are some of the relationships that are awesome to be able to continue moving forward.
You know, what do you do when you're not working? When I'm not working, I'm either let's something
on the water, golfing, spending time with family. I've got twin eight year twin nine
year olds now. Sorry, they just turned nine. So they're twin nine year olds, boy and a
(34:18):
girl. Like I said, just got married actually in Jamaica. Two would be two weeks tomorrow.
So two weeks ago tomorrow. So yeah, a lot of a lot of exciting things happening a lot
of a lot. There's never a dull moment. We'll just say that much. But we're always pretty
(34:38):
active. Love to go to concerts. Country fan. So hit or miss with some people. But yeah,
it's kind of where where I'm at with that. But I love to go to just live music and concerts
and just some of the festivals and things like that that are all it's just a lot of
fun to be be at. And like I said, it's that energy. It's just that fun, loving kind of
(35:03):
nature of everything. Most surprising thing about South Milwaukee so far. Well, did you
see the Sasquatch? I heard about the Sasquatch. I I wasn't aware that there was a connection
between a Sasquatch and but yes, the Heritage Day stuff. I think the most surprising. It's
(35:29):
not really necessarily a surprise, but I think you're just always surprised by just the willingness
of everyone to just contribute and help out and welcome you and make sure that you've
your you have what you need. You know, like I said, for me, for being out for, you know,
(35:50):
nine days, you know that the ability for other people to step up is always appreciated. It's
not necessarily a surprise, but it is something that I really think that that it's it's greatly
appreciated that way. You know, so I did hear that Sasquatch had rode in the parade. He
didn't even walk the parade, though, so I'm not sure. That's what I don't know. How to
(36:14):
get those steps. We're going to have to. Yeah, we're going to have to work on that. You know,
maybe we'll get them into the fitness center and we'll see and have them walk around.
You know, get on the treadmill. Yeah. I don't know if you can do it barefoot. Yeah. Well,
then, yeah, we might have to give them some of those some of those socks that you got
to wear in the when you're walking through a house and introduce them to Ronnie Rockett.
(36:35):
There you go. Yeah, absolutely. Well, Mike, aren't thank you so much for being on the
SMA podcast. We appreciate taking the time to introduce yourself. Yeah. No, thanks for
having me. I appreciate it. Good luck this year. Yeah. Go Rockets. That's the end of
the first episode of season three. It's going to be an exciting school year for so many
(36:59):
reasons, but I'll give you one that you can look at right now. If you haven't seen it,
check out our latest update from Superintendent Deidre Rayner on our district home page. She
recorded it in one of our four STEM labs, refurbished classrooms in our elementary schools
paid for by the safe, supported and successful referendum passed in the spring. It's pretty
(37:20):
amazing. We have dedicated teachers for those rooms to teach how science, technology, engineering
and math come together to solve problems and what careers are out there that use those
skills to make life better for all of us. Remember, too, that school starts on September
3rd. Thanks to the feedback on a parent survey, we have a new start time, 8 15 a.m. and an
(37:41):
end time, 3 20 p.m. for our elementary schools. Enjoy these last few weeks of summer. Remember
to subscribe to this podcast to stay on top of changes locally and statewide in education.
Our next episode will be out in two weeks.
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