Episode Description
What if the secret to transforming school culture and student outcomes wasn’t found in massive budgets or cutting-edge programs—but in something as simple as knowing every student’s name? In this episode, we sit down with Chris Kamrath, Superintendent and Principal of Plum City School District in Wisconsin, to explore how small schools create outsized impact through genuine relationships, intentional leadership presence, and creative community engagement.
Despite the very real challenges facing rural education—declining enrollment, funding constraints, and staffing limitations—Plum City has discovered that being small isn’t a disadvantage. It’s a superpower.
What You’ll Learn
Chris shares the leadership philosophy that drives his daily practice of high-fiving students by name as they enter and leave school, explains why classroom visibility matters more than ever, and reveals how one student-led fundraising initiative has generated $40,000 in community support without a single doubt about its value. You’ll discover how smaller schools can offer students opportunities that larger districts simply cannot, and how intentional leadership decisions create a culture where every student feels known, valued, and seen.
Perfect for rural school leaders, administrators facing enrollment challenges, and anyone wondering how to build genuine school community in an increasingly disconnected world.
Key Takeaways
- Relationships trump scale. Knowing student names isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s a strategic leadership tool that builds trust, culture, and community buy-in.
- Visibility creates energy and informed decision-making. Being in classrooms weekly allows leaders to celebrate wins and make financially sound decisions with confidence and conviction.
- Small schools are opportunity schools. Students in smaller districts can participate in multiple programs and activities rather than being forced to specialize early—a significant competitive advantage for well-rounded development.
- Community fundraising thrives on clarity of purpose. When students and families understand and own a mission, donations and volunteer support follow naturally—no hard sell required.
- Rural school viability depends on cultural strength, not just budget lines. Building a school where students feel genuinely known is the foundation for enrollment stability, staff retention, and community pride.
Notable Quotes
“I think that really is a powerful tool to know all your kids’ names and who you represent. That’s really challenging to do in large districts, no matter how good a memory you have. So that is a special thing.”
“My general goal is to be in every classroom every week, if not more. When you can see the positive things happening, that gives you the energy to make the tough financial decisions you need to push for something you know will save your district money.”
“You can be in just about everything. In some of the larger schools, you have to start specializing as you get older. Here you can be in just about everything.”
Ready to rethink what’s possible in rural education? Hit play to hear Chris Kamrath’s inspiring story of leadership, community, and why small schools are proving that bigger isn’t always better.
Subscribe and never miss an episode as we explore the innovative practices transforming K-12 education.
FULL PODCAST Transcript
Lighthouse Therapy (00:01.455)
Hello everybody and welcome to the brighter together podcast. My name is Janet Courtney and my special guest today is Chris Kamrath. Chris is the superintendent and middle school, high school principal at Plum City School District in Plum City, Wisconsin. Chris, welcome to the show.
Chris Kamrath (00:16.942)
Thank you very much. It’s great to be here.
Lighthouse Therapy (00:20.815)
So Chris, tell us a little bit, I’m sure you’re probably at a smaller school district because you are wearing multiple hats, but tell us about your journey and education and then a little bit about Plum City.
Chris Kamrath (00:35.096)
Yeah, absolutely. I, yeah, Plum City is a very small school district. We have about 230 kids between four-year-old kindergarten all the way up to seniors in high school. So certainly small. We are two buildings, but there’s many advantages that come with that. I suspect we’ll cover some of those here today.
I grew up similarly, actually as of this year, I grew up in a school that is now in the same conference as Plum City. They just, my hometown is Shetec, Wisconsin, and they just joined Plum City’s conference that on St. Croix this school year, which has been fun to see old classmates of mine who are coaching and kids of classmates and things playing for them. So that’s been an enjoyable experience that I didn’t expect when I came here. It’s my second year and that was not the case a year ago.
Like I said, I grew up in a small little town, Chateau, a little bigger than Plum City, kind of more of a touristy area with the chain of six lakes they have there. My dad was a teacher, and so education was always kind of on my mind. He was a band director at the high school level and very successful. And so that’s always kind of education was in my mind and the impact that he had. He never talked about the impact, but it was other students of his that would came up came up and just talked about the impact, which was amazing.
Lighthouse Therapy (01:51.033)
Yeah.
Chris Kamrath (01:58.124)
I think his crowning achievements is at least one year, probably multiple. had over half the kids in band in the high school and that was pretty neat. And they weren’t even music kids who I think enjoyed them the most. They were just kids who enjoyed the opportunities he gave them, whether it be playing Pet Band before a Minnesota Timberwolves game or going to watch the Indoor Marching Man concert at the UW Madison Badgers or going to Florida every four years and marching at Disney. And when I just saw the impact, it kind of
Lighthouse Therapy (02:05.583)
Wow, yeah.
Chris Kamrath (02:27.138)
brought me in. So was a elementary school teacher for seven years. My uncle, so my dad’s brother, was a middle school principal and a very good one for about 15 years and he was a middle school principal the year, one year. And I was always kind of drawn to the impact that he had on the school and just on kids in the community. And so after kind of watching with him, I lived with him for a year in college. That was something I pursued. And so in
2013 I graduated from Bethlehem University in St. Paul with a doctorate in education and had my principal and superintendent licensures and was fortunate shortly thereafter to get a job in elementary principal position. So then over the next 11 years I was an elementary principal. Really enjoyed it, had all of my kids through their elementary career. I three boys, my wife and I, and had them just a really positive experience. I enjoyed coaching them at the youth level and getting to know their
Lighthouse Therapy (03:17.689)
Nice, yeah.
Chris Kamrath (03:25.334)
teammates in school too. It’s just a special memory I’ll carry with me always. After doing the same job, albeit in a couple different districts for 11 years, kind of got the itch to try something a little new. I had coached at the secondary level, but had never formally taught middle or high school. When Plum City had an opening, and I was in a larger district, River Falls, which has between 3,000 4,000 kids.
Lighthouse Therapy (03:29.721)
Yeah.
Chris Kamrath (03:55.182)
in the district. And so when the opportunity arose to jump here to Plum City, really intrigued me. My wife and did lot of thinking and reflecting on it and applied and just super blessed that they selected me. And that was, like I said, two years ago. And it’s just been a wonderful journey since. Reminds me a lot of growing up in Chateau and kind of that small town and just a lot of.
Lighthouse Therapy (04:21.187)
Mm-hmm.
Chris Kamrath (04:22.21)
many many positives. We still live in River Falls so I certainly it was nothing from leaving there but just it certainly kind of brought me home again to this size.
Lighthouse Therapy (04:31.555)
Yeah, yeah. And feels that way sometimes when you find that place where you belong and yeah, love that for you. I love that for the school too, because it’s just, it’s one of those things when you know you’re where you’re supposed to be, it’s easy to have a bigger impact, I think, when you love what you’re doing and you know that you’re supposed to be there. So you’re the superintendent, so you’re in charge of the budget, right?
And then you’re also middle school, high school. So do you have an elementary school principal as well?
Chris Kamrath (05:05.932)
We do, yep. like I said about, well, it’s our varsity football field and four houses that separate the two buildings. So they’re just down the street. I try to get down there a few times a week and just visit and see the students and staff. But yeah, we have an elementary principal and then she is also our curriculum coordinator for the district and kind of tag team that. are fortunate we also have a dean of students up here who kind of acts.
Lighthouse Therapy (05:27.395)
Okay.
Chris Kamrath (05:35.606)
as a counselor and also kind of an assistant principal. She’s officially retired a year ago and is now kind of part time for us three days a week and that works out well. And then we have a pupil service director that handles some of those special areas.
Lighthouse Therapy (05:49.604)
Yeah, special education kid. was yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, so are you, are you guys growing or are you kind of stable? Where’s the school at as far as that goes challenges there?
Chris Kamrath (05:51.586)
Yeah.
Chris Kamrath (05:59.695)
Yeah, well, unfortunately, we’re about to graduate our largest class. So that’s not ideal. We have in the mid-20s graduating this year, and that’s, you never like to lose your largest class. That’s not ideal from a budget standpoint. But our second largest class, or our second or third, I should say our third largest class is our four-kiers. So that’s positive. So we are losing a little bit there, but we have kind of steadily been
Lighthouse Therapy (06:24.047)
Okay.
Chris Kamrath (06:30.094)
gaining a new kid here or there or some open enrollments, which is certainly a good thing. So we’re working to do the best with what we have. just kind of a thing I’ll share about a little bit today is just kind of sharing our story to keep those who live in our boundaries and certainly encourage others to consider.
Lighthouse Therapy (06:38.319)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (06:49.923)
Yeah, yeah. So tell us about it. Tell us about the journey. I’d love to hear about it.
Chris Kamrath (06:54.286)
Absolutely. So when I came to Plum City, was kind of an interesting timing. I started July 1st of 2024 and we had a referendum that November. Wisconsin, yeah we did. Wisconsin education funding right now is kind of in a tough spot. I think in that year was the most referendums operational. So you can have a physical where you’re building things that was not this.
Lighthouse Therapy (07:05.378)
wow. You stepped into it, didn’t you?
Lighthouse Therapy (07:22.757)
Mm-hmm.
Chris Kamrath (07:22.798)
capital. Ours was an operational of just trying to keep keep funding right and so they’re just in a tough spot in the state right now. That was the most referendums the state has ever seen was that year and you know when I jumped in, I’m fortunate to have a really good school board, a five member school board where four of the five have you know graduated from here have many fond memories and so they were able to help get out with me and do
town hall meetings, get out to the different municipalities we have and really, like I said, kind of tell our story, kind of talk about why we’re doing this and what this would mean for the community. Because when you’re this small, you’re one failed referendum away from kind of heading the wrong direction, right? Because when you start having to make cuts, and we have a tremendous staff here. I mean, a staff who drives through other communities, some of them that get here.
Lighthouse Therapy (08:09.381)
Close in your doors. Yeah, yeah.
Chris Kamrath (08:22.094)
they’re just wonderful. And so as we kind of told that story, we were fortunate. The summary is we passed the referendum, which is wonderful. And so that’s the next one will be in the presidential election in 2028 in November there. So that was a big deal. And certainly that I was able to breathe a little deeper that night about. And not that that just paused everything else we did. We still had a strategic plan we’re working on. We still had other initiatives. But that helped us just to
Lighthouse Therapy (08:23.621)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (08:30.885)
Awesome.
Chris Kamrath (08:51.35)
be able to focus on other things. know, correct. For me, my big, yeah, for sure, right? You can’t ignore it. For me, my big priorities are to make this place a place that people want to be, both staff and students, which includes being a safe environment. Make sure that we’re learning, and I think we do really well in that area, and then be fiscally responsible.
Lighthouse Therapy (08:53.219)
Right. Yeah. Not just focusing on money, money, money, money, money. Yeah. It’s always an issue, but yeah.
Chris Kamrath (09:21.026)
So I think there’s things we’ve done, whether it be creative or otherwise, just kind of keep moving along. We certainly want to make sure that we’re being true to our staff and keeping their salaries in a good spot and keeping them feel valued because that’s important when you start to lose your staff or lose, you know, they don’t feel rewarded for the hard work that being a teacher is. That’s when things can start to go the wrong direction.
Lighthouse Therapy (09:49.978)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Then it’s not like they give us, they’re giving a lot of extras to anybody in education right now. Yeah, it’s a common theme for sure.
Chris Kamrath (10:00.353)
sorry.
Chris Kamrath (10:06.04)
But I think what you kind of asked is, know, ways we’re telling our story. And I think we’re really, because we, it’s just Plum City and I suspect many schools this size, it’s special where every teacher knows every kid’s name. And they probably know their parents, grandparents, all those things. And so they’re helping engage at kind of that next level, right? Of, you know, not just help like learn this content, but here’s why, and here’s how it connects to your life. And you’re able to do that.
Lighthouse Therapy (10:09.935)
Yeah.
Chris Kamrath (10:34.618)
both with the size we are and just the connection that exists. And so I think if you get a free minute sometime to go on Plum City School District’s Facebook page, we have a really strong social media presence. My mom, who lives way back in Chateau, an hour and a half away, loves, every day will tell me about the things she liked on our Facebook page. We usually try to have a poster to a day.
Lighthouse Therapy (10:58.274)
fun.
Chris Kamrath (10:58.988)
and just some of the neat things, you know, from our student of the month nominations to what community ed events are happening to what our students in the shop class are making to elementary ed, elementary things. So it’s just, I think a nice balance to help show the community and those out of our community who care about Plum City as well. Just these are the neat things we’re doing. These are how we’re impacting others.
We, our community ed, I think is a good presence. One thing we added last year was opening our building high school up from four to five PM every day. So the community come in and walk, particularly in the, you know, colder months, November to March. And that’s been a great, great thing. I would estimate we have, you know, anywhere from a dozen to more people every day who are in here walking. And it just brings the community together. Occasionally I’ll jump in and walk with them. Not as much that I’d like, but as much as I
can and you know they’re just talking having a good time with their friends their neighbors you know as they run into staff on their way out or you know kids on break from a practice or something there’s certainly conversation and that’s that’s not something that you know our districts can always do so at that connection level it’s really a valuable thing.
Lighthouse Therapy (12:06.628)
Yeah.
Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (12:13.879)
Yeah. And so you have so when you talk about 240 kids, you probably have a teacher for every grade. And then how do you manage high school? Like, do you have how does that work there? When you when you’re talking about 20 kids, that’s one classroom. But if you’ve got other things that you’re offering, it’s I’m curious.
Chris Kamrath (12:20.782)
Great.
Chris Kamrath (12:27.81)
Yeah.
Chris Kamrath (12:33.262)
Yeah, we have, think, creative staffing. You we do one section like you kind of implied at the elementary. In the middle school, we have, you know, core teachers in math, social studies, science, and ELA and reading. As we get into the secondary, we generally have a primary ELA teacher for high school. We have a math teacher. We have a science teacher, although our middle school science teacher does some high school science. She’s kind of our ag teacher.
Lighthouse Therapy (12:41.455)
Hmm.
Chris Kamrath (13:03.246)
She runs FFA or Future Farmers of America. there’s different connections there. We have a high school social studies teacher, but again, our middle school teaches some of those high school classes as well. So it’s kind of good in that you can have some various connection points for students. We have, you know, the specials that you would expect in an art teacher, a band teacher, a choir teacher, a tech ed teacher, and just…
Lighthouse Therapy (13:03.288)
Okay.
Lighthouse Therapy (13:21.657)
Mm-hmm.
Chris Kamrath (13:30.691)
I’ll tell you at the end, some of the neat project that he’s doing that I think is a good for the community as well. Home Ec teacher or FCS as it’s known. So just, think a lot of good opportunities for our kids. And one thing that’s really neat about high school, about our high school, I think is you can be involved in just about everything. And one thing that I’ve noticed in some of the larger schools and it’s just the way it is, is you have to start specializing as you get older. Often in middle school,
you can participate in a bunch of things, right? You can be in this and that. can be in, you know, forensics, the band, and basketball all at the same time. Well, in those larger districts, as you get in the high school, it’s tough to do that, right? Because you have some pretty high abilities at the high end. You have some pretty big time commitments. And here you can be in just about everything. We have a kiddo who was in state in DECA, which is kind of a business.
Lighthouse Therapy (14:13.903)
Right?
Chris Kamrath (14:29.74)
model. And so she was in state in that. She made it to state in forensics and she also was on our basketball team. And so you can coordinate all those things. If you have the will to do that, we can make that happen here. We have really flexible staff who are flexible with, you know, finding times to do things. Our transportation department is like, yep, we can figure out a way to make all those things happen. And so I just think that is a special opportunity for our kids that
Lighthouse Therapy (14:37.114)
Wow.
Chris Kamrath (14:57.858)
You don’t have to choose if you don’t want to. We can make it work. Our employers in town are pretty amazing, many of which who have kids here and did have kids here like, yep, we can make that work too. So if you still want to have a job, definitely we can find a place for that. So I think that’s one thing that also sets Plum City and I suspect other small communities as well, kind of a part.
Lighthouse Therapy (15:17.337)
Yeah, yeah, there’s a there’s definitely I mean, I didn’t go to a rural school. I mean, I I was in Grand Island, Nebraska, but there were 1200 kids in my graduating class and I was in the top 25. But you know, it’s like but it was 1200 kids, there’s no way you could know them all. And that was, you know,
Chris Kamrath (15:37.118)
I think I think I ran a marathon there once. Is that where the state fair is?
Lighthouse Therapy (15:41.798)
No, that’s Lincoln Lincoln, Nebraska. Yeah, Lincoln Grand Island is Nebraska is very small. Like they don’t even like there’s Omaha and it’s like 350 some thousand people. And then you have Lincoln where the university is and then the next biggest town. And I think there’s like maybe 150, 200,000 people that live in Lincoln. And then Grand Island, when I lived there, it was about 30. It has grown to I think about 40,000 people. But
Chris Kamrath (15:43.614)
okay. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:10.543)
That’s the third largest city in Nebraska. It’s very rural, very, very rural. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, and there’s only, yeah, there’s only 150 miles between Omaha and Grand Island. So, you know, yeah, there’s, stuff that goes on. I don’t want to, you know, ignore the other side, but that’s the biggest, but that’s really rural. So for, for me to grow up in a rural area and yet,
Chris Kamrath (16:13.701)
Yeah, yeah. Kind of all on the east side there too.
Chris Kamrath (16:30.172)
Ha ha ha, trick.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:39.173)
You know, because I lived in the city, wasn’t, but there was a lot of towns exactly like Plum City where, you know, just 250, 300 kids. It’s a funny story. My father and his brother are a year apart. They’re both gone now. My dad was born in 1937. So this would have been like 42, right? 43, 1943, just before World War II. They had a one room schoolhouse.
and his brother was the only kindergartner. So they put him in first grade. So he graduated from high school at 16 years old because he just, he was the only kindergartner. rather than have him do kindergarten all by himself, they just, but yeah, those are the kinds of things that they did, know, under that’s a almost a hundred years ago now, right? I need 1940. Well, 20 years, 80 years.
Chris Kamrath (17:27.086)
Yep, well. We actually have a class of as of a few weeks ago, only three kids in one grade level in our elementary level, so we were combining them and slowly as that has grown up a little bit, we’re hoped to be at five here shortly, but you know we’re going to find a way to have a primary teacher for him, but that’s kind of kind of a creative thing. We’re still doing in 2026 at times, so. Couple other examples of things that I really think set.
Lighthouse Therapy (17:48.879)
Same. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Kamrath (17:56.185)
Plum City apart. One’s a really neat one. I try to have a trivia question at conferences, just mainly to kind of trick parents and they come in and talk to me because who wants to go talk to the principal or the guy who’s asking for more money, right? So one is that this trivia question was, when did our senior trip in Plum City start? And they have just this really neat senior trip. And by the way, the answer to the trivia question was in 1955.
Lighthouse Therapy (18:06.02)
limit.
Lighthouse Therapy (18:09.53)
Right?
Lighthouse Therapy (18:24.325)
Wow.
Chris Kamrath (18:24.408)
was the first senior trip here. then in 56 began what is presently our senior trip that goes down to Chicago, over to Gettysburg, Washington DC, New York. And then if you have time, it swings up to Niagara Falls. And that’s the first week in May. And other than a little bit of COVID issues there, I think for a couple of years, that has been the thing they do the first week in May every year. And what is fascinating,
Lighthouse Therapy (18:51.364)
Wow.
Chris Kamrath (18:53.548)
And I think what’s really a testament to this wonderful community is that it’s entirely public, entirely funded by donations and events. So tonight after school, I’ll head out to a pasta feed here that our freshmen put on. the place will be packed with people coming and buying pasta that they could make for much less at home to help support these kids their senior year go on this trip. There’s a fish fry that happens where it’s standing room to get in.
There’s selling of different trinkets and things that people would do. And by their senior year, they’ve made approximately $40,000 it costs to take a bus and do all of that. And again, that’s been going on for a long time. So that’s a pretty neat thing. And I think it is never once in my time here that I ever questioned, well, we could get rid of that or stop asking for that, know, because we’re
Lighthouse Therapy (19:23.097)
Love it.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:36.889)
Yeah, a long time, yeah.
Chris Kamrath (19:50.063)
Asking referendum taxes have gone up and of course people get asked for money for different things too and it’s just amazing how that is talked so highly of and promoted and this year I’m fortunate I get to go with our kids via chaperon on so I’m looking forward to that. Although I’ve been to those places, one of the goals my wife and I have is to bring our kids to all 50 states and we’re at 49. We’ll hopefully hit Hawaii next summer, but doing it with the senior class as they kind of wrap up their career here in Plum City.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:53.605)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (20:03.193)
No fun.
Lighthouse Therapy (20:11.756)
nice, yeah. good for you.
Chris Kamrath (20:19.79)
because they come back late late Sunday night, we’ll get back. They’ll have school through Wednesday. We’ll do baccalaureate that week and then they graduate Saturday afternoon. So just a neat way to end there. It is, it is, it goes quick. We’ll do our, a couple kids will stick around after graduation for our band or band choir concert will be the next week. But other than that, they’ll kind of wrap it up pretty quickly there for sure.
Lighthouse Therapy (20:29.977)
Woo, that’s a whirlwind. Wow.
Lighthouse Therapy (20:46.063)
Well, it sounds like a wonderful community, just lovely. It just makes me go, how fantastic it is that everybody is all in, in your community and it’s special. You can’t bottle it, Chris. You can’t bottle that.
Chris Kamrath (20:59.022)
another neat thing that we just kind of, I think, got figured out is years ago, I mean, I think in like the 70s, a small plot of land, a small relative to, you know, ruralness, about 13 acres was donated to us as a school forest. And that school forest has been there for, you know, since then over 50 years, and has been used for things here and there. I think perhaps some planting and some different things, but really nothing
primary. And this year we kind of got the idea and said, you know, we’d like to really do something with it. And so we have two things we’re looking at. One is we approved a system to have kids bow hunt on that land for deer in the fall and turkey in the spring. Kind of a permit lottery program where they can put in and, you know, certain rules. You have to have hunter safety. can’t skip school to go hunting. We’re going to do two week increments.
Lighthouse Therapy (21:52.719)
Yeah, of course, right. Darn it.
Chris Kamrath (21:57.271)
Yeah, we don’t want you skipping school to go, but just a neat opportunity for kids that don’t have access to that at their home, right? And so some of the neighbors that we kind of spoke to are just really, really supportive. And like, yeah, absolutely. If they need help with, you know, when you get a deer or putting up their stand, we’d love to help them. And that just was met with tremendous support all around of doing that. And then the other thing we’re looking into is potentially a
Lighthouse Therapy (22:00.048)
Ha ha ha.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:05.861)
Mm-hmm.
Chris Kamrath (22:25.102)
charter school, an outdoor ed-based charter school. Like I said, our ag or an FFA advisor is just phenomenal and it would be great to get kids out there doing more and more things, build a pavilion and stuff like that. So we’re looking into a couple things to kind of get that land utilized the best we can and we’ve just had nothing but support from the community of, yeah, I could donate this, I could do that and it’s just tremendous.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:51.205)
Awesome, awesome. Well, that’s fantastic. So where do people go, Chris, if they wanna, I know you said you have a Facebook page. How would they find that Facebook page and how would they, I’m assuming you have a website, I’m guessing, but yeah.
Chris Kamrath (23:07.704)
We do. Yep. Yep. We have a website and that is, I’ll even read it to you, plumcity.k12.wi.us. And you will certainly find my email on there in the directory if you’d like to reach out. And then our Facebook page is, right, I’ll read that to you as well.
Lighthouse Therapy (23:26.501)
Awesome.
Chris Kamrath (23:35.435)
and that is the Plum City School District. we would love to have you follow us. We currently have 1.8 thousand followers, which is pretty good for a town of 500 people. We would love to grow that a little bit. think in education, you know, we can all learn from each other. So I really like the idea. A couple, can I do two more quick plugs?
Lighthouse Therapy (23:46.693)
Wow. Yeah. Absolutely.
Lighthouse Therapy (23:56.471)
Absolutely. yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Chris Kamrath (24:03.854)
One is an example of just the neat things that I think are happening here and then one kind of just something personally that I’m doing that I think is kind of a neat just a look at the role that I have. So the first is our tech ed teacher, Nick Gillis, who grew up here actually as a retired principal and said, you know what, I got a few more years I can give. I grew up in this tech ed department. That’s where I learned to become a teacher. I’d like to do it. And so he joined when I did two years ago.
And he found on a TV show, he found a program called Sleep in Heavenly Peace. And I believe it originated out in California. so on May 22nd, it’s a Friday here in Plum City, we are going to participate with that group. And the goal is to make 20 bunk beds. Our TechEd department, our shop kids, and then some community, including the Lions Club is gonna come and help to make 20 bunk beds for those in need and donate.
late. So it’s just a neat way that our kids are going to who are already are very community service based. have National Honor Society, have hours and things, but just a neat opportunity to give back a little bit and like I said it’ll be wonderful to see students and community working side by side with a common goal. And I know at least one family here in town, I don’t know who they are, but at least one has applied to get a bug bet from that group.
Lighthouse Therapy (25:21.079)
yeah, for sure.
Chris Kamrath (25:29.134)
super excited for that. We’ve had some donations rolling in. We’ve had I think at least one local news station might come come here. I let the state superintendent know who I saw at meeting a few weeks ago and she’s like, oh, that’d be kind of neat. just hoping for some good publicity for our students and for Nick for all he’s doing. He doesn’t want the attention, but he certainly deserves it. So yeah. And then personally, something that I’m doing that’s interesting, like I said, my uncle, he’s now a
Lighthouse Therapy (25:46.501)
For sure.
Lighthouse Therapy (25:50.297)
Wow, very cool.
Chris Kamrath (26:00.69)
professor at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. And so a study that we’re doing, there are 34, I believe, superintendents in Wisconsin who also have other roles. There’s approximately 420 some school districts in Wisconsin. So 34, like me, where they also have another role, maybe our co-op partner, that superintendent is also elementary principal, whereas I’m middle high school. And there’s a number of
Lighthouse Therapy (26:25.999)
Mm-hmm.
Chris Kamrath (26:26.958)
So we just yesterday actually finished the interviews of four people for kind of a qualitative study and then we’re shortly going to send out surveys to these members and then next year at the rural education conference in October we’ll kind of present our findings and it’s really meant for a way to help new people in my role of what would have been helpful for me to read 18 months ago get some advice on hey these are things you might want to prioritize these are tips that worked for me knowing every community is different.
Lighthouse Therapy (26:37.892)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (26:49.508)
Right.
Chris Kamrath (26:56.812)
right? But I think a way to kind of just help people as they prepare because it can be a powerful and energy role. One advantage I have is that I know the kids I represent. I every day, one of the best parts of my day is high fiving kids as they come in and high fiving kids as they leave. And I challenge myself every day to know their names. And I would I would say I pretty much get every middle and high school student right. The hundred and twenty that we have up here. The elementary, sometimes they can trick me, but
Lighthouse Therapy (27:08.664)
Mm-hmm.
Chris Kamrath (27:26.382)
So I think that really is a powerful tool to know all your kids’ names and who you represent. And that’s really challenging to do in the large districts, no matter how good a memory you have. So that is a special thing. My general goal is to be in every classroom every week, if not more. And I think when you can get in there and you can see the positive things happening, that gives you that energy to go and make the tough financial decisions you need to push for something you know will save your district money.
Lighthouse Therapy (27:33.209)
Yeah.
Chris Kamrath (27:55.949)
or end or keep the product high because you know what it means to the kids.
Lighthouse Therapy (28:00.346)
Yeah, yeah, I love that you put the you put the kids first always. I’ve seen I’ve seen that theme through this whole conversation. You know, it’s like, yes, the money and managing, but the kids come first. And it’s it’s evident that you have a lot of wonderful passion for your community and for the kids. And, you know, it’s part of what we talk about here all the time is that putting those kids we are we’re raising the next generation and
in a million different ways, but education is education. matter where you’re at, the depth of passion that I see is amazing with the leaders that we have that come on the show.
Chris Kamrath (28:42.766)
It’s… Yeah, I mean, it’s…
It’s just a that’s always been my goal is that I know when it’s if there’s ever a day and I hope it never comes, but what I can recognize when perhaps. These kids going to a different district may be what’s best, but I’m just passionate now every day when I wake up that no, this is a great place and a good place for kids. One thing that drew me here because I came from River Falls School District, which is one of the top ranked schools.
Lighthouse Therapy (29:02.213)
Mm-hmm.
Chris Kamrath (29:16.364)
districts in the state in terms of character education. They have banners all over all the schools. I was able to contribute to where the school I worked. My wife works at one of the schools and also it was on the character committee and I just believe a lot in character education and the power of you know yeah we want you to know math and science and reading and writing we want you to do those but we also want you to be good people because like you said they’re our future right and so they have the program here as well a character education.
Lighthouse Therapy (29:40.057)
Mm-hmm.
Chris Kamrath (29:44.579)
And a really neat opportunity, I actually get it to do it this afternoon, is we have a bi-monthly assembly, so two a month, where we teach character ed to the grades, and to kind of break it down, our dean of students takes the high school, I take the middle school, and that allows collaboration time for our teachers to get together and go through, you know, and kind of collaborate on the kids, on programs they’re doing, while we get to work with the kids. So today I’m working with kiddos and cooperation and looking forward to spending.
You know, both the last half hour, about 27 minutes of our day with them going through that. And I know as I walk through our Dean of Students office, she’s got some pretty neat things there. She keeps the bar high to keep me making sure I’m doing my best too. So that’s another neat opportunity that I get. I’m fortunate enough to have that I think really connects me back to why we’re here and the importance of it. It makes it all the easier when you’re at a board meeting and someone may be frustrated about their taxes going up. You can speak about the good things that
Lighthouse Therapy (30:25.646)
Hahaha
Lighthouse Therapy (30:34.565)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (30:40.933)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah, and I love that that you’re that you have that because you know, so much. There’s lots of talks about social emotional learning and you guys are tackling it head on at a huge level, which is great. you know, so keep it up. It’s not hard to come to work when you love what you do is it?
Chris Kamrath (31:05.056)
It isn’t like I said that even you know we all have things right we have you know I have a kid at home sick today with a fever and we all have stuff that you know give us stress. We’re about to head into spring break next week and there’s a giant snowstorm coming as my family’s flight leaves and so as you have those things those high fives that happen right outside that door is where our student center it just brightens your day and you see you know that they’re excited to be here they’re excited that
Lighthouse Therapy (31:09.785)
Yeah, challenges, right?
Lighthouse Therapy (31:31.066)
Yeah.
Chris Kamrath (31:34.979)
I mean, they’ve been in the same class with many of these classmates for 12 or 13 years. And so, you know, they’re there, they’re best friends with all their classmates. You know, they’re not walking in with a stranger or somebody they barely know. That’s quite the opposite. So, and you know, what’s neat about those assemblies at times we’ve done big ones where it’s sixth grade through 12th grade and you get to see seniors helping sixth graders. You get to see all those things. We have an assembly.
Lighthouse Therapy (31:39.343)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (31:58.52)
Mmm.
Chris Kamrath (32:03.246)
right after spring break music in our schools where the community’s invited, but we have all the way from 4K to 12th grade there to see some of our band and choirs perform. And so it’s just a, it’s neat to see how we all come together. Our dance team made it to state for the second year in a row, which is really neat this year. We did a whole assembly in our gym where all the elementary kids made signs for them in art class. And they got to hold it up with these dancers and just seeing how.
Lighthouse Therapy (32:16.239)
Yeah.
Chris Kamrath (32:30.402)
how our dance team felt and the coach I think was almost a tear because it was just such a need to see you had a whole community behind you that’s pretty special.
Lighthouse Therapy (32:37.315)
Yeah, yeah, it is really special. One of our director of clinical operations shared a picture when her son graduated from high school last year, it her youngest child. And they have this thing that they do at, and I don’t know the specifics, you know, but the picture was all of the seniors go and welcome the upcoming kindergartners into the school.
And you know, their generation, the next generation, it was neat. Super neat. Yeah. Cause you just, know, and she’s, makes me teary eyed. Look at me. I’m silly, but it is, it’s that, it’s that love of the kids and education and knowing, you know, and how proud you can be of your kids when they are, you know, here and he’s a, you know, he’s this little, this guy is her son is like six foot two. He’s not a small guy. And you know, you see him.
Chris Kamrath (33:15.926)
Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Kamrath (33:22.85)
Yeah.
Chris Kamrath (33:33.294)
Sure. Yep. Yep. Yep.
Lighthouse Therapy (33:36.151)
leaning down and taking the hand of this little, little girl. And it was just beautiful because he’s finishing and she’s just starting and, and yeah, very cool. Very, very cool. It’s that, it’s that passion. It’s that love of the kids and seeing and teaching them how to be amazing human beings is, is such a huge part of what we’re doing. Right. Yeah.
Chris Kamrath (33:41.826)
Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Kamrath (34:01.27)
It is. It is. I mean, that’s what gives you the comfort about what’s next. know, we, our National Honor Society kind of promotes service learning and different projects and things. And a couple of years ago, one of our now seniors started a project of giving gifts to people at the care center, nursing home in town. And it just watching, I went with when they deliver them to these people.
Lighthouse Therapy (34:06.213)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (34:23.055)
Mm-hmm.
Chris Kamrath (34:29.89)
And it’s just such a powerful thing to see these kids giving back to these senior citizens and just a tremendous sight to see things like that. Our first graders went over to the care center and had a of a snowball fight where it was something soft. They weren’t actually bringing snow into there. And just seeing how much fun that was for these people who are otherwise kind of in that place most of the day, if not every day. just a tremendous community in school that I…
Lighthouse Therapy (34:37.829)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (34:49.391)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (34:55.14)
Yeah.
Chris Kamrath (34:59.416)
has had this reputation for number of years, that’s what brought me here, and hopefully it’ll take me years and years to come.
Lighthouse Therapy (35:03.621)
Yeah.
Well, Chris, it has been an absolute pleasure to have this conversation with you. Thank you so much for what you’re doing for the next generation and for your passion. And just keep it up.
Chris Kamrath (35:11.202)
Likewise.
Chris Kamrath (35:18.821)
Thank you very much. It wonderful to meet you.
Lighthouse Therapy (35:22.424)
Alrighty.
End of Year Report Card Comments: Examples for Teachers and SPED Teams