Episode 217: The Tall Tale of Goats Hidden in the Basement at Foothills Elementary

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is an unsolved mystery for students at Foothills Elementary School. How did goats get into the basement of the building where Principal Abe Yospe says they now live?

On this episode of the Supercast, we head to Foothills for the school's annual Halloween parade to talk with a student about his custom costume. We also track down Principal Yospe to ask the probing question, "Are goats really living in the basement or is it a tall tale?" Join us as we solve the mystery and celebrate Halloween with Foothills Elementary.

I’m here with Amee Kovacs in her sixth-grade classroom at Foothills Elementary on Halloween. How are you today? It's a great day at Foothills Elementary.

Amee Kovacs:
It is such a great day. We had so many kids dress up in so many fun unique costumes. We're having a blast here.

Anthony Godfrey:
I always love being in schools on Halloween. It reminds me of just the joy of being at an elementary school. Tell me what are some of your favorite costumes this year?

Amee Kovacs:
Oh man, well we've seen lots of Barbies. That's been a very popular costume.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes. But not a lot of Kenergy out there.

Amee Kovacs:
Not a lot of Kenergy. I wish we saw a little bit more of that, but you know maybe next year. I really like there's lots of fun Five Night at Freddy's costumes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes.

Amee Kovacs:
Lots of blow-ups are popular.

Anthony Godfrey:
I saw three blow-up dinosaurs together. Those guys coordinated in advance.

Amee Kovacs:
Right, right. Hopefully, kids are dressing up warm. That's my one thing - I'm glad everyone was wearing long sleeves and dressing warm today.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now I also love to see the theme that various grade levels do. And you are a Sesame Street theme.

Amee Kovacs:
We are Sesame Street theme.

Anthony Godfrey:
I saw a few grouches and then a few people were actually dressed as Oscar the Grouch.

Amee Kovacs:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
I’m just kidding. So you are one of the newer characters.

Amee Kovacs:
I am. I am Abby Cadabby, a newer fairy character on Sesame Street.

Anthony Godfrey:
Abby Cadabby. Well, you leaned all the way into it. Is that a homemade wig?

Amee Kovacs:
I wish I could say I made this, no this was purchased, but I've got the wings, I've got the wand. It's Halloween, you have to go all out, right?

Anthony Godfrey:
That's very, very legit. Very legit. Bravo, bravo.

Amee Kovacs:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now tell me, there's a party today as well. What does that entail?

Amee Kovacs:
Lots of treats, lots of activities. It looks like we've got some crafting going on and awesome parents coming in to help out. Like that is the key to a successful Halloween is getting the community here to help out. And as you can see, we've got lots of parents here to help with the kiddos today.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's a big parent responsibility being in charge of Halloween.

Amee Kovacs:
It is, in fact, I usually kind of step back and they just take over and it's fabulous.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's awesome.

Amee Kovacs:
So we had a great day today.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wonderful, well thank you very much.

Amee Kovacs:
Yes, you're very welcome.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me your name and tell me about your costume.

Samuel:
So my name is Samuel. I just made this character, he usually, so I just, so I imagined a character a long time ago. Then my brother Bruce, he drew it. My brother Spencer, the person who actually makes these costumes, built the head for me, we found the shirt, wrapped it up, shafted this bow tie from a teddy bear. My brother now has the bear. And he wrapped that up too.

Anthony Godfrey:
So there's a teddy bear without a bow tie somewhere in the world now.

Samuel:
Yes, yes there is.

Anthony Godfrey:
So tell me what is the character name?

Samuel:
It's not exactly a name. I don't really know.

Anthony Godfrey:
So your brother drew it, your other brother created it. Tell me what was the inspiration for this character.

Samuel:
No idea, I just came to me one day.

Anthony Godfrey:
And now describe the costume to those who are listening to the podcast.

Samuel:
I don't really know how to describe it, but I've always thought of him as a wire puppet.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.

Samuel:
That is demonic, I don't really know. But that's all I can say.

Anthony Godfrey:
So I see that there are teeth in a very misshapen mouth.

Samuel:
Yes, his eyes-

Anthony Godfrey:
Scars that make up your face.

Samuel:
With stitches.

Anthony Godfrey:

There are teeth where the eye used to be.

Samuel:
Oh yes. This is like a giant rip.

Anthony Godfrey:
Rip in your face.

Samuel:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And the light up gem eyeball is something that really stood out to me.

Samuel:
So my brother just found a little light, put it in and that's it. He made this in like one day. It's not that hard for him. He’s made bigger and crazier.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I can tell that this is not your first time around 'cause it looks so great. And I can't wait to see what you do next year. That's pretty awesome. Why did you choose yellow particularly for the face?

Samuel:
My brother, so the picture was taken in black and white. And my brother asked, "Okay, what color scheme do you want?" And he's either, it's this kind of thing, or yellow. And I thought, "I'll just take yellow this time." and that's exactly what he did. The green light was his own thing, and I really liked that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, the green light up eye really stood out in this parade, and bravo.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's not a character, I guess, in any movie or video game, but it should be, it's that cool. It's good to have big brothers like that, isn't it? Well, congratulations on a great costume, and happy Halloween.

Samuel:
Thank you.

(upbeat music)

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back, we will talk with Principal Abe Yospe about the goats in the basement at Foothills Elementary.

Break:
Hello, I'm Sandy Riesgraf, Director of Communications for Jordan School District, and we want to invite you to connect with us. So many exciting things are happening in your child's school, your neighbor's school, in every school here, every day. Don't miss out on following the fun or simply staying informed when there's important information we need to share. Join us at jordandistrict.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @jordandistrict. We can't wait to connect.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're at Foothills Elementary talking with Principal Abe Yospe. Abe, this is your first year at Foothills. How was your first Halloween at Foothills Elementary today?

Abe Yospe:
Oh, it was fun. It was twice as many kids as I'm used to, but it was a blast.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I see that you have the goat costume going today. Tell me about that. It's the Greatest Of All Time costume, first of all.

Abe Yospe:
Yes, yeah, I guess that's part of it. I didn't think of that, but I really love goats and I have got the kids to believe that we have goats here in our basement. We don't have a basement and we certainly don't have goats. But I've been able to convince the kids that there are goats in our basement. So I wanted to dress up as one of the goats from our basement.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now tell me how the whole goat tradition started.

Abe Yospe:
Well at Columbia when I was there, I did the same. I thought “Wouldn't it be funny to convince the kids that there'd be goats in the basement?” And sure enough I was able to. I was even able to find some little baby goats and bring them one day and walk them through the halls and show the kids, yes, we really do have some goats in the basement. And when I say find, I didn't find them on the street and bring them in. (laughing) Somebody I knew had goats.

Anthony Godfrey:
“Hey, there's a goat, let's grab it.”

Abe Yospe:
(laughing) So tomorrow we're doing the same. Principal Richins from Fort Herriman owns goats. So he said, “I'd be happy to bring my goats over”, but his are huge goats.

Anthony Godfrey:
So he's gonna bring the goats over.

Abe Yospe:
Yeah, his wife's going to.

Anthony Godfrey:
Which will continue to make the kids believe that there are goats in the basement.

Abe Yospe:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
That does not exist.

Abe Yospe:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey;
So how do you convince them of this? Is it just a sign on a door? What do you do to give them this idea?

Abe Yospe:
Well, we do have a sign on one of our doors, that I tell the kids goes to the basement, that says, "Beware of goats." So that's one, there's many steps to this process. Secondly, some of the faculty, they've got all, it's been really a bonding, fun thing. They've got into it and they'll put out like, hay by their door (laughing) or they've even put out like milk duds, so it looks like the goats kinda went to the bathroom around the door. And every morning in the announcements, the students announce who's got goat duty of the faculty.

Anthony Godfrey:
(laughing) - So you've gone all in on this clearly. And so the costume is an obvious one for the first year to be a goat, but you've been many things over the years. Tell me about some of your costumes. I know you're someone who leans into Halloween. Well, I know you're someone who loves Halloween. So tell me about some of the costumes from previous years.

Abe Yospe:
Yeah, I do love Halloween. I never thought really that I loved it as much as I do until I became a principal. It’s very fun as a principal Halloween is.

Anthony Godfrey:
Absolutely.

Abe Yospe:
But let's see, what things have I been over the years? So many different things. I've been Buzz Lightyear with the big blow-up buzz. My favorite thing to do is during Halloween day is I'll wear my initial costume. And then I've got just shelves full of costumes that I'll go change throughout the day. And so I'll keep going back to the classrooms as a different thing. And the kids will be like, “How many costumes do you have?”

Anthony Godfrey:
What are some of the other costumes you'll be using today?

Abe Yospe:
Let's see. So today I'll be Willy Wonka. I'll be Frankenstein today. I've got big giant boots that raise me up about a foot. I'll be, like I said, I'll be Buzz Lightyear. I'll be the Jedi Knight. So my whole day is pretty much spent going back and forth and changing into outfits and going and surprising the kids with a different one.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I'm very envious because just watching the parade today, it's really fun to see how excited the kids are about their costumes and about everyone else's costumes. And I was surprised at some of the costumes that I saw. There was a Garfield blow-up costume. I mean, that's a throwback. I assume the kid likes lasagna as well as Garfield. And I saw one where a student was dressed in a green turtleneck and was holding a pineapple. It was a Psych costume, which was pretty impressive for a kid to be that into Psych at this age.

Abe Yospe:
Yeah, I didn't even know that was still a thing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, I mean the TV show that ended what, 10 years ago or something. And then I talked with one student who had made his own character and his own costume. It was very impressive. There were a couple of "It" clowns also that were very small, like a second-grade "It" clown. I thought that is advanced horror appreciation for someone to be willing to wear a clown costume that scary at that age. Any favorites that you've seen in the parade today?

Abe Yospe:
Well, there was a young lady that dressed up like a goat because she knew about this goat thing. So she and I took a picture together and she had a great, she had a goatee and she looked great. In fact, I even texted her mom a picture.

Anthony Godfrey:
A goatee? (both laughing) That's awesome. You texted her mom a picture?

Abe Yospe:
Yeah, so she could see, this was my favorite costume.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, that's cool.

Abe Yospe:
Seems like there were a lot of light-up things too. Things with lights this year were like-- -

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, lots of lights and lots of Five Nights at Freddy's. Costumes have come a long way from my day when there was just the rubber band at the back that was stapled to the sides of the mask. Now, in addition to the kid costumes, I always love in elementary schools to see how various teams, grade levels dress in a theme. What are some of the themes that you saw today?

Abe Yospe:
Well, there were two grades that dressed up as Sesame Street themes, and they didn't know they were gonna do that. So we've got lots of Sesame Street characters roaming around here. And then my favorite was our special ed team that dressed up as Mario Kart and threw coins in the air and the discs at each other.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, they had the turtle shells, red and green, which was an impressive added detail. I saw lots of Pink Ladies today. I think the recess and copy aids were all Pink Ladies. And in addition to loving the costumes having a great time with the kids and the staff. You also have a favorite Halloween candy and I've known this for some time. Tell us about that.

Abe Yospe:
Yeah, so I love Milky Way. I don't love them as much as I used to because I've gotten so many over the years. So I always go around the day of, if you want to bring me one Milky Way from your Halloween candy, I'd love it. You could bring me more if you want. And you don't have to if you love Milky Way, you don't have to bring me a Milky Way. But over the years, I've gotten more and more Milky Way. So when I was at Columbia, I broke the record. I think the record that I got was 1,250 some odd Milky Ways.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh wow.

Abe Yospe:
I've already got four huge jars full here and this hasn't been Halloween yet. So I just convinced the kids to try to bring me Milky Ways and it's a great thing. In fact, when I was at Columbia, that spread through the neighborhood. So the parents would actually give out Milky Ways knowing that they'd say, “here's one for you and here's one for Mr. Yosbe.” And so it was a great way to reach the community members as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
The Milky Ways have maybe been a little much at this point.

Abe Yospe:
Yeah, I'm a little Milky Wayed out. Last year I ate about 50 and then I put the rest in the teacher's lounge for them to eat. And 50 was a lot of Milky Ways. (laughing) Everyone says, why don't you make it something else? Like, what else do you like, Peanut m&ms or something? But now it's so entrenched.

Anthony Godfrey:
You gotta stay consistent.

Abe Yospe:
Yeah, they know Milky Way is his thing.

Anthony Godfrey:
You would lose authenticity if you switched from Milky Way, quite frankly. And, you know, Milky Way, before I knew that they were a favorite of yours, always seemed to be missing something. No peanuts, you know, nothing crunchy. But I learned a new appreciation for them when I realized that you had, you know, leaned in so hard on the Milky Way theme.

Abe Yospe:
Yeah, well I'm a huge caramel guy, so the mix of the caramel and the chocolate in there, so good. In fact they have these caramel Milky Ways, have you seen those? They're in gold packaging, and it's more caramel than a normal Milky Way, so.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow, wow, you just blew my mind. Well, happy Halloween, thanks for letting us visit, and have a great rest of your Halloween day. Good luck with all those costume changes.

Abe Yospe:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
More costume changes than a Katy Perry concert. [LAUGHTER] [ Music ] Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.