Courier Hub The
Stoughton
Thursday, March 28, 2019 • Vol. 137, No. 36 • Stoughton, WI • ConnectStoughton.com • $1.25
On April 2nd VOTE
Joe Freye Yolibeth FitzGibbon Jill Patterson For School Board Paid for by Joe Freye for School Board, Yoli for school Board, Jill Patterson for Stoughton Schools adno=67128
Stoughton Area School District
‘Relentlessly positive’ ‘Nurtured Heart’ part of new approach to discipline SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
It took 18 months, but finally, Amy Ruck got through. The Stoughton Area School District inclusion support teacher works with some of the “tricky” students in the district. Those include two girls she tries
to “nurture whenever I see” with positive comments, if they’re perhaps being respectful to others or just walking quietly down the hallway. For a year-and-half, she would receive growls of scorn for her efforts. But she kept trying. And to her utter delight, it seemed to pay off a few weeks ago when one of the girls greeted her with a “good morning” – before Ruck had said anything to her. “First time she’d ever
Turn to Heart/Page 10 File photo by Jeremy Jones
Town of Rutland
Fast and loose Fight over fee prompts relook at deal between town, MIS ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
The Madison International Speedway has been a summertime tradition since the 1950s. It’s been a place for parents to wow their kids with fast action and loud cars, for race fans to see drivers
earn their stripes and a way for drivers with an eye for the big time to establish themselves on a Midwest circuit. Sitting between Oregon and Stoughton on Sunrise Road in the Town of Rutland, it’s provided summer jobs for local kids and their parents and brought people to the town for races. But it’s also provided headaches for the Town Board, which has to deal with citizen complaints, primarily
Turn to MIS/Page 9
Jordan DiBenedetto, pictured here making a catch in the 2017 season opener against Portage, played three games that season. Now, some 18 months later, he has earned a preferred walk-on spot with the UW-Madison football team.
A new outlook Injury, rehab and faith bring DiBenedetto back to his goal of joining the Badgers JEREMY JONES Sports editor
It was a pregame ritual former Stoughton football standout Jordan DiBenedetto and assistant coach Jeremy Dunnihoo had done several times before. But when DiBenedetto came down from their traditional pregame chest bump in the Badger South opener on Sept. 8, 2017, his coach knew this time was different.
“I remember going up and coming down, only to have Jordan crumble in my arms,” Dunihoo said. “Instantly, I had a terrible feeling and just kept saying, no, no, no, over and over again.” DiBenedetto was helped to the sideline and would miss the rest of the year and all but a few seconds of his senior basketball season with three tears in his left knee – ACL, MCL and meniscus. He returned for the final month of the track and field season
but was nowhere near his pre-injury self. Fast forward nearly 18 months since his season-ending injury, the UW-Madison freshman says his knee is back at 100 percent. That’s part of the reason he earned a preferred walkon spot with the Badger football team in mid-January, which essentially holds a roster spot for him this fall on the team he’d always wanted to play
Turn to Badgers/Page 13
Spring election
Four-candidate Stoughton Area school board race tops April 2 ballot Town of Rutland, state Supreme Court also contested
for school board at the polls Tuesday, April 2. That race, two in the Town of Rutland and a choice for state Supreme Court are the only contested SCOTT GIRARD elections this spring. Other area races that are Unified Newspaper Group uncontested include five Stoughton Area School City of Stoughton ComDistrict voters will choose mon Council seats and vartheir top three candidates ious town board chairs and
Courier Hub
supervisors. Area judicial seats are also uncontested, with Rhonda Lanford running for Dane County Circuit Court and Jennifer Nashold for Court of Appeals judge. The state Supreme Court race pits two newcomers against each other in Brian Hagedorn and Lisa Neubauer.
Polls will be open 7 a.m. Yolibeth Rangel-FitzGibto 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 2. bon or Jill Patterson. The top three vote-getters will Stoughton Area be elected to three-year terms on the board. School District Rundblade, an appliance The four-person Stough- and television repairman ton Area school board race who moved to the district in features three incumbents 2018, wrote in a questionand one newcomer. naire that he “didn’t have S h aw n R u n d b l a d e i s the support I needed” as a hoping to take over a seat child in school, and wants from incumbents Joe Freye,
2.90% APY* 31-Month CD 2.45% APY* 15-Month CD
Build your savings with a certificate of deposit from Home Savings Bank. We Make it Happen. 608.282.6000 400 W. Main St. Stoughton home-savings.com *APY is Annual Percentage Yield. APY assumes principal and interest remain on deposit for the term of the certificate. Penalty for early withdrawal. The annual percentage yield is effective as of the publication date. Minimum amount of new money required to open account and obtain the disclosed APY is $5,000 for the 31-month CD and $5,000 for the 15-month CD. adno=67436
to make sure that doesn’t happen in SASD. He wrote that he wanted to “look for more creative ways to increase funding, while also saving without cutting staffing” and avoid a referendum if possible. Patterson, who was appointed to the board in
Turn to Election/Page 8