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Thursday, June 20, 2019 • Vol. 55, No. 5 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.25
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Verona Press The
Verona Area School District
Split grades option out Board down to two plans for attendance boundaries SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
Breeja Landsman, 4, creates bubbles during Music on Main on Friday, June 14, at Hometown Junction Park.
Music on Main begins The first Music on Main of the summer season was held on Friday, June 14, with the Beth Kille Band headlining the show. Attendees brought along food and their lawn chairs to listen to Kille and her guitarist Michael Tilly perform her written works. – Kimberly Wethal
Inside More photos from Music on Main Page 12
Verona Area School District elementary schools will remain kindergarten through fifth grade after the attendance boundaries change for the 2020-21 school year. School board members agreed Tuesday night that Option D1, which would have had Sugar Creek and Country View partner with one housing grades K-2 and the other 3-5, was not feasible. That leaves two options for debate this summer, known as A1 and E. Discussion is expected to continue Tuesday. The concerns were mostly about transportation costs, but some board members echoed staff concerns about changes in programming that would be required with such a shift. “It doesn’t feel like we’re making a choice based on academic achievement for students,” said board member Amy Almond. “That’s kind of where the hiccup comes
What’s next The board will continue to discuss and refine Options A1 and E at its Tuesday, June 25, meeting. for me.” Administrators estimated it would cost an extra $385,000 for busing with the split grades plan – roughly equal to five fulltime staff members. “If you told any site that you were suddenly giving them five extra FTE, I’m pretty sure that would make a pretty big dent,” said Kristina Navarro-Haffner. The remaining two options are both generally similar to current maps. Option A1 would mostly unify the Verona Road-area neighborhoods and move about 20 percent of K-5, non-Two Way Immersion and non-charter students. Option E would move fewer students, about 11.3 percent of K-5, non-TWI and non-charter students, but would more purposefully
Turn to Boundary/Page 3
Inside
Silver sisters
2019 VAHS grad gives belated recognition for volunteer work SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
When Gabby Johnson graduated from Verona Area High School in 2015, the only cord she and her classmates could wear with their gowns was gold, for academic achievement. During her time on student council, Johnson had worked to change that, helping institute a new silver cord for volunteer hours. It was too late for her own class, but she was happy to
be able to help create the opportunity to future students, Johnson recalled to the Press earlier this month. “We recognized that there were people who maybe weren’t being recognized for their hard work,” she told the Press. “The real focus was ... on giving students an opportunity to earn a cord that didn’t have to do with academics.” Four years later, her younger sister Claire was among those students walking across the Epic stage June 9
The
Verona Press
with a silver cord draped around her neck. That cord matched the one she had given her older sister a day earlier – four years behind schedule, but still meaningful – at her graduation party. “I didn’t expect the cord today, but it does mean a lot to have a recognition of something that I put work into,” Gabby said after receiving the surprise. To earn the cord, VAHS graduates
Turn to Cord/Page 11
Field Day photos Page 2
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