Valley Sentinel - 01-20-2021

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Inside this edition

Brewhaha expands availability Page 5

Fishers take to the ice

Spring Green, Wisconsin

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An Outdoorsman’s Journal Page 8

Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021 Vol. 2, No. 3 Free, Single-Copy

Spring Green and Plain hold village caucuses for Spring 2021 election Emilie Conlon, Editor-in-Chief The village of Plain and village of Spring Green each met Jan. 6 to hold their caucuses, to determine which candidates will appear on the April 2021 election for their boards. The village of Plain met in-person to fill three village trustee seats up for grabs in the spring. The three seats are currently filled by Melissa Marx, Brian Bray and Andrew Kraemer. The caucus began with the electors nominating names for Village President. The electors are comprised of citizens of the village present at the meeting, and included members of the board as they are residents of the village, each filling out a slip of paper with names of those they wished to nominate. The slips were then read aloud by John Ruhland, village resident and village public works director. Rutland was responsible for distributing, collecting and reading the electors ballots as the board-appointed teller, per the operations of the caucus. Ray Ring was the only person nominated to appear on the ballot for village president. Ring is currently serving in the role. Following taking nominations for village president, the electors present took names to fill the three trustee seats up for election, follow the same process. The process allows for electors to nominate any number of names in the first round of voting. A second round of voting occurs then if more than six names are nominated, in order to get the final six nominations to appear on the ballot. The village did not have to move to a second round of voting, with the first round

providing only six names. “This was like the first time ever we haven’t had a second round,” said Village Clerk Sheila Carver. The names appearing on the ballot for trustee positions in April include, Kelly Yanke, Mike Bernards, Carl Appert, Brian Bray, Melissa Marx and Andrew Kraemer. The Village of Spring Green held its caucus via Zoom, with its nominations seeing challenges for the first time in over a decade, according to Village Clerk Wendy Crary. Over 20 participants cast their vote for names to appear on the village’s spring ballot. With Zoom came some adjustments, including using Zoom private messages, calls and text messages between electors and the clerk. Robin Reid was the only person nom-

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Photos by Emilie Conlon, Editor-in-Chief Top: Village of Plain trustees go through the process of the village’s caucus Jan. 6. Bottom: Elector Kelly Janke, right, writes nominees names down while Clerk Sheila Carver observes.

School Board told to expect additional relief funds, considers quarantine changes Quincy Aston-Lott, Managing Editor The River Valley School Board met for a regular meeting at the Middle School library and virtually Jan. 14. At the meeting, the board heard several policy changes, including shortening the required direct exposure COVID-19 quarantine to 10 days, from 14. District Administrator Loren Glasbrenner provided an update on the second round of Elementary and Second School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. The district received around $160,000 in the first round of ESSER. For ESSER II, the district was told to expect around four times the amount that they received the first time around, according to Glasbrenner. This round will provide special flexibility, focusing on addressing learning loss, school facility repairs and maintenance, continuity and more. Glasbrenner asked the board to consider programming that could be put in place and possible hiring that could be

made using the funds. Glasbrenner also shared that the district will hold state standardized academic testing this spring and that he expects more information soon on getting teachers vaccinated from the county. The board heard from Activities Director Jaime Hegland, who shared a recommendation from Sauk Prairie Healthcare regarding students athletes who have tested positive for COVID-19. The district will require student athletes that have recovered from COVID-19 to meet with the district’s athletic trainer to do an assessment. The information provided by Sauk Prairie Healthcare outlined concerns regarding possible heart damage in young athletes that have since recovered from COVID-19. Students returned on Jan. 11 to in-person instruction, with roughly 20% opting to continue virtual instruction under the district’s hybrid model, according to Glasbrenner. High School Principal Darby Blakley and Elementary School Principal

Carla Peterson both shared that there has been an increase in families discussing switching back to in-person instruction. The board also added bus accidents to the district’s ‘Crisis Plan Binder’ in light of a recent incident and took up the annual approval of school sports co-ops, with gymnastics co-op with Barneveld and swimming co-op with Richland Center again approved for the next school year. The board then heard various policy recommendations, first taking up the district’s policy on ‘Wearing Masks and Face Coverings’ and decided to make no changes at this time, continuing to require face masks. The board then took up a second reading of the following policies: — The naming of facilities, having condensed the policy from last meeting. —No new limits on open enrollment. —Minor changes to entity names and updating policy language to include electronic equipment regarding fees. The board then took up a first reading on

the following policies: —Shortening the required direct exposure COVID-19 quarantine for students and staff from 14 days to 10. —Streamlining the process to remove Internet filters on district electronic equipment. —Cleaned up facilities maintenance language. —Outlined new ‘Building and Grounds Inspection Procedures’. The board then discussed workflow and processes to ensure students and staff have consistent access to working laptops/ chromebooks. Glasbrenner looked at programs Platteville has, including a program where students get hands-on experience fixing Chromebooks and is looking into what the district should implement for next year. Finally, the board extended Family First Coronavirus Relief Act (FFCRA) leave for staff to the end of the school year, from the previous end date of Dec. 2020.


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