Thursday, October 18, 2018 • Vol. 134, No. 16 • Oregon, WI • ConnectOregonWI.com • $1.25
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Oregon Observer The
Oregon School District
School shuffling
New buildings would change district grade configuration SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
From left, Alex Seekins clings tight to a heavy pumpkin he’s chosen while his mother Isabelle suggests a slightly less weighty one during the Fall Fest held at Kiser Fireman’s Park on Saturday, Oct. 13. Alex ended up rolling the heavy pumpkin out to the family’s car in the parking lot.
Perfect match in the pumpkin patch The fourth annual Fall Festival was held at Kiser Fireman’s Park on Saturday, Oct. 13. The event, hosted by Pure Integrity Homes, featured a pumpkin patch, a bounce house, face painting and a balloon sculpture artist. Non-perishable food donations were collected for the Oregon Area Food Pantry at the event.
Youth center construction underway BILL LIVICK Unified Newspaper Group
The Oregon Community Resource Network had expected to break ground on a new Oregon Youth Center last summer, but complications delayed the start of building at the site until this week. OCRN board member Dan Bertler, who’s also president of Supreme Structures and the contractor who volunteered to donate his company’s time and labor for the work, said he’s finally ready to start prepping the soil for the building and to start putting in footings and a foundation. The organization raised about $1 million for the construction of the new center at 110 N. Oak St., and is now looking for a temporary home for the kids who use the center so they can take down the current building. Bertler’s goal is to have a new, 5,800-square-foot youth center ready for kids to use in February. It will replace the existing center and is
“commitment to our community and ‘If I don’t get the asphalt its youth.” down this year, we don’t get The new center will have an indoor play area with a pool table and air asphalt until May.’ - Dan Bertler, president of Supreme Structures being built at the same site. A groundbreaking ceremony for the project that OCRN and the village held in late June turned out to be premature, Bertler explained, because of legal and physical issues that arose. That included needing the village attorney’s help in drafting a new land lease for the property, dividing the parcel and creating a certified survey map, and going through the village’s permitting and approval process. To c o m p l i c a t e t h e s i t u a t i o n , Supreme Structures took soil borings in July and discovered conditions that required extra steps to prepare the ground for construction. It also caused Bertler to develop new building plans, and the cost of construction increased. Glysch praised Bertler’s “tenacity and problem-solving,” as well as his
hockey, a half-court basketball area, a comfortable seating area, a computer lab/conference room and a “warming kitchen.” The architects call the design “the barn look” because of its high ceiling and relatively open floor plan. “It’s going to be so much better than anything they’ve ever had,” Bertler predicted. “It’s a place for kids to attend afterschool and get the help they need and just be kids, which is what it’s all about.”
Temporary home, more funding Bertler had planned to construct the new building at the site where a cold storage shed used to sit next to the existing youth center. The shed had been used by the public works department and was demolished over the summer. The village replaced it with a new shed a few blocks away. But Bertler’s idea to construct a new building, move the youth
Turn to OYC/Page 2
The Observer is examining the upcoming referendum from a variety of angles: Oct. 4: Referendum seeks to build new K-6 school Oct. 11: Why is a new school needed in Fitchburg? This week: What would it provide; changes to the district Oct. 25: What would happen if it fails? Nov. 1: What is on the ballot proposed grades 6-8 middle school to have it ready for students in fall 2024. If approved, it would set off a chain reaction to even out enrollment at schools that would add a
Turn to Referendum/Page 7
Green and growing at OSD Health, environmental education thriving SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
T h ey ’r e j u s t g e t t i n g started. That’s the word from Oregon School District educators after several traveled to Washington, D.C. last month to accept national Department of Education awards. Meghan Mapes and Mary Kay Gillespie (who retired earlier this year) represented Brooklyn Elementary School, and Nate Mahr and Dan Howard represented Oregon
Middle School, as both schools were honored Sept. 19 for being two of just 46 in the country named 2018 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools. The schools were lauded for their “commitment to sustainable practices” and “leadership in facilities, health, and environmental education,” according to a Department of Education news release. They had been nominated by Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers. The award recognizes schools, districts and higher education institutions that “reduce schools’
Turn to OMS/Page 12
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Soil conditions, legal issues cause four-month delay
If voters approve referendums next month to fund a new elementary school in the northern part of the district, it will set in motion a grade shift that would affect nearly every school. The first question asks for $44.9 million for land and construction of a K-6 school in Fitchburg, as well as land for a planned new middle school near the Hwy. 14/MM interchange just outside the Village of Oregon. The second question asks for $2.1 million in annual operating and maintenance expenses for the K-6 school, starting in December 2020. District officials are planning for another referendum — probably in 2022 — to fund the
OSD referendum