Oregon Observer The
Thursday, November 21, 2019 • Vol. 135, No. 21 • Oregon, WI • ConnectOregonWI.com • $1.25
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Village of Oregon
Police chief under scrutiny Board has been evaluating complaints, concerns about behavior, cooperation EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Mackenzie Krumme
Keaton Behnke pleads for more dancing during Zooty Zumbini with Miss Ray on Saturday, Nov. 16 at the Oregon Public Library.
A little zumbini Inside More photos of the Zooty Zumbini event Page 2
With drums, music, and scarves children up to age 4 enjoyed an afternoon of Zooty Zumbini with Miss Ray. The children’s zumba class is 45 minutes and keeps kids entertained and active. Contact Mackenzie Krumme at mackenzie.krumme@wcinet.com.
Oregon School District
State report card: ‘Exceeds expectations’ Annual district grade climbs for third straight year SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
eclipsed the 78.6 scored in 2016-17. OSD scored 77.2 in the first round of the report cards, for the 201516 school year. The annual evaluation process is required by state law. Scores are calculated in four priority areas: student achievement; school growth; closing gaps between student groups; and measures of students being on-track for postsecondary readiness, which includes graduation and attendance rates, thirdgrade English language a r t s a c h i eve m e n t , a n d eighth-grade mathematics achievement. For the 2018-19 school year, OSD topped the state
As it has every year since the benchmarks were established in 2015, the Oregon School District improved its overall score on the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction annual report card grades. The district scored a 79.2, considered as “exceeding expectations,” for the 2018-19 school year in results announced in a DPI news release last week. That mark tops the previous year’s 78.7, which Turn to Report card/Page 12
OSD by school School DPI score Brooklyn Elementary 86.5 (Significantly exceeds expectations) Netherwood Knoll Elementary 70.6 (Meets expectations) Prairie View Elementary 82.9 (Exceeds expectations) Rome Corners Intermediate 74.8 (Exceeds expectations) Oregon Middle School 74.5 (Exceeds expectations) Oregon High School 80.5 (Exceeds expectations)
OSD DPI report card grades by year 2015-16 77.2 2016-17 78.6 2017-18 78.6 2018-19 79.2
Police chief Brian Uhl’s performance and conduct is coming under close scrutiny by the Oregon Village Board. After trustees held multiple closed sessions this year to discuss Uhl’s performance, Village President Jeanne Carpenter released a statement Monday, Nov. 18, explaining the nature of those discussions and detailing several concerns. Among them are citizen complaints about his behavior in general, and in particular about a stop of a juvenile. Complaints also regard Uhl’s role in the village’s ongoing talks with the school district about renewing its contract to keep a police officer stationed at the high school. “In the interest of public transparency, I want to briefly outline the facts of why
Uhl
Carpenter
this agenda item is before us tonight,” Carpenter wrote in the statement. Uhl gave a presentation to the board Monday night about how the police department would improve relationships with the community and school leaders. He opened with an apology to community members who were upset. Uhl also said there will be more of a focus on community policing, outreach and ways to keep kids safe and prevent violence in schools. “We also welcome public
Turn to Police chief/Page 12
An ‘entrepreneurial’ spirit and ‘risk taker’ OHS graduate reflects on career, celebrates 20 years of owning biotech company EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
Laura Johnson, former rural village of Brooklyn resident and entrepreneur, is a “risk taker.” The 1982 Oregon High School graduate has been for most of her adult life, she told the Observer. It was that risk-taking tendency that pushed her to create her own biotech enterprise two decades ago, Next Generation Clinical Research, of which Johnson started out of her own basement on Nov.
18, 1999 with only $10,000. Last month, she was recognized at Madison’s Wisconsin Biohealth Johnson Summit having won its Biohealth Business Achievement Award – for the company’s success and her other many ventures. After a near decade-long career as a nurse, and stints working for Hazelton Laboratories, now known as Covance Clinical Research Unit, and Bone Care International, now Sanofi Genzyme, Johnson’s ambitious spirit and her drive to prevent diseases through medical research led her into that basement. The biotech company expanded
Turn to Johnson/Page 12
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