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Thursday, February 14, 2019 • Vol. 137 No. 30 • Stoughton, WI • ConnectStoughton.com • $1.25 St. Vinny’s Stoughton • shopsaintvinnys.com
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Courier Hub The
Stoughton Area School District
‘Uncertainty’ in financial outlook SASD faced with potential reductions after next school year SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
The Stoughton High School Norwegian Dancers march into the gymnasium two-by-two during the Norse Afternoon of Fun Sunday, Feb. 10, at the high school.
Dancing in the afternoon The Stoughton High School Norwegian Dancers held their annual Norse Afternoon of Fun on Sunday, Feb. 10. The afternoon featured traditional dances from the current members, some sillier numbers where senior David Tessier tried to infiltrate a dance as a jokester and male Dancers had a toughness contest with their fathers and dances where alumni and the crowd could participate. During the event, mayor Tim Swadley presented the Community Appreciation Award to John and Darlene Arneson, who are involved with multiple Stoughton organizations, including the Sons of Norway and the Stoughton FFA Alumni. The Syttende Mai King and Queen, and the Prince and the Princess, were
Inside Read about the King, Queen, Prince and Princess Page 2 More photos from Norse Afternoon of Fun
Summing up the Stoughton Area School District’s five-year financial forecast, school board president Frank Sullivan put it simply: “uncertainty.” The board heard an annual presentation last week on the district’s short-term future from financial consultant Baird and Co., and the news was not surprising, though not necessarily great. For several years, district officials have warned that the district’s finances would be in good shape through the 2019-20
announced mid-way through the The four royalty will represent the afternoon. Gerry and Karen Lapidakis city at the 2019 Syttende Mai festival, were crowned King and Queen, Fox which will run from May 17-19 later Prairie Elementary third-grader Gage this year. Sveum was awarded Prince and Sandhill third-grader Natalie Zarnoth was – Kimberly Wethal given the title of Princess.
Girl power Women’s Issues class enlightens high school students AMBER LEVENHAGEN Unified Newspaper Group
Task force looks for long-term flooding fix In response to unprecedented flooding last summ e r, t h e D a n e C o u n t y Board has formed a task force to study water levels in the Yahara chain of lakes. The plan is to meet
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Page 7
Dane County
Recommendations expected to go to Board in April
budget – due in part of the successful recurring referendum in 2014 – but questionable afterward. That hasn’t changed. SASD business manager Erica Pickett said even with a projection of no increase in state funding for the 2019-20 budget, the district will be able to balance its budget next year. Beyond that, she said, “we may be faced with making potential reductions if projected enrollment declines continue to occur and the state funding levels aren’t sufficient to support current spending levels.” “Looking out 5 years, there’s a lot of question marks,” she told the board at the Feb. 4 meeting. The recent election of a former state schools superintendent as governor has brought at least an element of hope the
several times over the next few months to prepare long-term recommendation. The 13-member Yahara Chain of Lakes Lake Level Task Force comprises County Board supervisors, public works officials, environmental leaders and other stakeholders. The group met Feb. 4 in Madison, the first of six planned meetings, with a final one
Courier Hub
scheduled for Monday, April 1. The group is tasked to consider the analysis of technical experts, review technical workgroup-developed scenarios for adaptation and mitigation, hold a public hearing and develop short and long-term recommendations to be forwarded to the County Board f o r r ev i ew a n d a c t i o n ,
according to a county news release. “The fear is that climate change will bring even more heavy storm events and less settled weather patterns into the future,” the release read. The county is responsible for maintaining water levels for the four major lakes in Dane County – Mendota,
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The bell rings at 12:40 p.m. Monday afternoon as 16 of the 17 students enrolled in Katy Mullen’s Contemporary Mullen Women’s Issues class settle in for another discussion. The group of Stoughton High School students are laughing and talking about t h e w e e ke n d a s s o m e
prop their feet up on their desks, arranged round-table style, picking their usual spots next to friends. Senior Alex Ashworth, a guard on the girl’s basketball team, is sharing a story about an incident at the basketball game against Fort Atkinson Friday night. It ended up being one of the topics for the day. Mullen has taught the class for 14 years, just the third teacher to do so since it was introduced in the 1980s. Open to all genders (though it typically has more girls), the course is taught like a sociology class rather than a history class, as it had been in the past, with timelines and
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Stoughton Area School District
District ‘assessing all’ options for snow days With Tuesday the sixth school day canceled out of the last 18, Stoughton Area School District officials are “assessing all of (their) options” on how to make up the time later in year that could now extend past the scheduled last day of school. SASD spokesperson Derek Spellman said the district will notify staff, students and families when a decision is made on making up the lost time. Last week, after a fifth day was
canceled due to weather, the district announced that to make up the time, it would hold classes on Monday, April 1, which had been scheduled as a staff professional development day. Now with another canceled day on Tuesday, Feb. 12, the district is considering adding minutes to existing school days or adding another day of school somewhere in the schedule. At the Feb 4. school board meeting,
district superintendent Tim Onsager said adding more days in June is problematic, because the scheduled last day is a Friday, June 7, meaning students and staff would have to return the following Monday. The state requires at least 1,137 hours of instruction for grades 7 through 12, and at least 1,050 for grades 1 through 6. – Scott De Laruelle