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F AMILY O WNED & O PERATED S INCE 1869 Stoughton • Madison • McFarland Deerfield • Sun Prairie • Waunakee
Thursday, June 7, 2018 • Vol. 136, No. 46 • Stoughton, WI • ConnectStoughton.com • $1.25
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Stoughton Area School District
New staff pay plan approved SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Every Stoughton Area S c h o o l D i s t r i c t e d u c ator can get an annual raise under the new compensation plan approved by the school board Monday. T h e p l a n a l s o o ff e r s “retention bonuses” for teachers after three, five, 10, 15, 20 and every five years thereafter in the district. The size of annual raises will vary year-to-year depending on the district’s budget, but every teacher will get the same amount. It will be implemented
beginning in the 2019-20 school year. District officials will spend the 2018-19 school year informing teachers about the plan while they continue to operate under the 2015 “Career Lad der” model, which rewards teachers for criteria including professional development, research into instructional methods and evaluation marks. Consternation about that plan led to a committee working for several months on the new model. Board president Frank Sullivan applauded the committee’s work before a unanimous vote by the school board Monday, saying coming to an agreement that seemed not to upset
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Redevelopment Authority
Marathon site in limbo Closing delayed for third time BILL LIVICK Unified Newspaper Group
An agreement to sell the Redevelopment Authority’s former Marathon gas station property on West Main Street to a local developer has been delayed for a third time in less than a year, and whether the deal will be realized is uncertain. On Wednesday, developer Todd Nelson told the RDA his lender is not agreeing to finance the purchase until it knows more about contamination at the site and the cost of remediation. He said soil tests show the site is contaminated with
petroleum products in both the land and groundwater. “This is getting expensive,” he said. “I’m not quite sure where we go from here.” Nelson and the RDA had scheduled the real estate closing for Monday, June 4. Chair Roger Springman said the RDA has three options, the details of which would be fleshed out in coming weeks. The RDA could let the contract with Nelson lapse and begin looking for a different buyer, it could extend the closing date “one more time,” or it could add a contingency to the contract that allows it to look for a secondary buyer.
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Courier Hub
Photo by Alexander Cramer
From left, Taylor Kenrick, Stacy Benoy and Hannah Iverson show off their decorated mortarboards after graduation at SHS on Sunday, June 3.
Class of 2018 graduates ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
Collins Field was a sea of purple Sunday, June 3, when the class of 2018 graduated from Stoughton High School in a 90-minute ceremony in front of friends and family. Mixed in with the purple mortarboards atop the heads of the graduates were a fair number of student-decorated squares offering
messages of encouragement (“Just keep swimming”), resilience (“Stars can’t shine without darkness”), empowerment (“Isn’t it amazing what clever girls can do?”) and hope (“Next stop: Everywhere!”). Devan Gilbertson paid homage to her 2-year-old daughter Alexis with her headgear, which read, “All for you Lex,” and one student honored
Inside • More photos • Controversy over special needs student’s names not in program
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Pages 8-9
Splash pad opens for summer Amenity donated for public use
If You Go
AMBER LEVENHAGEN Unified Newspaper Group
After nearly two years of planning and development, the Nordic Ridge splash pad opens for the summer on Saturday. The water spray amenity opens at 10 a.m., and an open house an hour before will officially recognize the splash pad as a new public amenity after the
What: Nordic Ridge splash pad opens When: 9 a.m. open house, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. pad open, Saturday, June 9 Where: Nordic Ridge Park, 1300 Hoel Ave. Info: facebook.com/nordic-ridge-stoughton
developer, RHD Properties, donated it to the city. The open house will feature a ribbon cutting, and members of the Stoughton Youth Soccer Association,
who have a new place to play at Nordic Ridge with the completion of the park, will sell food and beverages to park attendees throughout the afternoon.
Regular hours for the park will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day through the summer, contingent on inclement weather. Laura Dvorak, who owns and operates RDH Properties with her husband, Bob, told the Hub she is excited to see her plans for the pad come to fruition. “I look forward to the city making its own out of it,” she said. “I hope it draws more people to our community and that people
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Teachers get yearly raises, retention bonuses