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Thursday, November 21, 2019 • Vol. 138, No. 18 • Stoughton, WI • ConnectStoughton.com • $1.25
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Stoughton Area School District
State report card: ‘Exceeds expectations’ District jumps up several points in annual schools evaluation
“Report cards provide a snapshot of performance across the four priority areas and SCOTT DE LARUELLE can be used to Unified Newspaper Group target improvement Enrollment may continue efforts.”
Photos by Mackenzie Krumme
Gabriele McClure smells turmeric which will be used for the vegetarian Indian dish during a cooking class at the library on Saturday, Nov. 16.
Cooking with no kitchen Children learn how to prepare Indianstyle dish at library On Saturday, Nov. 16, children smelled freshly grated ginger, tossed teaspoon of turmeric and sliced tomatoes at the Stoughton Public Library. To g e t h e r s t u d e n t s ,
a l o n g w i t h C h i l d r e n ’s Librarian, Amanda Bosky, stirred, chopped and measure to create an Indian inspired dish for a cooking class. This is Bosky’s fourth cooking class at the l i b r a r y, w h i c h d o e s n ’t have a kitchen. She uses Instapots, rice cookers and other creative tools to make chili, caprese
On the Web To view more photos of the cooking class visit
ConnectStoughton.com salads, Mexican dishes or Saturday’s feature, a vegetarian Indian stew. Bosky said she enjoys these cooking classes because the students can
actually participate. She has them use a plastic knife to cut tomatoes and potatoes, they measure the spices and enjoy a sample at the end of class. For more classes and events visit the library’s website at stoughtonpubliclibrary.org. Contact Mackenzie Krumme at mackenzie. krumme@wcinet.com.
to dip in the Stoughton Area School District, but its state test scores are on the rise. The district is “exceeding expectations,” according to the annual Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction report card, released Nov. 12. For the 2018-19 school year, the district scored a 75.3, its highest in the four years of the evaluations, mandated by state law, and its first listing in the “exceeds expectations” category. District school scores were once again led by Sandhill Elementary (79.9), with Fox Prairie Elementary (79.1) and Stoughton High School (78.5) joining it in the “exceeds expectations”
Department of Public Instruction press release category, followed by River Bluff Middle School (71.3) and Kegonsa Elementary (69.3), which rated as “meets expectations.” Scores for Sandhill, Fox Prairie and SHS all dipped a bit from last year, while Kegonsa and River Bluff improved slightly, with all schools remaining in the same categories as the previous school year. Scores are calculated in four priority areas: student achievement; school growth; closing gaps between student groups;
Turn to Report/Page 10
Alders pass on staffing additions RENEE HICKMAN Unified Newspaper Group
The Stoughton Common Council approved its 2020 budget Tuesday, Nov. 12, as submitted by the mayor the previous month. T h e bu d g e t i n c l u d e s only a fraction of the more than $350,000 in staffing requests made by department heads and yet will be an increase in city taxes for most people.
While the city’s tax rate will drop nearly 2 percent, the effective tax rate will rise for most property owners because home values have gone up about 5 percent on average. City taxes are about 30 percent of the total tax bill each year. Two proposed amendments to add full-time positions to the mayor’s plan failed to get the support of the majority. One, proposed by Ald. Greg Jensen (Dist. 3), would have moved a police community service officer
position from part-time to full time at a cost of $49,000. Finance director Jamin Friedl told the council any funding for the position would have to come from moving around city sick leave and retirement funds. Ald. Regina Hirsch (Dist. 3) voted against, saying she opposed moving money that would affect sick leave or retirement funds. “There’s so many positions I wish we had funding for,” she said. “In the long run, it’s not sustainable.”
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A l d . Ti m o t h y R i l e y introduced an amendment to make a library circulation supervisor full time from 30 hours. After alders expressed little support, he modified his amendment to 32 hours, and it was rejected. Stoughton library director Jim Ramsey told the council he understood there were ultimately no small requests but that it would “make a big difference to the operation of our organization for a
Inside Vikings busy at Division 2 state meet
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Budget to include tax hike for most people