Stoughton
Thursday, December 20, 2018 • Vol. 137, No. 22 • Stoughton, WI • ConnectStoughton.com • $1.25
Stoughton Area School District
SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
For busy parents, having day care programming after school, during holidays and breaks for students is a game-changer. But affordability can be an issue. Looking to fill a “significant need” in the Kegonsa Elementary School attendance area, officials teamed up with the Stoughton Community Recreation Department up over the summer to create a new afterschool care program, which started in September. Kegonsa principal Erin Conrad said the program has around 15 students so far, with plenty of room to grow, because by the time it was approved in July, most families already had arranged their after school care. Still, easing into things has worked out well. “It’s been a really nice way to start because what’s important for us is ensuring have a high-quality program,” she said. “We do believe for next year, we have quite a bit of interest from families to establish that care for the following school year. So we’re adding kids as they begin to need care.”
ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
The Common Council unanimously approved a new five-year plan for the city’s green spaces Tuesday, Dec. 12. The plan includes individualized reports for each city park, as well as improvement plans broken down into yearl y g o a l s . Glynn Spread over the next five years, the plan recommends spending $1.9 million in park improvements ranging from modernizing
Over the last few years, one of the top needs parents and families identified is a “high-quality, low-cost” after school care program at Kegonsa, Conrad said. “In the past, there has been after school programming provided by another organization but the cost was prohibitive for our families,” she
Photo by Emilie Heidemann
District keeping safety top of mind
Courier Hub
Turn to Parks/Page 3
consultations with local law enforcement. According to the act, a school board or governing body must approve a school safety plan at least once every three years. Last month, the district completed security drills to review potential vulnerabilities in schools, which the board reviewed in closed session earlier this month. While those results won’t be made available to the public for security reasons, board president Frank Sullivan told the Hub after the Dec. 3 board
meeting if there were any vulnerabilities discovered, “we will fix them quickly.” Board member Kathleen Hoppe said the closed session “brought great insight on how each building performed and any adaptations needed.” District director of business services Erica Pickett said the district’s emergency plan manual “was in pretty good shape” prior to Act 143 coming into law last year, so no significant changes were needed.
Turn to Safety/Page 5
Twisting in the wind RDA, contractor face potential litigation over who will pay for collapse ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
It’s been two months since a storm knocked down the northwest portion of the blacksmith shop, but the city hasn’t stabilized the building because doing so might make the city legally responsible for its current condition. The city’s Redevelopment Authority aims to save the building, as the Common Council directed
it to last year, as a potential historic marker in the city’s riverfront redevelopment area. But now, the emphasis has shifted to avoiding litigation with the contractor whom the RDA says might be liable for the collapse. At the Nov. 14 meeting, RDA vice-chair Carl Chenoweth said Earth Construction Inc. felt it had satisfied its contract and “was not going to take any corrective action … and walk away” even after the collapse. The city felt otherwise and has been withholding the last, roughly $150,000 payment on the $700,000 contract to demolish the
Turn to RDA/Page 3
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In the past year, the Stoughton Area School District has received around $278,000 in grant funding from the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Monday, the school board approved a new state-mandated safety plan, keeping up its part of a new state
equipment to fixing drainage problems. The Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (CORP) used data including fieldwork, population statistics and feedback from the community to shape plans for future improvements and potential new facilities. Having an up-to-date CORP is necessary to receive state grant funding for many projects, and this is the first time the city has hired a consultant to complete the task. At a cost of $17,000, Ayres and Associates started the process of creating the nearly 200page report in May, visiting all of the city-owned parklands and greenways and working closely with the Parks and Recreation Committee. Parks and Recreation director Dan Glynn told the
Blacksmith shop
Samuel Miller, 7, a first-grade student at Kegonsa Elementary School, engages Turn to Kegonsa/Page 7 in a staring contest with an after school program leader.
Unified Newspaper Group
On Wed., December 19 from 4-8 p.m., 10% of total store proceeds will benefit the Stoughton Food Pantry!
Focus on ADA compliance, how and where to grow
Addressing a challenge
SCOTT DE LARUELLE
of Stoughton 916 Nygaard Street (608) 873-6635
Parks have 5-year, $1.9 million plan
SASD, city partner for afterschool care at Kegonsa
mandate. The board spent lit tle time addressing the Emergency Plan Manual – which will be submitted to the state Office of School Safety (per Act 143) by Jan. 1 – after talking more extensively about it during its Dec. 3 meeting. As part of Act 143, passed into law last year, school districts must file with the state a copy of its school safety plan and other information, including dates of state-required drills and subsequent evaluations, staff trainings and
December 17 - December 31
Bring in a canned good (cannot be expired) for the food pantry and receive a free cone or dish of custard Exclusively at…
City of Stoughton
Filling a gap
Board approves annual, statemandated plan
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Courier Hub The