Thursday, January 9, 2020 • Vol. 55, No. 34 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.25
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Verona Press The
Verona Area School District
Study: Language program lacks clear ‘vision’ KIMBERLY WETHAL Unified Newspaper Group
A review of the Verona Area School District’s World Language program shows it falls short of student proficiency and lacks a “clear overarching district vision” for meeting that goal. The review, conducted by a panel of three foreign language educators from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, was designed to measure student proficiency and determine how the district can grow and improve it. And Monday, Jan. 6, the school board and administrators discussed what the next steps would be accomplish that. District director of curriculum and instruction Ann Franke, director of bilingual programs and instructional equity Laurie Burgos and Verona Area High School Language Chair Beth Rodriguez-Strizic are will go over the review in detail over the next few weeks and bring recommendations back to the school board in March. Among the suggestions
recommended by presenter Paul Sandrock are added professional development and having one person in charge of the program. Sandrock also suggested the district to build on its strengths in the TWI and dual language programs to create a vision with consistency for all students, regardless of when specific languages are available to them. The board had asked for the study as the middle schools prepare to add Chinese to their language options, and the district moves toward having its language curriculum match at both schools. The district asked the reviewers to provide feedback on whether the district was developing “appropriate” levels of language proficiency in its students and whether teachers are being given the guidance they need in curriculum planning to create language proficiency. The answer to both of those questions is no, Sandrock told the board. The goal of the review wa s n ’t t o fi x t h e p r o gram for the district, he explained, but to give the district the “bigger picture” of the program. “We really got a good view of the program that we want to reflect back to you, and
Turn to Languages/Page 4
Photo by Justin Loewen
From left, Ruhi Bhargava of Verona captures a New Year’s memento of Preeti, 11, in the photo booth at the library’s Noon Year’s Eve party on Tuesday, Dec. 31.
Embracing the New Year JUSTIN LOEWEN Press correspondent
Area families who couldn’t wait to ring in the new year gathered at the library for a Noon Year’s Eve party on Tuesday, Dec. 31, which
Unified Newspaper Group
The make-up of the elected bodies representing the Verona area will largely look the same after the spring election. Both the City of Verona and the Verona Area School District races feature incumbents in seats without challengers. The exception is the At-large school board seat, which had a challenger register to run on Tuesday.
Page 7
The
Verona Press
To view more photos of the New Year’s Eve celebration visit
ConnectVerona.com
No challengers run for seats in April KIMBERLY WETHAL
Top-ranked Wildcats keep on winning
On the Web
Spring election
Two seats to change hands in Town, county
Inside
featured a photo booth, various New Year’s-themed crafts and a dance party in the community room. Attendees also wrote their 2020 hopes and dreams on “wishing stars” and hung them across the library’s north windows.
While there are vacant seats on the Dane County Board and Verona Town Board, there is only one candidate between them – Mike Bare is running uncontested for the District 32 County Board seat held by Jason Knoll. Manfred Enburg’s Town of Verona supervisor seat has no candidate to run for it. The spring election will be held across the state Tuesday, April 7. In addition to local and regional races, it will feature primaries for the November
Turn to Election/Page 4
Check your registration Before you head to the polls, check to make sure your registration is up to date, especially if you’ve moved since the last election. People can check their voter registration status online at myvote.wi.gov, as well as see where their polling place is located and look who’s on their ballot.
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Verona Area Performing Arts Series
Tickets available at: www.vapas.org, State Bank of Cross Plains-Verona, Capitol Bank-Verona or 848-2787