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Verona Press The
Thursday, January 31, 2019 • Vol. 54, No. 37 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.25
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Verona Area School District
City of Verona
‘Beyond my wildest dreams’ New Coves VAEF gives more than $8K in teacher grants plan gets a no from staff SCOTT GIRARD
Unified Newspaper Group
Nate Campbell recalls “jumping up and down” in his Badger Ridge Middle School classroom after he got the phone call. A Verona Area Education Foundation representative had told Campbell his request was one of 17 teacher grants the foundation would fund this school year, offering $730 for him to take some of his students in the Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) to a regional conference later this year. “It’s been beyond my wildest dreams, the amount of support we’ve gotten from VAEF as well as the administration,” Campbell told the Press. “It’s very amazing to me and very humbling to me to see that type of support.” VAEF is giving out $8,348.96 this year for projects that range from yoga equipment for a daily “mindfulness activity” in a New Century School classroom to bringing in a performing group for Latin American students at Verona Area High School. The total is a jump from last year, when the grants were just over $6,000, and almost triple a few years ago, with just under $3,000 given out in 2015. The foundation pays for the grants through its fundraising, including the annual craft fair each fall at Badger Ridge Middle School. It’s totaled more than $100,000 since 1992, giving out more than 300 grants, according to a 2018 email from Verona Area School District public information officer Kelly Kloepping. VAEF board president Errin Welty said the grant process is rewarding for foundation leaders. “We’re really excited every year by the diversity and array of grants we get,” she said. “We almost always Photo by Scott Girard get a good cross section of all of the Sophie Duarte-Rivas works in one of the “voice pod” tents that every Sugar Creek schools.” Elementary School classroom received through a grant from the Verona Area EduTurn to VAEF/Page 16 cation Foundation. The tents help students record on their iPads while avoiding distraction, according to the application by teacher Lisette Venegas.
Chamber adds employees, new positions Verona Press editor
The Verona Area Chamber of Commerce has added three new employees this winter, handling a variety of duties. In addition to Halley Jones, who took over on a part-time, interim basis
after the exit of the community’s first tourism coordinator, the chamber has added the services of Robin Phelps Jones as marketing and event coordinator and Mona Cassis as a special The
Verona Press
event coordinator. All three are longtime Verona residents. Phelps has been b r o u g h t o n Cassis to help run the chamber’s larger events
– such as its annual meeting, Fall Fest and Hometown Days – and coordinate regular activities like its
Phelps
Turn to Chamber/Page 13
JIM FEROLIE
Inside Festival Foods plan returns Page 3
Verona Press editor
An updated plan to build hundreds of houses and apartments on the city’s north side is going to the Plan Commission on Monday with a recommendation for denial by the city planning director. The unusual general layout and concept of the proposed 200-acre Whispering Coves subdivision has been in front of the Common Council and commission three times each, and it’s in general been welcomed, albeit with some reservations. The word “coves” refers to winding roads throughout that are designed to improve sight lines among neighbors and enable a layout connected by a trail
system that would encompass most of the dedicated parkland. After some initial conflicts were resolved related to including a spot for a potential elementary school, alders and commissioners were supportive but said execution of the unusual arrangement would be critical. The most notable flaws in the newest submission that planning director Adam Sayre said he could not support are the high retaining walls. The new plan has almost a mile of them, ranging from four feet to 16 feet, he said. Other concerns with the
Turn to Coves/Page 13
Kids’ day program gets $50K to expand JIM FEROLIE Verona Press editor
A drop-in child-enrichment program that has operated for nearly five years on the city’s southeast side is getting a $50,000 loan from the city to expand its offerings and move downtown. The move was planned a year ago and received city approval in April. It is taking advantage of a rarely used city revolving loan program funded in 2012 by $250,000 in seed money from the sale of the Bruce Street Industrial
Park. Economic development manager Dayna Sarver, who sat with Seventeenth R a d i s h ow n e r A l i s o n Plumer at the meeting, told the Press after she was hired last summer one of her goals was to promote city programs such as the revolving loan. The business is designed to provide a “social peerto-peer interactive experience” for preschool children, Plumer explained, with flexibility to allow parents to drop off and
Turn to Fund/Page 3
Cherish The Ladies
An all-female group that plays Celtic Music, Led by Joannie Madden. They also made an album with the Boston Pops that was nominated for an Emmy.
Saturday, February 23, 2019 7:30 pm Verona Area High School PAC 300 Richard St.
Verona Area Performing Arts Series
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JIM FEROLIE
Commission, council will both evaluate plat
Tickets available at: www.vapas.org, State Bank of Cross Plains-Verona, Capitol Bank-Verona or 848-2787