Thursday, March 15, 2018 • Vol. 53, No. 43 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.25
Verona Area School District
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Verona Press The
New VAHS
City, district closer, but still no road deal Remaining dispute centers on acquisition of property JIM FEROLIE AND SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Scott Girard
Verona Area School District early learning coordinator Jennifer Skibba also helps teach some of the Pre-K classes at daycare sites around the district. Here, she reads “You Will Be My Friend” to a group of students at La Petite Academy in Fitchburg.
First 5 years
Pre-K more than ‘kindergarten for 4-year-olds’ SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Don’t ask Jennifer Skibba about “4K.” As the Verona Area School District’s early learning coordinator, Skibba oversees the program the district calls “Pre-K.” To her, the distinction is important. “We really didn’t want kindergarten to just be brought down to the
4-year-olds,” Skibba said. “The (planning) group felt very passionately that we called it ‘Pre-K’ to truly, really emphasize that preschool experience, and not that kindergarten piece.” Instead, the program hopes to have its students ready to learn academically by the time they arrive at kindergarten, with the social and behavioral rules already covered, explained the director at one of the Pre-K sites. “We’re just getting them ready
for school, teaching them to make friends, trust their teachers and make school easier for them when they actually start,” Little Pilgrims director Jessica Carlson said. “Kindergarten teachers don’t have to do as much of that.” The program, which is based at daycare sites around the district, began taking district students ages
Turn to Pre-K/Page 20
New VAHS
Safety, security listening session March 15 Board decision on building design could come March 19 SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Verona Area School District officials are hoping to hear ideas and questions from the community about safety and security at the new high school.
The school board, along with administrators, security staff and design consultants on the project, will hold a listening session at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 15, at Badger Ridge Middle School. The school board is expected to make a decision on any changes at its March 19 meeting. The listening session follows a March 2 announcement from the district that it would review the design
of the school after concerns from staff and parents about some features – specifically, the amount of glass in classrooms. Preliminary plans for the building included tall glass – sometimes floor-to-ceiling – looking into every classroom. The goal was to help provide natural light into the inner hallways and common areas, which was one of the
Turn to Security/Page 18
If You Go What: Listening session: Safety and security at the new high school When: 7-8:15 p.m. Thursday, March 15 Where: Badger Ridge Middle School, 740 N. Main St. Info: verona.k12.wi.us
The months-long dispute between the city and school district over funding a second access road into the new high school is getting closer to a resolution but still has one major sticking point. Verona Area School District officials agreed to one of the City of Verona’s three contract options Friday, March 9, but added
some counterproposals and clarifications to their response on a proposal to swap $4 million in city payments for the Sugar Creek Elementary School land. After a closed-session discussion Monday, March 12, the city attorney indicated alders had accepted most of them, including an additional $500,000 payment to the district that could be recoverable years down the road. But it stood firm on one, about who should negotiate and pay for additional property that would need to be acquired for the road. District officials had
Turn to Road/Page 7
City of Verona
Rebuilt Fireman’s Park will get splash pad significant upgrade. The Common Council voted unanimously Monday to commit the JIM FEROLIE first part of more than $3 million to install a Verona Press editor 3,600-square-foot splash More than a year after pad, a mostly open-air it was supposed to get a park pavilion, a secondary major facelift, Fireman’s 1,150-square-foot “water Park beach is getting a d i ff e r e n t , bu t e q u a l l y Turn to Park plan/Page 18
$3 million upgrade set to open in June 2019
Inside
Pages 8-13 Mayoral candidate questionnaires Page 16
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