Verona Press The
Thursday, March 22, 2018 • Vol. 53 No. 44 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.25
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Spring election
New VAHS
Looking for a ‘balance’ in security measures 3 dozen attend listening session on safety at new high school SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Photos by Helu Wang
Mayoral candidate and District 3 Ald. Luke Diaz wants to build a transparent government.
Mayoral candidate and former school board president Dennis Beres recalls his contributions to the high school referendum.
Beres, Diaz spar on schools, leadership sounded generally similar About 80 attend in their answers to the first few questions in a forum candidate forum Wednesday night. SCOTT GIRARD But the differences between the two – one a Unified Newspaper Group 36-year-old alder, the othMayoral candidates Den- er a 64-year-old retirement nis Beres and Luke Diaz planner and former school
board president – began to show as the questions turned to leadership, development and perhaps most significantly, the city’s tenuous relationship with the school district. One of them will succeed Jon Hochkammer, who is
not running for re-election as mayor after 12 years. After the April 3 election, that person will step into an office overseeing a relatively new staff and a few significant development
Turn to Mayoral/Page 16
Verona Area School District
Area High School, Badger Ridge Middle School and Core Knowledge CharSchool Walkout Walkout Day before Day before ter School walked to the Excused Unexcused Excused Unexcused high school track and did laps for those 17 minutes, VAHS 291 235 42 71 some holding signs askSOMS 104 202 29 12 ing for harsher gun laws, others in remembrance of BRMS 122 163 46 29 the victims. Savanna Oaks Middle School students – along with about 10 Stoner parents of the planned in honor of the 17 victims Prairie Elementary School walkout. of the school shooting in students – participated near The “#Enough” walkout Parkland, Fla., a month their sites in Fitchburg, began at 10 a.m. around the earlier on Valentine’s Day. country, lasting 17 minutes Students from Verona Turn to Walkout/Page 17
Absences
SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Almost 1,000 Verona Area School District students took part in a national walkout movement of more than 3,000 schools Wednesday, March 14. Most of those brief absences were considered unexcused despite a letter from the district warning
The
Verona Press
Turn to Safety/Page 14
New VAHS
City, district close in on deal Board members lament ‘unfortunate position’ for negotiations SCOTT GIRARD
Students join national walkout Almost 1,000 take part around district
There is no answer yet on the best way to keep students safe at the new Verona Area High School. And, one board member said during the 75-minute listening session March 15 on the topic of security, there likely won’t be one that satisfies everyone. “I don’t know that we’ll reach one agreement that is the perfect solution that everybody is unanimous on,” said Meredith Stier Christensen. “We can find a balance.” With growing concerns expressed by some in the
community about the new building’s design – specifically the amount of interior glass into hallways – the school board announced the session a week earlier. That design had drawn some complaints when it was first unveiled last summer, district officials have said, but the questions increased after the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 people dead. Many attendees Thursday worried about the potential for a similar event of that sort, with some asking pointedly about safe areas in the event of a shooting and discussing whether areas the architects considered safe really would be if the shooter were a student and knew about them.
Unified Newspaper Group
The Verona Area School board almost has an agreement with the City of Verona for funding a second road into the new high school site – and nobody seems happy about it. After months of public and hidden negotiation between the board and Common Council over a deal for the city to contribute up to $5 million in exchange for the Sugar Creek Elementary School site, board members reluctantly indicated support Monday for the city’s latest offer, with a few small exceptions. The most significant
holdup Monday during open session – the board later went into further discussion in closed session – was the city’s demand that the school district assume the costs and negotiations with a property owner whose land would be needed to connect the high school site to South Nine Mound Road. The council made that proposal, which includes $4.5 million of payments to the district, at its March 12 meeting, pointing out that if it were required to negotiate with the property owner, it would do so without any leverage. Board members said the city had maintained since last year that it would be the only entity to negotiate with the property owners and didn’t change that position until Jan. 22 of this year, board member Meredith Stier Christensen said. “I actually agree with the city attorney, if we have the
Turn to Road/Page 10
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