Thursday, July 18, 2019 • Vol. 55, No. 9 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.25
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Verona Press The
Verona Area School District
Boundary decision next week Board aims to approve at July 23 meeting
If you go
SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
Mother-daughter duo Terry and Alyssa Dvorak stand in front of the Verona Area Community Theater building. The two have taken on several leadership roles within the organization. Terry was the person who signed on to lead the first children’s program for the organization in 2004 and started the teen program five years later.
A family affair Dvoraks’ time, talents help drive VACT’s growth KIMBERLY WETHAL Unified Newspaper Group
Terry Dvorak doesn’t like working on Verona Area Community Theater shows without her daughter Alyssa. When Alyssa went on a three-week sabbatical earlier this year, “it broke my heart,” Terry, who is a board member, director and producer, said. Luckily for Terry, Alyssa loves working with the woman she considers her best friend.
“She is the one that gave me my start and she is the one that has supported me non-stop,” Alyssa said. “Working with her is just fun.” The mother-daughter pair have been taking on volunteer leadership roles with VACT for 15 years, serving on the nonprofit’s board of directors, directing and producing shows or in Alyssa’s case, choreographing at the age of 11. Dee Baldock, who founded VACT in 1992, said the Dvoraks have played a “pivotal role” in VACT’s growth over
the years. “If they were to disappear, I think we’d have a hard time figuring out how to take their place,” she said. Terry got involved in VACT when her children became old enough to start participating, and as a stay-athome mom, she stuck around because she’d loved theater throughout her life. “It was an easy sell, let’s put it that way,” she said. “There is just
Turn to VACT/Page 10
Verona Rotarian receives Paul Harris Fellow designation Honor one of the ‘highest’ at international level EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
The Fitchburg-Verona Rotary Club presented seven of its 18 members one of the “highest (awards) a Rotarian can obtain at the
international level” last month. Verona resident Amanda Pun, a past treasurer of the club, was among the recipients of the Paul Harris award Tuesday, June 25. Paul Harris was a Chicago attorney best known for founding Rotary International in 1905, according to the Rotary International website. The Paul Harris Fellow program recognizes The
Verona Press
individuals who contribute $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation or Rotary International. The website states the honor was established in 1957 to show appreciation for the funds that help support the Rotary’s Annual Fund, PolioPlus or any approved Foundation grants. Six members were already recognized as Paul
Harris fellows prior to June 25, giving the club 13 of its 18 members recognized, past president Eric Gormanson told the Press. Pun is among the pool of recipients recognized for their contributions to the club and for their services to the community. She and the six other members received their distinctions
Turn to Fellow/Page 5
Elementary attendance boundaries for fall 2020 and beyond could be approved as soon as next week. At their last meeting, Verona Area school board members signaled their intention to set those new boundaries at the Tuesday, July 23, meeting. The upcoming changes are a result of a new high school being built, and the only remaining option they’ve discussed adjusting – Option E – would plan for another referendum to build a new elementary school within about five years. “We are getting to a point where we are going to need to be making a decision,” board vice president Meredith Stier Christensen said to begin the Wednesday, July 10, meeting. “A lot of decisions are really hinging on our elementary decision.” That decision is not expected to include whether the plan will allow grandfathering – allowing some students to stay at their current schools. That is still under consideration, and other considerations that will follow include busing changes, school start times and middle school boundaries. The decision will come almost exactly one year after the board approved a “charge” to the Attendance Area Advisory Committee last July 30. That committee met 10 times between October 2018 and April 2019 to discuss options created by consultant Mark Roffers and eventually
What: Verona Area school board meeting When: 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 23 Where: District office, 700 N. Main St. Info: verona.k12.wi.us
forward recommendations to the board. Those recommendations were Options A1, D and E. Option D, which would have had Sugar Creek and Country View elementaries pair with one housing grades K-2 and the other 3-5, was dismissed first. That left A1 and E, which were generally similar, but had some differences in diversity statistics and the population growth at each of the four attendance area elementary schools. Board members elected to use Option E as a base plan moving forward, and they spent the July 10 meeting suggesting neighborhood swaps to iron out some of their remaining concerns. They pointed out that while Option E was considered the one that most directly planned for another referendum for a new elementary school, all of the options would’ve required a referendum sometime in the 2020s. “It’s clear that none of them avoid the need to have a fifth elementary school,” said board member Kristina Navarro-Haffner. “It would be a misconception to think we could pick an option that would make it less necessary.” The boundaries will go into effect for fall 2020 when the new high school opens. At that time, Badger
Turn to Boundary/Page 7
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