Thursday, August 30, 2018 • Vol. 54, No. 15 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.25
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Verona Press The
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New VAHS
Road talks center on Woods swap Mayor: Paoli Street option could lower cost ‘significantly’
416 E. Verona Ave
Verona Area School District
Inside Council discusses Fitch-Rona EMS report
Verona Press editor
Page 7 The cost of an access road to the new high school could come down to how Backyard chicken much of Stewart’s Woods ordinance to get the Verona Area School hearing District is willing to give up. After a 40-minute closed Page 13 session Monday, Verona Mayor Luke Diaz conNew alder, council firmed to the Press recent president negotiations have partially been over a land swap that Page 14 would lower the cost of land acquisition “significantly.” District officials have fields and a warm-water said if the cost of the road is pool and that they need too high, they might have to to decide in the next few scrap plans for artificial turf Turn to Road/Page 7 on the football and soccer
City of Verona
Four-floor Commons, winding Coves get review JIM FEROLIE Verona Press editor
Two of the biggest proposed projects in the City of Verona are back in front of the Plan Commission next week, with significant changes. Sugar Creek Commons – a massive undertaking that would combine 10 separate parcels and use several million dollars in taxpayer financing to rebuild a 7-acre area of West Verona Avenue with apartments, retail shops and a hotel – would add a fourth floor to its apartments and 29 units for “financial viability.” And Whispering Coves
– a 200-acre mostly residential subdivision on the city’s north side – is back with a response to concerns about its unusual configuration, filled with winding roads, small-lot “villas” and a long, thin strip of parkland instead of traditional neighborhood parks. Both of the projects are primarily driven by Verona-based Forward Development Group, which is responsible for the senior facility on Main Street that has been approved but not started. The commission will review the projects at its
Turn to Plan/Page 5 The
Verona Press
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
Jonathan Perez, a Badger Ridge Middle School seventh grader, grabs glue sticks from a box while collecting school supplies with Mayra Vargas and Gerardo Mixquitl during the district’s school supply giveaway on Monday, Aug. 27.
Gearing up for 2018-19 School year will feature big picture, day-to-day changes SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
The last few years have featured plenty of changes in the Verona Area School District. They’ve created excitement and anticipation – the approval and design of the new high school – along with conflict and concern – the behavior initiatives sparked large turnout to board meetings in 2015. And the district won’t slow down in 2018-19, with plenty more for parents to watch this year, with effects both inside school buildings and at a
broader level. Inside school buildings, the most noticeable change for the upcoming year will likely be the middle school grading system, which will be the same at both Badger Ridge and Savanna Oaks for the first time in five years. Close behind will be the new personalized learning plans, in place for every student for the first time this year after years of work toward the student profiles that will make them up.
Turn to Back to school/Page 8
Things to watch In-school 1. Middle school grading 2. Personalized Learning Plans 3. SP, BRMS, VAHS admin changes 4. Student services reorganization
Big picture 1. Attendance area planning 2. Strategic plan implementation 3. Language programs future
‘Science, culture and fun’ in Costa Rica VAHS students, teacher spend 10 days on research trip SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Summer school doesn’t have to be a drag – especially when it’s in Costa Rica. That’s what 10 Verona
Area High School students and science teacher Angie Midthun-Hensen learned earlier this month when they traveled south for a trip heavy on research on wildlife and adventure. And lots and lots of ants. “Even the ‘fun’ excursions had a learning component,” Midthun-Hensen wrote to the Press in an email. “There was a nice balance of science, culture
On the Web Read the daily blog posts from teacher Angie Midthun-Hensen about the Costa Rica trip:
wildcatsincostarica.blogspot.com
and fun.” Midthun-Hensen “adamant The trip was created after about getting this oppora VAHS student went with tunity for our school.” The a group from Minnesota Turn to Trip/Page 16 last year and came back to
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