Verona Press The
Thursday, November 21, 2019 • Vol. 55, No. 27 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.25
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‘Without exception’
Verona Area School District
Same-sex marriages part of Verona church’s conversion to LGBT friendliness NEAL PATTEN Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
From left, artist Mark Jones and Stoner Prairie third graders Madilyn Moody and Kemba Hamoonga take pictures for their movie during a work session with stop motion animation on Thursday, Nov. 14.
Animal animation Stoner Prairie students learn the art of stop motion
Unified Newspaper Group
On the morning of Thursday, Nov. 14, a group of Stoner Prairie Elementary School third grade students made squirrels lift acorns over their heads, and get dizzy as their eyes swirled around.
But no animals were actually harmed in the process – the students were working with animated squirrel characters they created in Tina Christenson’s art class. All grades of Stoner Prairie students are creating a film with traveling artist Mark Jones, and plan to show it for the first time to the
students at an all-school assembly next month, and to the public at the school’s Paint Night and Innovation Fair events in February. The project is funded by the Parent Teacher Organization’s Visiting Artist Program, who held a family Paint
Turn to Animation/Page 14
City of Verona
Fire chief search starts over Commission rejects both finalists; new applications due Dec. 1 JUSTIN LOEWEN Press correspondent
Neither Jeffrey Pricher nor Ralph Webster will be Verona’s next fire chief. The city’s Police and Fire Commission decided Nov. 12 to turn down the two fire chief finalists, both of whom had given public presentations at the fire department Oct. 17. The city has reposted the job position
and will accept applications through Sund a y, D e c . 1 , c i t y human resources coordinator Mitch Weckerly wrote in an email to the Press. The position has remained vacant since Pricher Joe Giver left the role Sept. 27. He will remain on paid leave until his official Jan. 2 retirement date. Giver, who became Verona’s first full-time fire chief in 2011, said at an Aug. 1 PFC meeting he would be available for emergencies. Daniel Machotka, the department’s The
Verona Press
deputy chief of supportive services, will continue to serve as the officer in charge until a new chief is hired. Pricher has been a division chief for the Scappoose Fire DisWebster trict since 2012 and last served as a fire chief in 2011 with the Cascade Locks Fire and EMS, both in the state of Oregon. Webster retired in 2016 as fire chief with the Woodstock Fire and Rescue District in Illinois and is serving as a flight attendant with Delta Airlines.
Turn to LGBT/Page 11
DPI: District ‘exceeds expectations’ in 2018-19 Achievement gaps persist between students of color, white peers KIMBERLY WETHAL Unified Newspaper Group
Verona Area School District has been deemed to “exceed expectations” set by the state Department of Public Instruction. The distinction, given out based on the 2018-19 academic year, is higher than what the district has earned the two prior years
when it rated as “meets expectations.” The district improved significantly over the 2017-18 year in the areas of closing gaps between students and growth in student knowledge. Almost all of the school sites in the district also meet or exceed expectations, with the exception of Badger Ridge Middle School, which remains in the same “meets few expectations” category it’s been in, though with a better score this year. None of the district’s schools failed to meet state
Turn to Report/Page 15
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KIMBERLY WETHAL
Last month, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church began to provide same-sex marriages for the first time in its 62-year history. That’s a result of a process the church began in March 2017 called “Reconciling in Christ,” aimed at better defining how it can serve its LGBT members. Other changes include a new welcome statement, installation of a gender-neutral bathroom and use of more gender-neutral language during worship services. “We now say ‘siblings in Christ’ instead of ‘brothers and sisters in Christ,’ Enstad said. When the Reconciling process started, members of Good Shepherd, which has campuses in both southwest Madison and Verona, had been asking church
leadership for a couple of years about who specifically was welcome into the church, adult faith formation pastor Dara Schuller-Hanson told the Press. Some congregants, Schuller-Hanson explained, had family members who are a part of the LGBT community. “They wanted to know, when we say we welcome all, do we really mean every one and all?” she said. “What does it mean to be welcoming in a world that people don’t always feel is welcoming?” Now, with the adoption Sept. 29 of its welcome statement, that’s clear. The words “without exception” are prominent, and it makes explicit references to gender identity and sexual orientation. “ We i nv i t e y o u t o a community where we all belong,” it says in part. “You belong here with your whole self.” The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the national denomination to which Good Shepherd