Verona Press The
Thursday, December 21, 2017 • Vol. 53, No. 31 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1
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2018 spring election
VAHS waiver OK’d
Beres runs for mayor Former school board president joins Ald. Luke Diaz in race
Will allow school to function like EA
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Turn to Waiver/Page 15
Photo by Helu Wang
Stoner Prairie Elementary School fifth-grader Evan Gormley, 10, promotes his mini guitar at the economic bazaar.
Early economics Stoner Prairie Elementary School and Country View Elementary School held their annual economics bazaars last week. The bazaars, part of the fifth-graders’ social studies class, provide students with the opportunity to run their own businesses. Students prepared for about a month, starting by designing products like magnets, bracelets and bookmarks, testing prototypes and conducting a market survey. They learned about economic terminologies, including money, supply and demand. Melissa Caithamer, a fifth-grade teacher at Stoner Prairie Elementary School, said the bazaar is open to students from the entire school, about 450 potential customers who made The
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their way through the gym. “It’s a good time for them to buy holiday gifts for their families,” Caithamer said. The economics bazaar has been a tradition of Country View Elementary School for around 30 years, and included about 75 fifth-graders this year. CV fifth-grade teacher Dave Messmann said the bazaar allows students to apply economic theories in real life and appreciate their parents’ hard work. The students will pay for labor and product costs with their earnings and donate the rest to charity organizations such as a food pantry, church or the Boys and Girls Club. – Helu Wang
Turn to Beres/Page 15
Pool remains without a home County staff nix Badger Prairie site JIM FEROLIE Verona Press editor
If the city remains intent on building an outdoor pool, it will need to be somewhere other than the 12 sites it originally contemplated. What had been the last remaining option, next to the library in Badger Prairie County Park, has not gotten
the county’s support, multiple city officials told the Press this month. That means the Parks Commission is done discussing it until the Common Council offers more direction, parks director Dave Walker told the Press this week. “The (commission) is not in favor of displacing the existing facilities at Veteran’s or Community Park to make space for a pool,”
Turn to Pool/Page 15
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Verona Area High School students will soon have the opportunity to try out project-based learning like Exploration Academy students have for years. The school district received word last week that the state Department of Public Instruction approved a waiver request that will exempt students from certain state requirements to allow flexibility in how they demonstrate their learning. “We were really excited,” district director of curriculum and instruction Ann Franke told the Press. “What that’s going to look like and how we move that forward is going to be the work (ahead), but knowing we have that capability for students and families that are interested is great.” It could mean some students will soon immerse themselves into an EA-style c u r r i c u l u m t o va r i o u s degrees. It could also mean EA students eventually being brought into VAHS and the end of the charter school. The granting of the waiver after only a month could play a significant role in a decision on the future of the school’s charter agreement, with a deadline looming early next year. EA opened in the 2013-14 school year with similar exemptions from state requirements, allowing students to demonstrate their learning through projects with advisers to guide them rather than the traditional classroom model. T h e s c h o o l ’s c h a r t e r agreement ends in July, so continuing would require
The City of Verona will have a contested race for mayor next year. Fo r m e r Ve r o n a A r e a School board president Dennis Beres, who served on the board for 15 years until stepp i n g d ow n in April, told the Press he Beres has begun circulating nomination papers. Ald. Luke Diaz (Dist. 3) announced in early November that he would run for the office, and Mayor Jon Hochkammer surprised many by announcing earlier this month he would not run for re-election. Beres, who had told the Press earlier this month he was considering a run, said Monday he continued to hear from people who supported his candidacy. “When people are asking you to do it, it makes you really want to look at it hard,” Beres said. “I can do some good if I can do it
the way we tried to do the school board, with more outside (meeting) agendas and work with the community.” The retired financial planner said if elected, he would mostly focus on “continuing the good work that’s come before,” praising the “two really good mayors in a row” the city has had. “We’ve had a lot of foresight go into the economic development in this town,” he said. The race will be the first contested one for the mayor’s office since 2014, when Hochkammer beat challenger Chad Kemp, 1,466-1,180. If any other candidates declare for the race, a Feb. 20 primary election would narrow the field to two candidates. The general election will be April 3. Diaz, Beres and any other candidates must turn in the required number of signatures by Jan. 2 at 5 p.m. to the city clerk. While acknowledging city government likely has “a different culture” and operations from that of the school board, Beres said he would seek out advice from Hochkammer and is familiar with administrator Jeff Mikorski from his