Spring Green, Wisconsin
Thursday, May 15, 2025 | Vol. 6, No. 8 FREE, Single-Copy
Inside this edition
The Village of Arena selects a new president
REVIEW: Wisconsin’s Justin Vernon/Bon Iver’s new album
Best of the River Valley: 2025 nominations open!
Pages 1, 5
Page 3
Page 4
Village of Arena Board elects Paul Pustina as Village President, continues post election clean-up Board continuing with forensic audits while increasing village transparency, tables ordinance that would include residents on committees Luukas Palm-Leis, Reporter The Village of Arena recently held two meetings — a special meeting on April 28, where the board hired temporary clerks and reopened the village hall to the public, and one regular meeting on May 6 where the board elected a new village president and trustee to fill vacant seats.
April 28 meeting
Temporary clerk/treasurers President pro tempore and Acting Village President Steve Wilkinson introduced Robin Meyer, who is a licenced CPA and offers consulting for municipalities, and Susan Strang, who has 30 years experience and has experience with payroll systems, as two candidates to offer temporary clerk services
Photo by Luukas Palm-Leis, Reporter The fully-constituted new Village of Arena Board of Trustee sat on May 6. Trustees, from left, Ted Strang, Joe Hipsky, Don Helt, Steve Wilkinson, Temporary Clerk Robin Meyer, Village President Paul Pustina, Trustees BeccaRaven Uminowicz and Matthew Schroeder. to the village — following the resignation of former clerk in April. Wilkinson motioned for the village to hire
Meyer and Strang for $35 an hour for 12 hours per week individually, contingent on passing a background check. The motion
passed with Trustees Matthew Schroeder and Joe Hipsky voting against. Trustee BeccaRaven Uminowicz, who had been delegated to contract for external accounting service, told the board that she had been in contact with Clifton Larson Allen for temporary accounting and bookkeeping services. Uminowicz reported that the firm would charge the village $115 per hour plus a 5% support fee and work for 1620 hours per week for the village. The board did not have to take action as this spending had been authorized at the April 15 special meeting. Forensic audit and office security Uminowicz reported an update on the forensic audit from Digital Forensics. The updated cost from the company was $8,000 total for both audits. Wilkinson noted the paperwork was ready to be signed and payment would be transferred to begin the pro-
continued on page 5
River Valley School Board approves maintenance projects, suspends anti-discrimination policy amid Title IX changes Luukas Palm-Leis, Reporter At the April 10 regular meeting of the River Valley School District Board of Education, the board accepted the resignation and retirement of three teachers, approved summer maintenance projects and suspended a harassment and discrimination policy. Suspension of Policy 413 Gender-Based Harassment and Discrimination The board discussed and approved the suspension of district policy 413 Gender-Based Harassment and Discrimination. This policy provides protections for students who identify as LGBTQ+. It also acts to prohibit affected students from harassment, bullying or unlawful discrimination. According to Superintendent Loren Glasbrenner, the federal Department of Education made a certification of compliance directive through the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction for new Title IX leg-
islation. The compliance directive requires every district to sign and certify the new federal administration’s interpretation of Title IX or risk losing all federal funding to the district, and is the reason the school board discussed suspension of its related policy. Title IX acts to prohibit any type of sexbased discrimination in educational facilities or programs that receive funding from the federal government. Board President Kathy Jennings noted that the suspension of this policy was informed by the district’s legal counsel and was being made to ensure compliance with directives from the Department of Education. “I don’t think there’s anyone on this board that really loves that we are making these decisions because of the reason that we have to. I am thinking of all of the families that this is going to impact,” Kiley Cates,
school board member, said. “I also want to recognize the emotional and psychological aspect to this, to our kids and our families. I just want to say as a school board member I personally see you guys and feel you guys, and I am really sorry that this is where we are today, because this isn’t what we are as school board members.” Board member Sara Carstensen added, “Our district is not changing how we handle any of these students or families. This is strictly suspending a policy to be in-line with federal requirements. None of our operations are going to change, we assure you that.” The board approved suspending the policy, with all members in favor, except Sara Young, who opposed. Election results The results of the April 1 election were reviewed by the board. Running unopposed,
in Area 3, Jeff Maier won with 3,330 votes, and in Area 9 John Bettinger won with 3,332 votes. In Area 6, Emily Beck won her election with 2,117 votes against opponent Jess Heisl, who had 1,467 votes. The District’s operational referendum passed, with 2,275 votes for yes and 2,238 votes for no. Summer maintenance projects The board discussed the upcoming summer maintenance and project list for the district’s buildings. Brian Krey, business manager, reported from the Buildings and Grounds Committee to the board on these projects. Many of these projects are related to the district’s reconfiguration due to the Early Learning Center closure and also include numerous mechanical, plumbing, electrical and communications systems upgrades.
continued on page 10