Spring Green, Wisconsin
Thursday, June 27, 2024 | Vol. 5, No. 13 FREE, Single-Copy
Inside this edition
Spring Green Arts & Crafts Fair map
Community Calendar: Fireworks, parades & live music
Town of Buena Vista: Open Meetings Law Violations
Page 8
Pages 6, 7, 9
Pages 2, 3, 4, 5
Nicholas Botterman selected as 2024 Spring Green Musician in Residence PLAYLIST STREAMING NOW
Sh*tty Barn 2024 Season Preview Sh*tty Barn Sessions
PLAYLIST STREAMING NOW
Kim Nolet, Contributed The Spring Green Musician in Residence program has selected Fox Valley area musician Nicholas Botterman as the 2024 Spring Green Musician in Residence. Botterman is the lead singer and drummer for Traveling Suitcase, a band known for their energetic indie rock shows with strong elements of funk and blues. While the band was formed more than a decade ago, there have been some significant changes along the way, and they’ve emerged with a new sound and new ambition. The band is building a label serving musicians who can’t find their fit elsewhere, and if you pick up one of their t-shirts, they’ve probably printed and dyed it themselves. The need to focus on the business side of their band, along with having over 20 demos to refine, means Botterman will
Photo via the Spring Green Musician in Residence Program Nicholas Botterman, second from right, lead singer and drummer for band Traveling Suitcase, pictured here, is the 2024 Spring Green Musician in Residence. be making the most of the Residency.
The Residency takes place September
8th-21st. Opportunities to see and engage with Nicholas during his time in Spring Green will be announced via the Residency website https:// musicresidency.wixsite.com/residency and social media. Traveling Suitcase will be performing their Residency finale show at the Shitty Barn on Friday, September 20th. Tickets on sale July 1st at shittybarnsessions. com. The Spring Green Musician in Residence Program is celebrating seven years of supporting professional music creation. The 2024 season is supported by a grant from the Sauk County Extension Education, Arts, & Culture Committee and Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as area music fans and The Shitty Barn.
River Valley School Board holds last 2023-2024 school year meeting, hears year-end reports Luukas Palm-Leis, Editorial Intern The River Valley School Board met June 13 for the final meeting of the 2023-2024 school year. The board reviewed reports for health services and school safety, approved hiring decisions and discussed an application for a FEMA grant. Total enrollment for River Valley School District at the end of the 2023-24 school year was 1088 students. For the 2024-25 school year, the district is expecting incoming open enrollment for the district of 4 students and outgoing of 18.
Health and safety
The board reviewed its annual health services report, which provides data type and amount of medical interventions in the district. The report recorded 21,382 nurse's office visits for the 2023-
2024 school year, across all facilities in the district. The report included a breakdown of the purpose of visits, including infectious disease tracking, asneeded medication and daily medication distribution, visits for diabetic students, allergies, and various other categories. School Nurse Brittiney Belche noted that for the coming school year, the nurse’s office will expand its as-needed medication program to include cough drops, triple-antibiotic ointment and bug spray. The district is also implementing NARCAN training. The board voted to reappoint Dr. Masaru Furukawa of the River Valley Medical Center as district medical advisor. Jaime Hegland, the activities and academic services director, provided a recap of the district’s annual safety and security report for the board. Hegland
updated board members on changes in processes and training, including changing to the “I Love U Guys” response protocol, and changes in the structure of monthly emergency drills. “This was just a really challenging end of the year, obviously with what transpired in Mount Horeb,” Hegland said. “I felt like we weren’t probably as consistent as we needed to be, but we have a really nice plan, I think.” The board reviewed the lockdown drill reports, which included an evaluation of all four of the district’s schools. Each report notes good responses from both students and staff for each school. The reports also note some deficiencies, such as issues with select door locking pins in certain buildings, as well as certain areas in the ELC and Elementary school being difficult to secure due to building layouts or staffing.
The district plans to drill and clean pin holes to resolve the issues with locking pins. The ELC and Elementary schools are working to have students and staff quickly move to more easily secured areas to avoid having to secure the entire building.
Hirings, resignations & retirements
The board accepted the retirement of Heidi Radel, the high school business education teacher and accepted resignations of Brianne Johnsrud, a high school special education teacher and Marcia Fritz, a middle school special education teacher. The board approved the hiring of four new teachers — Alexis Lewis, a River Valley alumni, will be stepping into a first-grade classroom replacing Andrea
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