As a correspondent for the Mount Horeb Mail from May-September 2008, I averaged an article per issue, with photograph. My work usually appeared on the front page of this weekly paid-subscription newspaper. While I accepted assignments, I usually pitched the articles I wrote.

Three votes decide controversial bus fee
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SOLD
Daycare purchases Ridgeview building
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Three votes decide controversial bus fee  dowload word .doc
Michele Kraft
Correspondent

Beginning this fall, students who live within a two-mile radius of their school will be charged a $25 fee for the academic year to ride the bus to school.

A resolution passed in a 21-18 vote at the Mount Horeb Area School District's annual meeting on Monday, Aug. 4, will allow the district to charge students the new fee.

In past years, the school board has sought to pass resolutions that would rescind the district's long-held busing policy, which provided transportation to all students residing more than a quarter mile from their school. The vast majority of Wisconsin school districts do not bus within the state mandated two-mile radius of schools. The transportation of these students is not covered by state aid.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's web site (http://dpi.wi.gov) states: "...districts that choose to transport pupils who live less than two miles from school may not claim state transportation aid for the transportation of such pupils unless the route they would have to walk to reach the school includes a designated unusually hazardous transportation (UHT) area" and "aid is paid at a per pupil rate based on distance and days enrolled."

State policy allows school districts to charge for transportation provided within the two-mile radius not subsidized by the state.

According to Superintendent Dr. Wayne Anderson, the Mount Horeb Area School District is one of very few districts that bus students within the two-mile radius.

"I don't know of any [other school districts] in the area that don't have the two miles set [as the transportation limit]," Anderson said. "For them, if it's farther than two miles, they transport. If it's less than two miles, they don't transport. Our district was at two miles and, at first, [expanding the routes] was just for the very young children. Then it was expanded to be what the policy was up until Monday night."

Strongly held concerns about the safety of children walking to school as well as increasing traffic congestion were voiced at the meeting. The implication that parents would not pay the $25 and force their children to walk to school held weight with some.

Chris Mealy, a resident of Mount Horeb, sought to underscore pedestrian safety issues by presenting the obituary of a three-year-old child. The child's death was the result of being struck by an automobile on Second Street and Garfield Street, an accident that occurred approximately 39 years ago.

Opinions were voiced about health concerns, questioning why students with obesity problems were not walking to school. Others felt that the $25 fee was a bargain, especially when compared with the $125 per semester fee charged in Madison.

Some citizens expressed strong opposition to the fee, believing that they were being unfairly penalized by having to pay $25 for their unfunded transportation needs.

Others felt that the roundabouts created extremely hazardous conditions for all pedestrians, noting that they and other adults had narrowly missed being struck by vehicles speeding through the roundabouts. Congestion, speeding by parents after they drop off their children and a lack of a sufficient number of crossing guards were other objections raised.

Anderson explained that because gas prices had been so low in the past and because the district owns its own buses, it had been easy to provide transportation for students in town. Buses often passed through the village after picking up out of town students and there were empty seats available at that time.

There was a gradual transition to providing full transportation for children within the two-mile radius. After it was decided to pick up the younger children, it seemed reasonable to pick up older children as well.

"As the school district kept growing," Anderson continued, "it put larger and larger pressure than it did when we were much smaller. We don't have any empty buses and now we have several routes that only pick up in town, which we wouldn't have if we hadn't offered to pick up in town."

If a student resides within a designated hazardous area or receives free or reduced lunch, they will not be charged for busing under the new policy. Families will be charged no more than $50 per year, regardless of how many children are riding the bus. Parents will be informed by mail and have until Monday, Sept 8, to purchase their bus pass for the year.

"If the public wants to recommend some type of change," Anderson said, "they have the opportunity to do this each year at the annual meeting. The public makes this decision. This isn't one that the school board makes. This is one where the public will actually vote each year. They will vote to keep the policy the same, or they will vote to make a change."

The next annual meeting will occur on the first Monday in August 2009.

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SOLD
Daycare purchases Ridgeview building
$525,000 sale price exceeds assessed, appraised values

Michele Kraft
Correspondent

Amidst concerns the school board would not get a fair price for the property at 8900 Ridgeview Road without the aid of a real estate professional, the school board finalized a deal a few short months after advertising the property in local papers.

After a negotiation process that included an estimated ten offers and counteroffers from both parties, the board agreed to sell the property to Hearts and Hands Children's Center for $525,000.

The decision came during an executive session of the regular school board meeting on August 4. The sale will be finalized at the closing, scheduled for January 2009. In the meantime, Hearts and Hands, the purchasers of the property, will continue leasing from the school district. According to Superintendent Dr. Wayne Anderson, Hearts and Hands will be responsible for any needed repairs should anything happen to the property in the interim.

"They take responsibility for the roof, the septic and those other issues," Anderson said, "so if something were to go, they've accepted those potential liabilities."

Though the school board handled negotiations, an attorney will handle the legal aspects of the transaction.

"The building itself needed a great deal of work," Anderson said. "If we were to use it as an educational facility again, we would have had to put on a new roof, put in new windows, do some work with the well and the septic system."

Anderson stated that the property does not fit into any of the projected school district plans for the next 20 years.

"It's not big enough to build even an elementary school on it without buying more property around it," Anderson said.

Hearts and Hands Children's Center, owned by Julie Hamm and Patrick Burke, has been renting the property for nearly four years and has been asking to purchase it from the district for the last two years.

They were not the only party interested in purchasing, and serious negotiations could not begin until the board was granted permission to sell at last year's annual meeting.

"We're very excited about the opportunity to be out here," Hamm said. "It's a wonderful site for a childcare center. For us, it's perfect. The soccer groups meet out here and there are other groups that use it.

"I'm not going to say it doesn't need any work at all, because we're well aware of that, but it's stuff that can be done," Hamm continued. "The space itself, the layout, is really nice for us. This was going to be a transitional place for us. After we were here for the first six months we'd planned to be here, it was the best option for us to stay. We didn't intend to stay, but we're happy it was excess for the school and they didn't need it anymore."

Built in the 1960s, the building became obsolete when the district began offering full-day kindergarten. As a half-day kindergarten schoolhouse, it was a viable site but the six classrooms and space for 150 students meant it was too small to accommodate a full class size all day. It was last used for half-day kindergarten classes in 2001.

Photo by Michele Kraft

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