From the Wisconsin State Journal's online site:
Update:
A robbery and kidnapping suspect was shot at the UW Credit Union in Monona after the person rammed an approaching police car head on, police said.
The suspect had earlier in the day taken another person hostage and was believed to be withdrawing money from that person’s account while in the drive-through lane, Monona Police Lt. Sara Deuman said.
Deuman would not say if the suspect was shot by a police officer.
The suspect was transported by helicopter to a local hospital, she said. Deuman said the suspect was the only person injured during the incident at the credit union, 200 E. Broadway, Monona.
The alleged kidnapping occurred somewhere in the Madison area, and a gun was found in the suspect’s car, Deuman said.
Police are on the scene of a reported shooting at the drive-up of the UW Credit Union at 200 E. Broadway, Monona.
Monona Police Lt. Sara Deuman said she could not yet confirm whether anyone was injured, but a Med Flight helicopter landed on the scene at about 2:30 p.m.
Police shut down streets in the area around Broadway and the Pier 37 shopping complex, Deuman said.
Don Kelleher said he and his wife were leaving a nearby store about 10 minutes after 2 p.m. when more than a dozen police vehicles swarmed the scene and stopped several vehicles from leaving the parking lot.
“We saw the cops run up to the drive-up windows with their rifles, and they were pointing at something with their rifles,” he said.
Kelleher said he and his wife did not hear any shots fired. They saw police officers escorting another officer who looked like he had been injured away from the credit union, he said.
At about 2:30 p.m. police had yellow warning tape around the scene, and cars were allowed to leave, he said.
The credit union issued a statement about the incident just before 3 p.m. It reads:
“The Monona Police Department is at our Monona UW Credit Union branch responding to an incident that occurred at our drive-up. The Monona branch location has been closed for the day and is expected to reopen tomorrow at regular business hours. We have no additional comments to share at this time.”
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Board of Education Meeting This Wednesday, December 8th.
The Monona Grove Board of Education will meet this Wednesday evening at 7pm in the District Office Board room. The complete agenda for the evening can be found here.
Some highlights:
The Board will hear our district's PMA five-year budget forecast from Bob Borch, as well as an update on our continuous school improvement data and goals.
We anticipate lengthy discussion of the Maywood and Winnequah consolidation and the possible future sale of Nichols School property.
We will also hear more details of and possibly take action on the 2008 district payroll errors resulting in overpayment to staff.
Again, I would like to say thanks for the many generous donations to our schools and students. These gift donations are up for approval in the meeting's consent agenda:
E. Approval of Gift Donations
Fourteen winter coats donated by Cottage Grove Optimist Club to Cottage Grove School
$229.84 donated by Monona Elementary PTO to Winnequah School
$500.00 donated by Sara Steele, to Cottage Grove School for curriculum materials and
student assistance
$1,700.00 donated by Cottage Grove PTO to Glacial Drumlin for 5th Grade
$3,000.00 donated by Cottage Grover PTO to Glacial Drumlin for special requests
$500.00 donated by Bradley & Susan Manning to MGHS Athletic Department to offset attendance costs at the National Athletic Director Conference for John Klements induction into the National Federation of High School’s Hall of Fame.
Some highlights:
The Board will hear our district's PMA five-year budget forecast from Bob Borch, as well as an update on our continuous school improvement data and goals.
We anticipate lengthy discussion of the Maywood and Winnequah consolidation and the possible future sale of Nichols School property.
We will also hear more details of and possibly take action on the 2008 district payroll errors resulting in overpayment to staff.
Again, I would like to say thanks for the many generous donations to our schools and students. These gift donations are up for approval in the meeting's consent agenda:
E. Approval of Gift Donations
Fourteen winter coats donated by Cottage Grove Optimist Club to Cottage Grove School
$229.84 donated by Monona Elementary PTO to Winnequah School
$500.00 donated by Sara Steele, to Cottage Grove School for curriculum materials and
student assistance
$1,700.00 donated by Cottage Grove PTO to Glacial Drumlin for 5th Grade
$3,000.00 donated by Cottage Grover PTO to Glacial Drumlin for special requests
$500.00 donated by Bradley & Susan Manning to MGHS Athletic Department to offset attendance costs at the National Athletic Director Conference for John Klements induction into the National Federation of High School’s Hall of Fame.
Monday, December 6, 2010
An Update From Those Fun-Loving Charter School Folks.
Dear Board Members:
I am a member of the citizen group that is drafting an MG charter middle school planning grant application for submission to DPI. It has been suggested that we provide the Board with brief updates on our activities. Hence, this email. If any of you do not wish to receive this email, let me know, and I will not bother you further.
The Monona Grove School for Health and Environmental Sciences (MG Science for short) will be a public charter school located in vacant space within an MG building. Although the location is ultimately the Board’s decision, our group does have a preference for the Winnequah building. That preference is based on (1) availability of space, (2) no need for renovation, and (3) proximity to outdoor environmental studies locations. However, if the Board decides that some other building makes more sense in the grand scheme of things, we will work with what is available.
MG Science can be attended by any middle school student in our district. It is our belief that the school will neither increase nor decrease total state student aid paid within the district; the school receives the state aid amount per capital for each child who enrolls in the school. The school will provide hands-on science instruction in a small school setting. Science programming can be performed with more flexibility (e.g., a 4-hour lab on a specific day) than is available in the necessarily more regimented big school program at Glacial Drumlin.
The group is currently drafting a planning grant application that must be submitted to DPI. If the grant application is approved, grant funds can be used to, among other things, reimburse a teacher(s) for drafting a detailed curriculum for the school. Drafting leader assignments for portions for the lengthy application are as follows:
BUDGETING/FUNDRAISING: Harvey Potter/Stephanie Ramer, CURRICULUM: Larry Miller/Patti McGinnis, GOVERNANCE/LEGAL: Nancy Gagnon, OUTREACH; Kathy Thomas/Heidi Sigmund, PLANNING: Stephanie Ramer/Mike Meulemans. The draft sections will be done by January, and a submission of the entire draft will be made to the MG School Board in February, 2010.
Of particular interest this week: Nancy Gagnon and Patti McGinnis are meeting with a UW Medical School grant coordinator to discuss possible grant money to supplement the school’s operating budget. UW Medical School has an interest in promoting more in-depth health education. This meeting was arranged by Dr. Jim Shropshire, for which we are grateful.
Regards,
Nancy Gagnon
I am a member of the citizen group that is drafting an MG charter middle school planning grant application for submission to DPI. It has been suggested that we provide the Board with brief updates on our activities. Hence, this email. If any of you do not wish to receive this email, let me know, and I will not bother you further.
The Monona Grove School for Health and Environmental Sciences (MG Science for short) will be a public charter school located in vacant space within an MG building. Although the location is ultimately the Board’s decision, our group does have a preference for the Winnequah building. That preference is based on (1) availability of space, (2) no need for renovation, and (3) proximity to outdoor environmental studies locations. However, if the Board decides that some other building makes more sense in the grand scheme of things, we will work with what is available.
MG Science can be attended by any middle school student in our district. It is our belief that the school will neither increase nor decrease total state student aid paid within the district; the school receives the state aid amount per capital for each child who enrolls in the school. The school will provide hands-on science instruction in a small school setting. Science programming can be performed with more flexibility (e.g., a 4-hour lab on a specific day) than is available in the necessarily more regimented big school program at Glacial Drumlin.
The group is currently drafting a planning grant application that must be submitted to DPI. If the grant application is approved, grant funds can be used to, among other things, reimburse a teacher(s) for drafting a detailed curriculum for the school. Drafting leader assignments for portions for the lengthy application are as follows:
BUDGETING/FUNDRAISING: Harvey Potter/Stephanie Ramer, CURRICULUM: Larry Miller/Patti McGinnis, GOVERNANCE/LEGAL: Nancy Gagnon, OUTREACH; Kathy Thomas/Heidi Sigmund, PLANNING: Stephanie Ramer/Mike Meulemans. The draft sections will be done by January, and a submission of the entire draft will be made to the MG School Board in February, 2010.
Of particular interest this week: Nancy Gagnon and Patti McGinnis are meeting with a UW Medical School grant coordinator to discuss possible grant money to supplement the school’s operating budget. UW Medical School has an interest in promoting more in-depth health education. This meeting was arranged by Dr. Jim Shropshire, for which we are grateful.
Regards,
Nancy Gagnon
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Journal Sentinel Piece On The Milton School District
From http://www.jsonline.com/:
How Milton schools saved a bundle - of your money
Patrick McIlheran
Dec. 1, 2010
Bernie Nikolay should be happy. His school district - he's the superintendent in Milton - had a good November. The girls swim team won the state title, a first for Milton girls athletics. And an arbitrator said the district could switch health coverage away from the insurer owned by the teachers union. That'll save the district as much as a million bucks a year.
For a district with a $33 million budget, that's cheery. For the rest of the state, it means a tide may have turned.
It could mean the end to the costly market dominance of WEA Trust, the health insurer owned by the Wisconsin Education Association Council. Just under two-thirds of Wisconsin districts use WEA Trust, a puzzling preference since its coverage is so costly.
Districts that buy WEA Trust plans average $1,665 a month for family premiums, according to their state association, while those choosing other carriers average $1,466. The difference is greatest where taxpayers cover the whole premium.
Milton was paying $48,301 more in premiums for every month that it couldn't switch from WEA Trust to a pair of plans from Madison-based Dean Health and Janesville-based MercyCare that it said were comparable. The district already had switched its administrative staff, said Nikolay, and while the union objected that the new plans would restrict choices, most teachers already used doctors at Dean or MercyCare clinics, Nikolay noted. "That made it less problematic for a lot of our families."
And it saved a bundle for a district saddled with "bleak local economic conditions," as its arbitration case put it. It is losing students and, thus, state aid. The area is losing population. The district needed to control premiums, and the arbitrator agreed.
Read the rest of the article here.
How Milton schools saved a bundle - of your money
Patrick McIlheran
Dec. 1, 2010
Bernie Nikolay should be happy. His school district - he's the superintendent in Milton - had a good November. The girls swim team won the state title, a first for Milton girls athletics. And an arbitrator said the district could switch health coverage away from the insurer owned by the teachers union. That'll save the district as much as a million bucks a year.
For a district with a $33 million budget, that's cheery. For the rest of the state, it means a tide may have turned.
It could mean the end to the costly market dominance of WEA Trust, the health insurer owned by the Wisconsin Education Association Council. Just under two-thirds of Wisconsin districts use WEA Trust, a puzzling preference since its coverage is so costly.
Districts that buy WEA Trust plans average $1,665 a month for family premiums, according to their state association, while those choosing other carriers average $1,466. The difference is greatest where taxpayers cover the whole premium.
Milton was paying $48,301 more in premiums for every month that it couldn't switch from WEA Trust to a pair of plans from Madison-based Dean Health and Janesville-based MercyCare that it said were comparable. The district already had switched its administrative staff, said Nikolay, and while the union objected that the new plans would restrict choices, most teachers already used doctors at Dean or MercyCare clinics, Nikolay noted. "That made it less problematic for a lot of our families."
And it saved a bundle for a district saddled with "bleak local economic conditions," as its arbitration case put it. It is losing students and, thus, state aid. The area is losing population. The district needed to control premiums, and the arbitrator agreed.
Read the rest of the article here.
Stuff Yourself Silly On Pancakes With Santa
Pancake Breakfast with Santa
Date: Sat - 12/11/2010
Location: Monona Community Center - Senior Center
Join the Monona Grove Optimist Club for the 3rd Annual Pancake Breakfast with Santa on Saturday December 11, 2010 from 8 am - 10 am at the Monona Community Center. All you can eat pancakes! There will also be sausages, apple sauce, milk, orange juice, and coffee.
There will be a coloring contest for the kids and an opportunity to get your picture taken with Santa!
Cost is $5 per person, $2.50 for children ages 3-10, 2 & under are free
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Where Anonymity Breeds Contempt
From the New York Times:
By JULIE ZHUO
Times Topic: Social Networking
Trolling, defined as the act of posting inflammatory, derogatory or provocative messages in public forums, is a problem as old as the Internet itself, although its roots go much farther back. Even in the fourth century B.C., Plato touched upon the subject of anonymity and morality in his parable of the ring of Gyges.
That mythical ring gave its owner the power of invisibility, and Plato observed that even a habitually just man who possessed such a ring would become a thief, knowing that he couldn’t be caught. Morality, Plato argues, comes from full disclosure; without accountability for our actions we would all behave unjustly.
The rest of the article can be found here.
Thoughts?
By JULIE ZHUO
Times Topic: Social Networking
THERE you are, peacefully reading an article or watching a video on the Internet. You finish, find it thought-provoking, and scroll down to the comments section to see what other people thought. And there, lurking among dozens of well-intentioned opinions, is a troll.
“How much longer is the media going to milk this beyond tired story?” “These guys are frauds.” “Your idiocy is disturbing.” “We’re just trying to make the world a better place one brainwashed, ignorant idiot at a time.” These are the trollish comments, all from anonymous sources, that you could have found after reading a CNN article on the rescue of the Chilean miners.
Trolling, defined as the act of posting inflammatory, derogatory or provocative messages in public forums, is a problem as old as the Internet itself, although its roots go much farther back. Even in the fourth century B.C., Plato touched upon the subject of anonymity and morality in his parable of the ring of Gyges.
That mythical ring gave its owner the power of invisibility, and Plato observed that even a habitually just man who possessed such a ring would become a thief, knowing that he couldn’t be caught. Morality, Plato argues, comes from full disclosure; without accountability for our actions we would all behave unjustly.
The rest of the article can be found here.
Thoughts?
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