Style Show planned for this Saturday
The Prairie du Chien Area Chamber of Commerce will present a Spring Style Show and Brunch Saturday, March 9, at Huckleberry’s Banquet Facilities in Prairie du Chien. The brunch will begin at 10 a.m. followed by the style show from 10:30-11:30. The style show will provide a glimpse of what is available in the Prairie du Chien area for recreation, work and everyday wear, in addition to items for special occasions, such as Easter, Mother’s Day, graduation, formal events, golf outings, gardening and more. Models for the event will be provided by the Mississippi Blackhawks Water Ski Show Team, Curves for Women, Catholic Charities and other volunteers. Area businesses are busy selecting merchandise and writing narratives to showcase a variety of styles. Advance tickets are available at a discounted price. They may be purchased at the Chamber of Commerce and from these participating businesses: Cabela’s, Curves for Women, Kozelka’s Men’s Wear & Western/Work Wear, L. A. Fashions, The Pickett Fence, and Sports World. Other Chamber affiliated businesses/organizations participating in the Spring Style Show include: Mary Kay Cosmetics, Hare Magic, Nelson True Value, Ports of Discovery and Town & Country Jamboree. The menu includes cheesy egg bake, ham slices, bakery platter, fresh fruit tray, yogurt, juice and coffee. A special packet of coupons will be presented to everyone in attendance.

PdC School District reduces staff by nine
Four teachers, one management person, one employee through CESA 3, and three school district consultants have been terminated as part of a staff reduction at the Prairie du Chien School District. In addition, two teachers have been reduced from full-time to half-time. The staff reduction came following a closed session at a special school board meeting Tuesday evening. Prairie du Chien District Administrator Jim O’Meara said that the district’s legal counsel has advised not to release the names of the staff involved in the reduction. The staff reduction was undertaken because of uncertainty over the district’s financial situation due to the state’s $1.1 billion deficit, said O’Meara. What the state legislature decides to do about the deficit would affect the amount of state aid the district receives. Governor Scott McCallum’s plan, if adopted, would be by far the most favorable as far as the school district is concerned, O’Meara said. Under the governor’s plan, school districts would receive $210 per student in state aid, down from $236 per student this year. This would be a reduction of $24,927 for the Prairie du Chien School District. A Republican plan would freeze the state aid at last year’s rate, which would mean a reduction of $152,490 plus raises for the Prairie du Chien district. The worst-case plan as far as the district is concerned would involve a reduction of 7 to 11 percent of state aid funding across the board, O’Meara said. A reduction of 11 percent would amount to a reduction of $646,000 for Prairie du Chien. The Prairie du Chien School District received state aid of $6.6 million in 2002. In reducing the staff, O’Meara said that the board considered the possibility of a worst-case scenario of a 9 percent reduction in state aid. By reducing the staff, along with adopting a line item budget cut of 25 percent, the district will save $550,000, O’Meara said. The district’s total budget is $12.8 million. O’Meara said that if the governor’s plan is adopted by the state legislature, each position that was terminated by the district will be looked at separately for consideration of possibly hiring the person back. Feb. 28 was the last day the district could make a reduction of its professional staff. May 15 would be the last day that the district could reduce the non-certified staff, O’Meara said. In a related matter, the mediation involving a new contract for the teachers has been rejected by the teacher’s union. O’Meara said that because of the rejection, the district has now offered a Quality Economic Offer (QEO), which, under state law, the teachers must accept. The QEO process must go through several steps, but the teachers will most likely be receiving the state standard raise of 3.8 percent for this school year and next, O’Meara said. O’Meara said that if the teachers receive a 3.8 percent raise, traditionally, all employees of the district also receive a 3.8 percent raise. If all employees of the district were to receive a 3.8 percent raise, the total would come to approximately $250,000, O’Meara said. O’Meara said that most of the teachers’ raise will go toward a 35 percent increase in medical insurance for the teachers. The base pay for most of the teachers would then remain approximately the same. Style show planned for this Saturday

Clearing the air PdC student producers, thespians to make anti-smoking commercial 
If you live in Crawford County, Prairie du Chien students may soon be appearing on your television set. Eighth graders from Bluff View Intermediate School and first graders from B.A. Kennedy will be joining together to write, produce and star in their own commercial targeting the dangers of smoking. “It’s gonna be a blast,” said Elementary Guidance Counselor Wendy Garrity. “It’s going to be a fun, learning experience that gets an important message across.” Garrity applied to the Department of Public Instruction for a grant for the Youths Eager to Serve Team (YES Team) and received $950 to go towards a student-planned project to prevent alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse. Garrity said that she and her group of first-graders were discussing what they wanted to do for their project and the vast majority of the first-graders said they wanted to produce a video. After a bit of research, it was decided that producing a television commercial would be a good way to go. “We wanted to reach as many people as we could in the greater Crawford County area,” said Garrity. “The commercial will allow us to reach an audience estimated at 27,000. Garrity and her first graders needed help, however, so Garrity got together with Bluff View teacher Lisa Lewke and guidance counselor Diane Malcom. It was then decided that eighth graders who had completed Teens Against Tobacco Use (TATU) would be good candidates to help make the commercial. “Cross-peer training and mentoring is the key,” Garrity said of the project, in which eighth graders will act as mentors for the first graders while each group learns about the process of writing, acting, videotaping and editing a commercial, as well as the dangers of tobacco use. The team is working on a script for the commercial, which will be a 30, 60, or 90-second spot. Garrity said that the taping of the commercial should begin by the end of March. The teachers and students will be assisted in producing the commercial by Video Memories of Prairie du Chien, who will be handling the videotaping and editing, as well as applying the background music and sound. When the commercial is completed, it will be shown throughout the county on the Lifetime Channel two or three times a week for seven weeks, Garrity said. In addition to targeting tobacco use, the commercial may also target alcohol and other drugs. Organizations that are a part of the project include the DPI, the CARE Council and TATU. This is the 13th year of state funding for youth mini-grants. There are 338 student-planned projects, which shared a total of $315,309. Twenty-seven of the projects from around the state will focus on tobacco. “With recent research showing that 16 percent of middle school and 39 percent of high school students used tobacco within the last 30 days, prevention activities in this area are vital,” said State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster.
Grant awards ranged from $150 to $1,000 to participating schools for alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse prevention, education and intervention programs. Funding priority went to projects that: •had a high degree of educational value, •would extend beyond the life of the grant, and •would help students make connections between alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse issues and other youth risk behaviors such as AIDS/HIV, violence and teen pregnancy.