Lake Country This Month

WALES — Three Kettle Moraine seniors have been named Presidential Scholar candidates by the U.S. Department of Education. The students include Natal- ie Giombi from Kettle Moraine School for Arts & Performance, and Kettle Moraine High School stu- dents Hannah Healy and Jacob Cavaiani. They are among 79 students in Wiscon- sin to be selected. Candidates are chosen for their superior academic and artistic achievements, leader- ship qualities, character and involvement in community and school activities. Appli- cation to the program is by invitation only. Healy is one of the 4,000 students nationwide to quali- fy from the ACT exam, on which she earned a perfect score. She plans to attend col- lege to study history. Each chief state school offi- cer also nominates 10 males and 10 females for the pro- gram. Giombi and Cavaiani were nominated by Wiscon- sin State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers. Giombi plans to study architecture at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California. Cavaiani will study journal- ism at the University of Mis- souri. "The Kettle Moraine School District is very proud to have three students as candidates in the prestigious Presiden- tial Scholar program," Super- intendent Pat Deklotz said. "This recognition is well deserved by Natalie, Hannah and Jacob for their hard work and dedication to school and community. We wish them well as they continue in the program's selection process." Moving forward, students will submit applications, which will be reviewed by a panel of educators. Candi- dates will be narrowed down to 800 semifinalists in early April. The Commission on Presi- dential Scholars, a group of up to 32 eminent citizens appointed by the president, will select finalists. The U.S. Department of Education will announce up to 161 Pres- idential Scholars in May. — Freeman Staff FREEMAN & ENTERPRISE LAKE COUNTRY • Page 3A February 2016 2016 Waukesha County Resource Directory 2016 WAUKESHA COUNTY RESOURCE DIRECTORY PUBLISHED BY FREEMAN NEWSPAPERS • FEBRUARY 2016 GOVERNMENT » HOSPITALS » LIBRARIES » GOLF COURSES » LOCAL THEATER & ARTS CLUBS & ORGANIZATIONS » MUSEUMS & HISTORICAL PLACES » AND MORE! Get your FREE resource directory to the county! A handy guide to connect you with local government, businesses and organizations. Inside the March edition of the Red Hats From page 1A According to the Centers for Disease Control, heart defects affect 40,000 babies per year in the United States. They range in inten- sity and can be anything from one of the heart's valves not opening fully to a child being born without half a heart. The intensity of the defect relates directly to the survival rate of the baby. In general, survival rates across the spectrum are improving. Between 1973 and 1993, 67 percent of infants with critical heart defects survived one year. Between 1994 and 2005, that number rose to 83 percent. In addition, babies with minor heart defects live seemingly normal lives, meaning the population of people living with heart defects is also on the rise. The cause of the defects as a whole is still puzzling to the health care community, Hambrook said. Many of the causes of heart defects are unknown, but it's believed some are related to genetics. Studies have found parents who have one child with a heart defect have a slightly higher risk of having anoth- er. The cause of more than 95 percent of heart defects remains unknown. Hambrook said in general, the defects are diagnosed at the 20-week ultrasound, which allows the hospital to plan where the baby will be delivered. Minor defects can be handled at normal birthing centers, while the most advanced defects need high level care. Hambrook is one of only 30 pediatric cardiologists in Wisconsin, and shares his time between five Aurora facilities. He specialized in the field because it gave him the best of two medical worlds: family practice and advanced medicine. "If someone has a pedi- atric heart defect and it needs surgery, I end up see- ing them every year for the rest of their childhood," Hambrook said. "You get to know people very well. You get graduation and wedding announcements. You become part of their fami- ly." The importance of heart health is of obvious interest to him, and he hopes the hats can start some impor- tant conversations. "(The campaign is meant) for someone's grandfather to come in and say 'What's the red hat all about?'" Ham- brook said. "And for their child to have their opening message be 'Oh gosh, Dad, that's about living a heart- healthy lifestyle, maybe you should start exercising every day.' It's one of the big picture kind of things the American Heart Association is hoping this can go." Email: eoliver@conleynet.com The FREEMAN Waukesha County's Daily Newspaper Learn from Lauren about our changing schools. To subscribe, call 262-542-2500 or go online at: gmtoday.com/subscribe Education Reporter Lauren Anderson Education Reporter Lauren Anderson Schools beefing up security New technology at Muskego-Norway schools scans IDs, screens sex offenders By Lauren Anderson Freeman Staff MUSKEGO — It's easy to miss the discreet black device on the visitor's desk of Muskego High School's front office. But what it has meant for campus safety, school leaders say, is signifi- cant. All Muskego-Norway schools have now adopted the Raptor Visitor Manage- ment System, a screening device that scans visitors into a database, logs how long they have been on cam- pus and identifies whether they are a registered sex offender. It's just one measure dis- tricts are taking to bolster security in a time when school shooting threats and related incidents frequently make headlines. The Muskego-Norway School District has made a push over the past three years to increase security protocol and procedures. It started with the addi- tion of secure entryways in each building and adding security cameras around campuses. A secure entrance way is an enclosed space for visitors to be buzzed into before gaining access to the rest of the building. They cost about $40,000 per site in the Muskego-Norway School District. Other Waukesha County school districts have also installed more secure entry- ways in recent years. About $12.5 million of the Kettle Moraine School District's successful 2014 referendum funded the installation of controlled access entryways across all campuses. Waukesha School District officials recently also have been eyeing the possibility of installing controlled access entryways, with a recent facilities report rec- ommending the district make entrance security upgrades. Visitor management soft- ware adds another layer of security to those infrastruc- ture improvements, the Muskego-Norway district said. With the addition of the Raptor system, each guest is asked to present his or her driver's license, which is fed through a scanning device. That infor mation is then matched against the Nation- al Sex Offender Registry database. Schools can also manually enter names of individuals who shouldn't be allowed in the school, such as in a custody-related issue. It's proven effective in those scenarios, Supervi- sor of Buildings and Grounds Jeremiah Johnson said. "It has produced results on a couple occasions when someone that wasn't per- mitted into building came and we have had to act," he said. Beyond that, Johnson said, it allows for improved tracking of the schools' thousands of visitors. "We've processed 11,000 visitors," he said, "and for all of them, we know the time they came, the date and their destination." Putting parents at ease The Oconomowoc Area School District was among the first districts in the area to adopt the system two years ago. Its buildings and grounds director, Greg Maroo, noted that corporate representa- tives from Harley-Davidson recently visited Nature Hill Intermediate School to see the system because they are likewise considering it for their visitor management. Having fielded many ques- tions about the program, Jeremiah said the technolo- gy likely will become the norm within a few years. Meaghan Hayes, the par- ent of a fourth-grader in the Pewaukee School District, said she's seen notable changes in school security protocol since her daughter entered kindergarten. She said administrators have heightened safety mea- sures in the wake of the Newtown mass shooting. Despite a shooting threat that shut Pewaukee schools down for one day this year, Hayes said those measures have put her more at ease when it comes to her daugh- ter's safety. "I personally feel that Pewaukee School District is doing a great job with safety measures in every aspect," she said. "The administra- tors appear to be on top of things, listening to parents and considering many options. I feel that PSD always puts my child's safe- ty first." She recalled an incident in which she saw a mother trying to convince a school secretary to let her into the school to hang her child's snow pants in his locker. The secretary refused to let her through. "I'll never forget that day, that incident, or how I cried on the way out," Hayes said. "(The secretary) prevented a mom from delivering snow pants, but what if she had been an angry mom with her concealed gun seeking a teacher or child that had crossed her? As far as I'm concerned, schools haven't gone too far. ... Do whatever is necessary — just like I would as a mom." Email: landerson@conleynet.com Charles Auer/Freeman Staff Paula Galten hands a driver's license back to a visitor after scanning it for admission to Muskego High School. The Muskego-Norway School district is one of only two in Waukesha County using the Raptor Visitor Management System to check visitors. Three Kettle Moraine seniors selected as presidential scholar candidates Submitted photo Kettle Moraine seniors Natalie Giombi, Jacob Cavaiani and Hannah Healy are among 79 stu- dents in Wisconsin to be selected as Presidential Scholar candidates. WAUKESHA — Last year ended with home sales con- tinuing to climb higher, according to data released by property analytic com- pany CoreLogic. According to its report, home prices nationally, including for distressed properties, increased by 6.3 percent for December when compared with December 2014. In addi- tion, home sales ticked up 0.8 percent in December when compared to Novem- ber. The company predicts that home prices will increase by about 5.4 per- cent on a year-over-year basis from December 2015 to December 2016. "Nationally, home prices have been rising at a 5 to 6 percent annual rate for more than a year," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. "However, local-market growth can vary substan- tially from that. Some metropolitan areas have double-digit appreciation, such as Denver and Naples, Florida, while others have had price declines, like New Orleans and Rochester, New York." Higher property valua- tions may be resulting in more single-family con- struction, especially enter- ing springtime, according to the report. In the Milwaukee-Wauke- sha-West Allis area, home prices, including dis- tressed sales, increased by 4.1 percent in December compared with the same month in 2014. For the state, home valu- ation increased by 4.5 per- cent when comparing December 2015 with December 2014. Illinois increased by 1.2 percent, Michigan by 5 percent and Minnesota by 4.6 percent. www.corelogic.com — Freeman Staff Homes prices increase nationally in December

• Cover