Arrowhead High School - The Arrowhead High School Broadway Company's production of "Cats" was nationally recognized for an outstanding musical when they were named 2008 USA WEEKEND HSM Showstopper.

USA WEEKEND invited high schools, parents and students to enter the second annual event, the only national recognition of high school musicals, according to the magazine. 

Superintendent Craig Jefson said the school received notice earlier last week that they had won the national award.  He said he was told there will be an award ceremony sometime in August or September.  USA WEEKEND has yet to release the results of this year's competition. 

"It was a phenomenal performance," Jefson said of "Cats" that ran from Oct. 15-21, 2007. 

USA WEEKEND's competition had two different categories this year - one for general musicals and another category just for productions of Disney's "High School Musical,"

Earlier this summer, the magazine announced Arrowhead's production was one of three finalists vying for the top prize. 

At the end of May, USA WEEKEND reported, "We've already received several productions of "Cats" this year, and the Broadway Company of Arrowhead Union High's could be the cat's meow.  The students spent their whole spring and summer of last year preparing for their fall musical, and it looks they're ready to pounce on the competition."

The results will be announced in the September 2009 issue to over 50 million readers, according to USA WEEKEND.    

Arrowhead High School - Arrowhead High School has a new activities director beginning July 1 after the School Board approved the contract tonight.

Former Fort Atkinson Athletics Director Kevin Flegner replaces Geoff Steinbach, who retired after 14 years at AHS. 

School Board President Joseph LeBlanc said, "We think we found the right person."

Flegner comes to Arrowhead after six years at Fort Atkinson, and will be paid $90,000. 

Chris Schuck also reported on this story. 

Arrowhead Union High School District - The Arrowhead School Board gave the go-ahead to the proposed land exchange agreement with the Village of Hartland over the connector road at the School Board meeting last night. 

In the proposal, the connector road, formally called Campus Drive, runs from Highways 16 and 83 and then intersects with County Highway K, near Monclair Road.  The Village of Hartland will transfer about three acres of land to AHS, and AHS will transfer a little over 2 acres to Hartland at the connection to County Highway K. 

Hartland approved the proposal at a village meeting about a week and a half ago.  It now has to be approved by the Lutheran High School Association of Greater Milwaukee which must notify Hartland on or before May 19, said Village of Hartland Administrator Wally Thiel. 

If the association approves the proposal, the next step would be a special meeting of the electorate where they would vote on the land transfer between Hartland and AHS.

Arrowhead School District  - Arrowhead High School junior Steve Wolfsohn earned a 36, the highest possible composite score, on the ACT college entrance exam.

Steve was only one of four Wisconsin students and one of 56 students in the U.S. to achieve a 36 on the February 2008 test administration of the ACT. 

The ACT consists of tests in English, math, reading and science and each is scored on a scale of 1 to 36.  The tests are averaged together to get the composite score.

In comparison, the average composite score for the national high school graduationg class of 2007 was 21.2. 

Arrowhead High School District - Taxpayers in the Arrowhead School District could see an 8.5 percent increase in the tax levy for 2008-09. 

A decline in enrollment and a change in the state funding formuling are at fault for the projected increase.  Expenditures at the school are increasing by only 1.25 percent, Superintendent Craig Jefson said.

A change in the state funding formula will now fund the district at a lower amount.  Therefore a larger portion of the district's revenue must come from local property taxes.  Arrowhead is expected to receive almost $1 million dollars less in state aid, from about $7.1 million last year to $6.1 million this year. 

AHS will see enrollment decline 88 students next year, though enrollment is expected to increase in the coming years because feeder schools have higher numbers, Jefson said. 

According to Arrowhead superintendent Craig Jefson, AHS athletic director Geoff Steinbach will be retiring from his position after more than a decade with the program. More details to follow as they become available.

Arrowhead High School - Longtime Arrowhead School Board member Joseph LeBlanc defeated Dean Dobbertin to retain the Merton seat on the school board. 

LeBlanc has been an Arrowhead School Board member since 1993 and is current board president. 

Unofficial calculations show LeBlanc with 1855 votes and Dobbertin with 1467 votes.