(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic School District’s Board of Education met this (Wednesday) afternoon in the High School Media Center. The Board moved to approve the following Resignations: Matt Smith, Boys Head Soccer Coach; Joseph Brummer, Head Baseball Coach, and Julie Hansen, Washington Paraeducator. They also approved Contract Recommendations for:

• Chase Roller, Asst. HS Wrestling Coach
• Michaelin Juhl, Volunteer CHeerleading Coach
• Adam Roberts, Vol.  Archery Coach
• Laurie Fell, WA Grade Level Teacher
• Mikade Thompson, HS Night Custodian.

Here is what Superintendent Steve Barber reported to the Board (These notes are provided courtesy School Board Secretary Sarah Sheeder):

“We continue to work on filling positions for next year. As mentioned last month, we will continue to actively pursue qualified candidates to serve our students in Atlantic until we are able to get them all filled. This could be before the first day, during the first semester, at the beginning of the next semester or not until next year. Here is some progress that has been made:

• Third grade position: We are recommending Mrs Fell, a retired Atlantic teacher, to serve one year in the kindergarten classroom and Ms. Miller to fill our vacant third grade position.
• Title I at Schuler: Continue to look for a viable candidate. If unable to find, we will use our Washington Elementary Title teachers to work with those Title I students. Washington does have some student teachers this year, so they could be potential candidates for this opening once they become licensed.
• English Language Arts: Hire a long term substitute that is highly qualified for the first semester, while actively finding a replacement. Mrs. McKay has been working with colleges and have identified some possible replacements with students who are graduating at semester.
• English Language Arts: Hoping to find another qualified candidate to fill this position. If unable, Mr. Aden, Mrs. Mckay and myself are looking at ways with our current staff to meet the demands at the high school.
• Math: Continue to pursue a candidate and look at other potential individuals with good math background who could fill in as we are searching for a replacement.
  ESL teacher: Continue to look for a replacement.
• HS/MS Media Specialist: Use Mrs. Dickerson to meet our legal obligations and communicate with colleges who offer a Master’s Level Librarian Program.
• Plan to move furniture:
  All the new furniture for the Middle School will be installed and put into the appropriate rooms by July 22, 2022. Right now some of the old school furniture is replacing furniture in some of the other buildings. Once that step is complete, Mr. Peck will inventory what is still available and then ask the Board to approve a process where this inventory is made available to community members. We would then ask to dispose of the remaining furniture.
• Bull creek renovation on the Green Space:
  Part of the plans in renovating the Bull Creek project is to enlarge the retention pond on the Green Space in front of the Middle School. If we get a heavy rain this pond backs up and the water discharged is polluted. By deepening and making it larger there is more control of the discharged water. I am working with Snyder’s [Engineers] and the City on a Memorandum of Understanding that they are responsible for maintaining the Prairie Grasses and WildFlowers that the plan has specifications for.

Mr. Barber said also, with regard to COVID mitigation in the District’s buildings, they will operate under a “Communicable Disease” policy.

And, Mr. Barber mentioned the District is set to benefit from a generous gift from the estate of Jo Ann Runyon, who passed away May 5th.

In other business, the Atlantic School Board approved four IASB Legislative Priorities they would like the Iowa Association of School Boards to lobby for during the next legislative session. They chose: 1) Mental Health; 2) Teacher Recruitment/Licensure; 3) School Safety, and 4) Market-Competitive Wages. The Board then acted on approving Spring 2023 Coaching Contract Recommendations for the following:

1. Head Boys Golf: Ed DenBeste; Head Girls Golf: Kathy Hobson
2. Head Boys/Girls Tennis: Mike McDermott
3. Head HS Girls Track: Matt Mullenix; Asst. HS Girls Track: Derek Hall; Head Boys HS Track: Abby Becker; Asst Boys HS Track: Matt Best & Bryce Smith.
4. MS Boys Track: Bryce Casey; MS Girls Track: Taylor Williams
5. Head HS Girls Soccer: Dan Vargasson; Asst. HS Boys Soccer: Mark Anderson.

In the final order of business, the Board approved the plans, specifications, form of contract and estimate of cost, for the Achievement Center Roof Improvement project. The lowest bid of $214,564, came from Elevate Roofing, out of Denison. The District has worked with that company, previously. Their bid came in well under the Cost Estimate of $248,000.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Board of Supervisors, this (Wednesday) morning, heard from County Engineer Nick Kauffman, who spoke with regard to an updated cell phone policy allowance in the Secondary Roads Department Benefit Policy handbook.

Kauffman presented also, a Bridge Weight Limit Resolution for Adair County. He told the Board they have changed postings on the following bridges:

• North 35 Summit is now a legal bridge.
• West 8 Grand River was posted 14 tons.  Re-rating as a one lane bridge allows us to remove the weight limit.  It is now a “legal” one lane bridge.
• North 1 Summerset was a legal bridge.  It is now posted for 26 tons.

The Resolution was approved as presented. In other business, the Adair County Board of Supervisors approved a Child Abuse Prevention Grant Draw-down in the amount of $1,252.76, and they acknowledged receipt of the SICOG Housing Trust Fund report.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office report three arrests occurred, Tuesday. 62-year-old Thomas Oscar Anderson, of Red Oak, was arrested at the Montgomery County Jail, ona Mills County warrant for Failure to Appear, on an original – Possession of a Controlled Substance, charge. His bond was set at $25,000.

36-year-old Thomas Joseph Deveney, of Omaha, and 32-year-old Elizabeth Rene Lynette Evans, of Council Bluffs, were arrested Tuesday night near Hilman Road and Highway 34. Deveney was charged with Violation of a No Contact Order (Held without bond). Evans was charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. ($300 bond)

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Glenwood Police Department reports one arrest. On Tuesday, Officers arrested 47-year-old Stacey Barrett, of Glenwood. She was taken into custody for Driving Under Suspension, with her cash or surety bond set at $300. Barrett was also, later charged with Possession of Contraband in a correctional institution. The charge carries a $5,000 or surety bond.

(Radio Iowa) – In a follow-up to our previous report, the State of Iowa is ramping up public awareness efforts in response to an influx of fake prescription drugs laced with fentanyl that have shown up in the state. Public Safety Commissioner, Steven Bayens says the pills are produced mainly in Mexico. “The pill presses used by the cartels can create nearly flawless reproductions of common prescription drugs. As a result, even our own agents are now trained to treat every prescription pill they encounter, like it contains fentanyl,” Bayens says.

Bayens says the procedures for mixing what goes into the pills is not as sophisticated as the production process — and that leads to pills that are deadly. “The Drug Enforcement Administration has found that four out of every ten counterfeit pills submitted to their lab contains a lethal dose,” he says. “If we apply that data point to Iowa, more than 28,000 lethal doses of fentanyl had been seized. In the first six months alone.” Bayens says the amount of fentanyl that is lethal can fit on the lead of a pencil. Too much fentanyl creates what is called a ‘hot batch.” He says you can help by reporting the discovery of the fake pills.

Steven Bayens, Iowa Public Safety Commissioner

“The quicker we can identify a hot batch has made its way into a community. The quicker we can alert health officials, educate the public and begin enforcement action designed to stop its deadly effects,” according to Bayens.”We would also encourage citizens to call and would cut our narcotics tip hotline to report suspected drug activity. Every tip that comes into the hotline that is submitted to us by an anonymous email is distributed to one of our 17 field offices throughout the state.”

He says the pills are dangerous to handle, and you should not try to dispose of them yourself. Bayens says it’s also important for the lab to review the pills to try and determine their makeup. Anyone that finds a counterfeit pill is encouraged to call the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement anonymous tip hotline at (800) 532-0052 or dneinfo@dps.state.ia.us and in the case of an emergency, call 9-1-1. Bayens says the most common pills are designed to look like the powerful painkiller oxycontin. “They’re smaller blue pills that are marked with M 30. And that’s actually the pharmaceutical markings for oxycontin. And so the vast majority of what we’re seeing right now and the vast majority of the seizures have appeared to be oxycontin. They’re stamped blue roughly the same size and have M 30 inscribed on them,” he says.

Governor Kim Reynolds says the state is planning to target young people to try and educate them more on the issue. “The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services will be deploying an extension of its public health multimedia campaign targeting preteens to young adults, which is currently focused on suicide prevention to include new messaging about the dangers of fentanyl,” Reynolds says.

The focus on fentanyl comes after overdose deaths in Cass and Shelby counties uncovered a fentanyl distribution ring in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska. For 24-hour confidential support and for more information on fentanyl and counterfeit pills, or for resources on opioid or other substance use disorders, visit www.YourLifeIowa.org.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican Senator Joni Ernst objects to President Biden’s executive order for nationwide access to medication abortion and emergency contraception.  “I am outraged by the president’s actions,” Ernst says. “…I don’t believe the president should have engaged the way that he did when it comes to abortion issues.” President Biden’s move came two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its 1973 Roe v Wade decision and Ernst says it’s now up to states to regulate abortion. “I know that there are a lot of heated arguments and discussions that will happen because of this decision. That’s okay,” Ernst says. “I just want to remind everybody that a decision has been made by an independent branch of the federal government. It will go back to those states – those governors, those elected representatives — for decisions to be made that will be right for those states.”

In May, the Washington Post reported that if Republicans win control of congress in this fall’s election, Ernst would lead an effort next year to ban abortions nationwide. During a conference call with Iowa reporters, Ernst was asked if she’ll introduce such a bill in the Senate. “I am adamantly pro-life and I do believe that the Supreme Court made the right decision in the Dobbs case by sending these decisions back to state and local authorities,” Ernst replied. “…I’m anxious to see what the Iowa legislature and the governor will be debating on this issue.”

Ernst says she believes presidential action on abortion-related policies — like the executive order Biden issued last Friday — are unconstitutional. Biden has called the court’s decision on abortion wrongheaded, but the president told reporters last week the only way to ensure access to abortion is by electing lawmakers who support abortion rights.

(UPDATED; Radio Iowa) – More than a dozen Iowans are helping to fight wildfires in three other states this month as part of a nationwide partnership program. Ryan Schlater, a fire specialist with the Iowa D-N-R, says six Iowans are rotating in groups of three to west Texas, where the Dempsey Fire has scorched thousands of acres of forests. Another two-person Iowa crew is fighting wildfires in Colorado. “We have six that are in Alaska on a 20-person hand crew, which is mixed in with Missouri Department of Conservation and the Mark Twain National Forest folks,” Schlater says, “and they will be there for 21 days.”

Should a wildfire break out in Iowa this week, Schlater says there’s no cause for concern that our state is being left shorthanded while these firefighters are elsewhere. “A lot of them are county conservation board employees who may take vacation. We have very few Iowa DNR folks who actually go,” Schlater says. “We service basically any Iowa citizen who’s interested and able to go on wildfires. We get them trained. We put them through a physical fitness test, and then they’re eligible to go on national fires.” The fire program that provides “mutual aid” between states has been sending Iowa’s wildland firefighters to national incidents since 2006, but Schlater says it’s rare other states sends crews to Iowa.

Via Texas Park & Wildlife at Texas.gov

“We are very blessed in Iowa here,” he says. “We have around 900 volunteer fire departments across the state. And if you think about it, we have a road pretty much every mile in most places, some places it may be more, but a road is a perfect firebreak. Also, we have good access to most of our lands where wildfires start.” The Iowans on the firefighting teams go through at least 40 hours of training before their first assignment abroad, and even then, they’ll be paired up with much more experienced individuals.

“There is risk, obviously, with with any fire,” Schlater says, “but we have a lot of safety measures in place that we try to adhere to and keep everyone safe and bring them home.” Schlater says all of the slots are filled for this year’s firefighting program, but they’re already signing up volunteers for next year. Learn more here:
www.iowadnr.gov/Conservation/Forestry/Fire-Management 

(Radio Iowa) – Before hitting the hay tonight (Wednesday), Iowans should be sure to check out the July “supermoon,” what promises to be the biggest and brightest of the year. Peter Geiger, editor of the Farmer’s Almanac, says tonight’s gem in the sky is known as the “Buck Moon.” Geiger says, “That’s because the velvety antlers of the male deer that start to sprout in the springtime, by the time we get to July, they’re pointed and they’re hardened.”

Geiger says the moon may appear to be a bit larger tonight as this is the month in which it’s closest to the earth.  “In reality, whether it’s 2,000 miles closer or less isn’t going to make a difference in what you see,” he says, “but I think because your weather is going to be very good, you’re going to see a very bright, illuminated moon.”

Tonight’s “supermoon” is also known as the “Hay Moon” after the July hay harvest, and the “Thunder Moon” in correlation to this month’s typical storms. If clouds do block your view tonight, there will be another “supermoon” on August 11th, what’s known as the “Sturgeon Moon.”