(Atlantic, Iowa) [updated 4/23] – The Atlantic Community School District has scheduled a Public Hearing on the proposed 2024-25 Certified Budget. The hearing kick’s-off the School Board’s meeting at 5:30-p.m., on Wednesday, April 24th in the High School Media Center. During the hearing, the Board will accept objections/comments on the budget. Action on passing the budget and a Resolution levying a tax for FY 2024-25, for the future optional redemption of General Obligation School Bonds, will take place later on in the meeting.

During the Board’s meeting on April 10th, ACSD Director of Finance Lisa Jones, said she had some revised numbers with regard to the proposed property tax levy (rate) of $12.51/$1,000 valuation, which was down from 12.91524 announced during the March 27^th meeting. Last year, it was $13.00/$1,000.

In other business, the School Board in Atlantic will act on the resignation of Jesse McCann, HS Special Education teacher (at the end of the 23-24 school year), and approving contract recommendations for:

• Taylor Vargason, Elementary Special Education Teacher
• Lindsey Roberts, ELL Teacher
• Cayleigh McBee, HS Student Council Sponsor
• Alexandra Griffen-Uren, HS English Language Arts Teacher
• Jesse McCann, HS School Student Support Coordinator contract.

The full agenda can be seen here: PUBLIC AGENDA 04242024

DES MOINES, Iowa — [KCCI] – Authorities have identified the Des Moines teen who died in a motorcycle crash over the weekend.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office received a call just before 6:30 p.m. Saturday reporting a crash near Northeast 118th Avenue west of the South Skunk River. Authorities say two juveniles were riding off-road motorcycles when the accident happened.

Zachary Brennecke

When emergency responders got there, they said they found a juvenile male with critical injuries. The victim, identified as 16-year-old Zachary Brennecke, of Des Moines, died at the scene.

DES MOINES, Iowa – National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is Saturday, April 27, and the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Office of Drug Control Policy (ODCP) encourages Iowans to clean out their medicine cabinets and safely dispose of unused and unneeded medications.

Local law enforcement agencies and pharmacies are teaming up to collect leftover prescription and over-the-counter drugs for this special one-day event held each spring and fall. The fall collection, held in October, netted over 5,550 pounds of old medicine from Iowans. To date, Iowans have safely disposed of over 101 tons of unused medications at these events.

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day aims to provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs while educating the public about the potential for dangerous misuse of opioid pain relievers and other drugs.

“I encourage all Iowans to include their medicine cabinets in their spring-cleaning routine,” says Susie Sher, Bureau Chief of ODCP. “Properly disposing of unused medication can help prevent drug diversion, misuse, and overdose. Each of us can make a difference in this effort.”

Iowans can take excess medications to one of Iowa’s Prescription Drug Take Back locations, including nearly 400 permanent pharmacy and law enforcement center sites available on a year-round basis. For Iowa Take Back details, including education information and collection sites, visit: https://odcp.iowa.gov/programs/prescription-drug-take-backs.

Saturday’s National Prescription Drug Take Back events will operate from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at designated sites across Iowa. As part of the national Prescription Drug Take Back program, the DEA also allows the collection of vaping devices and e-cigarettes from individuals if batteries are first removed from the devices. For more information or to find a site near you, visit https://www.dea.gov/takebackday.

Iowans needing help for drug using behaviors or mental health concerns can go to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Service’s YourLifeIowa.org.

(Radio Iowa)- One of the bills that cleared the legislature in its final week directs the Iowa Department of Education to immediately begin drafting new standards for social studies that emphasize U.S. history, Iowa history and Western Civilization. Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison says it will ensure Iowa children are taught the blessings of liberty.

“We will teach about our republican form of government and compare the stark differences between us and the crimes against humanity that have occurred under communist regimes since 1917,” Holt said. “We will teach about the horrors of the Holocaust to ensure that such evil is never countenanced in our own country.” Democrats say the list of specific people and events in the plan would take away teachers’ ability to cater lessons to current events and students’ interests.

Representative Molly Buck, a Democrat from Ankeny who’s a teacher, says the plan is overly prescriptive. “I don’t really feel like an approach that talks about rote learning or memorization prepares our children for the realities of participating in modern and diverse and complex engagement in our society,” Buck said.

The bill calls for the new social studies standards to be voted on by the state board of education by the end of 2025. The bill also directs state education officials to conduct a review of all K-through-12 curriculum and education standards and make recommendations for changes to the legislature.

(Radio Iowa) – The superintendent of the Charles City Community School District has been placed on paid administrative leave. An email sent to all staff on Friday by school board president Dr. David Schrodt stated that the district has started an investigation into allegations of behavior that raises questions about Dr. Anne Lundquist’s fitness for duty and ability to serve as an employee of the school district.

The email states that the school district’s attorney will be in charge of the investigation and that the district will receive a temporary superintendent with the help of the Central Rivers Area Education Agency to serve for the district while Lundquist is on leave.

Lundquist announced earlier this year that she would be resigning her position from the district at the end of the school year after serving the district as an interim superintendent since 2022.

DAVENPORT, Iowa – A Muscatine man was sentenced recently, for attempting to entice a minor. According to public court documents, in December of 2022, 41-year-old Paul Kyle Quigley,  a registered sex offender engaged in a Facebook conversation with an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old female. After told of the 15-year-old age of the putative victim, Quigley replied with requests for sex acts. After multiple days of continued conversations of a graphic sexual nature, Quigley formulated a plan to attempt to meet and flee the state with the 15-year-old female with the intent to engage in sexual activity. Working in conjunction with the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT), on February 22, 2023, Quigley was arrested in Burlington, just prior to arriving in his semi-truck at the established meeting place.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Quigley will be required to serve 15 years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa and Des Moines County Sheriff’s Office made the announcement.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.