NEVADA, Iowa (AP) – A former Iowa fire academy administrator has been given two years’ probation for falsifying test scores that were used to improperly certify thousands of firefighters.

Former Fire Services Training Bureau certification manager John McPhee also was sentenced Wednesday in Story County District Court to a suspended prison sentence of five years. He was fined $750 and ordered to serve 100 hours of community service. He had pleaded guilty to felony misconduct in office after making a deal with prosecutors.

McPhee was arrested in January, when the Iowa Department of Public Safety announced that 1,706 firefighters and emergency personnel had been awarded nationally recognized certifications despite failing written exams. The total found eventually reached 2,445. Authorities say McPhee assigned passing scores to exams without checking or correcting them for years.

An enrollment study commissioned by the Atlantic Community School District in advance of plans for improved academic and athletic facilities shows enrollment will experience some ebbs and flows over the next five-years. Robert Schwarz, with RSP and Associates in Overland Park, KS., projects overall enrollment for the 2017-18 school year (K-12) will be down seven students. A large drop of 42 students is anticipated for the 2018-19 school year, before a slight increase in enrollments happens for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years, and then a drop of 10 students for 2021-22.

A breakdown of the numbers shows a nearly steady enrollment for Washington Elementary at around 427, except for a jump from 2019-through 2022. At Schuler Elementary, the number of students are expected to decline for the 2018-2021 school year before rebounding a bit for 2021-22.

The Atlantic Middle School is expected to show a steady enrollment for much of the next five years, with a decline beginning in the 2021-22 school year. After experiencing a nearly steady enrollment for 2016-17 and 2017-18, the Atlantic High School is expected to realize a decline of 50 students during the 2018-19 school year, followed by a jump of more than a dozen students that leads to a steady increase through 2022.

With the exception of Schuler Elementary School, the District’s other buildings will experience an enrollment of students that exceeds the respective capacities of each building, caused by students in the lower grades moving up through the system. That’s especially true for Washington Elementary, where capacity is 396 students but the enrollment numbers are projected to be from 426 through 442 between 2017 and 2022. The Atlantic Middle School is also expected to be over its capacity of 338 students, with enrollment in excess of 360 for 2018 through 2021. As for the Atlantic High School, where student capacity is 441, the district is over capacity for 2017-18, just like with the 2016-17 school year, but then the enrollment numbers slip under the maximum for 2018-19 and indicate an increase for the remaining three-years in the study, but still under capacity.

Factors the School Board has to consider when it comes to the District’s facilities over the next five-years, according to Schwarz, is a possible influx of workers for the Elite Octane Ethanol Plant, and an increase in the number of single-family homes being constructed or being made available with aging seniors looking to downsize. Various infrastructure improvements may also bring more young families to the area.

Two people were arrested Wednesday evening in Red Oak. Red Oak Police report 58-year old Rodney Lynn Vanderhood and 58-year old Vicki Susan Huber, both of Red Oak, were arrested for Public Intoxication in the 100 block of N. Broadway Street a little after 8-p.m. The pair were brought to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center and held on a $300 cash bond, each.

The Iowa State Patrol has provided an update on a couple cases of “excessive speed” on interstates. Troopers say a driver who was clocked at 144 miles an hour on I-80 in eastern Iowa earlier this month was issued a $560 ticket. That incident occurred at 3 in the morning north of Stockton. This past weekend, another motorist was clocked at 124 miles an hour on I-29 in western Iowa and was handed a ticket of $424. The driver told the trooper they were running late for a graduation party.

(Radio Iowa)