New rules has been proposed that may make it easier for more ’emotionally or physically fragile” Iowa students to enroll in an online school. The Clayton Ridge Community School District in northeast Iowa and the CAM Community School District in southwest Iowa are the two, for-profit, online academies available to Iowa’s public school students. Phil Wise of the Iowa Department of Education says under current rules, no Iowa school district has to allow more than one percent of its total student population to enroll in CAM or Clayton Ridge, but the new rule would change that.

“A district can, if it chooses to, exceed the one percent cap if the district determines that it’s in the best educational interest of an emotionally or physically fragile student,” Wise says. Wise says senior leadership in the Iowa Department of Education made the proposal. “Because we had heard, not many, but we had heard of instances where a school superintendent wanted to be able to grant open enrollment, but could not,” Wise says.

The other proposed change would force local school districts to let a sibling enroll in one of Iowa’s online schools if a sister or brother is already enrolled in one of these two virtual academies. “In that case and only in that case is there an entitlement to that open enrollment,” Wise says. There’s a limitation on the total number of students statewide who can enroll in these two online schools.

For the last school year, that limit was 865 students. Only 730 students were enrolled in the two online academies last year, however. A public hearing on the proposed enrollment changes will be held on September 22nd, from 9 to 10 .m., in the Grimes State Office Building in Des Moines. A legislative committee reviewed the proposed policy changes Tuesday morning.

(Radio Iowa)

A new report shows a lot of Iowa companies plan to boost their workforces before the end of the year. The fourth quarter Manpower Employment Outlook Survey found 27-percent of the companies questioned about their hiring plans expect to increase staff levels between October and December. Another seven-percent plan to lay off workers, while 64-percent expect to maintain current staff levels.

The figures are weaker compared to the hiring intentions in the third quarter survey, but leaders of Iowa companies are more optimistic about adding to their payrolls than they were one year ago. While 27-percent of the Iowa companies surveyed expect to add workers over the next three months, more than 11,000 employers were surveyed across the U.S. and 21-percent anticipate adding to their workforces.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — University of Iowa faculty leaders have expressed outrage over the selection of corporate executive Bruce Harreld as the next university president. They say the school’s governing board conducted a sham search that ended with the hiring of an unqualified leader. The board hired Harreld over three other finalists last week despite his lack of experience in higher education administration.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — President Barack Obama will talk about college affordability at a Des Moines high school on Monday. Obama says he’ll be with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and they’ll have a conversation with high school students and their parents.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) —Miss Iowa has won the talent portion of the first night of preliminaries in the Miss America pageant. Taylor Wiebers of Iowa won the talent portion with a vocal performance. Preliminary competition in talent, interviews, evening wear and swimsuit competition will run through Thursday. The new Miss America will be crowned in Sunday night’s nationally televised finale.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines man has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of another man. Police say 21-year-old Michael Allen Cason Jr. was arrested Tuesday. Court records do not list an attorney. Cason is accused of fatally shooting 22-year-old Trenton Washington on Friday night.

(I)= Incumbent

Audubon County
Audubon School District – At Large – elect 3*
Christine Konkler (I) 163*
Mark Nissen (I) 165*
Matthew Chambers 151
Brittney Huey 176*

Exira/EHK School District – At Large – elect 4*
Terri Harris (I) 38*
Matthew Jorgensen 45*
Joel Schlueter (I) 39*
Ryan Wilson (I) 43*

Adair County
Adair-Casey School District – At Large – elect 2
Randy Carney 117*
Dallas Dinkla 129*
Sheryl Richter 46
Tim Schafer 40

Nodaway Valley School Board – District 2 – elect 2
Amy DeVault 694*
Rebecca McCann 712*
Kevin Wissner 275
Proposition A Yes – 620; No 337

Pottawattamie County

Treynor School District – elect 3
Jerry Hempel (I) 227
Glen Fleming 196
Shawn Gillespie 116
Amy Graber 250*
Sally Myers 236*
Kent Boese (write-in) 237*
Jared Morse (Write-in) 226

AHST/Walnut:

By a vote of 614-74, or 88.8 percent, residents of Avoca, Hancock, Shelby, Tennant and Walnut voted to approve the reorganization of the districts into AHSTW. It was a resolution in support of the solution to Walnut’s declining enrollment, avoiding putting the district in the position of spending more than allowed by Iowa law and completing a process that officially began last October. 94 percent of AHST voters and 77 percent of Walnut voters were in support of reorganization.

Shelby County

IKM-Manning
At Large – elect 1
Zachery Meiners 123*
Brandi Perdew 83

Montgomery County

Red Oak School District – At Large – elect 2
William Drey (I) 343
Lee Fellers (I) 330
Bryce E. Johnson 587*
Mark Johnson 569*

Stanton Community Schools
PPEL (Physical Plant & Equipment Levy) – Public Measure
Yes 139 – passes
No 80

Voters across the state went to the polls Tuesday to cast ballots in local school elections. In Cass County, patrons of the Atlantic Community School District elected three out of seven candidates running for At Large seats on the School Board. The winners include: Jenny Williams, Keith Swanson and Alison Bruckner.

Vote totals: Jenny Williams 725; Keith Swanson 574, Alison A. Bruckner 513, Mark Foegen 351, Bob Drogo 328, Dennis Schwanke 244, and Douglas Bierbaum 157.

Voters rejected a public measure in Atlantic to add an income tax surcharge component to the district’s physical plant and equipment levy. The result was tight: 452-443, with 49.5 percent of voters approving of the measure.

In the CAM School District, incumbent Julie Williamson was re-elected to the North District Board of Directors, with 281 votes. She was unopposed. Incumbent Todd McKee was re-elected as South District Board of Director, with 224. Challenger Emily Rouse had 104.

And in the Griswold School District, where there was no candidate for the District 1 Director seat representing Lewis, a write-in, Ericka Kirchhof was elected. Incumbent Scott Hansen was unopposed in District 2 Director’s seat. He received 29 votes. Heather Pelzer, a newcomer, was the only candidate running for the At Large Director seat. She received a total of 115 votes. There were 9 write-in votes for the seat.

Two women were arrested on drug charges Tuesday afternoon, in Red Oak. Red Oak Police report 18-year old Ashley Brooke Reeves was arrested at around 4:15-p.m. for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. 20-year old Lindsay June Droz was arrested at around 4-p.m. for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Both women are from Red Oak. Reeves was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond, while Droz was cited and released on the scene.

A burglary that took place sometime between Saturday and Monday in Villisca resulted in the loss of valuable items made up of silver. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday, the theft occurred in the area of West 1st Street, in Villisca, and included a large amount of silver coins of varying denominations, an old silver spoon, and a silver coin collection from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-888-434-2715.