Members of the CAM School Board met Monday for about 45 minutes. On their short agenda, was the topic of open enrollment applications. Superintendent Dr. Casey Berlau said unlike other districts, CAM has seen an increase in enrollment and in the student body as a whole. Their certified numbers to the State show an increase of eight students, but within the buildings, the number is up to 19.

Berlau said also, the CAM School Board approved a request to purchase weight room equipment for the Massena School, which will be used by athletes, PE teachers and their students. The Board also approved some coaching contracts.

The Audubon School District Board of Education held their regular monthly meeting Monday night. Superintendent Brett Gibbs told KJAN News the Board took a look at their policy concerning Foreign Exchange Students He says as the District has gotten smaller there’s been concern about the number of students they’re getting. There were three students this year, which amounts to 10-percent of the Senior Class. There’s also the matter of timing, as some have started 2-3 weeks after school began.

Enrollment numbers, as projected, are down in the Audubon District, as they are in many area school districts, but there is some good news on the horizon. He said this will be their smallest year, but the biggest classes are in the Elementary. The two smallest classes are Juniors and Seniors, so it appears there will be some slow growth in class sizes. He said also they looked at the FY17-18 financial statements. The sharing dollars (Harlan  Coon Rapids) are starting to show-up in their budget, which is helping the bottom line. Coon Rapids has seen an increase of 14 or so students in the Certified Enrollment to the State. Gibbs said the School Board Monday,  set goal-setting and performance indicators for Fiscal Year 2018. Their goals, he said, were the same as last year. More importantly, he said, they took a closer look at some of the indicators that show progress that’s being made toward their goals, and made adjustments as necessary.”

The District he said they starting setting Board goals about four or five-years ago. It’s something that’s helped the District stay focused on their priorities and not get side-tracked by other issues that may arise. That’s especially true when it comes to professional development and funding priorities. The Audubon School Board also held the first reading of the District’s Wellness Policy, which is important in light of a recent change in policy by the Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB). They also have a site visit this Spring from the State of Iowa Food Service, so they wanted to make sure the Wellness Policy was up to date.”

Gibbs said they had a site visit recently, with regard to the District’s 21^st Century Afterschool Program. This is the first full-year for the Summer and Afterschool program but second year of funding. He said the visit last Friday went very well. There are more than 40 K-4^th grade students participating in the afterschool program that runs from 3:30-p.m. to 6:30-p.m. Monday through Friday. The kids and community benefit from the program, because the kids never leave the school, there’s time for homework, physical activity, and STEM-based learning.)

The District received a $100,000 for the two programs.

WARREN COUNTY — An Indianola man was injured while climbing into his tree stand on Sunday while deer hunting. Officials with the Iowa DNR said today (Tuesday), 24-year old Bobbie Joe Stephens fell approximately 23-feet into a ravine while hunting on private land in southern Warren County. He had not been able to hook up to his harness at the time of the fall. He was able to call a hunting partner for help after falling.

Stephens was taken to a Des Moines area hospital and was treated for broken ankle. Further investigation revealed the tree stand straps were broken due to weather exposure over time. The tree stand had been left up since last season. The DNR reminds hunters if you leave your tree stand out year-round, be sure to check the straps before using the tree stand.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Documents say employees maintained a secret waiting list of veterans for some Omaha mental health appointments. The Omaha World-Herald reports that a compliance officer’s memo to the director of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System says the list dodged VA requirements for establishing and maintaining waiting lists. The compliance officer’s audit included two whistleblower complaints made about lists for appointments at the VA’s mental health psychotherapy clinic in Omaha.

The VA acknowledges the audit but won’t answer questions about it. It also says no veterans were harmed. The VA set up strict requirements for establishing waiting lists following a 2014 scandal that showed VA employees were covering up chronic delays with false paperwork and secret lists.

A man from Union County was arrested Monday afternoon on a warrant out of Nebraska. Creston Police arrested 29-year old Christopher Woolums, of Creston, on a Sarpy County, NE., warrant for Violation of Probation, on an original, Possession of a Controlled Substance, charge. Woolums was being held in the Union County Jail pending extradition to NE.

And, a Creston man reported to Police Monday morning, that someone had stolen property from his home valued at $1,500 altogether. The incident at a residence in the 600 block of Grand Avenue, took place sometime between August 1st and Oct. 13th. The missing items included a gold watch, 2 teeth with gold fillings, and a prayer blanket.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:07-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Sioux City area agencies have been searching the Missouri River for a car reportedly driven off a road into the water. The search was called off around 8 p.m. Monday because of darkness. Rescue crews had been sent to the scene near Larsen Park around 4:20 p.m.

Sioux City Fire Rescue Capt. Dave Ahlers says authorities aren’t sure whether anyone was inside the car. A city news release says witnesses reported seeing a small brown vehicle floating before going under the water’s surface.

AMES, Iowa (AP) – School district leaders have declared their support for members of a central Iowa high school marching band who protested inequality in the nation by leaving the football field during the national anthem.  The incident happened before Ames High School’s home football game against another school Friday night. Some other band members reportedly did not play their instruments during the performance.

A statement from school district leaders Monday praises the students, saying they protested “the right way” and “didn’t resort to violence, and they didn’t resort to one-sided arguments.” Athletes, primarily National Football League players, have been protesting police brutality in recent weeks by either kneeling or linking arms during the national anthem. Others have stayed in their locker rooms.

The Governor’s Safety Traffic Bureau has identified five Iowa counties it wants to target to try and cut an increase in traffic accidents during the past year. Carroll, Marshall, Benton, Muscatine and Plymouth County are part of the project known as the “High Five Rural Traffic Safety Program.” Iowa State Patrol trooper, John Farley, says for Plymouth County making the list was based on the number of accidents — not just accidents resulting in a de “Plymouth County only had three fatality accidents last year — but there was 80 personal injury accidents or fatalities total. And that does represent kind of a large number for the population — so per capita,” Farley says. “Sixteen of those accidents did occur within the city limits of Le Mars, but the other 64 did happen outside of Le Mars, or in the county areas.”

Trooper Farley

Farley says for Plymouth County and the others on the “High Five” list, they will do some additional patrolling of the county’s roads and highways. He says they will work projects throughout the year and focusing on impaired drivers. Farley says it’s not just drunk driving. It will be drivers impaired by alcohol, narcotics and prescription drugs. The Iowa State Patrol trooper says in addition to a step up of enforcement activity, there will be several educational and informative ads. Farley says they will focus on driver’s ed programs and give educational talks to civic organizations.

Farley says in addition to watching for impaired drivers, the “High Five” program will look for distracted driving, primarily those drivers that are texting while driving, and drivers who are speeding. “We’ve said it before — speed kills. We’ve always heard that and it still is.The number one factor in accidents is speed releated,” Farley says.

The Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau says 72 percent of the fatal crashes in Iowa in 2015 occurred on secondary rural roads. Rural roads make up approximately 79 percent of the total roadways in the state.

(Radio Iowa)