(Radio Iowa) – When students return to Gehlen Catholic Middle and High School in Le Mars in a few weeks, they’ll be facing a new “no cell phone” policy. Principal Bryan Paulson says they’ve tried restricting cell phone use in the past, but it just wasn’t working. “Each classroom in grades seven through 12 had a cell phone holder, and the kids were to turn their cell phones in to the holders with the teachers, and then they would get the cell phones back at the end of class,” Paulson says. “Some students were just leaving them in their pockets. They were trying to just leave them in their bags. Cell phones were a big distraction in the hallways in between classes.”

The policy going into effect this fall will force all students to surrender their devices upon entering the building. “When the students get here in the morning, they will come to our center meeting area, and we actually have cell phone lockers. If you talk to the kids, they call them ‘jails,’ but there’s an actual case,” Paulson says. “Each kid will be assigned a slot to put their cell phone and their devices into, and then they’ll go off to class for the day, and we’ll lock those up.”

Under the plan, phones will be passed back out to students in the final five or so minutes of the day. Paulson says cell phone use by students was having a negative impact on their behavior and attitudes toward learning — and some weren’t engaged in the classroom. “Students were rushing through their tests just so they could get on their phone,” Paulson says. “We had a couple of teachers tell us, if they saw one student go on their phone, other students would start to wonder what they were doing on their phone, if they were Snapping, if they were missing something on TikTok. So we kind of saw their anxiety rise.”

There will be exceptions to the policy for students who need their phones during the day to contact a parent or to go to a doctor’s appointment. Paulson says Gehlen Catholic parents are urged to discuss the matter, and the new policy, with their children.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak, late Thursday afternoon, arrested a man on an OWI charge. 30-year-old Dixon Michael Nelson, of Red Oak, was arrested in the 1200 block of E. Cherry Street, for OWI/1st offense (a Serious Misdemeanor). Nelson was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

WAUKEE, Iowa — The body of a 31-year-old man was pulled from a Waukee pond Thursday evening after hours of searching. According to KCCI, a water rescue was reported to have taken place in the 2500 block of Grand Prairie Parkway near the Holmes Murphy office building and UnityPoint Waukee Medical Park around 3:30 p.m.

According to the Waukee Fire Department, two boys were fishing on the pond and lost their pole. When a man who had been working in the area went into the water to retrieve the pole, he started to struggle and the boys called 911. When Waukee FD personnel arrived, they entered the water and began searching for the victim. Around 5 p.m., Waukee FD said belongings on the shore suggested the man was still in the water.

Shortly after 6 p.m., the Metro STAR team recovered the body of a 31-year-old male. No other information is available at this time.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department Thursday evening, posted a notice on social media, asking for the public’s help in locating Hope Marie Kalkas, who was last seen in the Omaha/Council Bluffs metro area. 

Authorities said Hope has not contacted her family in several months, and they are concerned for her safety. If you know her whereabouts please contact the Council Bluffs Police Dept. Criminal Investigations Division, at 712-328-4728. (See the bulletin posted below for more information)