The Atlantic Middle School’s Student Council has the honor of being one of the top student council’s in the State of Iowa. Student Council Advisor Ginger Bechtold told the School Board the good news during their meeting Monday night.

Members of the Atlantic Middle School Student Council explain to the School Board how they won their Award of Honor, and show-off their prize-winning plaque.

Bechtold said last summer the AMS Student Council submitted a scrap book to the State for approval. The Atlantic Middle School placed second, but was the only Middle School in the State to win the Award of Honor.

Bechtold said there were several criteria that had to be matched in order to achieve the award.The only criteria she says they couldn’t meet or match, was sending kids to a leadership camp, which is only available to high school students. Among the activities the students participated in fill their scrapbook before submitting to the State, was collecting pop can tabs for the Iowa Firefighters Association, for donation to the Shriners Children’s program. The AMS Council worked to gather more than 15-pounds of tabs, for a total of  58,880 pull tabs last year. They also did “Penny Wars” in the home room classes from March 5th to March 9th, in order to raise a little more than $2,000 for the Relay for Life. The winning team played dodgeball with the teacher.

This year, the Student Council is working on establishing a Constitution for their State Project, along with a project to raise funds to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s. In order to do that, they plan on holding a dodgeball tournament.

A teenaged girl was hurt during a single vehicle accident Friday afternoon in Adams County. The Sheriff’s Department said Monday, 17-year old Amanda Simmons, who was one of two passengers in the vehicle, was flown by helicopter to an area hospital following the crash that took place just before 4-p.m. Friday, on Kentucky Avenue in Adams County.

Officials say a 2005 Saturn Vue driven by 19-year old Kaitlyn DeYoung, of Corning, was traveling over a hill north of Corning, when the vehicle went out of control and entered a ditch before hitting some trees. The accident remains under investigation.

The Atlantic School District’s Board of Education met well past 10-p.m. Monday, discussing the options for Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) the district will need to undertake in the near future to meet current and expected growth in enrollment. Superintendent Dr. Michael Amstein said before any decision is made on renovations to current facilities or the addition of classroom space, the Board, with input from the School Improvement Advisory Committee, or SIAC, will have to prioritize its needs before it meets with the committee.

Board member Dennis Davis said it is important not to use a “shotgun”-style approach to the district’s needs when approaching SIAC, the governing body which will also determine how the district will pay for any renovations. Design Alliance Architectural firm representative Jerry Purdy presented the Board with numerous facility options for dealing with growth in the district’s population, in terms of making additions to some schools and/or juggling around classroom space each year. Amstein said the simple fact of the matter is, the district has very little room left with which to place the students as they make their ways through the lower grades.

Amstein said there’s a mobile classroom in front of the Washington Elementary School this year, and regardless of the action the board takes in the next few months, the reality is, there will likely have to be two more mobile classrooms in front of the school next year. Amstein says the district is “Running out of space.” And, he says after talking with Washington Elementary School Principal Stacey Hornung, he’s learned it’s not just the classroom space that will be needed. Hornung, he says, will need another 1st and 3rd grade teacher next year. That means two more classrooms will have to utilize mobile classroom facilities.

When it comes time to pay for whatever renovations or improvements are made, Travis Squires, with bonding agent Piper-Jaffrey, says the District has three options: Sales Tax Revenue Bonds, which are secured by revenue pledge and does not require a public vote, once a Revenue Purpose Statement (RPS) is in-place; General Obligation PPEL (Physical Plant & Equipment Levy) Capital Loan Notes, or through the issuance of General Obligation School Bonds. If the District elects to pursue a bond referendum, it will need to finalize a bond amount based on project fund needs. A petition calling for an election will need to be filed by mid-December, with public forums held prior to a vote on February 5th, 2013.

Over 12-hundred Iowa school board members and superintendents will be in Des Moines on Tuesday and Wednesday for the annual meeting of the Iowa Association of School Boards. Convention coordinator, Lou Ann Gvist, says there will be numerous workshops for the school board members and superintendents to attend. She says they have a range of topics pertaining to the issues board’s face. Those include superintendent/board relations, policy, collective bargaining and school finance. Gvist said the convention will feature several speakers….

“We are really excited about our keynote speakers on Thursday…the day will be focused on developing a culture of innovation,” Gvist explains. “Dr. Tony Wagner from Harvard is kicking off our opening general session with an exciting keynote. And then following lunch, Dr. David Warlick is also going to talk about innovation.” Marti Kline is another I-A-S-B. convention organizer says Iowa native Ben Milne who create the money exchange company Dwolla will talk about his struggles in school at Cedar Falls and in college, and how we went on to overcome them and be successful.

“He’s created many jobs, he’s run more than one company and has been an employer of many people. And he’s going to talk to the group about how they can make sure that all different kinds of students are included. And all different types of students with learning needs, that their needs are met in the classroom and they can go on to be successful students and successful business people,” Kline says. Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds will speak to the delegates on Thursday afternoon about the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) initiative. You can find out more on the convention at www.ia-sb.org .

(Radio Iowa)