The Atlantic School Board Thursday night, discussed the reasons for choosing a considerably more expensive new construction and renovation plan for the school district, prior to voting on proceeding with the process to bring a $19.8-million bond referendum to the voters. Superintendent Mike Amstein said it all boils down to current and projected increased enrollment and the need to provide a quality education.

Board Member Dennis Davis, who was the only one to vote against Concept 2, wanted to know why Amstein thought the less expensive option (Concept1). wasn’t more fitting. Amstein said it doesn’t provide any additional space for what’s going to be needed in the next two- to three-years. He said when space for Title 1 and ESL increasing enrollments are taken into consideration, Concept 1 doesn’t provide the necessary space. It does provide space for regular classrooms, but the other classes are cramped. Concept 2 he says, will provide that additional space.

Davis wanted to know how firm and accurate the projected enrollment numbers are that is prompting a proposed expansion of the district’s facilities. Amstein said “Our best guess comes from our 4-year old program and our 3-year old program. Both of those numbers still tend to run along the same lines we’ve been receiving in the past few years.” He said graduating class numbers are also expected to increase over the next couple of years.

Past that, Amstein says it’s difficult to project what the numbers will be, but the State is projecting 120-to 125 kindergarten students coming in. Amstein says they’ve already surpassed that. He said he doesn’t think the district is “overbuilding.”  Board member Phil Hascall said he “Would have voted in a heart beat for Option 1,” so the district could build faster and get rid of the mobile classrooms, but it would “short change” the kids. He said he’s glad the administration gathered the necessary input and the board made the right decision in choosing Concept 2.

Hascall said he thinks it gives the district more flexibility. Option 1 also didn’t contain a renovation for the Industrial Tech program. Board member Rod Hartwig said Concept 2 helps meet the Board’s goal of a high standard of education.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – The outbreak of a contagious bacterial infection that causes diarrhea has worsened in northwest Iowa’s Woodbury County.  Siouxland District Health Department Deputy Director Tyler Brock tells the Sioux City Journal that shigellosis had sickened 225 children and adults in the region as of Wednesday. That’s up from 95 cases in late November.   Woodbury County recorded a single case of shigellosis last year.

Most people who are infected have frequent watery stools that could be bloody, as well as fever and stomach cramps, starting a day or two after exposure to the bacteria. Symptoms usually last several days.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal grand jury has indicted six men from China on charges of conspiracy to steal trade secrets. The indictment, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Des Moines, was unsealed yesterday. It alleges the men conspired to steal patented seed developed by DuPont Pioneer and Monsanto and ship it to China.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — State officials say an emerald ash borer has been found in a residential tree in the southwestern Iowa city of Creston. The announcement yesterday marked the fifth location where the beetle has been found in Iowa. It’s the first time the insect has been spotted in western Iowa.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Polk County jury has again found an Ankeny man guilty of first-degree murder in the 2004 death of his ex-wife’s lover. The Des Moines Register reports 66-year-old Vernon Huser was convicted in the death of Lance Morningstar, whose body was found in 2005. Huser was convicted of the same charge in 2010, but the Iowa Court of Appeals ordered a new trial because of hearsay evidence.

GREENFIELD, Iowa (AP) — A pregnant woman’s quick stop at a central Iowa convenience store while on the way to the hospital didn’t go as planned. Amanda Teas, who works at Casey’s General Store in Greenfield, tells KCCI Abbie Hinrichs stopped in at about 2:30 a.m. yesterday to use the restroom. Hinrichs told Teas she was in labor and was headed for the Creston hospital, but gave birth 4 minutes later.