(Washington, D-C) – U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona today (Tuesday) recognized 325 schools as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2021, including five schools in Iowa. The recognition is based on a school’s overall academic performance or progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups. Secretary Cardona made the announcement during his Return to School Road Trip, while visiting an awardee school in Palatine, Illinois.

The Iowa schools named as National Blue Ribbon Schools were:

Bedford – Bedford Elementary School, Bedford Community School District.
Bettendorf – Pleasant Valley High School, Pleasant Valley Community School District.
Council Bluffs – Lewis Central Senior High School, Lewis Central Community School District.
Hills – Hills Elementary School, Iowa City Community School District.
Spencer – Spencer Middle School, Spencer Community School District.

Secretary Cardona said “This year’s cohort of honorees demonstrates what is possible when committed educators and school leaders create vibrant, welcoming, and affirming school cultures where rich teaching and learning can flourish. I commend all our Blue Ribbon honorees for working to keep students healthy and safe while meeting their academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs. In the face of unprecedented circumstances, you found creative ways to engage, care for, protect, and teach our children. Blue Ribbon Schools have so much to offer and can serve as a model for other schools and communities so that we can truly build back better.”

The coveted National Blue Ribbon Schools award affirms the hard work of educators, families and communities in creating safe and welcoming schools where students master challenging and engaging content. Now in its 39th year, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program has bestowed approximately 10,000 awards to more than 9,000 schools.

The Department recognizes all schools in one of two performance categories, based on all student scores, subgroup student scores and graduation rates:

Exemplary High-Performing Schools are among their state’s highest performing schools as measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests.
Exemplary Achievement Gap-Closing Schools are among their state’s highest performing schools in closing achievement gaps between a school’s student groups and all students.
Up to 420 schools may be nominated each year. The Department invites National Blue Ribbon Schools nominations from the top education official in all states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and the Bureau of Indian Education. Private schools are nominated by the Council for American Private Education.

Sheriff’s officials in Guthrie County report a man from Guthrie Center was transported to the Guthrie County Hospital, with possible/unknown injuries, following a single-vehicle accident Sunday night. Authorities say their investigation determined 75-year old Lynn Roy Sparks was traveling on 180th Trail at around 8-p.m. Sunday, when he lost control of his 2003 Ford Taurus on the gravel. The vehicle ended-up in a ditch, causing Sparks and his wife to be unable to open their doors. The accident happened when Mr. Sparks was unable to clearly see the road, due to tall grass in the ditches on both sides of the road.

He contacted his son to pull the vehicle out of the ditch. It was located in front of The New Homestead in Guthrie Center. Damage to the car was estimated at $6,000.

(Radio Iowa) – Antique car lovers shelled out big bucks in north-central Iowa over the weekend. A two-day auction of classic cars in the Hamilton County town of Williams late last week netted 1.5 million dollars. The proceeds of the car auction from the Hemken Car Museum will benefit the auto restoration and technology program at McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas. Over 60 classic cars including Studebaker, Rolls-Royce, Pontiac, Playboy and more were on the auction block plus plenty of auto parts.

Daryl and Ann Hemken opened their car museum in 2000 and closed in 2018. Daryl Hemken died in 2005 while Ann Hemken died last year.

(Radio Iowa) – A Garner man is jailed in Hamilton County after a chase through three counties early Monday. Thirty-four-year-old Braden Alan Johnson was calling the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department requesting help then refused to stop when he was approached by deputies. Authorities reported the chase on Interstate 35 through Hamilton, Story and Polk counties reached speeds up to 100 mile an hour at times. Johnson was then pulled over when he made his stop in Polk County.

Johnson had a three-year-old child inside his vehicle while being pursued. Several charges including eluding and reckless driving face Johnson as a result of the incident.

(Radio Iowa) – The Mason City School Board last (Monday) night unanimously approved a policy that mandates mask usage inside a school building when the illness rate inside that building reaches seven percent or more, with the requirement being lifted once the illness rate drops below five percent. That would include all illnesses, not just COVID-19. Superintendent Dave Versteeg says nurses would report the information daily with parents being immediately notified if a building went over seven percent.  Versteeg says, “We do that at the end of every day and that nurse can report to us, and we can send out a notice to those parents that evening, saying ‘Building X’ hit the threshold, so tomorrow people will wear a mask.”

Board member Jodi Draper says the compromise tries to address the best policies for staff and students while at the same time hearing from people who don’t want to see any mandate put in place.  “Our job is to represent people and look at both of those views, and though can we meet them and greet them together into a middle of the road, and I think we can,” Draper says. “I think we can keep our teachers safe, our students safe, our children safe that come in and out of the buildings with special needs. How do we do that? That’s what people elected us to find out, and to research, and to do.”

Board member Alan Steckman went along with the compromise after wanting to see a full-time mask mandate in the schools, saying that masks worked well in the schools last year.  “I’ve had somebody send me a post and said ‘Masks do not prevent COVID, it says so on the box.’ What the hell box was that? What the hell box?” Steckman says. “My thinking on it is that seat belts do not prevent death. You can die with a seat belt. You can die with a mask, but generally they prevent death, generally masks prevent death. So I’m voting masks.”

Currently, a school district is required to report to the county department of public health when a building reaches a 10% absentee or illness rate so that local public health officials can determine if any further action needs to be taken. The board voted to start the seven-percent policy next Monday to allow Versteeg to draw up further guidelines for students and staff to follow when a mandate is in place.

The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports four arrests took place over the past week:

• 63-year-old Michael Allen Bloom, of Greenfield, was arrested Sept. 14th in Bridgewater, on a Taylor County warrant. He was transported directly to meet with Taylor County Deputies.
• 55-year-old Michelle Renee Evans, of Bridgewater, was arrested in Greenfield Sept. 15th, on an Adair County warrant for six counts of Animal Neglect with serious injury or death. She remains in the Adair County Jail on a $12,000 cash or surety bond.
• 36-year-old Derik Wayne Bud Pickrell, of West Des Moines, was arrested Sept. 16th, on two separate Adair County warrants for Violation of Probation. He was being held on a $2,000 cash or surety bond.
• And, 45-year-old Scott William Richard Funke, of Grimes, was arrested Sept. 16th in Greenfield, on a Polk County felony warrant for Dominion/Control of a firearm by a domestic abuse offender, and Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense. His cash/surety bond was set at $4,500.