The
Graphic - Advocate WEDNESDAY
| NOVEMBER 27, 2013|VOLUME 124| ISSUE 48
Rockwell City Office 712-297-7544 • advocate@iowatelecom.net - Lake City Office 712-464-3188 • lcgraphic@iowatelecom.net SCC Girls Basketball on page 12
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School vaccination error repeated
SCC All-State singers include - Morgan Snyder, Katie Welander, Stephanie Rautanen, Jacob Clark and Jace Neubaum. (Graphic-Advocate photo by Toni Venteicher)
SCC Singers earn All-State honors
Jacob Clark, Jace Neubaum, Stephanie Rautanen, Morgan Snyder, and Katie Welander of South Central Calhoun High School have attained the highest individual honor available to Iowa high school musicians by being selected as members of the 2013 All-State Chorus. Jacob Clark is the son of Dave and Dawn Clark of Lake City. Jace Neubaum is the son of Jeff and Peggy Neubaum of Rockwell City. Stephanie Rautanen is the daughter of Paula Rautanen and Chad Rautanen of Rockwell City and Duncombe. Morgan Snyder is the daughter of Duane and Jennifer
Snyder of Lohrville. Katie Welander is the daughter of Kyle and Sheila Welander of Rockwell City. Erin Thieszen is the SCCHS choir director. The 2013 Festival is celebrating the 67th anniversary of this prestigious event. District Auditions for the 602-member All-State Chorus were held Saturday, Oct. 26, at Storm Lake High School, along with multiple locations around the state including Hampton, Manchester, Harlan, Indianola, and Fairfield. Approximately 17 percent of the students who audition are selected for membership in the AllState ensembles (choir, band, and
orchestra). Participants rehearsed in Ames on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 22 and 23, and the Festival Concert was presented to the public at 7:30 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum, Iowa State University, Ames, on Saturday evening, Nov. 23. Iowa Public Television recorded the concert for re-broadcast. The full concert will be aired on Thursday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 1, at 2 p.m. on IPTV. This program is under the auspices of the Iowa High School Music Association and the Iowa Music Educators Association.
By Ken Ross Graphic-Advocate Editor After discussing options for early retirement incentives at a Nov. 18 joint school board meeting, the Southern Cal and Rockwell City/ Lytton boards both approved a onetime early retirement benefit of 1/3 of a faculty member’s salary. The employee must be at least 55 years of age and have been employed by the district for at least 20 years. The options discussed had included the one-time cash payment, health insurance coverage prior up to when Medicare was available, some combination of the two or a choice between benefits. Supt. Jeff Kruse told the boards that a survey of faculty members had resulted in some preferring the health insurance option and some preferring the cash, depending on the age of the person being asked. The younger the employee, the more value the health insurance option has. He added that a problem with giving the employees a choice between cash and health insurance, the health insurance then becomes a taxable benefit. In order to keep the incentive simpler and more equitable for everyone, the straight cash incentive was approved, with the benefit being limited to the first three applicants from each district. This limit can be adjusted at a later date and the board members indicated that they are likely to do so if there are more staff members who apply in a timely
manner. The reason for the potential restriction is that the state law governing early retirement incentives gives a 4-day notification period after the announcement of an incentive for staff members to apply. This would delay the ability to deal with a vacancy into the next calendar year. With a potential restriction on the number of applicants approved, there is a motivation for applying quickly. An early retirement benefit for employees under the age of 65 can be funded out of a district’s management levy, which also pays for such expenses as the employer’s contribution to health insurance and the employer’s payroll tax expense. This is a levy that can be adjusted based on the amount needed, unlike the base school district levy which is determined by state formula in order to, along with state aid, provide a perpupil amount consistent throughout the state. There are optional levies for districts (Physical Plant and Equipment, Instructional Support, dropout prevention and debt service) but these are limited as to amount and use and cannot be used to pay general operating expenses. Early retirement provides an opportunity to replace senior teachers with newer teachers who will be lower on the pay scale. It also provides a way to reduce staff by attrition without layoffs. Earlier this fall, the fact that enrollment continues to decline in the South
Central Calhoun school system was discussed at a joint board meeting. There is one potential retiree who would need to have the early retirement benefit paid from the general fund because of age. *** RCL Board member Ron Maulsby and SCCHS Principal Randy Martin visited the Jones County Career Academy in Monticello, recently, along with other area school officials and Iowa Central Community College representatives. The facility opened in 2009 and is operated by the Kirkwood Community College. There was a building bond passed through the community college for construction expense. The academy is part of a growing number of facilities in the state that are offering vocational and advanced placement courses for high school students. Maulsby noted that the Lynn County career academy opened this year, next year the Washington County Career Academy will open and one in Johnson County will open in the fall of 2015 on the University of Iowa campus. The facility in Monticello offers such career paths as auto, health, computer networking, graphic design and pre-engineering. Students are bussed from their home school district for either a morning or afternoon session of three periods a day.
Early retirement incentive approved for faculty
SCHOOL BOARD continued to page 8
By Ken Ross Graphic-Advocate Editor For the second year in a row, an error in the vaccination program conducted by the Calhoun County Health Department at a South Central Calhoun school resulted in vaccination of a child without parental permission. Supt. Jeff Kruse told a joint meeting of the Rockwell City/Lytton and Southern Cal school boards on Nov. 18 that the problem both times has involved a flu shot. Other health services provided at the schools include TDAP (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) vaccination and various screenings. Flu shots are not legally mandated. TDAP is now required prior to 7th grade as a booster for a vaccination given to preschool age children but the law does not require that the school provide the place for vaccinations or in any way participate in such a health care service. “Things to consider would be one – do we want to discontinue it. Two – if we do want to offer flu shots, at the least we might want to require parents to be there at the elementary level,” Kruse said. He noted that there were no planned flu vaccinations for the remainder of the year and that the board members could express their views at this meeting on the direction to go with a vote on any policy change made at a later meeting. Robert Ericsson, SCC Nurse, told the boards that despite the best efforts at prevention, “We still had a medication error. I do take ownership of this error.” Ericsson referred back to some years ago when RCL district conducted a kindergarten clinic. It was phased out because physicians said that seeing so many kids in such a short time would eventually result in mistakes being made. The mistake made this fall resulted from two students in different grades having identical names. Both forms were sent to one family and were both returned signed without one family being asked for permission. “There has been a lot of tears, a lot of emotion and I never want to go down this road again,” Ericsson
said. Judy Hungate of the SCal Board said that one mistake can be made but she has had it as far as vaccinations at the school. “The only way I would want the public health in here to give vaccinations is if the parent was present and signed a form and I don’t care how old the student is,” said Roscoe Simpson of the RCL Board. Ron Maulsby of the RCL board had spoken at length on the subject at previous meetings because the event had happened to a child of his. Maulsby said he talked to the father and the biggest issue the father had was that when his wife called the
school she was treated horribly and when she called public health, she was treated horribly. “From a year ago, I’m not saying that when we called the school we were treated horribly but when we called public health, we were treated horribly,” Maulsby said. He added that he and his wife were told that it would never happen again to any student at the school. “They lied,” Maulsby said. Kruse said that the district’s legal counsel advised against school participation in flu shots. The matter will be on the agenda for the December meeting.
Lauren Korkow, Maddie Monahan and Kassidy Haffner, 3rd graders at SCC Elementary School, decorate cans that will be used to collect donations for relief efforts on behalf of storm victims in the Philippines. (Graphic-Advocate photo by Ken Ross)
SCCES kids begin relief project
By Ken Ross Graphic-Advocate Editor Two third-graders from South Central Calhoun Elementary School went to a school board meeting on Nov. 18 seeking permission to raise money for relief efforts on behalf of the victims of a typhoon that ravaged the Philippines. Moved by the images of Typhoon Haiyan’s aftermath that left huge areas of the Pacific nation in ruins and countless people without shelter, food, water and medicine, Kassady Haffner and Lauren Korkow came before the board to present their plan of action.
They plan to put collection cans on the teachers’ desks in classrooms, to put cans in various community locations including churches, convenience stores and supermarkets and to communicate with other area schools to raise money through Dec. 21. They informed the board that Principal McChesney had agreed to be their adult sponsor for the project. Nicole McChesney had accompanied the girls and introduced them to the board. Board members signified their approval of the project by getting the donations started.
Court ruling might negate railroad special treatment By Ken Ross Graphic-Advocate Editor An Iowa Supreme Court decision in favor of the Union Pacific Railroad might actually backfire against the railroad, John Torberg, director of the Iowa Drainage District Association (IDDA), informed the Calhoun County Board of Supervisors at the supervisors’ Nov. 19 meeting. Torberg was updating the supervisors about a situation the supervisors have been following closely regarding how expenses are dealt with when repairs are needed to drainage structures under railroad lines. By way of review, Torberg reminded the supervisor that the Iowa Code creates special conditions where a culvert goes under a railroad. For decades, the operating assumption was that a drain tile
meant culvert for purposes of billing the railroad for repairs. In the case of a billing from Calhoun County to Chicago, Central and Pacific, the court decided in favor of Calhoun County on a technicality without ruling on the definition of drain tile and culvert. However, in a later state supreme court ruling involving a dispute between Hardin County and the Union Pacific Railroad, the court ruled in favor of the railroad, deciding that drain tile does not mean culvert. At first, the solution seemed to be that the state legislature needed to amend the Iowa Code but that would be a difficult task. “First of all, drainage does not have a statewide constituency,” Torberg explained. Between 35 and 40 counties have drainage districts to assess for the payment for drainage
projects. Landowners are assessed in the manner of property tax for drainage projects based on the benefit provided to each property owner as a percentage of total project cost. The remaining counties generally have a topography that naturally drains standing water in a reasonably efficient and timely manner without the need for a countywide drainage program. Of the counties that have drainage districts, about 30 also have potential railroad right of way issues. Torberg said the state legislators who in years past looked out for the interest of drainage district counties have all retired. The railroads have active and influential lobbyists.
RAILROAD continued to page 8
New members of the South Central Calhoun Chapter of the National Honor Society, inducted in a ceremony at the high school on Nov. 19 were (front, l to r) Jane Kipp, Michaela Graffunder, Jennifer Hood, Hailey Burley, Katie Welander, Maggie Anderson, Rachel Wedemeyer, Mallory Willett, Sarah Van Hulzen and Courtney Anderson; (back, l to r) Jake Petzenhauser, Anthony Handlos, Aron King, Stephanie Hood, Marcus Feldhans, Trevor Bounds, Tanner Schrad and Colin Brown.
Lake City native art featured at library
Pat Nutter Albright, a Lake City native, talks with one of the Lake City Library patron during an open house on Saturday sponsored the Friends of the Library. Some of Pat Albright’s photographs will be on display at the library through Dec. 30. (Graphic-Advocate photo by Ken Ross)
SCC National Honor Society Induction Ceremony Eighteen South Central Calhoun students were inducted into the Sit Lux chapter of the National Honor Society on Tuesday, Nov. 19. The current members of the society
conducted the candle light ceremony to make the inductees members. Dr. Frate, a physician from Stewart Memorial Hospital, was the keynote speaker.
Exactly one week before the students were announced at a ceremony held in the auditorium during the school day. Former principal Earl Trachsel was the
speaker for this event. National Honor Society has four ideals: scholarship, character, leadership, and service. These ideals are the basis for which members are chosen.