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WEDNESDAY June 18, 2014
Your Hometown Paper Serving Beaman, Conrad, Liscomb, Union & Whitten
WWW.CONRADRECORD.COM
CONRAD, IOWA 50621 - U.S.P.S. 129-760
VOLUME 133 NUMBER 5
Black Dirt Days 2014
Conrad held its annual Black Dirt Days celebration last weekend, and this year’s theme was “Rockin’ Renovation.” In the top left photo, the Conrad American Legion leads Saturday’s parade. Top right: patrons enjoy some of the fine Black Dirt Days delicacies on Friday night in preparation for the world famous 20 foot long ice cream sundae. Bottom left, dog show participants pose with their pets after the competition on Saturday morning. Bottom right: A group of runners breaks from the finish line during the annual Dash n’ Splash 5K/10K on Saturday. View more photos from the weekend on page two. (Bottom right photo submitted by Jackie Stevens; all others by Rob Maharry/The Record)
Board approves preliminary bond After 10 years at the helm, Dielschneiders prepare to pass the Dash n’ Splash torch agreement with Piper Jaffray
By ROB MAHARRY The Record CONRAD- After finally giving its approval to a contract for the construction of a new bus barn facility, the BCLUW Board of Education voted 5-0 (Eric Engle and Brian Feldpausch were absent) to accept an engagement letter, disclosure requirement and form of term sheet for distribution with Piper Jaffray for the issuance of approximately $1,230,000 in bonds that will be used to fund the bus barn, wrestling room, auditorium and Dreamland playground projects during its regular meeting on Monday night at the high school media center. According to a preliminary schedule provided at the meeting, Piper Jaffray will distribute the bids to banks and investors until the July 14 deadline and present them to the board at its July 21 meeting in hopes that the board will approve a financing bid. The money will be borrowed against the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL), and the district is planning to make annual payments ranging between approximately $144,000 and just under $152,000 until June 1, 2023. The board voted unanimously to endorse a slight increase in meal costs along with the approval of bread and milk bids for the 20142015 school year. The prices of student breakfasts and lunches will be raised to $1.40 and $2.15, respectively, and adult meals will increase to $1.65 and $3.30. A bread bid from
Bimbo Bakeries USA was approved unanimously, and the board voted to switch from Hiland Dairy to Anderson-Erickson for milk as AE submitted a slightly lower bid for its services. A new $30 book fee for each college course was also approved after Superintendent Ben Petty noted that BCLUW was in the minority of NICL schools that did not charge some type of fee for the classes. “I think it’s a pretty reasonable fee for a course that probably saves them several hundred dollars from taking it in college,” he said. High School Principal Cari Teske recommended that the number of elective credits needed for graduation be reduced from 17 to 16 and that Financial Literacy, which is currently an elective, should become a required course for the class of 2018 and all of the graduating classes after it. The board approved the change, and the number of total required credits for graduation will remain at 52. Several small changes to the student handbook were approved, including tighter rules on cell phone usage, the updated hot lunch policy and the excessive truancy policy. In personnel news, the board accepted the resignation of Angie Martin as an elementary education aide and Kent Hayes as a bus driver, and Deb Green was approved to become a cook. The hire of Tiffany Nederhoff as a third preschool teacher also passed, and she will be an aide
The Record’s Index Church .............5 Classifieds .......7 Legals ............ 10
Movies ............3 Obituaries .......5 Opinion ...........4
at the elementary in addition to her preschool duties. The district is still looking to fill the assistant volleyball, drama, assistant track, junior high football and assistant girls’ basketball coaching vacancies. Teske, Middle School Principal Dirk Borgman and Elementary Principal Mitch Parker gave a presentation for the District Leadership Team, and most of the discussion revolved around Iowa Assessments proficiency rates for BCLUW students. Although the district has consistently trended above state and national averages in most areas, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 set 2014 as the year that schools should reach 100 percent proficiency, which has proved to largely unrealistic for districts across the country. “It’s a bad law, and it was a bad law when it began,” Borgman said. “We’re looking at growth.” He added that taking the tests is a tedious task for most students and without incentives and rewards, which BCLUW has been providing to students that hit proficiency goals, it will be extremely difficult to motivate them to take the assessments seriously. During his comments at the end of the meeting, Petty outlined some of the legislative goals of the Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB) for 2014 and which ones he believed that BCLUW should prioritize. SCHOOL BOARD ...continued on page 3
By ROB MAHARRY The Record CONRAD- What started as a humble initiative to encourage healthy lifestyles and show off the beauty of the Comet Trail in 2005 has become one of the biggest attractions of Conrad’s Black Dirt Days weekend, and after overseeing the Dash n’ Splash 5K/10K for the last 10 years, Nile and Gloria Dielschneider are passing on their duties to Jami Willett and a new committee of organizers and volunteers. In an interview with The Record, the Dielschneiders reflected on their tenure and how the event has grown (this year, 148 participants from 37 different communities and five states either ran or walked, and a 10K race was added for the first time). They took inspiration from the Pat Neff Memorial Run held annually in Beaman, and as both Nile and Gloria did not begin running until they were well into adulthood, they have encouraged others to make the Dash n’ Splash their first race in hopes of inspiring them to continue to stay active. “It’s been kind of fun to see some of the people who did their first 5K at the Dash n’ Splash and now have started their own races in their communities or elsewhere, or continued that habit and are going to other events in other communities,” Gloria said. The race, which begins and ends near the Conrad Family Aquatic Center and runs along the Comet Trail, also provides incentives that
Nile Dielschneider (left), who along with his wife Gloria has organized the Dash n’ Splash since 2005, shares a laugh with overall champion and new women’s 5K record holder Susie Duke while presenting her with a trophy on Saturday. (Rob Maharry/The Record photo) have attracted more competitive runners: anyone who sets a new course record can claim a $100 prize. On Saturday morning, Susie Duke broke the 5K women’s mark when she ran an 18:27. The 5K course is now certified by USA Track and Field, and runners can use their times at the Dash n’ Splash to qualify for bigger races. It is also part of the Healthiest State Initiative and the Grundy County Challenge.
Although the inaugural run in 2005 drew only 66 runners and actually lost $90, it has since gained steam as the number of participants and sponsorships has increased greatly. The Dash n’ Splash raises money to be put toward preservation and improvements of the Comet Trail as well as the BCLUW track DASH ‘N SPLASH ...continued on page 3
BCLUW sports Highlight from the past week of sports on pages 11 & 12.
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