Newton
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Monday, November 25, 2013
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Newton, Iowa
School Board to discuss SINA plan for Berg Elementary
OBITUARIES Virginia N. Bucklin, 92 Ronald L. Holder, 68 Howard Mikkelson, 85 Joan Stevenson, 83 Dorothy Swihart, 87 Scott M. Ulrey, 52 Martha A. VerSteeg
Zach Johnson/Daily News Sen. Chuck Grassley was one of the keynote speakers at the “Don’t Mess with the RFS” event in Nevada.
INSIDE TODAY
By Ty Rushing Daily News Staff Writer
Local
DMACC food drive for Salvation Army Page 2A
Sports
CMB falls in opener
Page 7A
Weather
State politicians: EPA has embarked on war against corn
Tuesday
Iowans rally to protest EPA proposal lowering current Renewable Fuel Standard
High 21 Low 9
By Ty Rushing Daily News Staff Writer
Wednesday
High 22 Low 14 Weather Almanac
Friday, Nov. 22 High 28 Low 18 No Precipitation
Sat., Nov. 23 High 16 Low 8 No Precipitation
Sun., Nov. 24 High 26 Low 4 No Precipitation
Astrograph Page 11A Classifieds Page 9A
By Ty Rushing Daily News Staff Writer
Comics & Puzzles Page 6A
During Tuesday’s meeting of the Jasper County Board of Supervisors, Jasper County Community Services Director/Central Point Coordinator Jody Eaton will present her office’s annual report and one of the biggest topics, without a doubt, will be regionalization. On June 25, Jasper County signed a 28E Agreement to join Central Iowa Community Services Region. CICSR is a mental health service region that also includes Boone, Franklin, Hamilton, Hardin, Madison, Marshall, Story and Warren counties. Regions were created to meet state mandates that
Dear Abby Page 6A Opinion Page 4A Obituaries Page 2A, 3A Police Page 3A Our 112th Year No. 133
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PROTEST See Page 5A
Supervisors to receive update on regionalization
Also:
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NEVADA — Gov. Terry Branstad said the Environmental Protection Agency has “embarked in a war on corn” with its proposal of lowering the current Renewable Fuel Standard at an event on Friday at the Lincolnway Energy plant in Nevada. The message of “Don’t Mess with the RFS” was made loud and clear Friday by citizens and politicians from all over Iowa at the rally, which was put together by the state and the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. In addition to Branstad, Sen. Chuck Grassley, Rep. Steve King, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture and Land Stewardship Bill Northey, and several prominent members of the alternative fuel community spoke at the event.
“I know how important this is to not only all of you, but to the entire economy of our state,” Branstad told the fired up crowd of farmers, investors and concerned citizens. “The ethanol facilities in Iowa are significant as are the biodiesel facilities.” Iowa is the nation’s leader in renewable fuels. There are 42 ethanol plants, 12 biodiesel plants — including REG in Newton — and 185 E85 fuel stations. In addition, Iowa leads the nation in soybean and corn production, both of which are key components to producing renewable fuels. “We produce more ethanol than we consume in gasoline in this state,” Branstad told the crowd, which responded with raucous applause. “This is one of the reasons we have a strong economy in Iowa, much stronger than the rest of the county. You may have heard the unemployment numbers and it shot to 4.6 percent in Iowa.
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counties must be in an operational region by the start of the 2014 fiscal year. This law was created to ensure that all Iowans have adequate mental health services and coverage. In addition, Eaton will give reports on each of the local mental health service providers Jasper County utilizes. During the 2013 fiscal year, Eaton’s office aided 485 citizens and its expenditures totaled $937,417.65 County Engineer Russ Stutt will present a report to the board, but not for his duties within the Secondary Roads Department. Stutt also serves as the Jasper County Weed Commissioner. His report indicates SUPERVISORS See Page 5A
Tonight, the Newton Community School District Board of Education will conduct its second meeting of the month, which focuses on education. A discussion item on the agenda that is sure to garner a lot of attention, is the SINA plan for Berg Elementary School. SINA stands for School In Need of Assistance. A SINA is a school that hasn’t met the trajectory for two consecutive years, and there are different levels of SINA. (For example, a SINA-1 school hasn’t met the trajectory in three years). As of the 2012-13 Adequate Yearly Progress reports, Berg is SINA-1 in reading and MET in math. Elementary Education Services Director Jim Gilbert and Berg Principal Jolene Comer have stressed the imComer portance of reading and improving the reading scores in past interviews. “In the area of reading, we are just starting that now,” Gilbert said in August interview. “It’s a brand new initiative, we’ve redefined our literacy blocks, we’ve studied the best practices associated with structures around reading and writing and we’ve adopted brand new materials.” The new initiative he referred to was the “Reading Wonder” program, which is tailored to teach students in a way that adheres to the Iowa Common Core Standards. “Our first goal will be to increase student achievement in reading,” Comer said also in August. “We are implementing a new program this year called ‘Reading Wonders.’ It takes a literacy (based) approach, but it is more rigorous and more challenging than anything we’ve ever done before. So it is really raising the expectations for students, and it will help them to reach those higher levels of expectations.” In other business: • Basics & Beyond Alternative School Principal Laura Selover will present the board with a report on her building. • There will be a discussion on building interventions. • Superintendent Bob Callaghan will talk about possible considerations for early-retirement and present the board with the certified seniority report. The report lists staff, by department, in descending order of tenure within the district. Staff writer Ty Rushing may be contacted at (641) 792-3121, ext. 426, or at trushing@newtondailynews.com.
Holiday Bazaar
Mandi Lamb/Daily News Lily Seberson, 7, of Johnston displays one of her homemade bracelets she sold Saturday during the Holiday Bazaar at Newton Senior High School hosted by the NHS cheerleaders. Seberson attended the event with her mother and grandmother, and vendors from all over Jasper County and beyond participated. See more photos of the event on the Newton Daily News website.