Plymouth County Board of Supervisors Will Not Meet Today
(Le Mars) — The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors will not be holding any meeting today as there were not enough agenda items to warrant a meeting.
Gehlen Mission Honduras Leaves Today
(Le Mars) — A group of Gehlen Catholic and Remsen St. Mary’s students and staff will be leaving Le Mars today with the destination of Honduras. Its all part of the Mission Honduras program. Carolyn Bickford will be traveling with the group. Bickford first traveled to Honduras in 2005, and since then has been on every student trip, plus other travels to Honduras. She says she has lost track as to how many times she has visited the Central American nation.
This year’s missionary tour to Honduras will involve 35 students and chaperones. Bickford explains the focus for this year’s trip will be to build homes.
Bickford just returned from Honduras about a week ago, as she participated in the “Paul’s Project” when several adults from Le Mars had traveled to the poverty stricken nation to build four homes, in honor of Paul Langel. Bickford explains the three homes that will be built by the Gehlen and Remsen St. Mary’s
group, as well as the four homes built a week ago by the Project Paul team are simple structures, but are greatly appreciated by the Honduran people.
Bickford says many of the Honduran people have nothing, and they are not certain as to where the next meal will come from. She says the people are appreciative of the donated items found inside the gift bags.
The Gehlen-Honduras Mission leader explains the poor living conditions found for many of the people residing in Honduras.
Bickford says the conditions in Honduras are often times hard to imagine, until you see it first-hand.
Gehlen will be holding a “send-off” ceremony today scheduled for 1:30 from the Gehlen gym.
Gehlen’s 7th and 8th Grade Math Students Compete In Math Contest
(Le Mars) — Gehlen Catholic’s 7th & 8th grade Math Teams, recently competed at the Morningside College Math Bee.
The 7th grade Math Team placed 10th out of 38 teams. The team consisted of Ethan Herbst, Mitchell Augustine, Carson Sitzmann, Ryan Livermore, & Elias Sitzmann (all of LeMars). Carson also placed in the top 20 in the individual contest.
The 8th grade team, which is comprised of Lillian Harpenau, Reese Bock, Zach Kraft, Jeff Augustine & Emily Klein (all of LeMars), competed but did not place in the individual or team contests.
Junior High Math teacher & Math Team Moderator, Mrs. Amanda Christoffel selected the students because of their interest and excellence in mathematics.
Mrs. Christoffel practiced with the students before school, during class & JAYS time to prepare for the Math Bee.
She stated, “The purpose of the Math Bee is to give students an opportunity to showcase their math skills & to show students math can be fun!” The Math Bee utilizes real world math problems to ensure student achievement of state &
national math standards, as well as 21st century skills. The Math Bee also assists students with their interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math).
Mrs. Christoffel applauded the students on their performance at the Math Bee.
She concluded, “It was a great day! The students had fun! I can tell there is a lot of potential for the future!”
Gehlen Catholic’s 7th Grade Math Contestants
Gehlen Catholic’s 8th Grade Math Contestants
School Board Approves Budget Timeline
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Community School Board were given preliminary budget figures during last evening’s school board meeting. The Board of Education heard from School Superintendent, Dr. Todd Wendt explain the school funding
formula that is used to determine the school’s budget and projected revenue from tax levys. Wendt says many schools across the state may find themselves in a bad financial position simply because of declining enrollment. Wendt says that
Le Mars Community is in better financial position, in part because of the increase in student enrollment.
(sot) Wendt budget1
The school board approved the proposed school calendar which has classes to start on August 24th and finishing on May 23rd. The school board approved the resignations of Jessica Reuter as a dance team coach and Nick Knapp as an assistant tennis coach. The school board also approved the three-year agreement with Gehlen Catholic for Gehlen’s use of the football
stadium.
Iowa’s Unemployment Rate Drops
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.3 percent in January as Iowa employers added nearly 10,000 jobs.
Iowa Workforce Development announced Monday that the rate dropped from 3.5 percent in December and was down from 3.8 percent a year ago.
The national rate rose to 4.8 percent in January.
Agency director Beth Townsend says employers in the state added 9,900 jobs, with hiring especially strong in professional and business services.
The number of unemployed resident dropped from 59,000 in December to 56,600 in January.
