Beloved NRHEG principal retiring
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Elementary principal retiring after 36 years in education
IS IT TIME? - Doug Anderson says something he will miss most about his job is being part of students’ everyday lives. After working in education for 36 years, his decision to retire did not come easily. (Star Eagle photo by Deb Bently)
By JORDAN HOREJSI
Staff Writer
After 36 years in education, retiring elementary principal Doug Anderson already knows what he will miss the most: “Without a doubt, it’s that connection with the students—being part of their everyday lives, watching them arrive as kindergarteners, and walk out our door for the last time as soon-to-be sixth-graders.”
For the past 11 years, Anderson has stood inside the entrance to the elementary school, greeting students, chatting with them about everyday occurrences and developments. “The good and, sometimes, the not-so-good,” he says. “It’s been a difficult decision because I know how badly I will miss those conversations.”
Elementary Observations
As he finishes his career at NRHEG, Doug Anderson says he will miss being part of students' everyday lives. He shares the story below to illustrate the many paths a conversation with children can follow.
Recently I had the opportunity to fill in as the substitute teacher for our Bridges classroom. Bridges is the Pre-Kindergarten Readiness program at the elementary school. After answering the usual questions of, "Why are you teaching in our room?" and, "Do you even know how to teach?" we successfully began the afternoon.
Frustrated ambulance department
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New Richland City Council
By ELI LUTGENS
Editor
The New Richland City Council met for its regular meeting March 8, prior to moving to a closed meeting to discuss performance reviews of ambulance personnel.
Ambulance Report
Acting Director Sara Sundve was present to deliver the ambulance report and stated the department has responded to 31 calls this year.
“We have not missed any calls since I’ve taken over as acting director,” said Director Sundve. “I just wanted to clarify that.”
A special request by Director Sundve was approved by council to not only forgive the remaining balance owed for training courses, but to pay an unnamed crew member $300. The cost of the EMT training course is $1600 and is paid by the city. The cost is then paid back by the crewmember through their first year of work. This particular crewmember, which council declined to name because of privacy concerns, had $300 of work left to do to pay off the remaining balance of their debt to the city.
Director Sundve said she would like to see the crewmember paid half of the $600 reimbursement from the state for this past month of work.
CARES Act money mishandled across Southern Minnesota
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By ELI LUTGENS
Editor
Of nearly $7.5 million distributed to eleven southern Minnesota cities to support struggling persons and businesses, roughly 17.5 percent ($1.3 million) was awarded to local businesses according to federal guidelines. The remaining funds appear to have been used to pad city checkbooks.
Many southern Minnesota cities have used a loophole to allow the use of money from the Federal CARES Act program according to their own discretion. Cities are taking these funds and using them for previously budgeted safety salaries. Doing this allows these cities to take the funds previously allocated for public employee salaries and deposit them, as one director remarked, “Right into the bank account.”
According to federal guidelines, Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) funds may only be used to cover costs that were incurred due to the public health emergency caused by the coronavirus between March and November.
CRF funds may not be allocated for previously budgeted expenses or to replenish lost city revenue. Despite these clearly stated guidelines, one director defended city spending, saying, “The city lost a significant amount of revenues due to shutdowns. We’re using those freed up funds to add to our fund balance.”
According to the Department of Treasury, “Local governments should weigh these factors and decide if a given expense is necessary and due to COVID- 19. The decision-making process and justification for eligibility should be well-documented for use in the event of an audit.”
By using CRF funds for previously budgeted salaries, a city could, in turn, use those funds previously allocated for public safety salaries for any reason. One clerk said the city purchased new winter jackets for the police department. The North Mankato Finance Director reported the city spent $100,000 for brand new computers, monitors and iPads for everyone working in the city office. The City of Pemberton used half of their city's CRF funds to build a new entrance to the City Clerk's office.
Lerberg’s Foods gets needed upgrade
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Ross Sletten stands proudly in front of just a sampling of the new refrigeration units at Lerberg's Foods in Ellendale. (Star Eagle photo by Melanie Piltingsrud)
By MELANIE PILTINGSRUD
Staff Writer
Ross Sletten of Lerberg's Foods has been making renovations to the historic Ellendale grocery store. The biggest change so far has been the installation of a long row of new refrigeration units for produce, meats, dairy, and frozen foods.
“Our other cases were starting to show their age,” said Sletten concerning what led to the change, “and they were open cases, and so they took a lot of energy to run.” The new refrigeration units, which are closed cases with glass doors, are far more efficient.
“We started doing this the week of Christmas,” said Sletten, “and we finished it the week of New Year's. It was about a two-week project.” The refrigerators were up and running by Dec. 29.
The new refrigeration units give the store a lot more space for increased variety. “People are really happy,” said Sletten. “In the past, given the space that we had, we were only able to carry maybe one variety of yogurt, for example. Now, we've probably got five or six varieties. We were able to expand our pizza. Before we only had one area for pizza, and now we've got two full doors of pizza.”
Sletten was able to purchase the Merik, Inc. refrigeration units through American Wholesale Grocers (AWG). “AWG is a co-op, and I belong to the co-op,” said Sletten. “As a co-op, we can go out as a big corporation, and say, 'This is what we're looking for,' and they get us the best price that's out there on things like this when somebody wants to redo their store.”
Special night for NRHEG
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Students grateful to participate in coronation
WE ARE SMILING — NRHEG Homecoming King Thor Routh and Queen Grace Tufte appear as though they are smling under their masks during Thursday night’s coronation. (Star Eagle photo by Chris Schlaak)
By DEB BENTLY
Contributing Writer
In more ways than not, last Thursday’s Homecoming coronation failed to meet “normal” expectations. Student Council advisor and the person in charge of planning the event, NRHEG teacher Barb Roesler, can list quite a few unusual features: “The students wore masks. The stage setup was very spread out and the floor of the gym was arranged so the candidates could remain socially distanced. We couldn’t have the choir or the band give any performances, and the audience was restricted to eight people for each candidate.”
But in every way that counted, it was a special event.
“Mrs. Roesler did a lot of planning and re-planning for us to be able to have coronation,” observes 2021 Homecoming King Thor Routh. “We were glad to be able to make it work.”
Had the 2020-21 school year been typical, Homecoming coronation would have probably taken place on September 21 or 28, according to Roesler. At that time, however, the Minnesota State High School League had announced that the football season would take place in the spring of 2021. In October, a decision was made to return the season to a more typical time frame, and Homecoming celebrations were scheduled for the week of November 9. That plan, too, had to be changed as the COVID pandemic began to pick up speed.