Latest news with #Haroldson
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Teamwork, focus fuel award-winning gains at Great Lakes Elementary
May 20—SUPERIOR — Three years of sustained student growth in math and reading test scores has earned Great Lakes Elementary School national recognition. It was one of 600 schools in the United States and Canada to be recognized as a Model PLC at Work. The recognition is given by Solution Tree, a company that provides professional learning community resources to schools. A professional learning community, commonly referred to as a PLC, is a cohort of teachers that meets for training, goal setting and continued collaboration. Principal Ryan Haroldson said a focus on learning, results and a collaborative culture fueled the progress — improved test scores in math and English language arts at all grade levels, in all categories, every year. Third grade teacher Shelly Bong said Haroldson's trust in teachers has been key to making the professional learning communities successful. "And sharing resources. It's not a contest of who's the best teacher. We're working together," Bong said, leaning on fellow teachers to learn about new resources and programs. "We collaborate in our grade-level teams, but we also collaborate across levels. ... That's a huge piece of it." Each of the teachers is amazing on their own, Haroldson said, but by working together, they get better. "I think teachers need to have autonomy to try different things, to learn from each other. That's the power of the team," the principal said. That equals more resources for students. "Instead of having 15 years of teaching experience, you could have 100 years of teaching experience," said Martine Ferg, reading teacher. "With Ryan, he empowers us to make those decisions, and we rise to the occasion. We feel trusted to make the right decisions for all of our students. And then we're able to really do what's best for the child." The school's dedication to professional learning communities dates back to 2017. Initially, Haroldson said, they didn't see big gains. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Great Lakes Elementary School's state standardized test results were close to the state average. The school lost about a quarter of a percent in proficiency levels during the pandemic, according to Haroldson. "We didn't have a lot of learning loss, but then we put the pedal to the metal with these processes," Haroldson said, even with the increased mental health and behavioral needs coming out of COVID. "I give credit to my staff because they mowed over that, and addressed those things and got (students) those skills in reading and math and continued to move the bar up every year, regardless. We didn't use it as an excuse." Great Lakes scores improved steadily from 2019 through 2024, with testing requirements waived in 2020 due to the pandemic. While only three years of improved scores were needed to earn the award, Haroldson submitted four. From 2019 to 2024, the overall percentage of the school's students scoring at meeting or advanced proficiency in English language arts rose from 45% in 2019 to 69% in 2024, moving the school's test results from 3.5% above the state average in 2019 to 17% above the state average in 2024. The percentage of Great Lakes Elementary students at meeting and advanced proficiency rose from 43% in 2019 to 63% in 2024, which brought the school's test results from 3% below the state average in 2019 to 9% above in 2024. Not only did the overall scores rise in both math and reading, but scores rose among students with low socioeconomic status and students with disabilities. Great Lakes teachers from each grade level team up at the beginning of each school year to identify a focus for improving student performance. For kindergarten teacher Becky Herubin, that means looking at the state standards and district requirements, then taking it further. "We dig into there to set the essential learning standards that we want the kindergarten students to master before moving on," Herubin said. Grade-level teams meet every Tuesday to assess these essentials and share instructional strategies for them. Students who aren't mastering the essentials are offered additional support to help bridge the gap. While teachers do that, paraprofessionals step in to work with students who have already mastered essential skills, offering reading groups, writing exercises and more. "Our students are as much a part of that success, not just our special ed students, but our regular ed students, because they work together," said fourth grade teacher Kristin Trianoski. "Last year, I had two students join my class that were non-readers. ... My students just naturally started helping those kids, you know, doing things, sitting by them so they can read directions. And those kids blossomed." Great Lakes Elementary School saw a lot of change this year, from welcoming many of the students from the shuttered Lake Superior Elementary school to weathering staff cuts. "I feel like we started a new school this year, and I'm really highly motivated to take this new cohort of students and do the same thing, and hopefully put together another three years of great growth with the new cohort and earn this recognition again in 2028," Haroldson said.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Comment period opens on proposed 25,000-cow dairy's environmental permit
Neal Pulskamp, right, and Cindy Pulkskamp, listen to a presentation on Riverview Dairy in Hillsboro, N.D., on April 3, 2025. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor) Anyone with concerns about handling the manure from 25,000 cows or other issues associated with what could become North Dakota's largest dairy are now able to submit comments to the state. The North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality opened a comment period Friday on the proposed Traill County facility to be operated by Minnesota-based Riverview Dairy. The DEQ comment period runs through June 2 and includes a public hearing May 20 from 5-8 p.m. at the Hillsboro High School gym. Comments can be submitted through the DEQ website at Riverview refers to the 25,000-cow project as Herberg Dairy, named for the township along the Red River and North Dakota Highway 200 southeast of Hillsboro where the dairy is planned. Riverview already has a state environmental permit for its planned 12,500-cow dairy in Abercrombie Township north of Wahpeton in Richland County. The Dakota Resource Council is challenging that permit in court. Marty Haroldson, permits program manager of the Division of Water Quality within the Department of Environmental Quality, and other staff members from the agency were in Hillsboro earlier this month as Riverview held an open house to answer questions from the public. Haroldson said the plan for the Herberg Dairy is similar to Abercrombie, just on a larger scale. 'So as far as the technology, that's all the same, it's just scaled up,' Haroldson said. 'Manure storage ponds are going to have a larger footprint, the barns are going to be a little bit bigger, a few more people working there.' Haroldson said even after an environmental permit is issued, some aspects of the plan, such as manure management, can change, such as which farmers want to use Riverview's manure as fertilizer or on which fields. The plan 'can be a living document,' Haroldson said, but Riverview would need to document the changes. Two large questions are not addressed in the environmental plans for the dairy: Where will the water come from? Where will the milk go? Large dairy farms like the ones proposed by Minnesota-based Riverview Dairy require huge quantities of water — 20 to 30 gallons of water per cow per day. That would equal at least 700,000 gallons of water per day for the Traill County site and 350,000 gallons per day for the Richland County site. The huge water need coupled with manure output from such a large dairy has some residents in Richland County concerned about the effect on aquifers and the water supply for residents. Huge dairy farms planned for eastern North Dakota Brady Janzen, who works on site development for Riverview Dairy, said during a recent open house on the Traill County project that the company's dairies use a combination of collected water, such as gathering rain water that runs off barn roofs, surface water and ground water. Riverview has a permit request under review with the North Dakota Department of Water Resources for the Richland County site northwest of Wahpeton for using surface water pulled from the Red River. A comment period has already been held on that permit. Another comment period will open when the department announces its intent to approve or deny the permit. Riverview is working with the East Central Rural Water District that serves Traill and Grand Forks counties for the site southeast of Hillsboro. Riverview has not yet applied for a water permit for that site. The two dairies will use a lot of water and produce a lot of milk that would need to be processed. The Traill dairy would fill 22 tanker loads of milk – more than 170,000 gallons per day. The Richland site would produce about half that. 'We won't begin building until we have a processor who has a need for that milk,' Janzen said. Riverview already has several large dairies in western Minnesota but does not own its own creamery. Janzen said Riverview has 'kicked the tires' on building a processing plant. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Dairy farmers in the Bismarck-Mandan area, the traditional heart of North Dakota's dairy industry, have been hurt by the closure of a creamery close to home. A bill in the North Dakota Legislature aims to provide some financial incentives for dairy processing. Amber Wood of the North Dakota Livestock Alliance, a nonprofit that promotes animal agriculture, is confident that the large dairies will mean more processing in the area. 'With dairy, it's not the chicken or the egg, it's the chicken and the egg,' Wood said. 'You have to have processing to get cows and cows to get processing.' While Wood is optimistic about dairy in the Red River Valley, others have concerns. The same evening as Riverview's Hillsboro open house, the Dakota Resource Council hosted a meeting in Fargo to raise awareness of the Abercrombie Dairy, which would be near the Red River, the drinking water source for Fargo residents. 'So why should you care? Because you're 35 miles away,' said Madeline Luke, a volunteer with Dakota Resource Council whose main interest is in water protection, told the group. Luke said by the time the public became aware of the Abercrombie Dairy, there was little time to review the permit application within the comment period. She cited concerns such as the number of fields where the manure will be applied that have drainage tile installed. Luke was already reviewing the Herberg application on Friday. Erik Olson has become a spokesperson for Abercrombie-area residents opposed to the dairy and addressed the Fargo meeting. The town of Abercrombie is less than four miles from the proposed dairy. 'Riverview was well into the process of planning and developing for years before the public was made aware,' Olson said. 'We have minimal time to learn and educate ourselves on the effects that this megadairy would be having. 'To say that we were shocked is an understatement.' The Dakota Resource Council has argued that one reason to throw out the permit is that there was no public hearing. Riverview has filed a motion to dismiss the Dakota Resource Council lawsuit. A ruling on that motion is pending with a Burleigh County court. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wyoming anti-DEI bill heads to governor's desk
CHEYENNE – A bill to terminate and defund diversity, equity and inclusion programming at the University of Wyoming and community colleges is headed for Gov. Mark Gordon's desk. Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Torrington, has tried to bring sweeping changes like those proposed in Senate File 103, 'Terminating and defunding diversity, equity and inclusion,' in budget amendments during past sessions, but this year, Steinmetz said she felt it was time for the bill to stand alone. This session, Steinmetz has said that rather than DEI programming, she prefers 'racially neutral, or color blind laws.' In the House, Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, explained that the bill will create two new sections of statute regarding how funds can be used by state entities, be they 'bequested, charged, deposited, donated, endowed, fees, grants, gifts and tuition.' Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland (2025) Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland None could be used to 'establish or maintain DEI programs,' Haroldson said. There are carveouts in the bill for academic course instruction; dissemination of scholarly work by students, faculty or other research personnel of UW or community colleges; and for 'federally recognized tribes,' according to Haroldson. Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie, said he believes measures like SF 103 will drive young people from the state. 'We've heard a lot of talk – and we all know this is true – about the brain drain. Our young people leaving the state, not wanting to come back,' Chestek said. 'It's stuff like this that makes that happen. "Our young people are not as concerned about diversity, equity and inclusion as some of us seem to be in this body, and passing laws like this simply make Wyoming an unwelcome place for the younger generation," Chestek said. Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie (2025) Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie Haroldson pushed back, saying that people in his community are 'no longer sending their kids to our college because of this.' Haroldson said it is within lawmakers' purview to say 'we don't want these things taught to our students," because higher education is funded by the Legislature. SF 103, he said, sets a policy clearly stating what lawmakers want taught in state-funded institutions. The House Speaker Pro Tempore likened it to his role leading Impact Ministries in Wheatland. 'I have an opportunity to stand as a pastor in a church. It'd be like someone coming in and saying, 'Hey, we want to give this donation to your ministry, but we're going to earmark it to something that morally you disagree with',' Haroldson said. 'Well, that's not going to work.' Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, pointed out that SF 103 will also restrict how private donations are used within Wyoming's public institutions, which may lead to educational institutions being forced to reject entire donations, even if a small part would be used for programming prohibited under the bill. Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson (2025) Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson 'I think that's a real problem,' Yin said. Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie, brought a third-reading amendment to clarify that the restrictions would apply to governmental funds, but would 'ensure that donor funds were spent according to donor intent.' 'Keep in mind that a governmental entity can refuse a donation from a donor, so if that gift comes with DEI considerations, that governmental entity can say 'no thanks',' Sherwood said. 'This does not prohibit someone from saying, 'I don't want to take that gift.'' Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie (2025) Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie Rep. Ken Clouston, R-Gillette, said he would support Sherwood's amendment based on his own experience serving on a cancer care board in his hometown. 'We would get lots of donations set for different things,' he said. 'The button to call for health help, or when we set up a CT scanner. A lot of the donations were specific for a certain project, so I appreciate the bringer of this amendment, and how it would help in those situations.' Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, said Sherwood's amendment would go against the intention of the bill. 'Here we are trying to decide if we are going to allow private funding to go against the policy that this bill is trying to purport,' Bear said. 'Now, does that mean that some grant monies will be at risk? Yes, it does. But should we be seeking grant money that goes in opposition to this bill?' Haroldson said he was also concerned Sherwood's amendment would prohibit DEI programming 'except for when it is (paid for with) private funds.' 'I stand 100% behind the idea that we want to eliminate the conversation of diversity, equity and inclusion, and what that has turned into in this day and age,' Haroldson said. Sherwood, however, argued that it is easy for lawmakers as collective appropriators to put restrictions on state and federal funds. But the conversation is different when it comes to private dollars, she said. 'Consider that maybe there is a donor who wants to provide funding for a Black History Month program,' Sherwood said. "I don't know that it is clear in existing language that that would be allowed.' Sherwood's amendment failed, and SF 103 passed the House in a 52-7 vote.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wyoming House bills push for hand-counting ballots in flurry of election-related legislation
CHEYENNE — With dozens of election-related bills filed in the Wyoming House of Representatives this session, at least three are pushing for hand-counting votes in elections. However, one of the three bills, House Bill 217, 'Random hand count audits of election results,' died in the House Appropriations Committee Thursday morning. This bill would have given the secretary of state authority to select one random precinct to do a hand-count audit of the votes after an election. County clerks told committee members this bill would create a strain on time, staff and resources. Fremont County Clerk Julie Freese said Natrona County recently recounted more than 34,000 ballots from the last election. This single recount took over eight hours, she said, using a voting machine and a staff of 17 workers. The cost of the recount was approximately $2,500. 'That was just one office,' Freese said. Wyoming County Clerks Association lobbyist Mary Lankford, who also worked as a county clerk in Sublette County, asked to extend the time limit from one week to 30 days, given the volume of work county clerks would undergo to hand count the ballots. Freese said the 30-day time frame was more than reasonable. Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, acknowledged that HB 217 could be duplicative of a provision in his own bill, HB 232, 'Elections-hand counting for recounts,' which passed House Appropriations earlier this week. The House speaker pro tempore added that he didn't want to further burden county clerks. 'I hear the people's concern,' Haroldson said. 'I do agree with you that, if we're not careful, we load you guys' backside so hard that you're struggling to try to get it all accomplished.' Although HB 217 died in committee for lack of a motion, Haroldson's bill passed its third and final reading in the House, and it will now cross over to the Senate for introduction. HB 232 requires an automatic hand recount in federal, statewide and legislative office races with a 2% or less difference in the county. This same automatic hand recount applies to all 23 counties if there is a 1% or less difference in statewide results for state or federal office races. Local races with a 2% or less difference between the winning and losing candidates have the option of either a hand or electronic voting machine recount under HB 232. However, a third bill, HB 215, 'Prohibition on electronic voting equipment,' pushes to get rid of electronic voting machines altogether. The bill, sponsored by Wyoming Freedom Caucus member Rep. Scott Smith, R-Lingle, would prohibit the use of electronic voting machines and establish a hand-counting tabulation process, effective July 1. It creates an exception to allow people with disabilities to use an electronic voting machine, in accordance with the Help America Vote Act. This bill will be discussed Friday in the House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee. Lobbyists against HB 232 argued hand-counting increases the risk of human error. Civics307 blogger Gail Symons told lawmakers Monday that counting by voting machine is less expensive, more accurate and faster to process. 'I believe (HB 232) is another of the many, many bills that address a problem that does not exist,' Symons said. 'I believe it is inherently flawed — flawed in the assumption of a problem, flawed in presenting a solution that actually creates a problem.' Equality State Policy Center policy director Marissa Carpio said a University of Wyoming study found that 94% of Wyomingites were confident in the state's elections. She said the distrust of elections is due to widespread messaging, rather than coming from concerned voters. A ballot-counting issue in Weston County during the 2024 general election, which is still under investigation, was brought up both Monday and Thursday. The results of this election, showing an undervote for one of the candidates, alerted the Secretary of State's Office to conduct an audit. It was a unique situation that called for a hand recount, because of a ballot misprint. Freese said the voting machines did the job they were designed for by not counting the wrong ballots. 'The machine did its job,' Freese said. 'It saw the ones that were correct. The ballots that were not correct … those did not get counted because the bubble was in the wrong place.'
