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Education Department director to retire

April 5, 2010 By

The leader of the state Department of Education will retire next month. Judy Jeffrey started out as a teacher in Goldfield and says now is the time to end her education career. Jeffrey says a combination of a lot of things made her decide to retire, including age, family matters, grandchildren, and the need to go on with another chapter of her life.

Jeffrey joined the Department of Education in 1996, and then took over the top job in 2004. She says the department accomplished a lot of things in that time. Jeffrey says they implemented the major teacher quality legislation, they’ve begun implement the Iowa core curriculum, they’re implementing the voluntary pre-school for four-year-olds, they’ve revamped the teach and administrator preparation program. “So it’s really been an exciting ride, and quite a time for use to re-think education in this state,” Jeffrey said.

Jeffrey says she believes the state is doing a good job of educating kids — but has room for improvement. She says the measure of education depends on what measuring stick you use. Jeffrey says if you use standardized test scores, they could do better. She says the state is always at the top for graduation rates and college test scores if those are used as a measure. Jeffrey says she believes the standardized tests scores will improve.

Jeffrey says this is a time when school districts are facing many challenges. Jeffrey says they are under financial stress from the economic conditions, they face higher expectations for student achievement, there are measures from the federal government for teacher and principal effectiveness. These are part of what she says are “innumerable challenges” facing the districts along with the decline in the state’s population and declines in enrollment.

Jeffrey admits the top education post is one where there are plenty of people with ideas on how things should be run. Jeffrey says everyone with a child, a neighbor or grandchild, or those who have been in an Iowa school, has their own opinion about how the schools should operate, the results they should get, and kinds of teachers they should have. “So you are constantly dealing with an occupation that everyone has their own personal opinions about, so it does make it a little harder to lead,” Jeffrey says.

She has this advice for the next person to fill the job. “Stay the course in having a vision that is for the benefit of the students always, The students have to come first in all of the decisions you make,” Jeffrey says, “and sometimes that gets a little hard, but if you keep them at the center and at the core of your being, you will be just fine.”

Jeffrey, who is 68, will retire May 3rd. The governor has named Kevin Fangman, the current Division Administrator for PK-12 education to take over as acting director until a permanent replacement is named.

Filed Under: Education, Politics & Government

Library displays tout architects

April 5, 2010 By

Displays are going up in libraries in nearly three-dozen Iowa communities this month to bring awareness to the profession of architects. Naura Godar, an architect in West Des Moines, says this is Architecture Month and the goal is to expose the public to the award-winning architecture that abounds in Iowa.

“We’re trying to address several options,” Godar says. “The idea that architects can create sustainable buildings and that hiring an architect is a good decision because we can help clients save money through good design solutions.” Godar helped to assemble the displays that are now in 33 libraries statewide.

Godar says, “We have pictures of award-winning Iowa architecture on pieces of cardboard and so the intent is, children or young adults or whoever feels like building with their hands, can assemble these pictures in different configurations — a tall tower, a wide bridge — so not only are they seeing the architecture, but they’re kind of experiencing the idea of building something with their hands.”

The Iowa chapter of the American Institute of Architects is also putting colorful four-page booklets in eight of Iowa’s largest newspapers next week. Godar is a 2002 Iowa State University graduate and says she loves her job. “I’ve always had a passion for seeing things built and doing something with my hands,” Godar says. “I stumbled upon architecture through my love of math and science. It’s so cool to go to work every day and work as a team and see something at the end of the day that was not there, that was in my head six months ago, physically built and you can inhabit the space. It’s a pretty cool profession.”

For more information, visit “www.aiaiowa.org“.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With:

Branstad reveals his plan for creating jobs

April 5, 2010 By
Terry Branstad

Terry Branstad

Former Governor Terry Branstad is rolling out his plans for creating new jobs in Iowa as he campaigns for a fifth term in office.

“We’ll increase the number of jobs by 200,000 over the next five years and raise family incomes by 25%,” Branstad said. The Republican gubernatorial candidate’s plan involves a couple of tax cuts.

Branstad proposes a reduction in commercial property taxes in Iowa to less than the Midwest average and cutting Iowa’s corporate income tax rates in half.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

UNI hopes success leads to more quality games

April 5, 2010 By

U.N.I. basketball coach Ben Jacobson hopes the success of this past season will help the Panthers land more high profile non-conference opponents. The Panthers made it all the way to the Midwest Regional semifinals this season before falling to Michigan State. Jacobson says they may have an opportunity to schedule teams that want games to help them nationally. He says the things they did last year and this year have helped open that up.

Teams from the Missouri Valley Conference have had trouble over the years scheduling series against teams from the larger, B.C.S. conferences. Jacobson says there may be some opportunities for some made for television neutral site matchups. He says a lot of times teams aren’t looking to play a good team on the road. Jacoson says the things that happened this last year might give the game a little national flair that teams are looking for.

Jacobson says they prefer a neutral site game or a home and home series. He says they don’t want a one-game on the road situations. He says the neutral site games have been good with some high-quality teams.

By Elwin Huffman KOEL Oelwein

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Para-Olympic races added to Drake Relays

April 5, 2010 By

ParaOlympians will compete at the Drake Relays for the first time later this month with the additions of two new events.

Relay’s director Brian Brown says they will have two wheelchair races that are championship events. Some of the Para-Olympic medalists from 2008 will participate.

Those are two of the new races that make up a field of 119 events, the biggest ever for Drake. Brown says the addition of lights in Drake Stadium a few years ago have allowed them to expand the event. He says the Friday night events allows them to increase the events they offer.

The Drake Relays are April 22nd through the 24th.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Severe weather set to show up during awareness week

April 5, 2010 By

This is “Severe Weather Awareness Week” and it appears Iowa will be hit with a barrage of potentially damaging storms. National Weather Service Meteorologist Rod Donovan says thunderstorms are expected to develop over southern Iowa this afternoon and gradually spread north.

“What we’re looking at initially is a large hail threat with these storms, however, as the warm front lifts into the state tonight into Tuesday it could turn into more tornado potential and also a heavy rain potential,” Donovan said. This is the first major threat of severe storms this spring and every part of Iowa could be affected.

Donovan says tornadoes could develop overnight, but Tuesday afternoon in particular looks “potentially dangerous.” In addition to the hail, damaging winds and tornadoes, there’s a threat of flash flooding. Donovan says portions of central and eastern Iowa could receive up to three inches of rain through Wednesday.

“That certainly could bring rivers back above flood stage and create flash flooding out there,” Donovan said. “We don’t have crops in the field right now, so there could be quite a bit of runoff with that.”

Find out more at the NWS website.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Weather

Mason City man arrested after standoff

April 5, 2010 By

A Mason City man is in custody after a weekend standoff with police. The Mason City Police Department says they were called to the city’s southwest side for a domestic incident at around 5:20 Saturday morning.

The caller advised that a former boyfriend, later identified as 29-year-old Brandon Snater, was standing in the road yelling and firing a handgun. Officers upon arrival made several attempts to make contact with Snater without success, and later had to obtain an arrest warrant.

The North Iowa Special Operations Group was called in to assist and made contact with Snater and convinced him to voluntarily surrender. Snater has been charged with violating a no-contact order and a gun violation. He’s being held in the Cerro Gordo County Jail on $3-thousand bond.

By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City

Filed Under: Crime & Courts
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