Education

Keystone Area Education Agency (AEA) will be offering the required training course for the Iowa Substitute Authorization. This authorization allows an individual to substitute in a PK-12 classroom. An individual who holds a Paraeducator Certificate without a bachelor’s degree and completes the substitute authorization program is authorized to substitute only in the special education classroom in which the individual paraeducator is employed.
The four core components of the course are Classroom Management, Strategies for Learning, Diversity and Ethics. Upon successful completion of the program, the participant may apply to the Board of Educational Examiners for a license. A state and federal background check is required. Local districts have the option of hiring individuals with the Substitute Authorization. It does not guarantee employment.
Anyone who meets the following five criteria is eligible to receive this new authorization:

The Kee High School Speech Team will be hosting its third annual Speech Dinner Theatre Saturday, March 7 at TJ Hunter's Banquet Hall in Lansing. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and speech performances will begin at 6:30 p.m., including improvisational acting, reader's theatre, ensemble acting, mime, radio and individual entertainment.
Tickets are available from any Speech Team member or from the Kee High School Office through March 2. Proceeds from the evening are used to pay for Speech Contest fees and awards distributed to Speech Team members.
 

The year 2015 marks the 10th year for the alumni scholarship originally instituted by the former Allamakee Dollars for Scholars (ADFS) Board of Directors and now being continued by the newly-named Allamakee Scholarship Fund, Inc. after the group's more localized reorganizational efforts this past year. The award is made to a Waukon High School (WHS) graduate who participated in the former Allamakee Dollars for Scholars program while in high school and received an ADFS award as a graduating senior.

The Waukon Music Departments will be hosting its fifth annual Pop’s Concert Saturday, February 28 at the Waukon Junior High School gymnasium. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. with concert time at 7:30 p.m.
The Pop’s Concert features high energy musical numbers from the 1950s through today. Most every musical group at the Waukon Junior High and High School participate in this concert including the jazz bands, bucket bands and all vocal groups in grades 7-12, and even an elementary vocal group. Costumes are included in most every number performed at the concert and some numbers are even choreographed.
"Our fifth annual ‘Night at The Pops’ Concert will feature some of our past favorites and many new familiar tunes for the community to enjoy,” commented Adrienne Gerst, Waukon Junior High and High School Vocal Director. “Our students have been working hard on learning the music and choreography, and they always look forward to performing this fun music for the community."

by Brianne Eilers

by Susan Cantine-Maxson

The Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) celebrated the start of the annual Live Healthy Iowa 10-Week Wellness Challenge Monday, February 2 with an assembly in the Waukon High School gymnasium. Students were treated to a skit, fun games, and prizes thrown into the crowd. The high school 4-H Food and Fitness Youth team planned the event, along with Youth Coach Stef Perkins, ACSD FoodCorps service member Ashley Turk, and community volunteer Dani Bucknell. The goal of Live Healthy Iowa is to make Iowa the healthiest state in the nation. The 10-Week Wellness Challenge encourages participants to eat fruits and vegetables, drink water, and get plenty of physical activity every day. This year, the Challenge runs from January 26 through April 3. Allamakee County has won the Community Cup portion of the Challenge for each of the past three years for its high rates of participation and is looking to do so again this year.

The Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) Board of Trustees meeting held January highlighted mid-year progress on the College’s FY15 strategic priorities. The four priorities include: increasing student success as measured by retention, completion and transfer rates; increasing enrollment of the 2015 in-district 12th grade class; increasing job placement of certificate, diploma and degree completers; and educating the College community on the financial impact of recruiting and retaining students through a five-year budgeting model. NICC is on pace to meet or exceed target goals in all four areas.

To read more, pick up this week's print edition or subscribe to our e-edition by clicking here.

Waukon High School senior students will be conducting their annual scholarship program Phone-A-Thon fundraiser in early February, but this year phone call recipients will notice a slightly different change in the name of the scholarship program. The former Allamakee Dollars for Scholars, Inc. organization that has been the foundation for the local scholarship program that benefits Waukon High School graduating seniors has changed its affiliation this year and is now named Allamakee Scholarship Fund, Inc.

by Brianne Eilers