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by Brianne Grimstad

The Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) Board of Directors met for a special meeting Friday morning, June 27. The board approved (subject to a satisfactory background check) the hiring of Tyler Plein as the district’s maintenance director. ACSD Superintendent Jay Mathis noted that they received 14 applications for the position, and that Plein has experience with both HVAC and maintenance,  and he should be a good fit for the ACSD Buildings and Grounds Department.

The board also approved Dillon Daniel as the assistant varsity girls track coach. Approval was also given to an increase in paraprofessional hours for Katie Martin.

Waukon churches are banding together again this July to bring hot lunches to area children, ages 18 and under, through a local Feed the Kids program.

In 2024, its second year, Feed the Kids served 1,975 lunches and distributed 2,267 breakfast bags in the 18 days of the program. This was an increase of almost 500 meals from 2023, the inaugural year of the local program. The number of days to serve those meals will be 22 this year, an increase of four days over last year’s program.

The Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) provides a summer feeding program to local children ages 18 and under during the months of June and August, but there is no such program that takes place for July through the school district. Community members felt there were still “food insecure” children who needed to eat all summer long, and the local Feed the Kids program got started.

Pictured above, left to right - Officer Maison Schoh, Chief Ross Kolsrud, K9 Officer Tyr and Officer Makayla Walleser. Submitted photo.

This week's edition of the Standard includes the Heart of Lansing column by Jackie Cooper, Main Street Lansing Executive Director which includes information relating to the new Lansing-New Albin Police Department.

Pick up the Wednesday, July 2, 2025 print edition of The Standard or subscribe to our e-edition or print edition by clicking here.
 

The Kee softball team played another busy week of all types of dates this past week, including a single game, a doubleheader and a weekend tournament, playing to a 3-4 record in those seven games with half of those losses coming to Class 4A Waverly-Shell Rock to book-end the week’s schedule.

The Lady Hawks opened the week with a 5-0 loss at home to those large school Go-Hawks Tuesday, June 24 before splitting a home Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) doubleheader with South Winneshiek Wedneday, June 25, falling to the Warriors by an 11-9 result to suffer their first UIC loss of this season before winning the nightcap, 9-5. They then split four games at the Don Bosco Tournament Friday and Saturday, June 27-28 to finish in sixth place in that 12-team field, defeating Hudson, 5-1, and falling to Vinton-Shellsburg, 5-3, in Friday’s pool play round before defeating Don Bosco, 7-6, and then falling to Waverly-Shell Rock again, 5-0, in Saturday’s final round.

The Kee baseball team played to its first week of competition this season where the Hawks ended up with more losses than wins, as they ended the week with a pair of long road trips that resulted in four consecutive losses to some non-traditional and highly-regarded opponents. Kee’s diamond dwellers opened the week in more familiar fashion, sweeping an Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) doubleheader rescheduled from Monday, June 23 at North Fayette Valley to Tuesday, June 24 at home by scores of 12-6 and 10-0 in five innings.

The Hawks then fell in two games played at the Waterloo Bucks’ Riverfront Stadium Thursday, June 25 by scores of 5-2 to Burlington Notre Dame before also falling to Roland-Story, 8-0. They then also fell in two very close games played in the large Brent Prange Classic Saturday, June 28 at Ankeny Centennial, coming up just short, 5-4, to Class 2A fourth-rated West Lyon before falling in similar fashion, 4-3, to Class 1A Coon Rapids-Bayard.

The Waukon softball team ended up playing just three games this past week, bringing their home schedule for this 2025 campaign to a close falling short of the win column in all three contests and having a Thursday, June 26 road date at New Hampton postponed by stormy weather to Monday, June 30. Prior to their final week at home, the softball Indians had wrapped up their previous week splitting four games played in the two-day West Delaware Tournament, first falling to Class 2A 13th-rated Cascade, 14-1 in six innings, and then defeating Class 5A Cedar Rapids Washington, 18-5 in five innings, during the first day of the tournament, Friday, June 20. The Lady Indians then split two more games Saturday, June 21, first defeating Monticello, 11-3 in five innings, before falling to Class 1A ninth-rated Edgewood-Colesburg, 11-1 in  four innings, to end up in 10th place in the 16-team tournament.

The Waukon baseball team played to an even split of its four games played this past week - all in Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) play, and was just a handful of runs from having that week end up undefeated. The diamond Tribe opened the week with a pair of road victories, winning at Charles City by scores of 18-1 in a mercy-rule five innings and 4-1 Tuesday, June 24. The Indians then fall at home to New Hampton Friday, June 27 by a pair of two-run results, 13-11 and 3-1.

Currently holding an 8-14 season record that includes a mark of 5-9 in Northeast Iowa Conference play, the Indians were next scheduled to host Crestwood Tuesday, July 1 before playing at MFL/MarMac Wednesday, July 2 and at Clayton Ridge/Central Elkader Thursday, July 3. The diamond Tribe will then get its Class 2A District Tournament underway Saturday, July 5 against Clayton Ridge/Central Elkader in a game to be played at MFL/MarMac.

Free sport physicals will be offered at the Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Clinic-Waukon beginning next week for all junior high and high school students who need the physical exam for participating in school sporting events. These will be held at the Veterans Memorial Hospital Waukon Clinic the following dates and times:

• Wednesday, July 9 5:30-8:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, July 23 5:30-8:30 p.m.

These clinics will include all necessary documentation, including a concussion screening, for participation in all school activities.  Physicals are scheduled in one-hour segments. The clinic staff will not be administering vaccines during this time.  If those are needed for students, call the clinic at 563-568-5530 to schedule an appointment.

Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) transitioned to the new EPIC Electronic Health Record two weeks ago after an entire year of preparation by hospital staff, with the help of the University of Iowa Health Care team. Patients and visitors are already seeing the advantages of this new system, especially the MyChart patient portal.

Patients may now sign-up for a MyChart account at their next appointment to either of the clinics or the hospital. Staff are available to help with the set-up process, or patients are invited to sign-up on their own, after receiving the link that is sent by the hospital and clinics.

Summer is a time of high blood demand in all communities. Donating blood is easy and one single blood donation can save the lives of up to three sick or injured hospital patients.

The next LifeServe Blood Center blood drive will be held Monday, July 7.  The drive will be held from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in south Waukon.