By Tyler Dahlgren When Tiffany Tharp’s students graduate, she hopes they take with them fond memories of their experiences at Nebraska City High School. Last Wednesday, with an enthusiastic student body packed tight in the school’s auditorium, the Special Education/Life Skills teacher watched her students speak about the importance of autism awareness and became overwhelmed with gratitude. This...Read More
By Tyler Dahlgren During her first year as a school counselor, Winside’s Andrea Hinrichs found herself fixating on a possible disconnect between parents of students in the small, northeast Nebraska district and the issues their children could very well deal with every day. Issues that, while sometimes uncomfortable to talk to about, endlessly flood daily newsfeeds. Issues like cyberbullying,...Read More
By Tyler Dahlgren In the words of high school principal Brian Hoover, Nebraska City Public Schools is a district stuck in-between. The enrollment, at 1,400, is enough to require multiple buildings yet small enough to manage without some of the extensive resources necessary in the state’s largest school systems. Hoover loves the district and the community. He’s served as principal for 11 years in...Read More
By Tyler Dahlgren It’s somebody’s birthday, and the door to an elementary classroom at Overton Public School swings open. Students grow wide-eyed in anticipation as Principal Brian Fleischman enters and locates the birthday boy or girl. This happens nearly every day, but, for the kids (and for the principal) the routine never gets old. Their eyes dart from the principal to their teacher before...Read More
The Grant Sometimes, tiptoeing around the obvious truth is hardly worth the trouble. So, when it comes to middle school keyboarding, Stanton Community Schools Technology Coordinator Rick Spotanski comes clean. “It’s relatively boring,” he admits. “You sit and you type.” His other courses, Digital Media and PC Maintenance and Repair, are anything but mundane. Keyboarding, however, for as important...Read More
By Tyler Dahlgren One by one, York Elementary School students filed into their gymnasium and sat cross-legged on the court until there wasn’t an open spot to be found. They giggled and they whispered. There was an obvious attempt being made to maintain order. Obvious, and quite valiant for such a large congregation of grade-schoolers I might add. They looked for their principal, smiled and waved...Read More
South Central Unified School District's sparkling new career pathway facility grabs the attention of passersby on Highway 14. Especially at night, when LED lights illuminate the Fairfield structure's tall windows, casting a prominent light that can be seen from miles away. "We asked ourselves, 'How can we do a better job of making sure our students have all the opportunities that kids in urban...Read More
By Tyler Dahlgren Cedar Rapids Tucker Tejkl is in first year as principal of Riverside High School in Cedar Rapids, a district he fell in love with when interviewing for its family feel. As a new administrator, Tejkl is feeling his way through his inaugural school year, immersing himself in Riverside’s infectious culture while learning the ins and outs of the job, a process which has been easier...Read More
By Tyler Dahlgren I was somewhere in Boone County, on my way to do a two-stop story assignment in Cedar Rapids and Spalding, home of Riverside Public Schools, when I rolled on by a one-room country schoolhouse. Say what you will about the snow and the havoc it has wreaked on the school year, but winter weather makes for wonderful scenery. I wish I would have pulled over and taken a photo. It...Read More
By Tyler Dahlgren Nearly 550 educators from Southeast Nebraska assembled on Peru State’s campus last Monday for ESU 4’s Engaging Educators Conference, taking advantage of a one-of-a-kind professional development opportunity. This year’s event was bigger and better than ever thanks to a new venue and a lineup of more than 85 breakout sessions covering pertinent classroom matters ranging from...Read More