Newton
Serving Newton & Jasper County Since 1902
Daily News
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
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Newton, Iowa
School board selects new method to develop school calendar
OBITUARIES Richard ‘Dick’ Charls, 84 Thomas A. Lamb, 60 INSIDE TODAY
By Ty Rushing Daily News Senior Staff Writer
Local
Daytona 500 Watch Party Page 2A
Kate Malott/Daily News Last Friday, Girls Scouts from Troop 116 were selling cookies at Family Video, located at 308 First Ave. E. in Newton. “Cookie Season” officially started on Feb. 7. Pictured are Sarah Templeman, Talbot Mastio, Giavanna Gast, Abby Hobbs and Morgan Linahon. The troop also has cookies for sale at El Sombrero and E-Clips and will be at Family Video again this Friday.
Agriculture
Cantu on benefits of hunting courses Page 8A
Newton Girl Scouts enjoying ‘Cookie Season’ By Ty Rushing Daily News Senior Staff Writer
Sports
Boys top Ottumwa in overtime Page 1B
Weather
Wednesday
High 23 Low -3
Thursday
High 5 Low -3 Weather Almanac
Mon., Feb. 24
High 22 Low 13 2.5 inches of snow
Astrograph Page 5B
Special to the Daily News
Calendar Page 3A Classifieds Page 3B Comics & Puzzles Page 6A Dear Abby Page 6A Opinion Page 4A Obituaries Page 3A Police Page 3A Our 112th Year No. 196
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CALENDAR See Page 5A
Thomas Jefferson staff breaks down ‘co-teaching’ to school board By Ty Rushing Daily News Senior Staff Writer Co-teaching is one of the growing trends in education and the Newton Community School District has seemingly been ahead of the curve on the process. At Monday’s Newton Community School Board of Education meeting, teachers, who participate in the coteaching program at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, gave the board a presentation on the program and its benefits. “Here at TJ, co-teaching, to us, is when there’s a general ed and special ed teacher in the same classroom,” TJ third-grade special education teacher Lucinda Sinclair said. “They are equal partners, there is
SCOUTS See Page 5A
BOARD See Page 5A
Arias in Newton returns March 9 for second concert
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If you haven’t already broken your New Year’s Resolution, then get ready to — it’s Cookie Season. Girl Scout troops all over the county have been selling Girl Scout brand cookies since Feb. 7 and Newton’s Troop 116 is no exception. “I’ve been a Girl Scout for three years and my favorite part is selling cookies,” Giavanna Gast said. “You get to learn a lot of life-long skills.” The five primary skills the girls learn are money management, goal setting, decision making, people skills and business ethics according to the Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa’s website. Another member of Troop 116, Sarah Templeman, explained one of the most difficult parts of selling cookies. “(A challenge is) knowing what to say when you go door-to-door,” Sarah said. “I tell them my name and ask them, ‘Do you want to buy some cookies?’ Then they say, ‘What do you have?’ and then I name them off.” Naming every cookie can be difficult, as the girls are selling eight different types of cookies this year, including the newly introduced Cranberry Citrus Crisps. One cookie they have no trouble selling is the Thin Mints, which surpassed Oreo as the number one selling cookie in the U.S. in 2012. “Thin Mints, they sell a lot and really fast,” troop member Abby Hobbs added. Morgan Linahon explained she and
her fellow troops can earn various badges for the cookies they sell. She also likes the social benefits of selling cookies. “It’s fun to go around and put up booths and you get to talk to people you don’t normally get to talk to,” Morgan said. Working together to sell cookies also helps the girls with their teamwork and strengthens some of their friendships, even outside of the troop. In fact, friendship was one of the biggest recruiting tools for Talbot Mastio to join. “My best friends Giavanna and Sarah were in Girls Scouts and I also heard that it was a lot of fun,” Talbot said. “Basically, it was just finding out all of the information from friends that were in Girl Scouts and people who had been Girls Scouts and they said, ‘It’s a lot of fun and you get to do a lot of things that you wouldn’t have been able to if you had just stayed at home.’” “I didn’t really have a lot of things to do and it was something to fill my time,” she continued. Giavanna, Sarah and Talbot all agreed that being in scouts together has made them more tight-knit as friends. One reason this group of girls seems so motivated to sell cookies is Girl Scout Camp. Most of the funds they raise are going towards sending them to a camp in Iowa. “Going to Girl Scout camp is a lot of fun,” Giavanna said. “They have a lot of
The debate between 180 days and 1,080 instructional hours is over. The Newton Community School District Board of Education voted in favor of the 1,080 hours method to design the 2014-15 school calendar on Monday night. “Board members, I don’t know what to tell you other than at the forums, and some of you were at the forums, so you saw the votes … I don’t think you can say it was anything but unanimous (in favor of the 1,080 hour method),” Superintendent Bob Callaghan said. Callaghan also mentioned the district’s School Improvement Action Committee and administration were also unanimously in favor of the 1,080-hour method. He added this method was still preferred despite the current hang-ups in legislation in both the Iowa House and Senate.
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The Third Annual Arias in Newton concert is planned for 4 p.m. Sunday, March 9, at the First Presbyterian Church, 220 N. Second Ave. E. in Newton. The concert is part of the programming for the Newton Chapter of Des Moines Metro Opera’s Guild Chapters and will consist of arias and ensemble pieces performed by the OPERA Iowa Educational Touring Troupe, a five-singer troupe of young professional artists selected from more than 1,000 national auditions that acts as the educational arm of Des Moines Metro Opera. The troupe is currently in the middle of a 10-week tour around the state and parts of Missouri performing in schools and community concert venues. Arias in Newton is part of the performance schedule and will perform selections from opera and musical theater. Selections from Mozart,
Donizetti and other luminaries of the operatic repertory and will sing highlights from some of opera’s most popular pieces like The Magic Flute and Carmen as well as highlights from the Broadway stage. General tickets are $15, $10 for guild members and $5 for students. Proceeds go to support the Newton Guild. The Des Moines Metro Opera, founded in 1973, is an independent, non-profit, professional opera company dedicated to bringing worldclass opera productions and vital performing arts education to central Iowa. In addition to providing mainstage productions, Des Moines Metro Opera is responsible for OPERA Iowa Educational Touring Troupe, which brings opera to classrooms across Iowa and to nearly 24,000 students; OPERAtion Opera Community Outreach Program, which works with more than 30 human service agencies to
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provide opera to underserved and at-risk audiences; the Apprentice Artist Program, one of the largest singer-training programs in the country; and two new programs, The Design and Production Internship Program, a training program for students within the theater arts who wish to expand experience and gain the skills necessary for a successful professional career, and the Raising Voices — Rising Stars program, which gives high school musicians the opportu-
nity to explore career opportunities from the rare vantage point within a professional opera company. The Lauridsen Family Endowment is the 2014 Season presenting sponsor, which runs from June 27 through July 20 at the Blank Performing Arts Center in Indianola. Featured will be Verdi’s La Traviata, Heggie’s Dead Man Walking and Rossini’s Le Comte Ory. More information is available at www.desmoinesmetroopera.org.