Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024
Vol. 6, No. 12
PCMExplorer Local People. Local Stories.
Bringing home the hardware
PCM Cheer takes second place at state competition By Jamee A. Pierson PCM Explorer Five months of hard work, sweat, tears and yes, even some blood, came together for the PCM Cheer Team as they brought home a second-place trophy from state competition Nov. 2. Twelve girls came together to perform two challenging routines that featured stunts, jumps and dance that saw cheerleaders flying through the air, holding each other up while moving from one section to the next and pumping up the crowd with PCM spirit. “I couldn’t ask for anything more as their coach,” head coach Amy Brundage said. “I’m proud of our seniors and I’m grateful they get to have this as a lasting memory for them in their high school career.” The team, made up of seniors Charlotte Landwehr, Jaylyn DeVries
The 3DS — 3 Durable Skills — system is in place to address and track students effort, respect and peer interaction behaviors while at school By Jamee A. Pierson PCM Explorer
Submitted Photo The PCM Cheer Team celebrates with their second place trophy from state competition Nov. 2.
and Taylor Fairbanks, juniors Paitin Rumbaugh, Alyssa Buckingham, Sophia Hiebert, Addie Beener and Peyton Rardin, sophomores Lilli Pecinovsky and Jessalyn DeVries and freshman Allie Minteer, started
work in June learning the routines during eight-hour sessions across three days. The routines took a step up in difficulty with every stunt new SERVICES | 3
Progress Industries discontinues intermediate care facility services
Organization says it is not closing, but families are left feeling devastated
Christopher Braunschweig/PCM Explorer Progress Industries is ending its intermediate care facilities, which will displace 15 people out of the 200 it serves in the community. Families say they are devastated by the news and they worry for their loved ones affected by the decision.
By Christopher Braunschweig PCM Explorer Intermediate care facilities operated by Progress Industries in Newton and used by people with physical and intellectual disabilities are expected to close in about a month, ending the services for the foreseeable future. One family told Newton News their daughter is going to be displaced and will need to find a new home.
PCM Middle School blazing a new trail
Tanya Myers, of Ira, said her 38-year-old daughter, Brooke VanCleave, was given a 30day notice letter from Progress Industries saying ICF services will be discontinued and that her daughter’s needs extend beyond what the organization can provide in a Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) setting. “I’m sad, I’m betrayed, I’m a whole ton of an emotions that I can’t
describe,” Myers said to Newton News. “I just don’t understand.” Which means VanCleave and the 14 other residents who use the ICFs will likely be evicted by Nov. 25, three days before Thanksgiving. Myers was notified of the news on Oct. 24, and every day since she cannot talk about it without crying. She worries about not only finding a new ICF but finding one close to home. “Brooke has to move,” Myers said. “It’s the hardest thing on her. You could put her in hospital for a month and she would take it easier than a move. She doesn’t communicate verbally. She has a communication device but that can’t say everything for her. Wherever she goes people won’t know her. It will be so hard.” VanCleave has been in an ICF ever since she was about 18 years old.
Her first was in Forest City and then she stayed at an ICF in Clear Lake before she was recruited by Progress Industries to stay in Newton. Although Myers liked where VanCleave was staying in Clear Lake, she liked having her closer to home. “We really wanted to bring her close, so we agreed to bring her,” Myers said. “So she has been her for 10 years. These past 10 years she has been able to come to our family events like Christmas and Thanksgiving and Fourth of July parties and graduations. We also got to visit her weekly here.” Following the dissolution of ICF services for Progress Industries, there are no other ICFs left in the county. Which means Myers will have to travel a greater distance to visit her daughter, and she suspects it will be more SERVICES | 3
Since the start of the school year, students at PCM Middle School have been graded not only on their academic work but their soft skills, as well. The school introduced 3DS — 3 Durable Skills — as a way to address the students effort, respect and peer interaction behaviors while in the building. “When I think about students, I’m not only thinking about their academic side but they have the other side the coin, their personal growth. In school, we are ultra focused on their academics, but in my mind important things are the ability to communicate, work together and give effort,” PCM Middle School Principal Sam Brown said. When you do interview of business and as “what do you want” when hiring, no local businesses are saying we need someone to run the Pythagorean Theorem like a son-ofa-gun, they want people that are creative thinkers, works well with others, shows up to work — soft skills. Those were things we didn’t have any way to report on and most schools don’t.” Brown has found when parents ask him about how their student is doing they often want to know not only where they are academically but also socially and emotionally. By adding 3DS into the mix, parents can see weekly how their student in doing through the district’s Infinite Campus system. “They want to know if
their student is listening, being respectful, helping others, etc.,” Brown said. “The goal of this 3DS System is to fill that communication gap. We strongly believe that this is information that all families should have access to in the same way that they have untethered access to their student’s academic grades.” The system is based on a rubric Brown and other school leaders put together last year. It consists of the three pieces — effort, respect and peer interaction — and a point system associated with the students behavior. “We want students to earn a certain amount of points each week, that is the baseline, it is our standard of behavior,” Brown said. “If they are below that, just like if they fail a science test, we want to be able to give them support.” The 3DS System tasks students with receiving 55 points out of a possible 96 points each week from all of their classes. This rubric details the specific scoring criteria that teachers will be using. Each teacher will grade each of their students on their demonstration of the 3 Durable Skills. Students that earn less than 55 points will receive supports to help them meet the goal of 55+ points each week. Those supports will come during an After School Program (ASP) where students will learn and practice their durable skills. In the same way that support is available for our students earning less 3DS | 3
Jasper County to require geotechnical services for all future bridge projects Engineer says soil borings are necessary to comply with federal requirements and maintain funding By Christopher Braunschweig PCM Explorer
Christopher Braunschweig/PCM Explorer Jasper County Engineer Michael Frietsch anticipates all future bridge projects will require geotechnical services to appease federal requirements and ensure funding.
A publication of est. 1851
From now on, every bridge in Jasper County that needs to be repaired or reconstructed will be required to undergo geotechnical services. Jasper County Engineer Michael Frietsch said during the Oct. 15 supervisors meeting that these services — which test soil and rock conditions — are already required with every bridge let through the Iowa Department of Transportation. But now the engineer’s office will order them for local
bridge projects as well. “Part of the reason is because the feds are starting to really ramp up what’s required for inspection requirements on our bridges,” Frietsch said. “In fact, even Calhoun-Burns is having trouble how they’re going to inspect their bridges to a certain degree. So there’s a lot of confusion going on.” But the county engineer fears it is only going to get worse. In the past, the federal government only asked for about a page of data, but Frietsch said they want four to five pages of data for bridge inspections. As a result,
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Frietsch expects to see increased bridge inspection costs moving forward. “We’re also going to be at risk a lot more if we don’t do all the necessary steps on our bridges, whether they’re local or they’re let through the DOT,” he said. “Which basically means we’re going to need to start doing geotechnical investigation on every single bridge that we’ve been doing to get soil borings.” Knowing the conditions of the soil and rock lets crews better understand what they are BRIDGES | 3
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