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Herald Sauk Centre
NUMBER 43 • VOLUME 156
Laws for learning Peschel reviews state’s schoolfocused bills BY BEN SONNEK STAFF WRITER
THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2023
| WWW.STAR-PUB.COM
Histor y in the curating Klaphake succeeds Schloegl as museum director BY BEN SONNEK | STAFF WRITER
A wide range of education bills are moving through the Minnesota Legislature, and if passed, they could affect Sauk Centre Public Schools’ programming, class sizes and disciplinary measures. During their March 20 regular meeting in the media center, Superintendent Don Peschel brought to the school board’s attention a number of bills that had passed or were being considered in the legislature. First on the list was the bill providing free breakfast and lunch for all Minnesota students, regardless of income. The bill was recently passed with bipartisan support and signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz, and it will be starting in the 2023-24 school year. In Walz’s supplementary budget, additional recommendations will cover the impact of the program on compensatory funding, as well as the implementation of unemployment insurance a year earlier than expected, at the cost of an additional $135.6 million. In education, the state’s House Education Policy Committee considered the Holocaust and Genocide Education Act March 15. The bill would require schools to offer Holocaust and genocide education as part of their social studies curriculum. The Read Act was another recently-heard bill, and it is an initiative to improve reading funding and test scores. Another potential bill that could be heard by the legislature would require schools to offer personal finance courses. Whether or not that moves ahead, Peschel said the schools need to establish a business department. “We need to do something business-wise,” Peschel said. “I don’t think we can get our ducks in a row for next year, but moving forward – 2024-25 – I would like to have a business department in place, depending on the budget, and that will create a domino effect for other programming … and that would shrink some of our class size issues.” Those class size problems are prevalent in other Minnesota schools as well, and the state is looking into legislation to mitigate that. On March 17, the state’s Education Finance Committee heard a bill mandating class size ratios, requiring districts to hire additional teachers in order to reduce class sizes. The bill would require a 20% increase in the basic education formula, a $1,373 value, although it is unlikely the formula would happen this year. More education mandates are included in policy bills, including a move to ban suspensions as a form of discipline in kindergarten through third grade, replacing them with non-exclusionary discipline. While the bill’s advo-
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Publications The newspaper of today is the history of tomorrow.
Jim Schloegl has served as the Sauk Centre Area History Museum’s director for the past five years, but as of March 3, he has handed on the position to another longtime volunteer, Marilyn Klaphake. “I’m glad we found someone who’s very capable and very interested and has demonstrated such great ability,” Schloegl said. “I don’t even have to think twice.” As she settles into her role as museum director, Klaphake looks at her position as that of a caretaker, just like those who came before her. “You’re a steward, just like the famer is a steward of the land,” she said. “You’re the caretaker of the records and trying to organize and preserve it for the next generation or the next person who steps up.” Schloegl started his history career around 1976 working with genealogists in the St. Cloud area. Through his involvement with them, he knew what was happening with the region’s historical societies. He moved to Melrose and started helping with the Melrose Area Historical Society, also volunteering at the Stearns County Fair in Sauk Centre. When Schloegl heard about Sauk Centre’s open museum director position, he and Klaphake applied at the same time. Schloegl was accepted and entered the new position fall of 2018. In his five years as museum director, Schloegl has overseen a good deal of organization with the Sauk Centre Area Historical Society’s collections of items and documents.
Historical society page 3 PHOTO BY BEN SONNEK
Marilyn Klaphake (left) and Jim Schloegl pause their work for a moment at the Sauk Centre Area History Museum March 10 in Sauk Centre. Klaphake has been the museum’s new director as of March 3.
Biofuel company interested in Sauk Centre is known for having plenty of cows and dairy If established, the facility would likely be placed City members to visit tyfarms, and Nature Energy is interested in turning the near the edge of city limits and have access to city farms’ manure into biofuel. utilities. The most probable location would be on or “The large dairies can do a little biogas conaround Sauk Centre South Industrial Park. plant in Denmark verter right on site. This (plant) is more designed for Nature Energy has invited city members to visit BY BEN SONNEK | STAFF WRITER
Members of Sauk Centre’s Economic and Development Authority will soon be traveling to Denmark to see whether or not the city would benefit from the addition of a biogas plant. Nature Energy, an energy company in Denmark, has been branching its services into North America, and areas they are researching are in Wisconsin and Minnesota communities such as Melrose, Freeport, Paynesville, Benson and Sauk Centre. Stearns Coun-
smaller dairies, under 500 or 1,000 (cows),” Sauk Centre City Administrator Vicki Willer said March 16. “They’ll go to the farm, take (manure) out of the pit and take it to a plant.” The Nature Energy plant would also offer farmers the byproducts of the biogas conversion, such as dry bedding and nutrient-dense liquid manure for efficient land application. The biogas from the plant would be available as part of the area’s natural gas resources. The process is designed to have minimal environmental impact, including in terms of noise or scent.
their facilities in Denmark, and EDA member Jean Marthaler and councilmember and EDA member Heidi Leach have agreed to go. The trip will take place around the last week of March. “It’s good to have someone there to ask questions, and those two will ask good questions,” Willer said. “They’re not just there for a tour. I’m really glad they’re the two who could go.” The Sauk Centre City Council, during their March 15 meeting at Sauk Centre City Hall, approved Leach and Marthaler’s out-of-state travel.
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Padua’s Irish chill
PHOTO BY BEN SONNEK
(Above) The St. Patrick’s Day parade begins along County Highway 18 March 17 in Padua. In spite of the below-freezing temperatures, blowing snow and slick roads, hundreds still came to the Padua Pub for St. Patrick’s Day. (Right) With his green beard, shamrock hat and celebratory sign, Jim McMahon from Glenwood comes to Padua Pub ready for St. Patrick’s Day March 17 in Padua.
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OBITUARIES Debra A. Gieske Larry Hokanson Mark W. Jennissen Betty Asfeld
PUBLIC NOTICES • Mortgage Foreclosures (4) - pg. 7, 8 & 9 • City of West Union Notice - pg. 9 • Sauk Centre Township Notice to Residents - pg. 7 • Summons - pg. 7 • Pope County Co-op Oil Association Notice of Annual Meeting - pg. 7 • Ashley Township Property Assessments Notice - pg. 9 • Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Notices (2) - pg. 7 & 9
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