On April 12, the Garretson Blue Dragon track and field team headed to Salem to participate in the McCook Central Jack Rasmussen Relays. Seven teams participated, including Freeman, Bridgewater-Emery, and Howard. While the overall event went well, it was interrupted at the end due to the weather. Two heats of the Girls' 200m were run, but the event was not scored or places awarded, and the 3200m and 1600m relays were not held.
Garretson placed well despite the circumstances, with several participants getting first and second place. The girls team won second place overall with 98 points, while the boys team took 5th place with a total of 52 points.
Their next meet was on Tuesday in Beresford (results not available at press time), and they will compete in the Tom Main Meet at Chester on Saturday.
Preston Bohl (left) and Sam Schleuter (right)Tayler Benson (right)
Final Results:
Girls 100m dash: Hannah Frewaldt, 8th place with a time of 13.89 seconds, earning 1 point.
Girls 400m dash: Kylie Christensen, 10th place with a time of 1:12.11.
Girls 800m run: Erin Steen, 5th place with 3:13.89 and earning 4 points for the team. Eliza Potter, 6th place at 3:21.22 and earning 3 points.
Girls 1600m run: Tayler Benson, 1st place with a time of 6:17.62 and 10 points. Erin Steen, 3rd place 7:06.09 and 6 points for the team.
Girls 100m hurdles: Lily Ranschau, 1st place with 16.19 seconds, earning 10 points.
Girls 300m hurdles: Lily Ranschau, 2nd place with 50.68 seconds, 8 points.
Girls 4x100m relay: The Garretson relay team placed third with a time of 55.65 and earned 6 points.
Girls 4x200m relay: The team placed first with a time of 1:59.42, earning 10 points.
Girls 1600 sprint medley: The team placed first with a time of 5:03.95 and received 10 points.
Girls High Jump: Logan Bly placed second with a jump height of 4'6" and earned 8 points. Kylie Christensen placed fourth with a jump of 4'2" and earned 5 points.
Girls Shot Put: Oliviyah Thornton, second place with a throw of 34'6.5", 8 points.
Girls Discus: Oliviyah Thornton, fourth place with a throw of 91'9", earning 5 points.
Team Ranking: 2nd overall with 98 points. Freeman, the top place, had 105 points.
Boys 100m dash: Treyton Chester, 9th place with a time of 11.66 seconds.
Boys 400m dash: Treyton Chester, 4th place with a time of 59.81 seconds, earning 5 points for the team.
Boys 800m run: First place was awarded to Preston Bohl, who came in with a time of 2:15.95, earning 10 points. Carter Siemonsma was second with a time of 2:27.77 and earned 8 points.
Boys 1600m run: Preston Bohl, second place with a time of 4:59.32 and 8 points.
Boys 300m hurdles: Sam Schleuter, second place with a time of 47.61 seconds and 8 points.
Boys 4x800m relay: Garretson placed first with a time of 9:48.26, earning 10 points.
Boys Shot Put: Tyler Edmundson placed 10th with a throw of 31'1.5".
Boys Discus: Tyler Edmundson, 9th place with a throw of 89'10".
Team ranking: Overall, the boys were 5th place with 52 points. The overall winner was McCook Central/Montrose with 158 points.
“With age comes wisdom,” a quote said by our insightful Andres Stensland. Bullying is something that occurs EVERYWHERE. No matter where you are, bullying is present.
GHS students were questioned on how they feel about bullying. “On a scale of 1-10 I would say our school manages bullying about a 5,” mentioned Senior Morgan Pierret. “I haven’t ever really been bullied but I know people who have and I know sometimes it gets resolved and sometimes it doesn’t,” said Pierret.
Along with Pierret, junior Jenna Wastell gives the school a 4 out of 10 on how they manage bullying. “A lot of kids have been bullied and no one does anything about it,” claimed Wastell.
This junior also said, “I have been bullied since I moved here in seventh grade and regardless of what I do or say it doesn’t stop.”
Agreeing with Wastell, freshman Andres Stensland stated our school doesn’t handle bullying well. “I see it all the time,” said Stensland. “I don’t always get bullied but when I do I tend to just walk away.”
Although this is a huge problem in our society, is there any way to make it better?
Freshman Maci Rotert had an idea that many could agree with. “If everyone would just be nice to each other, it wouldn’t be as big of a problem as it is.”
Pierret, Wastell, Stensland, and Rotert all agree they would hope bullying would get better as time goes on but it won’t happen without some sort of change in action whether from students, staff, or both. Sometimes bullying happens with our own friends and family. Will that ever change?
For myself, I have been picked on since I was little for noticeable reasons. Honestly going through this for so long I’ve personally just learned to live with it, it is what it is and you shouldn’t have to change the way you are for someone else.
Although words hurt, deep down each and every one of us is stronger than words that come out of others mouths.
The Blue Dragons golf team had their first meet on Tuesday, April 12. This was a home meet for the Garretson students at River Ridge Golf Course. These students were nervous and excited for their very first golf meet of 2022. The weather on Tuesday wasn’t very ideal for a golf meet primarily due to strong winds but everyone still made it happen despite the weather.
Junior Matthew Gilbert said, “I don't want to golf with random people because I don't want to embarrass myself.”
After the meet Gilbert followed up and said, “I think I did pretty good but could’ve done better if the weather wasn’t so bad.”
Freshman Nora Bonte wasn’t too worried about the first meet’s results.
“Golf is a sport that you’re going use your whole life instead of running, and I need to do something,” she said. Bonte said she was excited for the meet and meeting new people. “We get to golf with different schools so that’s fun.”
After playing junior high last year, Bonte said, “This year is way more formal compared to last year and we get to be outside more with people being able to drive out to the course.”
Senior Mataya Trower is on her last year of golfing in high school and claimed, “I’ve been doing golf since middle school. It’s just a hobby of mine I like to do with my family and I thought it would be fun to do it here too.” Trower ended her first meet of the year with a score of 55.
Blaine Trower on the other hand did not enjoy his first golf meet and was very excited to be done golfing. B. Trower said, “I don’t think I will do very good.” Trower also explained, “I do golf to do something, so I don’t get talked to by the football coach about doing track.”
Overall, the first golf meet was either a hit or a miss with some of the Garretson High School students. Some of the students got cut short due to rain and tornado warnings but ended strong. The next golf meet for varsity is Tuesday at Chester.
After positively impacting students for years in the elementary, Williamson and Bly find new homes
by Adi Fink, GHS Blue Ink, and Carrie Moritz, Gazette
This year's third grade teachers are on their last year of teaching elementary school. Next year, Angela Bly and Amber Williamson will begin teaching middle schoolers here in Garretson, taking on the challenge of teaching older students. Bly will be replacing English teacher Kari Stoltenberg, and Williamson will be taking the position currently occupied by science teacher Julie Mueller.
Mrs. Bly and Miss Williamson, who have been team-teaching for several years now, intend to continue to find ways to collaborate and make classes as interesting as possible for all the students they teach as they move up to the middle school. (Photo submitted)
Both Stoltenberg and Mueller will be retiring at the end of the school year after teaching 40 years and 26 years, respectively, at the Garretson School District.
Bly and Williamson have been team-teaching the third grade for several years now, integrating their content, lessons, and presentations. They will be bringing that collaboration and energy to the middle school.
When asked what they were most excited about, Bly responded that she was ready for the challenge, and Williamson said the change would be refreshing. She was excited to work with a different age group.
The biggest change for the both of them will be the new curriculum, teaching one subject all day with different groups of students rather than different subjects with one group.
The idea to move up to the middle school was Williamson's.
"It wasn't even on my radar," said Bly. "I wasn’t even thinking about making a change, but Ms. Williamson just brought up the idea of how much fun it would be so I just kept an open mind about it. I went up to Mrs. Stoltenberg['s room] a couple times and observed her teaching and I just got excited about it.”
“I have taught middle school once before and I liked the enthusiasm in the age group of the kids and I feel like I love third grade too," said Williamson. "I like change and I like trying something new and challenging.”
It is likely that nearly all of Bly and Williamson's past students will be excited to have them as a teacher again, though both teachers say they will miss the elementary. Bly, for instance, has been in her room for quite some time.
“We work with a great group of staff down here but that’s kind of the blessing about being in a K-12 school, even though we won’t be in elementary school anymore, I'll still be in the same building," said Williamson. "I am also excited to work with the middle school and high school staff.”
Neither of the teachers would have made the move without the other. They both applied for the positions and hoped they'd get them, and intend to continue with the theme of team teaching.
"I really like teaching with Angie," said Williamson. "I feel like we work really well together and thought this was a great opportunity with science and language arts. We would do some cross-curricular things and would do it together as we did in 3rd grade.”
Teaching one subject will be the largest difference, but one they're looking forward to.
“I can just focus on one subject and I’m just going have to be more creative, varying the different activities,” said Bly. “I have looped before to like 2nd or 3rd several times and 3rd to 4th and it’ll kind of be similar to looping to have those same kids year after year after year and then you can pull off the concepts we learned the year before.”
"It’s one subject but three different levels of one subject," said Williamson. "It's not like I teach the same lesson all day long. It's 6th, 7th and 8th so even though it’s the same subject, the content will be a little bit different. I also think it will make me invest a little bit more in science."
When asked if they would have to be stricter because of the older student population, both Bly and Williamson stressed their current relationships with the students.
Williamson pointed out, "To be completely honest, I feel like kids are kids. If you respect them, are kind to them, and show them that you care; they will be willing to learn from you.”
“We’ve had these kids before so I feel like we already have that relationship with them and that connection," added Bly. "Plus, they are a few more years mature. I don’t think I’m going to have to be stricter it’s just going to be different.”
When it comes to technology, the teachers believe the strategies for iPad use won't change too much from third grade to middle school.
According to Williamson, “In third grade, they’re already one-to-one so students already have them, they just put them in the cart but don’t take them home. Since they can take them home that’ll give us more opportunities to give them homework online.”
The real question is if they feel ready to fill the shoes of Mueller and Stoltenberg, who have left a long legacy.
“I don’t feel that I will be filling Mrs. Mueller's shoes," said Williamson. "I would just like to walk beside them or behind them for a little while. We both plan on using them as resources for questions that arise and that come up.”
“I agree with Miss Williamson," responded Bly. "I’m not trying fill someone’s shoes; I’m just trying to pick up where she left off and hopefully, I can do what she’s been doing the last 40 years some justice and have some fun along the way.”
Overall, these teachers are excited to become middle school teachers. We are wishing them the best of luck for this upcoming year.
Sara Holmberg, a counselor in the Dell Rapids School District, meets with a group of middle schoolers in her office on Friday, April 1. Holmberg is utilizing new strategies such as a YouTube animated series to encourage more conversation about mental health issues. Photo: Stu Whitney, South Dakota News Watch
Sara Holmberg’s job as a counselor at Dell Rapids Middle School has never been more challenging.
As fallout from the pandemic creates what the U.S. Surgeon General calls a “youth mental health crisis,” school counselors like Holmberg find themselves providing not just academic and vocational guidance, but emotional support to students and families. Forging that many personal connections is difficult, so schools are exploring ways to supplement traditional counseling with professional partnerships to make sure teens get the attention they need.
Holmberg, 38, is one of three counselors in the Dell Rapids School District, which has 985 students. Now in her fourth year at the school, she is the only counselor serving the middle school, with an enrollment of about 300. She knows there is no way she can provide effective one-on-one guidance for every child, especially as more students and families continue to struggle with academic and financial setbacks from COVID-19.
According to the South Dakota Department of Education, nearly 90 percent of accredited schools in the state held in-person classes during the 2020-21 school year, alleviating some of the loss of structure from when schools went to remote learning for nearly three months starting in March 2020, when coronavirus first hit the state.
And yet, many students continue to suffer emotional problems. Nationally, 37 percent of high school students reported they experienced poor mental health during the pandemic. according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey released March 31, while 44 percent reported they felt sad or hopeless during the past year.
This continues a trend seen before the pandemic, when a CDC data summary from 2009-19 found that more than one in three high school students said they had experienced such persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in the past year that they couldn’t participate in their regular activities, a 40 percent increase from the previous report.
In South Dakota, suicide was the 10th-leading cause of death overall among all state residents in 2020, but was the leading cause of death among ages 10 to 19, according to the Helpline Center, a statewide suicide prevention agency. The crisis is particularly staggering for Native American youth, whose suicide rate is estimated by the South Dakota Department of Health to be 2.5 times higher than the white population, with social isolation during the pandemic increasing the emotional toll.
“The pandemic put mental health more on the radar and accelerated everyone’s concerns,” Holmberg said after meeting with a group of eighth-graders in her office on a recent school day. “Instead of it being part of background conversation, it brought those concerns to the forefront and became in many ways our main focus.”
Getting students involved
Leah DeHaan, a junior at Platte-Geddes High School, recalled her reaction when the school started a student-led “Hope Squad” to tackle suicide prevention and encourage communication about topics such as depression, anxiety, bullying and abuse.
“I was skeptical,” said DeHaan. “As a teen who has suffered from mental health issues myself, I was concerned that it was just shifting responsibility off the adults and onto the students, like they were using students as makeshift therapists.”
She had a conversation with Platte-Geddes school counselor Sadie Hanson, who assuaged DeHaan’s concerns and told her that the fact that she voiced them made her a perfect candidate to serve on the Hope Squad, which now has 15 members spanning grades 7-12.
Hope Squad programs operate in 35 U.S. states and Canada, with Platte-Geddes and Flandreau building teams in South Dakota. Students are asked to name three peers they would turn to if they were struggling emotionally. Those lists help educators choose team members, who are trained on how to recognize signs of suicide contemplation and depression.
“Studies show that teens who (die by suicide) typically tell a friend that they’re planning to do it, but that peer doesn’t always go to an adult or find a resource to help,” said Platte-Geddes superintendent Joel Bailey, adding that the phenomenon can be more pronounced in smaller communities.
Seeking a team effort
Washington High School seniors Micah Moran (left) and Matthew Agyeman speak to freshmen about high school success during an outreach series known as the Warrior 24. Photo: Courtesy Sioux Falls School District
At last count, there were just under 25,000 students in the Sioux Falls School District and 66 school counselors, which equates to a ratio of 364 students to every counselor. That’s right on the state average for South Dakota and on par with ratios in neighboring states Iowa (370:1), Nebraska (369:1) and North Dakota (297:1). The American School Counselor Association recommends a lower ratio of 250:1.
“Building the new high school (Sioux Falls Jefferson) helped with the ratios, but we could always use more support,” said Travis Sieber, who heads the counseling department at Washington High, which has six counselors for 1,870 students. “Sometimes the mental health related duties become so top heavy that there aren’t enough hours in the day to address other aspects of the job, like academic support and post-high school planning.”
Sieber, in his 14th year at Washington, saw slippage in student performance following the spring of 2020, when classes went online. That loss of structure and in-person interaction fostered bad habits that were hard to break, he said, not to mention pandemic-related hardships faced by many families.
“For the first time in any of our generations, adults didn’t have all the answers when it came to safety and housing and a sense that everything would be OK,” said Seiber. “That created a sense of heightened anxiety that was passed down to students.”
Help is available outside the school, with medical providers such as Avera Behavioral Health, Southeastern Behavioral Health and the Lutheran Social Services PATH program partnering with the school district and taking on referrals. The Helpline Center offers a Text4Hope program that provides crisis texting support for all high school students in the state.
For most students, though, it helps to have a guiding hand and familiar face in the school hallways to enhance the educational experience. Sioux Falls used federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds to add seven more school counselors for 2021-22, encouraging them to actively engage with students rather than waiting to be consulted.
Putting families in focus
In Dell Rapids, Sara Holmberg and her fellow counselors know that encouraging mental health conversations when appropriate is a team effort that stretches into households, where real solutions await.
“Even if I could meet with every kid, I don’t know their family dynamics,” Holmberg said. “Everything might be fine one day and there could be a family crisis soon after.”
Dell Rapids Superintendent Summer Schultz started looking for ways to expand the school district’s outreach after seeing mental health concerns bubble to the surface during the height of the pandemic.
In partnership with the Utah-based Cook Center for Human Connection, Dell Rapids offers “virtual mental health nights” with online support for families from trained professionals. That program will be expanded using ESSER funds to provide a family coaching component, where parents have 24/7 access to consultants who can help with everything from behavioral issues to making a household schedule.
The school district is also utilizing an animated series called “My Life is Worth Living” created by Terry Thoren, who helped produce the “Rugrats” television show on Nickelodeon in the 1990s. The character-driven YouTube videos focus on topics such bullying, suicidal ideation, sexual orientation and abuse.
“The series does a really good job of modeling for parents,” said Holmberg. “It gives them the language to talk about these things. Sometimes parents don’t want to push too much, so this serves as an icebreaker.”
SIOUX FALLS – In his annual briefing to the county commission on Tuesday, April 19, Minnehaha County Auditor Ben Kyte addressed concerns expressed over how voting actually works here and in South Dakota, in general.
Much of what Kyte spoke about came in response to specific questions from commissioners regarding what Theresa Pesce of Sioux Falls said during public comment.
Nick Siemonsma of rural Dell Rapids (left) addresses the Minnehaha County Commission on Tuesday, April 19, to get a conditional use permit for his hog operation. The permit had been approved by the county planning and zoning board on March 28 but was appealed to the full county commission. Siemonsma’s plans are to replace his existing hog barn, built in 1983, with a new barn that, he said, would make it easier to control animal waste. Prior to this meeting, neighbors met with Siemonsma, who agreed to accept conditions that the barn have a nutrient waste treatment facility in place when it is built, and that he would plant rows of trees after a year, if the odors were a problem for neighbors. The commission unanimously approved the CUP with those two conditions. (Photo by Dave Baumeister)
Pesce has spoken at most of the commission meetings for the past four months on behalf of the South Dakota Canvassing Group, bringing up several issues about “voting irregularities.”
At this meeting, she mainly addressed the tabulation of votes, and how viruses and programs to “favor a count for a particular candidate” can be brought into the process.
In the past, other members of that group have talked about how “anything electronic can be hacked,” and problems with ballot drop boxes.
During public comments, people are allowed to speak, and commissioners very seldom ask any questions or make comments about what is said. However, her comments did fit with the auditor’s briefing later in the meeting.
While Kyte spoke about the various duties of the auditor’s office, voting questions took the most time.
In an answer to questions from Commissioner Jean Bender, Kyte explained the tabulation process, and assured commissioners that there was “no way to hack” the machinery used.
Earlier, Pesce played snippets of videos of politicians referring to problems with “voting machines.” However, voting machines and tabulation equipment are not the same things.
People in the videos referred specifically to “antiquated voting machines,” that would not have proper security features which Pesce and others have warned about in the past.
Kyte referred to South Dakota as being on the “gold standard” for election security.
He explained that ballots are tabulated by a machine, but those machines are never connected to the internet. They simply count “check marks in boxes.”
He further explained that all ballots are accounted for throughout the election process.
The number of ballots given to each precinct is recorded. The number of ballots given out is recorded, and all ballots must be accounted for.
Precinct workers record how many people voted, and that number would have to agree with numbers of ballots cast.
Commissioner Cindy Heiberger asked Kyte to address concerns about paper ballots and counting by hand, as the SD Canvassing Group has called for.
“To make sure a count (by humans) was accurate, we would have to count ballots multiple times,” Kyte said. “We had just under 100,000 votes cast in the last general election, and if each item had 10 questions on it, counting one million responses would be difficult.”
Commissioner Dean Karsky later pointed out that the number of items/races on a primary or general election ballot would probably be closer to 25, putting that number of responses at around 2.5 million.
“Humans can’t focus that well,” Kyte added. “And with those numbers, machines are more accurate.”
Commissioner Jeff Barth expanded on Kyte’s statements by saying, “We already have paper ballots for everyone who votes. There is a record of the names of everyone voting. There is never a batch of ‘anonymous ballots’ that just show up.
“Do we really think it would be better to bring in bozos from off the street that don’t have jobs to count ballots?”
He emphasized the fact that it would be much easier for people with agendas to bring in voter fraud to a hand count-system than it would be in the current system.
But the increased possibility for simple “human error” would probably affect an election more.
Continuing his explanation, Kyte said that after a count, a “thumb drive” is inserted into each of the four tabulating machines, and those are taken to a secure laptop computer, which is also not connected to the Internet, where the results from each drive are compiled.
Those numbers then go to a different computer where they are sent to the South Dakota Secretary of State.
While that final computer is connected to the Internet, should there be a discrepancy, any difference in totals would easily be noticed.
Earlier, Pesce spoke of a cost of over $400,000 for tabulating equipment, but during the auditor’s briefing, Commissioner Gerald Beninga, who serves as a liaison to the auditor’s office, said that most of the money for the machines was a one-time expense, and that funds for that come from federal grants, and not from county coffers.
Kyte and the commissioners did add that currently, the average cost for workers in an election is $50,000. Adding the amount of people to hand count two and a half million items multiple times, and get it done in short period, would be much more expensive than $400,000.
The next meeting of the county commission will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 26, on the second floor of the Minnehaha County Administration Building at 6th and Minnesota in Sioux Falls.
The Garretson School Board had their regular April meeting on April 11.
Unlike the last several meetings it was sparsely attended, with only Jacki Liester (representing the local teachers association), Tana Clark (a school board member elect) and Garrick Moritz (representing this newspaper) in attendance.
There were no public comments so the board moved on to consent agenda items. The only update to this were new fuel quotes from Palisades Oil and Vollan Oil. The board passed the consent agenda as amended.
Board member Rachel Hanisch asked Superintendent Guy Johnson about the driver’s education program.
“Mr. Johnson, is the Driver’s Ed program full this year?” she asked.
“As of today, yes, it is full,” he responded. “Right now, we have a waiting list. We perhaps may be able to accommodate one or two more students in the classroom, but the problem is getting the necessary driving time with our instructor. If Mr. (Michael) Satter is able to give us more days later in the summer that he’s available then perhaps we’ll be able to have a few more students, but as of right now we are full.”
Next the board wanted to recognize two staff members. First was Kevin Steckler, as he was recognized as regional Athletic Director of the year by his peers. Second, they wished to recognize Darcy McGee as the Garretson Teacher of the Year. Mr. Johnson said that she will be the keynote speaker at graduation this May.
Though a few new positions and changed positions were still in negotiation, the majority of staff contracts were ready for approval. The board voted to approve the current pending certified staff contracts.
The board then discussed and approved the use of the facilities by the Orthopedic Institute for their summer programming, which requires an exception to policy KD. The board voted to approve.
Next, the board talked about insurance. The Northern Plains Insurance Pool offerings and premiums are what the school has been using and as business manager Jacob Schweitzer gave his report, he said that he was shocked that there were virtually no changes to the plans offered. Most everything was staying the same from last year’s coverage so he recommended that the board enroll the school in the same plans again this year. The board directed him to do so.
Next, the board was considering the 2022-23 calendar. Supt. Johnson shared with the board the results of the survey they issued concerning the early Wednesday dismissal and its use now for student intervention programming. Originally, the early Wednesday dismissal started as a time for teacher planning and additional building sanitation during the Covid-19 crisis. Now, it has transformed into a time when teachers, administrators and staff can work with a struggling student to address their needs and help them achieve better success at school.
Supt. Johnson said that of the survey’s sent out, only 37 parents responded. The largest complaint about early Wednesday dismissal was finding childcare and the extra cost that incurred because of it.
However, many of the parents, especially parents whose students have directly benefited from the program, responded positively.
He said that the biggest and most common complaint was the early dismissal followed by dismissal for parent teacher conferences and in-services that made for 3 days off for students.
“I totally understand that complaint and we have addressed that problem in this year’s calendar," Johnson said.
The idea would be to spread out parent teacher conferences over the course of two Wednesdays and to schedule teacher in-services for different weeks. The times would be 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. the first Wednesday and 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. or later on the second Wednesday, if necessary, to accommodate guardian work schedules.
“We hesitate to go too late and to interfere with church activities on a Wednesday night, which is why I think we should cap it at 6 p.m.,” said Johnson. “We think that this might alleviate a lot of those pressures for families, but we’re going to try it our first semester and if it doesn’t work we’ll be bringing it back to you folks to revise.”
The board voted to approve the calendar.
The board then voted to join the South Dakota High School Activities Association for 2022-23.
The board had no new first draft policies to review, just informational items looking at the anti-hazing policies and prohibition of corporal punishment policies last reviewed in 2009. The board had a second reading and approved new policies on staff fringe benefits and amending their KD policy to match the already adopted BDDH as of 2019. It should be noted that this policy, entitled Public Participation at Board Meetings, limits the public to making commentary at school board meetings. People who wish to make public commentary at a Garretson School Board meeting must submit a request to speak to the board prior to the meeting, in writing, to be heard. This is unlike both the City of Garretson and Minnehaha County Commissioners meetings, who allow anyone to speak during the public comment portion at their meetings without prior written authorization.
These two policy updates passed unanimously.
Supt. Johnson then went on to his report.
First, Supt. Johnson asked the board how soon they would like to start the process of taking applications to fill out the board seat that will be vacated by Ryan Longhenry, who has withdrawn his petition for the board.
Longhenry wondered why there would not be a special election for his seat. Supt. Johnson responded that because Longhenry had filed a petition to be re-elected, that according the school’s legal counsel, he had the seat until someone else is appointed to fill it. With this in mind, Supt. Johnson said that the school should start the process of seeking applicants to fill the board position sooner rather than later.
“We could start in May, or perhaps even this month of April already,” Johnson said. “We’d put a notice in the local paper and ask for applications for your seat, then you would serve the rest of your term. At the July meeting we would switch over to the new board, and you would start out as a member of that board until we selected your replacement by vote. This gives us time to look at as many applications as are sent in and interview prospective board members for the position. The interviews would be in executive session, but the final vote would be in open session and part of our published agenda at that July meeting.”
The board agreed that the process should start as soon as possible.
On that note, the board agreed to move their July meeting to Monday July 18th to accommodate board President Shannon Nordstrom, who will be traveling for the Auto-Recyclers Association the week before and unable to attend the regularly scheduled meeting on July 11th.
Supt. Johnson reported that there were only 4 weeks left of regular school as of this meeting. Golf and Track events had begun and the year was starting to wind down.
Supt. Johnson was also happy to announce that with the money the Garretson Parent/Teacher Organization had raised, combined with a generous donation from the Prairie Rose Fund, they have the money they need to upgrade the school playground’s equipment. If all goes well, it will be installed before school starts next fall.
“We’re very excited about this, grateful to Prairie Rose and our Parent/Teacher Organization for their hard work,” he said. “I recall when we had the new picnic tables installed not that long ago. They got installed and the next day, the very next day, we had local families coming to our playground for picnics and it was something that made me happy to see. So, they get this new playground equipment up, the kids will be all over it.”
As far as an update with the Prairie Rose Cooperative, the only news is that the Madison School District will be the headquarters location once again.
The board then went into executive session to discuss a personnel issue and for contract negotiations. They were out of executive session at around 8 p.m. and the only item they voted on was to adjourn.
At the regular meeting of the Garretson City Council on Monday, April 11, finances were a constant on the agenda. The council fielded requests for a pole shed around the natural gas rig station and street improvements south of Dows Street, were given information about boring under the railroad tracks on Dows, and approved writing a payment for $73,000 to natural gas improvements.
The council meeting started with better news than it's had in a while with regards to natural gas. Market prices are starting to finally decline, and rates for the month were down to $1.01 per ccf, a decrease of $0.10. While still higher than this time of year's former prices of $0.73-$0.85, it's a far cry from last November's high of $1.186 per ccf.
However, the natural gas rig station just outside city limits is in need of a structure to be built around it, and an invoice for natural gas pipeline improvements came in at the tune of over $73,000.
The rig station has been surrounded by a fenced area, but has consistently had issues when the weather turns. Since the issues were mostly caused by weather, it prompted the city maintenance supervisors to recommend that a structure similar to a pole barn be built around it. This would also prolong the life of the rig station, delaying the need for replacement.
An initial estimate for construction was sought, and came out to approximately $16,000.
After a motion to accept the bid was made, council member Bill Hoskins, while stating that he was not opposed to the recommendation, requested the city seek more proposals. Council member Greg Franka agreed, and the motion failed 2-4. A new motion which directed City employees to seek more bids and to accept the most quality one was made and passed unanimously.
"I believe that as a government entity, having more bids is the most responsible thing to do," Hoskins said.
As for the natural gas improvements, the invoice for $73,000 was a bit of a surprise to the council until Hoskins had memories of accepting the cost for the upgrades in 2020.
In May 2020, the council had agreed to contribute towards a larger TBS (Town Border Station) at the tune of approximately $100,000. The improvements would increase the capacity, which is a boon for the community as it grows. Currently, Garretson is operating near the top of its capacity during peak times. In 2020, it was expected that funding would not be an issue as the loan that was taken out to build the natural gas system had just been paid off. This meant that while the funds would be coming out of reserve, monies should have been set aside each year to ensure the cost was covered.
After some discussion, the council approved payment of the invoice.
City maintenance supervisors Ryan Nussbaum and Jordan Doane also gave the council a proposal for street improvements in the areas south of Dows Street. Since this is a newer area, infrastructure improvements to water or sewer will not be needed for some time, but the road conditions are beginning to deteriorate. Doane proposed the city do several blocks of streets at the same time at an approximate cost of $25,000 per block, up to $100,000 per year. This construction would include milling and laying asphalt, rather than patching holes as they appear. A major benefit to this expenditure would be prolonging the life of the roads.
Doane and Nussbaum then informed the council that boring a water line under the railroad tracks could happen as early as this fall if they are able to obtain matching infrastructure grants. The majority of it is likely to be paid for by ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds.
They are also looking to get the two oldest holding ponds dredged, as they are beginning to get full. However, a cost was not proposed at the meeting.
Nussbaum and Doane's final report pointed out that the estimated cost to clean up the branch pile was $7,000. This would include pushing the branches back and leveling out the area.
Sidewalks will also be installed this summer, with $30,000 proposed to be put toward the installation. Since there will likely be boring and trenching for a water line on Dows, the sidewalk committee appeared to be putting the installation of the sidewalk from Railroad to Highway 11 on hold, and are instead looking at continuing the sidewalk on Main Avenue.
The plans for the bridge on 5th Street were finally approved by the state. According to project manager and engineer Chad Hanisch of Infrastructure Design, after a request for proposals, one bid was received from a highly reputable company in Sioux Falls for $630,000. This amount will have to be paid up front by the city, but the state will reimburse 80% up to a max of the original grant award. The company is looking to begin this fall with replacement of the bearings under the bridge. Though they likely will not work on the bridge during the winter months, Hanisch stated there is a stipulation in the contract that the bridge cannot stay closed over those months. The rest of the project, which is projected to take a total of 5 months, will be completed in the spring.
In more financial news, City Finance Officer Paetyn Dreckman updated the council on her progress with organizing city accounts. She has been separating General Funds from Enterprise Funds, opening separate bank accounts for water & sewer, sales tax, Capital Outlay, and parks. She's been simplifying lines in the budget as well. This type of organization should help with reconciling.
At the same time, Dreckman was able to remind the Pool Board the city had $50,000 set aside for them, something former finance officer Anna Uhl had brought up to them last year but had been forgotten due to a changeover in board leadership. This was a boon for the pool board, who not only are paying out higher salaries this year, but also required a replacement of the pool decking, a new storage shed, plumbing fixes, and a new sidewalk along the outside of the fence.
Board treasurer Mallory Zell and president Jill Stiefvater stated during the meeting that they already had contractors lined up for the projects, and that those would be completed by the pool's opening date of June 1. The council voted unanimously to release the funds and allow the board to utilize the funding as they wished, up to the $50,000 allotted.
In final financial updates, Kelli Schleuter of the Garretson Parks Advisory Committee informed the council that the board had been able to order two pieces of playground equipment after a grant award from Prairie Rose and tallying the funds from the most recent Light the Park event. Those pieces will be installed this year at the Jaycee Complex playground, which was expanded via a fence upgrade last year. Schleuter also stated the board had visited five places around Garretson with the hopes of finding a good location for a dog park, but that none of them quite fit the bill. She said they were going to remain in contact with Leslie Black, who was hoping to write grants for funding, but that the project was going to continue to be tabled until the newer part of town south of Sarah C Street is more developed.
The next regular meeting of the Garretson City Council will be held on Monday, May 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Legion.
Tragedy struck a local family this past weekend, and we mourn with the family and community, who have surrounded them with love and support during this difficult time. In other stories, the most recent city council meeting was almost all financial, the school board begins to look towards scheduling for next year, and varsity golf has gotten off to its seasonal start.
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Benton Howe (top) at the Jesse James Youth Wrestling invitational on March 6, 2022. - photo from the Gazette archives by Carrie Moritz.
On Friday, April 15, local youth Benton Howe was traveling via UTV when he was in a rollover accident. The 11-year-old was pinned beneath the UTV, and despite lifesaving measures, did not survive.
According to a statement released by the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office, EMS arrived on the scene first, and was assisted by the Garretson Fire Department, MCSO, SD Highway Patrol, and a care flight helicopter.
The local community immediately surrounded the family during this time, expressing condolences and offers of support. Counselors and clergy were made available at the Garretson School when classes resumed on Tuesday, and school is canceled on Friday for a memorial service.
Benton is remembered as an energetic, happy child, who assisted the Garretson High School football team as a water boy, played basketball and baseball, and was a good wrestler. He enjoyed helping his father and grandfather on the dairy farm, riding in tractors, and loved outdoor activities such as hunting, snowmobiling, and trapping. He was friendly and outgoing with many friends of all ages, and his upbeat attitude was inspirational.
"With a heavy heart, we say goodbye to a leader, a teammate and an inspiration," wrote youth wrestling coach Vernon Miller on the Garretson Youth Wrestling Facebook Page. "Benton, you will always be remembered in the wrestling room for your positive attitude and your hard drive. Your team will miss you."
The memorial service will be held on Friday in the New Gym at the school at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be made for a future charitable use.
On Monday, the Garretson School District sent the following letter to the parents of the District:
Good afternoon,
As many of you are aware, our community and our school district experienced a significant loss over the weekend. One of our students, Benton Howe was killed in a tragic ATV accident on Friday evening. We know that his loss affects so many in different ways throughout our community.
The funeral will be held in the school district’s New Gym on Friday, April 22 at 11:00 AM. School will be canceled that day in order to allow the use of school district facilities for the funeral.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, April 18th, we will have a number of additional counselors and clergy available to our students who need to talk to someone. These counselors and clergy will be located in a central location, and as the need for privacy arises, we also have a number of private spaces that can be used for individuals and smaller groups to process their thoughts and feelings.
We do know that each of our students may handle the loss and their grief in different ways. If you feel like your family might be in need of additional support, one program that is available in our area is the "Sad Isn’t Bad" (https://sadisntbad.com/) program in Sioux Falls. Our school counselors, Michelle Pliska and Janie Lundberg can provide additional resources as requested.
One of the things I have learned in the past eight years in Garretson is that the strength of our community lies in our willingness to support one another through difficult times. While we are all feeling the loss a little differently, I am certain that our community will support one another in healing through this loss.
