SPEARFISH, S.D. – Articles from the Black Hills State University archives about the Spanish Flu are providing some unity between alumni from 100 years ago and students affected by the Coronavirus pandemic today. Elizabeth Foss, history major from Broken Bow, Neb., will graduate from BHSU May 9. She says when people look back at the student experience at BHSU during this pandemic, “they will see students trying their best to manage a complete shake-up of the norm.”
Spearfish Normal School, the school that would become BHSU, closed temporarily on October 15, 1918 as a means to prevent the spread of the Spanish Flu which lasted from 1918-1920.
In an article published October 11, 1918 in the Normal School newspaper, the Anemone, Jas L. Miller, M.D., Public Health Officer, warned against the epidemic. Similar to the advice of the present day, Miller asked that students “avoid public gatherings…take good and wholesome exercises each day….and Avoid dancing. Positively.”
Miller advised that every student “contracting a cold report at once to the proper authority.” He also asked that no student leave Spearfish until further notice, and if they did leave, that they must not return to Spearfish until given permission by former BHSU President Fayette Cook.
Paul Higbee, writer and BHSU alum from the class of 1976, notes that 1918-19 was the last academic year in Cook’s 33-year presidency at Spearfish Normal.
“It was a sad, tough year for Cook to say his farewells as President,” says Higbee. “When the Spanish Flu hit this part of the country, it was right when World War I was ending. It should’ve been a time of great celebration. Instead, everyone was hunkered down and scared.”
Higbee says the death of 29-year-old Edna Hare caught the attention of the Spearfish community. Edna was the wife of Lyle Hare, local physician and former coach at Spearfish Normal. The football stadium on campus is named after Lyle Hare to this day. Edna was “someone everyone knew,” says Higbee. She died fairly early in the epidemic and the couple had a two-year-old daughter at the time of her death.
Travel by train was still common in 1918 and is considered a major contributor to the spread of the Spanish Flu. Higbee says Edna Hare had just returned from a visit to eastern S.D. when she fell ill.
Dr. Thomas Weyant, assistant professor of history at BHSU, says the realities of industrial society changing how people lived, worked, and interacted with one another also impacted the spread of the Spanish Flu.
“In the U.S. in 1918, people were living in cramped, unsanitary conditions. Toilets were not inside; there were community outhouses. Diseases spread very rapidly,” says Weyant.
The first reported case of the Spanish Flu was in March 1918 at a military installation in Kansas. Weyant says the Spanish Flu got its name because Spain was a neutral power in World War I. While the flu was rampant in the U.S., Great Britain, France, and Austria, those countries were not reporting their numbers of cases.
“They didn’t want their enemies to know the population was suffering,” says Weyant.
Higbee says Americans were very cautious for a long time after the epidemic subsided. In journals from the 1920s, people still took any cold or flu very seriously.
“A term common back then was ‘our family was laid low’ by the flu or cold. In journals, you can read how people kept themselves somewhat isolated for a number of years. The strain did dissipate, but they wondered if it would come back. Gradually over time, individuals began to forget the severity of the epidemic,” says Higbee.
As a BHSU student, Foss says she was surprised to find similarities in how BHSU is responding to the current pandemic when reading through the historical articles on the Spanish Flu.
“It’s easy to imagine parallels between modern students such as myself dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic and these past students dealing with the Spanish Influenza. Schedules have been changed suddenly, movement restricted, meeting in groups discouraged, and the fear of what mass sickness would mean for the community and its members,” says Foss. “With the advent of online learning, thankfully many students today at BHSU can finish out the semester on time.”
Articles from the Black Hills State University Archives describe actions taken by the school to control the Spanish Flu in 1918.
Special thanks to Lori Terrill, BHSU archivist and historian, for gathering the newspaper clippings used in this story.
A turkey had a run-in with a window at EROS, and the window won. We also learn about the 89th Division of WWI, of which Owen Wiese's father, R.P. Wiese, was a part of. We also begin a series on spotlighting each of the 2020 GHS Senior Class students.
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This young lady decided to take advantage of the warm, sunny weather last Sunday, as well as the tall rock structures at Palisades Park near Garretson, to put way more than six feet between herself and others out on the trails that day. (Photo by Dave Baumeister)
It's hard to believe that we've completed six weeks of distance learning already. I know that for some of you, it's feeling more like ten! We continue to be amazed by the support our parents have given their students and teachers during this time. We know it hasn't been easy and just like every other year, TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK is coming at a perfect time! You, as your child's current teacher, deserve to be recognized and given a break!
This Friday, May 1st, your child's packet will consist of materials put together by our guidance counselor, Ms. Janie Lundberg, and myself. The packet will focus on social-emotional lessons, revolving around Optimism Perseverance, Empathy, Friendship, and Gratitude. While the academic rigor might not be as visible in these lessons, the content is valuable, and something students receive regular instruction on while in school. A hard copy of the lessons and activities will be provided in the packet. A link with those same lessons and videos to compliment the activities, will be sent on Friday night. The activities will not take a lot of parent involvement or time, but will certainly be something parents can build on.
Next Friday, May 8th, will be the last week our teachers will have materials for you to pick up. Once again, the materials provided will need limited parent support and will not have to be returned to teachers. Independent reading tasks, activities focusing on creativity, exploratory lessons, and more social skill work will be the focus of the work. Enough will be given to stay true to our last day of school, Tuesday, May 19th, but we want families to do what works best for them.
While teachers have been correcting work and tracking what is coming back, a formal report card will not be coming home at the end of the year. Instead, 2nd-5th grade students and parents will receive a checklist of the standards covered in the fourth quarter and the number of assignments completed for each standard. Kindergarten and First grade teachers will provide more commentary feedback. A report of standards covered throughout the fourth quarter will be put in every elementary student's cumulative folder, as well as a report card from the first three quarters. We will not be retaining students based solely on fourth quarter completion and performance.
Information regarding a Kindergarten Round Up, ESY Services, and Reading Bridge will be coming as soon as we are able to make a plan for each. Like every summer, but with even more importance now, we encourage you to keep working on skills throughout the summer months, especially reading skills.
Please plan on returning all books and technology (if you checked out a school iPad) on the last pick up date, Friday, May 8th. Again, thank you for your support. We hope this letter continues to find your family safe and healthy.
This article has been updated with minor corrections and updates and can be found by clicking here.
Editor's Note: Due to the important nature of this report, we are releasing it in full right away instead of waiting for next week's issue.
The Garretson School board met in a special session on Tuesday, April 28th at 6 p.m.
The first item of this special meeting was to hire a new teacher. The board approved the hiring of Jeena Lentz as a new second grade teacher for the district.
Next was the first big topic of the meeting, school lunches and food services during this COVID-19 crisis. The contract with Thrive Nutrition Services ends soon. The Request for Proposals for a new lunch services company was only just issued. Meanwhile the school is serving between 160-170 meals per day. Most students from in town pick up their meals during the day, but others are being delivered across the district.
“Our district patrons have really utilized this service and we’d like to continue this service throughout the end of June at least,” said Superintendent Guy Johnson.
Board member Kari Flanagan said that she felt it was absolutely essential to many students and district families to keep this service going during this crisis.
Supt. Johnson proposed that the school would take over paying the wages of school lunch staff directly, paying them at their current hourly salary rate as temporary employees of the district. He wanted the board’s approval for this so that when June payroll was released for approval they would understand where the expense would be coming from.
The board heartily approved the request, wanting this service to continue for district students and families. Board president Shannon Nordstrom asked about food commodities and how that might affect the RFP or new contract from a new entity. Supt. Johnson said that they would be doing a full inventory after the termination of Thrive’s services and that no food would go to waste.
The next item on the board’s agenda was the big one, talking about changing the date of Graduation for the district.
Board President Nordstrom started the discussion.
“With COVID-19, we’ve had to cancel a lot of events and activities. Prom, FFA trip, Track & Field sporting events, the school’s band and choir trip,” he said. “A lot of events that we would have rather have had, and a disruption to normal life as we do it. Thing have been dramatically different this year. So, with that we’re going to talk about Graduation. This is pretty personal to me as I have a student getting ready to graduate this year, but I’ll put my personal feelings to one side and we’ll have some good discussion as to what we should do. Mr. Johnson and Mr. Long will talk about some proposals and plans and we’ll go from there.”
Supt. Johnson said that they’ve been looking at what to do about Graduation since shutdowns were announced, and he yielded the floor to HS Principal Chris Long to talk about it.
Long talked about wanting to have all the senior class members gathered together in one place, one last time, and the difficulties it would present. He said that his first meeting on Zoom with students more than a month ago had 44 grads and maybe 30 different ideas as to what should be done. Meeting with area Principals, also via Zoom, he said that only about 12 had plans and the rest were up in the air. As example, Dells did a virtual graduation and Chester did things at their football field.
He said that consensus was difficult. Many wanted to have it as soon as possible and others wanted to push it back as far as possible, into August, September or even October. He sent out surveys, and had 94 returned. He said that it was just like a bell curve, most rounding in about the middle in July. However, because one student will be joining the armed forces and leaving for basic training by July 5, Long said he’d prefer to have graduation sooner to accommodate that student. One idea he suggested would be to host the graduation outside at the football complex to accommodate for more space for people to attend safely. So, his recommendation was Saturday, June 20, probably to be held at the football field, maybe in the evening under the lights. He said he’d love nothing more than to do a traditional graduation at the school, and that anything else would be a compromise, but that he just didn’t know if it would be possible.
Long said that after the Governor’s press briefing that morning he was only more confused as to when people would be free and clear to resume life as per normal. The problem, he said, is that information shifts day to day, week to week and they just didn’t know.
Board member Ruth Sarar asked about weather conditions, as in what to do if it rained on that June 20th day. Long said that fallback dates would most certainly be in place if that was the case.
Board member Tony Martens asked what it would look like.
“Are we going to have the kids five yards apart on the football field then, from this plan you’re proposing?” Martens asked.
“Yeah that’s pretty much it,” said Long. “We’d have the kids on the field, separated like that and families seated in groups in small clusters, family groups that live together in the same house seated together, able to maintain distance from each other. The good thing about being outdoors is that more people could attend. People could come in cars and we’re talking about an FM transmitter to broadcast to radios and Mr. Schrank can make it broadcast on the Alliance channel as well. Not everybody will have the best or most perfect view, but it would be one potential way to get it done. This is based on the scenario of what would we do today if we had to do it. If the restrictions ease, I would be more than happy to do a traditional graduation. “
Long said that his goal was to make sure the graduates had the opportunity to gather together one last time for the graduation ceremony. Plans were not finalized as to how exactly it would happen. If the situation improves, they could have it at the school in the traditional manner, but if the situation worsens by June and we get a full lockdown, that’ll be another story.
Long said that the school has to abide by whatever restrictions the South Dakota State and County health departments require of them for the health and safety of their students.
At this point he requested that the board modify the calendar to set a new date for graduations, set a goal out there, and if it has to change, it does. This all being said, he felt that June 20th would be the best date in his opinion and that hopefully, some level of normality would been restored by then.
Board member Flanagan was concerned about students going onto post-secondary education and if a delay in graduation, even to June 20th, would be bad for students.
Long said that sending school transcripts out to institutions would not be an issue, as they would have school transcripts prepared and sent off to whatever institutions they needed to get to by May 25th or 26th, as usual.
The board then discussed the issue of moving graduation to the proposed June 20th date. Board President Nordstrom said that his personal opinion is that later would be better, and that he was one of those that thought August would be a good idea. However, he cited that he would support moving the date to June 20th because of his respect for a young man who is volunteering to serve his country, and not wishing to deprive that person of the opportunity to graduate with his classmates.
The board’s consensus was to get a date picked, and then do the best the district could to make it happen. Having the event in the evening under the lights was dismissed as a viable option, because by then the days would be long, and dusk wouldn’t occur until after 8:45 p.m. Keeping it at 1 p.m. was decided to be the best option.
The board voted to approve the change in the school calendar, moving Graduation ceremonies to June 20th at 1 p.m. While the possibility of having the ceremony held at the school gym was not seriously discussed, they did not set a final location, as everyone hoped that restrictions and recommendations from federal, state and local officials might be relaxed.
Nordstrom said that realistically, the board and administration will need to work with whatever situation presented itself at that time. He said that there have been indications that the state will open up at least partially by that time, but that nothing is known for sure.
Millions of American schoolchildren, including tens of thousands in South Dakota, are suffering a loss of learning and reduced exposure to instructional rigor now that schools across the country have closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schools that would typically be buzzing with activity during midday in April, including Horace Mann Elementary in Rapid City, are now closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Educational experts worry about the long-term effects the closures may have on student learning. Photo: Bart Pfankuch, South Dakota News Watch
Despite the best efforts of administrators, teachers and parents to engage in remote learning with students, the mass closures of school buildings across the country will undoubtedly lead to an educational gap for many children, with consistent research showing that elementary students, low-income students and those with special educational needs likely to face the biggest drops.
Public and private K-12 schools began closing across the country in March as concern grew over potential spreading of the coronavirus.
As of mid-April, South Dakota and more than two dozen other states had decided schools would not reopen again during the spring semester. National experts and state and local educators acknowledge that remote learning, either by computer or through paper take-home packets, will not be as effective as in-class learning.
“There is recognition that flex learning opportunities are not necessarily offering the same quality as traditional, face-to-face instruction,” Mary Stadick Smith, deputy secretary of education in South Dakota, wrote to News Watch in an email. “Certainly, there are teachers and students who are proficient and can excel in an online environment, but for many teachers and students, this is a new world.”
Stadick Smith said the state has urged school districts to focus on “essential” learning during the school closures. She said academic standards for the state’s roughly 136,000 public school students remain in place, though the state will not administer annual assessments for English, math or science and has waived its requirement that districts report student attendance levels to the state.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem urged the temporary closure of public schools in mid-March, and then on April 6 announced that the state’s 670 public schools would not reopen for the rest of the school year and that all teaching would occur remotely. The 80 or so private school systems in South Dakota, with about 15,500 students, have also followed suit.
Concerns over learning loss and online absenteeism are plaguing school districts across the country, potentially affecting learning for millions of young Americans.
The pandemic is also upending education on a global scale: According to an April 3 announcement by UNESCO, at least 35 countries around the world had canceled school because of the virus, affecting nearly 300 million students.
The Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest public school system in the U.S., with about 750,000 students, reported in April that a third of students were not logging in to online learning platforms and that 13% of students had not had any online contact with a teacher nearly a month after schools closed.
Administrators in South Dakota’s two largest districts — in Sioux Falls and Rapid City — acknowledge that a small percentage of students and their parents have not yet been contacted by teachers or administrators since schools closed in mid-March.
Among other potential setbacks, the nationwide school closures could significantly exacerbate the “summer learning loss” or “summer slide” that typically occurs in the time between when students depart schools for the summer break to when they return in the fall.
Duke University education professor Harris Cooper, one of the nation’s foremost experts on the summer learning slide, said the learning losses will result from students spending nearly double the amount of time away from the classroom this year in comparison with a typical 10-week summer break.
“I can’t imagine it’s going to do anything other than slow down learning; they’re just not going to get the material as well or hold onto it as long,” Cooper said.
Cooper was the lead author on a groundbreaking 1996 study that confirmed that children suffer a loss of learning during the summer break, and that the level of loss differs by school subject, student age and family income level.
Cooper and his team reviewed 39 other studies in a process called meta-analysis and found that the summer loss was equal to about one month of grade-level leaning that took place during the school year — meaning that student scores on standardized tests were noticeably lower at the start of the fall semester than when students left school in the spring.
The analysis also found that summer loss was more detrimental to math skills across all student age groups and populations, and that low-income children also suffered a loss of reading skills. The analysis found that subjects in which learning is more procedural, such as spelling and math, in which new skills are built on previous knowledge, were more susceptible to sliding over the summer break.
The study also showed that low-income students, who may have less parental involvement in their education and fewer educational and reading materials at home, were more susceptible to summer learning loss. According to the state, about 36% of South Dakota public school students receive free or reduced-price lunches, a commonly used indicator of poverty status.
Losing classroom instruction time was more detrimental to younger students, who are still developing the skills needed to do well in school now and in the future, the study found.
“Those differences in the earliest grades may have the greatest impact on a child’s academic trajectory,” Cooper said. “It puts kids on a different track.”
The school closures during the pandemic may have an unknowable level of learning loss because they have created the potential for an unprecedented double-whammy of negative outcomes.
“There’s two kinds of loss here — there are some things they are going to forget and there’s some things they won’t ever get exposed to,” Cooper said.
Educators say the extended lapse in classroom learning could also increase the educational gap between high-achieving students, especially those who are highly motivated and who benefit from strong parental involvement, and students who struggle with learning for any reason.
“The criticalness of parent involvement has certainly increased,” said Valerie Seales, director of teaching, learning and innovation in Rapid City.
Keeping students engaged a challenge
Photo courtesy of Sioux Falls School District
Beyond the potential for extended learning loss, the other major concern during the pandemic is whether students are tuned in while learning from home and whether efforts by school districts and teachers to engage with students are effective.
Accurately monitoring student engagement and tracking online absenteeism has been difficult for school districts across the country, including in South Dakota, where administrators and teachers had to scramble just to develop any form of remote learning platform and lesson plans when the pandemic hit.
Most districts are relying on teachers to make sure all families with students were contacted in regard to education and to monitor whether individual students are staying engaged. While teachers try to stay in touch with students, there is little they can do to guarantee students are not playing video games, watching television or just hanging around during daytime periods they would otherwise be in class.
As of mid-April, the Rapid City Area Schools had no engagement-tracking mechanisms in place but hoped to launch a system soon, district spokeswoman Katy Urban said.
In Sioux Falls, officials say that 87% of students were considered to be engaged in schooling as of early April, with 82% being reached by teachers through online formats such as Zoom and Google Classroom or by I-phone, and 5% through paper packets that must be picked up daily or weekly by parents, according to Doug Morrison, director of research, innovation and accountability for the district.
Morrison said he does not expect that students will suffer long-range learning setbacks from the school closures. He said the educational process for children occurs along a continuum in which teachers are constantly assessing student achievement, adjusting teaching methods to reach students as best they can, and then helping those who have fallen behind to catch up.
“We have these kids for 13 years, and we got three quarters of the school year in,” he said. “Certainly there is some learning that will be missed or be delivered in a different way in the last two months, but I wouldn’t necessarily say the sky is falling. Is it ideal? No, but I look at the positives from my perspective.”
Morrison said teachers in the district have been heroic in their efforts to create new remote lesson plans from scratch, stay engaged with students on a daily basis and find innovative ways to communicate with students and help them learn in a crisis. Some students, particularly at the high school level, were already adept at learning online, and teachers at all levels may be mastering new skills to use technology to reach students.
“I have no doubt we’ll see some slide, but I don’t think it’s going to have a significant long-term impact,” Morrison said. “If you look at it, 87% of our kids are actively learning in this environment, either online or in paper packets or whatever, and that’s really phenomenal if you think about it.”
Morrison said the number of students who are not fully engaged in learning and the 3% who have not been reached at all by the district are in line with chronic absenteeism rates during a normal school year.
But the 87% engagement figure reported by the district doesn’t provide a full picture of the effectiveness of teaching and learning during the pandemic, said Tony Martinet, president of the Sioux Falls Education Association, which represents about 800 teachers.
Martinet said the district is using a “relaxed” definition of engagement during the school closures, one that may not reflect the difficulty students have in learning from home and the challenges teachers have in working remotely with students.
“Their standard for engagement has had to be modified at the current time,” he said. “It means that when students are presented with learning opportunities, that they are trying. They’ve relaxed it a little bit, so for a student to be engaged, are they logging on, or connecting in some way, or turning some work in? It’s not that they’re completing every part of the process, but that they’re engaged in some element of that.”
Martinet said teachers feel that the district has given them a good framework for remote teaching while also allowing for adaptation and innovation. He said he is most concerned that the current learning environment has worsened long-standing inequities in education related to income, family situation or language ability.
For example, he said, remote learning could be difficult for families in which parents work in essential fields and must leave the home each day, sometimes making older children responsible for the care and education of their younger siblings.
“Some of the frustrations are around equity issues; are we giving the same opportunities to all students?” he said.
Families that did not have computers or online access were provided devices by the school district, and some internet providers around the state have given free service to families.
The Sioux Falls district and its teachers have gone to great lenghts to reach students who may be more vulnerable to learning loss during the pandemic, said Teresa Boysen, assistant superintendent of academic achievement.
Boysen referred to teachers as the “rock stars” of the district, and said many are working to find unique ways to teach students who need extra help. Some are teaching science without using in-class experiments, while others are seeking ways to improve students’ reading skills through online programming.
Boysen said teachers are aware that it may take extra effort to reach lower-income students and those whose primary language is not English, which includes about 2,800 of the district’s roughly 25,000 students. She acknowledged that in some cases, remote learning will not be as effective as in-class, more personalized instruction.
“How do you do a cooking class or a science experiment when you don’t have those things at home?” she said. “And when we think about the lack of access to that second language, they aren’t having that practice like they were because there’s nine weeks’ loss of daily instruction and just being around that language.”
Rural school districts in South Dakota are facing some of the same challenges as more urban districts, but their transition to remote learning may have gone more smoothly in some respects, said Chip Sundberg, superintendent of schools in Gettysburg in Potter County.
Parents of all of the 231 students in the district have been contacted, so all students are in communication with their teachers, Sundberg said. A survey right after the school closure found that only five families did not have internet access, so after making some arrangements for service, engaging with students online has been efficient, he said.
The district also does not have a great need to teach English as a second language, and while poverty is present in the district — 27% of students receive free or reduced-price lunches — income issues have not presented serious challenges, Sundberg said.
Still, remote learning creates a gap in the ability of teachers to reach rural students who have learning challenges or who may not have strong educational support at home.
“We typically see our kids seven hours out of the day, so we can see when they’re not getting what is happening with the learning, and we’ve got kids that are in home situations that aren’t the best for anybody,” he said. “We’re missing those opportunities to have those conversations with the kids that are struggling.”
Coming back from a crisis
The focus on teaching only “essential” topics and standards will certainly diminish some of the intangibles that come from learning in a classroom, said Seales, the Rapid City administrator.
“There are students that may end the school year right where they would have had they been in school, self-motivated, self-directed learners who are probably faring better than those students who needed more interaction with their teachers face to face,” she said.
Rapid City, which is home to a handful of high-poverty schools, has faced challenges in equipping all families with computers and internet access.
Furthermore, parents with children of varying ages are finding it difficult to juggle the different types of remote learning that are occurring at different grade levels, said Seales.
“If you’re a parent that has multiple students with multiple teachers, it can be pretty overwhelming,” she said.
School districts have long been aware of the potential for summer learning loss and have tried to minimize its impact, both through summer-school programs and through assessments and teaching adjustments made at the start of the next school year.
She said teachers are aware remediation may be needed when students return to school after the pandemic eases, hopefully by the fall.
“Certainly, I think we’re all going to have to bear in mind when we start the next school year the loss of these nine weeks. It isn’t going to leave our students in the same starting point had this not occurred,” she said. “The typical transition into the school year, and the startup where you take the time to try to establish the classroom environment and meet the social and emotional sides of student needs, I think that’s going to look different in the next year due to the monumental amount of time that we’ve been out.”
Trying to remotely teach elementary-age children in an urban neighborhood has been both challenging and rewarding, said Kirk Zeeck, principal of Anne Sullivan Elementary School in Sioux Falls.
Opening and maintaining strong lines of reciprocal communication with parents and students has been the biggest educational challenge for teachers so far, especially with students whose first language is not English, Zeeck said.
His school has about 600 children who speak about two dozen different languages; about 75% of students receive free or reduced-price lunches. In addition to teaching those children remotely, Zeeck and his staff are also responsible for providing daily breakfasts and lunches to those who arrive at a drive-up distribution point (meals are also provided to community members who show up).
Reaching students with learning challenges or disabilities has been difficult for his staff, Zeeck said. For example, a school reading specialist who has a caseload of 30 to 40 students has been able to reach only about 15 to 20 of those students regularly, he said.
But most teachers have had success connecting with students; he said teachers with a classroom of about 25 children have typically stayed in communication with about 20 of those students.
Zeeck said students aren’t learning every minute or hour they are at school, so teachers and parents are considering that when creating and executing lesson plans. He added that stresses at home during the pandemic can also create barriers to learning. As a result, he said, teachers are encouraging parents and students to put in two good hours of learning time at home each day.
“You can’t replicate the instruction in the classroom, that’s for sure, but we’re doing our best,” he said.
Zeeck said he has seen unexpected benefits from the pandemic in that teachers are able to better assess what works and what doesn’t, to expand their creativity and to value more deeply their ability to provide students with a well-rounded education.
“However devastating, this is for teachers a wonderful opportunity to boost your creativity and go into the most incredible creative learning opportunity of all time,” he said.
Some teachers are videotaping themselves conducting lessons, while some parents take pictures of their child’s homework and text or email it to teachers to maintain a strong connection and accountability.
Parents and children, he said, are also using the time in isolation to better understand the value of education and what it means to their futures.
“If you look for a silver lining, this step back, this staying at home, it’s given them a chance to think, ‘What do I, as a third-grader or fifth-grader, what do I really want to do with my life, how can I be a good citizen in our community?’”
Sioux Falls school officials said they will not hold students back a grade solely due to remote learning and will generally allow students to maintain the class grades they had when schools closed.
Stadick Smith said the state and school districts will work together to catch students up when things return to normal and that individual districts may seek solutions that are unique to their schools and populations.
“School leaders and we here at the state are starting to have conversations about the expected learning loss and the best ways to address it when the appropriate times comes,” she wrote.
Cooper, the Duke researcher, said school districts should consider drastic steps to help students catch up, including delaying student promotions to the next grade until a couple of months after school resumes. He also suggested the upcoming school year could be extended by 30 days or more to provide additional instruction time to help students get back on track with educational standards.
That would certainly cost more money and require teacher contracts to be adjusted in the coming year, but the need to erase learning losses in an entire generation of students would be well worth the cost, Cooper said.
“All of this is costing money, but if you think about the long-term costs of a generation that is not going to have the same skill set as they should when they leave school, there will be a cost to that dispersed over time,” Cooper said. “We’re going to pay for it — one way or another.”
Shirley Jean Tillma, age 75, of Sioux Falls, formerly of Watertown and LaBolt, SD, passed away Thursday April 23,2020, at Avera McKennan & University Health Center in Sioux Falls.
Shirley was born January 10, 1945 to Cecil and Fern Drake. She grew up near Clear Lake, SD and attended school there. In her younger years she helped her parents run a small country store called Tunnerville. She married Duane Smunk and they had a son, Lloyd. Duane passed away due to a farming accident. She later married Jerome Tillma and together they raised 6 children on the family farm near LaBolt, SD. She worked on the farm until age 40 when she took a job as a cook at Trevett’s Cafe in Milbank. She later had cooking jobs at Blue Cloud Abby and Mother of God Monastery. After retiring from farming in 2004 she moved to Watertown where she lived until 2011, she then moved to Sioux Falls, where she worked as a cook until she retired in September 2019.
She cherished the time spent with her children and grandkids. She enjoyed cooking for her family and having family get togethers. She also enjoyed watcher her children in 4-H, in their younger years and High school sports as they got older. She loved gardening and spending time outdoors.
A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date when she will be laid to rest in Woodlawn Cemetery in Sioux Falls.
She is survived by her mother Fern, age 99, of Milbank; four sisters, Linda, Sylvia, Ellan, Carrol; and one brother David.
Also left with her memory are her children: Lloyd (Karen) Tillma, Dan (Mari Lynn) Tillma, Mike (Lynn) Tillma, Tony (Lori) Tillma, Rodney (Nicole) Tillma and Jennifer (James) Meyer; 22 grandchildren; and 8 great grandchildren; along with many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her father Cecil, brother Jim, and sister Lillian.
Video tribute and on-line guestbook at www.minnehahafuneralhome.com.
In the Military Officers Magazine there was an article about Andrew Carroll, the director of the Center for American War Letters at Chapman University, who began a collection of war correspondence with a single piece of mail. He had sent a letter to the “Dear Abby” column in 1998, asking if people would send their letters from people in the service into what he called “The Legacy Project.” Carroll had no idea what kind of a response he would get. The response was immediate and overwhelming. It turned out that many people were eager to share their letters from service members telling about their experiences while in the service.
I (Owen) have two letters from my dad, R.P. Wiese, which were written while he was in the Army and serving in World War I. I copied those two and prepared to send them to Mr. Carroll. But the thought occurred to me that there was probably a lot more to tell about Dad’s experience in World War I than in just those two letters.
I was right!
The two letters are not very long and don’t tell much about what really happened. I was aided by a book, “The History of the 89th Division,” which recounts the experiences of the 89th Division from its organization in 1917, through its operations in the World War, the defeat of Germany, the occupation of Germany and finally, to its demobilization in 1919. It is a very thorough, well-researched history with a great amount of information. It is a hard cover book, and it was published in 1920 and sold for the price of $5.50.
(As I write about happenings in the book and come to things written in the two letters from R.P Wiese, I will refer to them.)
R.P. Wiese had just started a veterinary practice in Garretson when he received a draft notice in February, 1918. He reported to Ft. Riley, KS where the 89th Division was being formed and organized under the command of Major General Leonard Wood.
Camp Funston was a new part of Ft. Riley, and was in the process of being built. It was finished during the time that the 89th Division was being trained. The Division occupied it as it was being built.
Recruits just joining the Army were paid $30 per month and urged to send allotments home, buy Liberty Bonds, and buy insurance.
After the new division was organized, the recruits were trained in their various jobs. After they had learned to be soldiers, they were deemed ready to go to Europe and take part in the war. The French and British had been fighting the Germans since 1914, killing each other by the hundreds of thousands in vicious trench warfare. It was planned that the Americans would get things moving and bring the war to a victorious end.
The 89th Division embarked for Europe on June 4th, arriving just over two weeks later, on the 16th. After a few days’ layover in England, they were sent to France, nine days’ travel, from the 20th to the 29th of June. While in France they rode in rail cars that were labeled “Hommes 40, Chevau 8.” Forty men or eight horses. (This is where the Legion organization 40 et 8 got its name.)
The Division was assigned a training area and was billeted in French homes. The weather was pleasantly cool, a contrast to the high heat they would have had to contend with if they were at Camp Funston. The troops were given intensive training to acquaint them with conditions they would face at the front. They staged a very enthusiastic 4th of July celebration, the last of that type of activity they would have.
The troops were issued their combat equipment, the most important being steel helmets and a gas mask.
On July 15th the Germans launched their frontal offensive. The 89th Division was moved
to the Toul area by trucks. The Division had its first experience of hostile fire and there ensued a period of aggressive patrolling and skirmishing. On the 7th of August, the Division was subjected its first gas attack. It took everyone by surprise and there were many casualties. Gas attacks both kill and disable people and there were many heroic actions taken to get injured people out of harm’s way. Total casualties were about 600 soldiers wounded or killed.
By the 12th of September the Germans were entrenched in an area which protruded into the American lines. General Pershing decided that had to be pushed back, and thus began the St. Mihiel battle. The weather was rainy and the trenches were full of water. The troops had a very difficult time. After an artillery barrage of unprecedented strength, the troops left their trenches.
Cpl. R.P Wiese wrote, “If you wondered why you didn’t hear from me but you probably saw the cause when you read the papers of the last month. I will say I have had the supreme experience ‘over the top’ and have been in a drive. Sufficient to say, it was a wonderful, absolutely indescribable.”
The St. Mihiel battle continued over hilly, partly forested terrain. There were many casualties, with both sides using all means available to be successful.
Many German POWs were captured. After a month of hard fighting, the St. Mihiel battle was successfully ended.
Cpl Wiese wrote, “I attended church this morning, the first time in many weeks. It’s queer how men of all ranks meet in a place like that. This morning not two feet from me a General knelt on the hard floor the same as the rest of us.”
General Pershing had planned to halt in place and wait until spring to start the Meuse-Argonne offensive. After the great success of the St. Mihiel Battle, General Pershing decided to launch immediately and defeat the Germans in one final battle to bring the war to a close.
The ground where the battle was to be fought had been held by the Germans for four years. They had fortified it with many trenches, well-concealed machine gun nests, and had made very refined plans for defense of the area.
Following the St. Mihiel Battle the 89th Division went into reserve to rest and for replenishment of equipment and replacement of men. Because of casualties suffered in the St. Mihiel Battle by the 89th Division and the other Divisions, a whole Division, the 80th, which had just been brought to the theater, was broken up and its members used as replacements for those soldiers who had been lost by the Divisions that had been in combat.
Planning for the Meuse-Argonne Battle was very detailed and very complete. It was recognized that the Germans were well-prepared would defend the area very vigorously. Nine American Divisions took part in the battle.
The terrain over which it was to be fought was hilly, with many forested areas, rivers to be crossed, and was extremely well-fortified.
The Meuse-Argonne Battle started on October 26 with an artillery barrage from several hundred guns. The troops moved forward in the offense, inflecting heavy losses on the Germans, but taking very heavy casualties in some areas. There were some maneuver mistakes made, but after forcing crossings of the Meuse River, on November 11, the Germans agreed to an Armistice.
During intense combat such as the Meuse-Argonne Battle there were so many soldiers who were essential to the success of the battle, but may not have been recognized.
Communication between units was so important. The men in the Signal units were constantly laying the wire on the ground for the telephone communication between units. That wire was very often cut by artillery fire and it had to be repaired. If repair of the wire wasn’t possible, the runners became essential. The runners were men who risked their lives to deliver messages. Other men treated those who had been wounded, and readied them to be taken to the field hospital, most often carrying them on a litter carrier while under fire. There were the engineers who tried to keep the roads passible and repaired the bridges so the streams could be crossed. The engineers were also responsible for finding land mines and booby traps in buildings. There were the soldiers who prepared and delivered the food to the fighting men. They used small two-wheeled carts pulled by a small truck or a horse. It takes a large number of soldiers to keep an attack going.
Sgt. Wiese wrote that “on the morning of the eleventh of November, my battalion was astride the Meuse River. The afternoon of the eleventh the Chaplain held a Thanksgiving service. It was a scene I shall never forget as the Chaplain stood there with the worn doughboys all around him right in the heart of a French forest. I tell you men stood there praying unashamed of the tears rolling down their cheeks. It was a mighty solemn affair for most of us believe me, and I’ll admit I had tears in my eyes for I had just been told that a little chap from Flandreau whom I knew had been bumped off in the drive. Of course we couldn’t have fires while at the front but you should have seen the fires that evening, great blazes lighting up the woods for several hundred yards while across the river we could hear the Bosches singing and yelling and having a gay old time. Take it from me that if this war hasn’t been a lesson for a man, he can’t be taught, that’s all.”
After the Armistice, the troops stayed in place and prepared for their move into Germany as part of the Army of Occupation. It was considered an honor to be selected as one of the Divisions to have that duty. It would be about the 25th of November when they started on that journey.
Just before starting that journey, Sgt. Wiese said that on Thanksgiving he was able to forage a rabbit and a chicken and had them prepared by a French woman. Four of the men were able to have a good meal for Thanksgiving.
On the 25th of November they started their journey into Germany on foot. The walked across part of Belgium, across Luxembourg and on the 6th of December passed into Germany.
When Sgt. Wiese got into Germany he said, “this is kind of pretty country but the hills, ye God! Many a time I thought about old areas when I was climbing some hill about four kilos long with about eighty pounds on my back. If I ever get out of this man’s Army, I’m not going to walk a step because I think I’ve walked at least 50,000 miles in Europe! It seems that way at least.
“One thing I like about the Army of Occupation and that is that the men are given the best possible accommodations. They try to get beds for everyone and if that isn’t possible somebody has to be satisfied with a straw tick. The attitude of the German people has been a surprise to me. With a few exceptions we have been well treated. The American soldier is a free spender and gets good pay so the merchants are reaping a harvest.
“I’m proud to say that 89th Division received a citation the other day for its work in the Meuse-Argonne offense and for the engagement just previous to that. In that engagement my company covered itself and incidentally, the battalion with glory.”
After entering Germany each unit was assigned a sector and guarded railroads and installations of value. The 89th had a former munitions factory in its sector and was tasked with dismantling it, disposing of any munitions.
The citizens of the sector were under the control of the occupiers and obeyed all rules formulated. The German government officials were actually in charge of applying any rules formulated.
The Army planned to be occupying the area for a lengthy period of time, so many educational programs were established for the soldiers to take advantage of. There were also many athletic activities started. All the Divisions in the Army of Occupation formed football teams and competed against each other. They had a championship game at a stadium in Paris. It was played with great publicity and great attendance. Present at the game were all the leaders, including General Pershing. After a close-fought game, the 89th Division beat the 36th Division.
Of course, the main thought on the minds of the soldier was, “when do we get to go home?” That time finally came in May. The bulk of the Division arrived in the U.S. on May 16. Sgt. R.P. Wiese had been detailed to leave earlier. His ticket to go from Ft. Dodge to his home was dated May 3, 1919.
Epilogue:
In slightly more than one year of war and actually in two periods of combat, the St. Mihiel Battle and the final Meuse -Argonne Offensive, the following number of casualties were suffered:
Killed in Action----------------------7047
Severely Wounded----------------1871
Slightly Wounded------------------1696
Gassed-------------------------------1696
When I started to compose this account of the actions of the 89th Division I really didn’t know how to title it. I thought that it should have a title that encompasses the whole period of time, starting with a group of men with no military training being trained and molded into a combat unit ready for combat. All of which was done at the same time that the camp (Camp Funston) was being finished. It was an extraordinary accomplishment to form a unit which made such a good record for itself in a period of a little more than one year.
One other thing which occured to me; while it is obvious that he was a leader and was involved in heavy combat, my father R.P. Wiese never spoke of it.
Due to COVID-19, the Legion Breakfast scheduled for Sunday, May 3 is cancelled. We have also made the decision to cancel our monthly May meeting. The Post executive committee is meeting this week via conference call to discuss future activities as well as determine next steps for our 2020-2021 officers. A more thorough review will be published next week.
EROS experienced a moment of turkey turmoil Thursday morning (April 16) that ended in a broken window near the main door, pieces of glass scattered throughout the front entrance, and a dead bird on the floor.
Shortly after 9 a.m., Bob Smith with the security staff was driving along the loop from the guard station out front towards the W-5 entrance on the west side of the Center when he caught an unfolding drama out of the corner of his eye.
To his right, two turkeys were running full bore towards the Center. “What the heck?” Smith thought to himself when he saw a fox come galloping out of the weeds.
As Smith stopped to watch, the turkey in the lead took flight, gaining altitude as it went soaring over the building. The second turkey, however, appeared headed in a straight line as it lifted off and wasn’t getting any elevation at all, Smith said.
He’s going to run into the building if he doesn’t start climbing, Smith thought. And two to three seconds after that, “this turkey had to be going 25-30 miles per hour in the air,” he said. “When he hit that window, he just went through it like a bullet.”
At an estimated 20 to 30 pounds, the bird was traveling so fast that even after hitting the double-paned window, it traveled another 20-plus yards before skidding to a halt inside the building. Needless to say, it did not survive. The collision was so intense, Smith said, that pieces of glass were littered all the way to Robin Koopman’s Facility Management Office and beyond into the atrium.
Smith said he was not aware of any damage to displays or other items in or near the front entrance. With most people working these days from home and no public tours, there were few people in the building and no apparent injuries.
Turkeys are no stranger to the EROS campus. They have been known to damage dark-colored vehicles in the parking lots, and gather outside door entrances and windows, often leaving messes. Smith said he’s counted as many as 40 turkeys gathered together, though he said there are many more than that.
