Education

by Brianne Grimstad

The Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) Board of Education met for a pair of meetings within the past several weeks. Coverage of both meetings appears below.

JULY 23 SPECIAL MEETING
The Allamakee Community School District Board of Education met for a special board meeting Thursday morning, July 23. The board approved change order 22 in the amount of $12,173.45 for the Waukon Middle School HVAC project.

by Susan Cantine-Maxson

The Eastern Allamakee Community School District Board of Directors met for its regular monthly session Monday, August 10, at Kee High School in Lansing, with President Arla Wagner calling the meeting to order. Board members Heather Lutz (District 2), Joe Manning (At-Large), Tommy Martin (District 1) and Wagner (At-Large) were present. Board member Glen Delaney (District 3) was absent.

Superintendent Jay Mathis, Board Secretary and Financial Clerk Michele Martin, PK-5th Grade Principal Donna Thomas and Grades 6-12 Principal Liz Hill also attended. The board approved the meeting agenda with no public comment. Consent items were reviewed and approved, including previous meeting minutes, bills, the secretary’s financial report, the student activity report and the food service report.

The Allamakee and Winneshiek County Extension offices will host a no-cost, one-hour learning session for private well owners September 8. The program will help attendees understand their well’s water quality and connect them to resources to manage their well.

Not many know that Iowa has a unique funding source for free or low-cost annual testing of private wells, or that some water pollutants are odorless, tasteless and will not be removed by boiling water. Anyone curious about those topics should take advantage of the upcoming learning session which will detail how to test a private well and who can help, common contaminants, and factors that affect well water quality.

Seventeen members of the Waukon High School Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter traveled to San Antonio, TX, to compete at the 2026 FBLA National Leadership Conference (NLC) from June 28 through July 3.

Accompanied by FBLA Advisor Joanne Ericson and chaperones Micah Miller, Kristin Berns, Anne Wuebker, and Jessa Burns, the students joined more than 18,000 FBLA members and chaperones from across the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada for a week of competition, leadership development, and networking.

One of Waukon FBLA’s largest groups of National qualifiers in recent years represented the chapter after advancing from the Iowa FBLA State Leadership Conference. To qualify, students had to place in the top four at the State Conference to automatically qualify, or top 10 to qualify through the bump-up process.

Thanks to a partnership between Amazon, The Good Life Gallery & Frame Shop on Main Street in Lansing, and the Eastern Allamakee Community School District (EACSD), some local students will head back to school with a little extra support this fall. Through coordination by The Good Life Gallery & Frame Shop, Amazon has donated 60 backpacks filled with school supplies for students in the Eastern Allamakee Community School District.

The partnership was coordinated by Lesya Ryzhenkova, owner of The Good Life Gallery & Frame Shop, whose business partners with Amazon on community initiatives. The donation reflects a shared commitment to supporting local students and families as they prepare for the new school year. Each donated backpack includes a pencil case, markers and earbuds, as pictured in the submitted photo below at left.

by Susan Cantine-Maxson

The Eastern Allamakee Community School District (EACSD) Board of Directors met in regular session Monday evening, July 13, at Kee High School. Board President Arla Wagner called the meeting to order with board members Heather Lutz, Joe Manning and Tommy Martin present and Glen Delaney absent. District administrators attending included Superintendent Jay Mathis, Board Secretary/Financial Clerk Michele Martin, and Associate Principal/Special Education Director Liz Hill.

The board approved the meeting agenda. No visitors offered public comment. Consent items which included the past month’s  minutes, financial reports, activity and food service reports, and monthly bills were reviewed and approved.

The Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) Waukon Center is offering High School Driver’s Education for Allamakee Community School District students. Class #105938 meets August 3-14, Monday-Friday, from 1-4 p.m.

To satisfy the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) requirements, students must complete 30 hours of classroom instruction and six hours of behind-the-wheel (BTW) driving experience. Attendance is required at all sessions. Students must have an Iowa driver’s permit before the first class.

The deadline for paid registration is one week before the class start date (for free and reduced lunch rates, students should contact the Waukon High School office). To register, call the NICC Waukon Center at 563-562-3263, ext. 6700.
 

by Brianne Grimstad

The Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) Board of Directors held a pair of meetings within the past week, including a July 14 special meeting and a July 20 regular session. Coverage of both meetings appears below.

JULY 14
The ACSD board members met for a special meeting Tuesday, July 14. The board discussed and approved several change orders related to the Middle School HVAC project, totaling $46,489.23.

JULY 20
The ACSD board met for its regular monthly meeting Monday night, July 20. The meeting was preceded by a public hearing on the proposed lease and easement for the proposed solar project at the Waukon Wellness Center.

Five students of Luther College in Decorah have each been awarded a $1,000 Karen Julesberg Scholarship for the 2026-2027 academic year. The scholarship recipients for this year include Alyssa Connelly, Hattie Miller, Yves Muhire, Yasmin Ramadan and Emily Righter.

Alyssa Connelly, a 2025 graduate of Waukon High School from Harpers Ferry, will be entering her sophomore year at Luther this fall. She is majoring in elementary education and plans to be a special education teacher after graduation. Connelly is a student-athlete on the Lady Norse women’s golf team, and her hobbies include diamond art and puzzles. She enjoys her work-study position at Marty’s in the lower level of the Dahl Centennial Union at Luther.

Iowa Learning Farms (ILF), a conservation education and outreach program from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, has published the On-Farm Forestry Field Guide for Iowa, which is available at no cost. The guide covers tree-centric topics and provides detailed advice on approaches to forest management. It also highlights on-farm benefits ranging from windbreaks and erosion control to crop trees and high-value timber production.

Billy Beck, assistant professor and extension forestry specialist at Iowa State, collaborated with ILF to prepare the guide for use by farmers and landowners. It provides easy access to practical and actionable advice on planning forestry activities that support land use, conservation, crop production and water quality goals.