Rapid City Journal, Rapid City, July 19
State should slow down graduation changes
Government is not accustomed to moving fast, which is fine when change is brewing. Major policy changes or sweeping legislation should be carefully considered with those most impacted being given every opportunity to participate in the process.
This is particularly the case when it comes to a public education system that is charged with preparing youth - a most precious resource - for a future that eventually will have an impact on every element of society.
Deliberations of that nature, however, were largely cast aside by South Dakota’s Board of Education Standards that on Monday approved new high school graduation requirements despite pleas from school officials to slow down.
The board’s decision to create a new “base diploma” and add three new graduation categories first came to the public’s attention on June 5 when the proposed changes were announced. The board also set a public comment deadline of July 16, the day the new standards were approved under the watchful eye of Gov. Dennis Daugaard, whose office spearheaded the proposal.
From the start, school officials wanted more time to consider the overhaul of graduation requirements. On Monday, Rapid City Area Schools Superintendent Lori Simon asked the board “to slow down the process a little bit more” and suggested “a thoughtful study by a task force,” which the governor has used in the past when proposing significant legislation.
After around just two hours of discussion, however, Simon’s concerns were dismissed for what state education officials call more flexible graduation standards. There is one more hurdle to cross on Aug. 20 when the legislative Rules Review Committee votes on final approval.
If approved, school districts - without any state financial assistance - will have to offer the base diploma that no longer requires students to take geometry, algebra II, world history, geography, chemistry or physics, and a language arts elective. The total credits required in literature and writing would be cut by a half-credit. High schools also will have to offer three new graduation paths - Advanced, Advanced Career and Advanced Honors.
The fear of educators and others is that most students will take the path of least resistance in pursuit of their diploma, which will make it more difficult for them to be accepted into college if that becomes their goal.
That, however, appears to be of little concern to the governor and the education board. In fact, the goal of the changes seems to be getting students to think about attending technical school before they finish high school.
The state is experiencing a shortage of the kind of workers that technical schools educate and train. These schools are a key part of the state’s educational system and prepare students for jobs that are critical to the state’s economic health.
The question, however, is whether a student as young as 14 will pursue the base diploma as part of a career choice or because it is a less challenging way to earn a diploma? Is it even reasonable to believe that young teenagers are ready to decide if they want to be a doctor, accountant or electrician?
These are important questions that were never fully discussed in the public arena. While it is perfectly acceptable for the state to look at ways to bolster its workforce, it is difficult to understand why this major policy change was fast-tracked and the concerns of educators now on the receiving end of an unfunded mandate were not given more weight.
In an ideal world, the legislative Rules Review Committee, whose members include Alan Solano of Rapid City, will not rubber-stamp changes that if approved would be fully implemented by 2020. More discussions with educators and input from the public can only improve the best way to move forward.
Otherwise, the state may be creating a system that closes rather than opens more doors for students.
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American News, Aberdeen, July 18
Library needs more ideas to be open Sundays
The public would like the library to be open on Sundays.
The city would like the library to be open on Sundays.
Now, the library needs to come up with a plan to do just that - and just asking for more money to staff Sundays is not the solution.
To get the maximum benefit from the new K.O. Lee Aberdeen Public Library, it should be open on weekends. It would better serve the community if patrons and families could swing by on either Saturdays or Sundays.
July 9, library Director Shirley Arment asked the Aberdeen City Council for an additional $13,846 for the library’s 2018 budget. That unbudgeted money would cover the hiring of one full-time library technician and allow the library to be open from 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays.
For 2019, the library would ask for an additional $55,000 for staffing the Sunday hours, plus custodial staff.
Otherwise, Arment said, the options the library has to staff Sundays include pay overtime to cover the hours, or cut hours someplace else.
Arment said the current library employees are not willing to work on Sundays.
Councilwoman Jennifer Slaight-Hansen said the library did not present evidence to justify hiring another full-time employee.
The council requested that the library board provide more information and justification for the hiring request.
We have some of our own ideas to staff Sundays, too:
- Close Mondays. The interest and discussion has always been in having Sunday hours. Many businesses drop another day - often Mondays - to accommodate. The Dacotah Prairie Museum does, for instance. The question remains: Is it better to be open on a day the most adults and kids have free, or are weekday hours good enough?
- School-year hours. Aberdeen summers are full of things to do. Winters . not so much. Kids are cooped in, and parents are stir crazy. Students of all ages are busy working on their projects and homework. Wouldn’t it make more sense to be open on Sundays at least during those months that there might be a greater need?
- Move an existing employee to Sundays. We have some experience with this, as a business that operates every day, all year long. The employees get a voice but, at the end of the day, management must make hard decisions. Generally speaking, folks will get with the program when asked to do what is required; if they don’t, the next hire will.
We implore the library board to get creative to get the library open on Sundays.
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Madison Daily Leader, Madison, July 18
Wind power growth still evident in S.D.
The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission has approved a new 300-megawatt wind farm north of here, which will boost the state’s capacity by about 30 percent.
Some observers have thought there was a limit to how well wind power generation would do in South Dakota, but the capacity is still growing, and maybe even accelerating.
The pessimism for wind power isn’t because there isn’t enough wind in the state. There is. It was more that it wasn’t available at the right times; our spring winds come when temperatures are mild and electricity for heating and cooling is at a low point. The hot, windless days in the summer are when the most electricity is needed for cooling.
Besides efficiency, there are other concerns over large-scale wind farms, including noise, bird mortality and aircraft dangers.
Nevertheless, wind energy appears to be working for South Dakota, as about 30 percent of our electricity now comes from wind. The number of jobs in wind tower manufacturing, maintenance and other related fields have been growing.
Combined with substantial hydroelectric power generation in the state, South Dakotans get a substantial portion of their electricity from “clean” sources.
The new wind farm in Grant and Codington Counties - not that far from Lake County - will include 72 turbines, which would be the third largest in the state. Only wind farms in Brookings/Deuel Counties at 105 turbines and Jerauld/Aurora/Brule Counties at 101 turbines are larger.
We don’t have any wind farms in Lake County, so we aren’t sure about the “not in my backyard” concerns if one were proposed here. But overall, it appears that our abundance of wind is producing nicely overall for South Dakota.
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