News

Dave Loebsack’s 14 years came to a close in the U.S. House of Representatives. Loebsack, a longtime professor at Cornell College, in Mount Vernon, chose to relocate to the Mount Vernon community now his term is finished. (contributed photo)

By Nathan Countryman
nathan.countryman@wcinet.com

MOUNT VERNON– After 14 years in the United States Congress, Dave Loebsack retired after this term, returning to the place his political career began.

SOLON– After a one-year, COVID-induced hiatus, Solon students will take a statewide assessment in 2021.
And while districts nationwide are dealing with a learning gap due to school closures and online curriculum, Solon’s administration expects to bounce back.
The Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) was introduced two years ago, explained Solon Community School District (SCSD) Director of Teaching and Learning Josh Lyons during a Dec. 17 school board meeting.
SCSD students took the ISASP during the 2018-2019 school year with paper and pencil, he noted.

NORTH LIBERTY– Elaine Hernandez and her husband were in a store when someone started to make fun of her for wearing a mask.
“Anyway, I mentioned COVID and he started screaming at me,” Hernandez, a nurse serving as a navigator/care coordinator clinician at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics’ post-Intensive Care Unit COVID unit, said as she recalled the incident. “He said, ‘Fake news, it’s a hoax.’ You know, he was like, he was very adamant about it. And, I was just crushed. I mean, I was shaking down to my knees.”

SOLON– Solon’s school board went back to the future.
Board members were presented with a draft of the school calendar for 2022-2023 during a Dec. 17 meeting.
According to Solon Community School District (SCSD) Superintendent Davis Eidahl, the calendar was prepared based on previous years by administrative assistant and board secretary Kris Wentzien.
Eidahl reviewed the draft to ensure 180 school days and a minimum 1,080 hours of student contact.
The first day of school would be Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022, and the last day for students would be Thursday, May 25, 2023.

IOWA CITY The Johnson County Board of Supervisors made several appointments to county boards and commissions during its regular meeting Thursday, Dec. 10, but open seats still remain for volunteers looking to serve their community.
The Compensation Commission, which prepares a compensation (pay) schedule for elected county officers for the succeeding fiscal year, has three openings, which will be advertised for one month by the county. The supervisors appointed Dave Parsons to a one-year term, which starts on Jan. 1, 2021.