Tag: Education

School in August has never felt right

Tomorrow morning, kids in the New England Public School District will attend their eighth day of classes. By the time Labor Day rolls around, they’ll have been in school for 13 days.
In my mind, and apparently several thousand others, that’s ridiculous.

In fact, a group of parents from Bismarck and Mandan have come together in a grassroots effort to get North Dakota schools to start after Labor Day.

Within a month, the group will begin seeking signatures to get the issue placed on the November 2014 ballot in an effort to leave the choice of when school starts solely in the people’s hands instead of a group of school administrators.

I have long felt that North Dakota schools starting in August was absurd.

Continue reading “School in August has never felt right”

Graduation a day of celebration, relief and dreams

Today, hundreds of area high school seniors will don gowns and mortarboards with tassels, walk across a stage and receive the diploma they’ve worked toward for 13 years.

It’s a day of celebration and relief for many students as they officially end their high school days and set off for either college, a trade school or the working world.

In my seven years working at The Dickinson Press, I had the pleasure of meeting several of the area’s youth through my prior experiences as sports editor.

This year’s senior class was going into the sixth grade when I first began to meet them.

My, how time flies.

Continue reading “Graduation a day of celebration, relief and dreams”

Missing Miss Njos: Students, teachers react after beloved elementary teacher dies in weekend car crash

A photo of Johanna Njos sits on a table in the hallway at Lincoln Elementary School in Dickinson on Monday as students sign a poster dedicated to the school’s gifted and talented teacher, who died Saturday in a car accident west of Amidon. Lincoln students also created cards, seen lying on the table.

Students and faculty at Lincoln and Berg Elementary Schools in Dickinson grieved Monday for a teacher who touched lives in Dickinson as well as on the other side of the world.

Johanna Njos was described by her co-workers as an adored teacher who devoted her life and career to serving others.

The 30-year-old educator who oversaw the gifted-and-talented program at the two schools, died Saturday afternoon when her car was struck by an oncoming semi truck after it slid into the opposite lane on ice-covered Highway 85 while attempting to negotiate a curve west of Amidon.

“There have been many tears and sadness,” said Tammy Praus, the principal at Lincoln Elementary School.

Njos, who taught 32 students from kindergarten through fifth grade, was hired by Dickinson Public Schools in 2006 after graduating from Dickinson State University.

From her first day, staff members said they could tell she was going to be a special teacher.

Continue reading “Missing Miss Njos: Students, teachers react after beloved elementary teacher dies in weekend car crash”