Eagle stories, chapter two: Either the food supply is getting a bit scarce in the late winter or perhaps the opportunity was just too good to pass up. A caller knew my interest in bald eagles and said he had just seen one feeding on a dead deer north of Countryside Veterinary Clinic Thursday afternoon.
Not expecting to find anything on the busy highway, I still decided to take a little road trip. Up ahead I saw what turned out to be the freshly killed deer lying on the east shoulder of the highway. But the only birds I saw flocking around it were crows. Then I happened to look across the road and there he was, sitting about 10 yards off the fence row in the middle of the snow-covered field.
The young but mature male eagle didn’t seem too concerned with the busy highway. In fact, it looked like he had just decided to leave his meal to rest for a minute, not more than a few yards away. He didn’t flinch when I pulled alongside the east side of the road and fired off several pictures. Then I went on ahead to Irving and turned around. By this time, he had decided to go for the second course and was perched atop his prey. With no traffic in the area, I stopped for a brief second right across from him and fired off the picture seen here. He apparently then decided he had enough and took off.
They say the bald eagle is making a comeback and there are more of them than they were a few years ago. But any time I get a chance to get a picture of this majestic bird, I jump at it. Thanks, caller.
On to another topic – This week the Belle Plaine Board of Education reviewed a possible revision in the district’s academic eligibility policy. The current policy allows students to fail a class and still maintain eligibility for sports, music or other extracurricular activities. The proposed revision would mandate that students must be passing every class to participate.
During the discussion, there was some indication that at least a few of the board members might favor an even more strict policy. One commented that perhaps students should have better than a “D” average to participate.
Make no mistake, students who play a sport or sing in a choir or play in a band are representing their school, as well as themselves. Schools have every right to expect the students to be of good moral character and in good academic standing to participate. There have been way too many reports in other school districts of star athletes cruising through their high school years while teachers looked the other way and allowed them to play even though they weren’t learning anything.
But speaking from personal experience from the dark ages, I would urge the board to tread cautiously in making any serious revisions to the policy. Early on I realized I was not as academically gifted as some of my close friends. I would never be a doctor or lawyer. At best I was an average student who happened to do well on standardized tests. There were many days when the only reason I wanted to get out of bed was to get to jazz band or choir practice before school or because we had a football game that night. I don’t recall a single day when I sprang out of bed in eager anticipation of a math or science test. But I knew I had to take care of business in the classroom in order to be allowed to sing or be with the football team.
It is not too much to ask that students be passing all of their classes in order to take part in extracurricular activities. But if they had raised the standards to make students carry a “C” average, for example, there were semesters I wouldn’t have been able to participate.
Studies have also shown that students who participate in extracurricular activities tend to be better students. There’s good reason to believe that if a student has the discipline to succeed on the field or in the concert hall, then they will do better in the classroom.
Another concern expressed at the last board meeting was how at-risk students were being served in the schools. Perhaps school officials might suggest to some of them, at least, that they become involved in an extracurricular activity. Keep the interest up, develop the discipline and the grades may improve.

Belle Plaine’s two state qualifiers advanced through first round wins Thursday morning at the state wrestling tourney in Des Moines.
At 103 pounds, Zakk Buch claimed an 8-2 win over previously unbeaten Lance Maquire, a Fort Dodge St. Edmond senior. Buch will next face Jordan Bremer, a sophomore from Woodbury Central Moville, who got an 11-0 major decision over Hunter Hutchison, Lisbon. Bremer was fourth at 103 last year and is 40-2 this season.
At 125 pounds, Jack O’Brien beat Lone Tree senior Dillon Buline, 9-2. Next up for the Plainsman senior will be Dillon Lorentzen, a Logan-Magnolia junior, who beat Guthrie Center’s Kris Lehman, 4-2.
Both wrestlers will next be in action Friday beginning at 9 a.m.

You don’t have to tell school officials in Belle Plaine and around the state that this has been a tough winter. So far this school year, seven days have been lost to bad weather and Wednesday night, the Belle Plaine Board of Education approved a plan to make up the lost time without extending the school year.
Starting on Tuesday, March 9, the school day will be extended 30 minutes each day through the end of classes, scheduled for May 27. Many school districts have opted to hold school on previously scheduled off days during the school year, then tack on extra days at the end of the year as needed. But the Iowa Department of Education offered districts the option of adding time to each day to equal the lost time and in an effort to maintain summer plans of students and staff, Belle Plaine Superintendent Bill Lynch recommended the added time each day.
Another consideration is the current building projects going on in the district. Lynch told the board that time is needed to complete the construction and remodeling projects without students and staff in the building and maintaining the original last day of school date will help in that effort.
Lynch said the district used this policy a couple of years ago and most staff members favored this move, rather than adding days at the end of the year.
A seemingly routine agenda item that would have appointed Sally Coleman to the newly created post of homework assistance supervisor drew considerable discussion. Her appointment was unanimously approved by the board, but several members expressed concern about the direction the district was going when it comes to identifying and helping at-risk students.
“How many kids flunked last semester,” asked Don McKinney, a former teacher in the district.
“Hiring this person (Coleman) is late, but great,” Jim Pierce said. He wondered if the district and parents need to do more to ensure academic success for students.
“There’s a huge issue (and correlation) between failure and attendance,” he said.
Principal Dennis Phelps told the board that there’s no perfect formula for improving student performance. He said Lisa Daily, the district guidance counselor, makes many contacts with parents of troubled students, indicating that the parents must be willing to take an active role in their student’s success. He also said he is in the process of forming faculty leadership teams, including one charged with improving success in school.
Lynch told the board that the discussion was helpful, but he also said development of an alternative school would also be helpful. A plan to create an alternative high school last fall failed to gain board approval after some board members were concerned about the location of the school and the ability to begin it after the start of the school year.
With the completion of the building projects, students will be moved from the current junior high building and space might be available there for an alternative high school, though school officials haven’t yet made a final decision.
In bringing the discussion to an end, Board President Joyce Livermore said board members are not looking to criticize school staff, but only looking for ways for improvement. She added that improvement takes the determination of students, staff and parents.
In another personnel matter, the board approved the appointment of Scott Janss as the head baseball coach, succeeding Greg Walton. Janss has been the JV baseball coach and varsity first base coach for the past five years.
The board approved the annual trip to Chicago by the high school’s Surviving Single class. Teacher Leah Mast reported that all 22 members of the class, along with six chaperones, will be taking the two-day trip on April 9-10. They learn how to budget their time and money, how to find a place to live in a new city and how to most efficiently get to and from work, utilizing public transportation.
The board had a discussion on making some changes to the district’s policy regarding academic eligibility. The current policy doe not allow a student to be failing more than one class in order to participate in extracurricular activities. A proposed change in the policy would not allow students to fail any classes in order to participate.
Some board members wondered if there should be a higher standard for participation, so that students would have to be more than marginally successful in the classroom before being allowed to participate in sports, music, etc.
It was decided to hold a work session on Feb. 24 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the eligibility and attendance policies. The meeting will be open to the public, but no action is taken in work sessions.
The board reviewed the progress on the building project, learning that interior painting has started at the Longfellow building, workers are hoping to have the roof completed on the gym by the end of the week, exterior brick work at the high school is mostly complete and casework is being installed at Longfellow now.
Lynch reported that it is hoped that some of the new classrooms at Longfellow can be occupied by Easter, to allow remodeling work to begin on the current classrooms.
There was some discussion on one of the other additions at the high school, the addition of a storage room on the north side of the gym. Current plans call for a 12-foot extension of the current storage area. But Pierce had asked administrators to ask the architect about making that a 33-foot extension, fearing that with the moving of junior high students to the high school site, the original storage building would not be big enough.
Building officials indicated that extending the size of the planned addition would nearly double its cost. So the board is leaning toward postponing the completion of that addition with an eye toward expanding it in the future.
Cherie Brown teacher and building head, reported on the district’s progress toward implementing the Iowa Core Curriculum. According to the Iowa Department of Education web site, “The intent of the Iowa Core Curriculum is to provide a tool for Iowa school districts and educators to use in assuring that essential subject matter is being taught and essential knowledge and skills are being learned. The Iowa Core Curriculum also provides a foundation for school districts to implement graduation requirements more effectively and meaningfully.”
Implementation of the program was mandated by the Iowa Legislature. Brown said local teachers have been meeting with teachers from other districts to determine the best way to implement the program. She said a lot of emphasis so far has been on how the ever-changing technology revolution can be used for school improvement.