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More than a phone policy: Preparing students for success

One of the greatest responsibilities we have as a school district is preparing students not only for graduation, but for life beyond our classrooms. That means helping students develop academic knowledge, strong character, healthy relationships, and the self-regulation skills they will need to succeed in college, careers, and their communities. This year, Marshall High School took an important step toward that goal by implementing a bell-to-bell personal electronic device policy, which includes cell phones, air pods/ear pods, smart watches, and personal computers. To support the ...

Finding Laura

I’ve been reading the book “Prairie Fires” by Caroline Fraser. I chose it for a couple of reasons. First was that it involves Laura Ingalls Wilder who, along with her family, lived at De Smet, South Dakota for many years. De Smet is about 40 miles west of our farm, so it feels like a ...

Will they stand up against Trump?

Mid-term elections are fast upon us. Mr. Trump says that we should pretend that his name is on the ballot. Okay then. I get to follow two Congressional races. Congressional District One is most of southern Minnesota and District Seven is most of western Minnesota. I am on the edge in CD7. CD1 begins at my line fence which borders two townships. There is a longtime Republican incumbent serving in each of those. I assume they would be happy with you pretending Mr. Trump was on the ballot when you see their names. Trump’s popularity has sunk to historic lows nationally. But support ...

Fall migrations: one of nature’s most interesting mysteries

Autumn is the season of cool weather, brightly colored trees, first frosts, bountiful harvests and school Homecomings. It’s also a season of migration. Creatures that spend the summer in northern regions of North America travel south where they can have a comfortable winter. My familiarity with migration has involved two species. The first is the monarch butterfly, which flies all the way to southern Mexico. The second is the Canada geese. They go from Canada to Missouri through a fly zone that includes southwestern Minnesota. The butterflies were plentiful in 2026. I grew ...

Business report leaves us with anxieties

While scanning my inbox last week, I noticed an email from The Minnesota Chamber Foundation Grow Minnesota! Program. It was releasing its annual “State of business retention and expansion in Minnesota” report. I had a few minutes on Thursday to finally review the report. It highlighted business investment across the state, while identifying challenges. The first quote in the email: “Minnesota continues to attract and support business investment, and that is encouraging,” said Jennifer Byers, executive director of the Minnesota Chamber Foundation. “At the same time, this ...

My favorite waitress

I married a waitress, so it seemed appropriate to take her to see “Waitress: The Musical.” You know that a play is off-off-off Broadway when it’s being performed in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Not that I’m complaining. Driving an hour to enjoy a Broadway show beats the heck out of ...