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A slightly higher percentage of students in the Bemidji School District receive free or reduced-price lunch this school year. Districtwide, the percentage of students has increased from 48 percent in the 2007-08 school year to 48.5 percent in the 2008-09 school year, said Kathy Palm, director of curriculum and administrative services. Palm presented the district's 2008-09 free and reduced-price lunch percentages Monday night to the Bemidji School Board. She said the district allocates Title I funding based on these percentages.
Holding out her right hand and firmly saying "Stop," Schoolcraft Learning Community seventh-grader Danielle Hoven demonstrated one way to handle a bully to sixth-graders from St. Philip's School. Hoven and four other Schoolcraft seventh-graders taught the St. Philip's students "How Not to Be the Victim of a Bully" during conflict management training Thursday at Concordia Language Villages. Peacemaker Resources led the training for the St. Philip's students.
While conservation may have low visibility, it has a high impact, Anthony Schaffhauser said during a green campus forum Tuesday in Bemidji. The Northwest Clean Energy Resource Team held the forum at Bemidji State University.
The annual audit of the Bemidji School District's financial statements resulted in no findings, Don Zierke of Miller McDonald told the Bemidji School Board Monday night. However, he said, the audit of the district's student activity accounts included two findings. Zierke, a partner in the certified public accountants firm in Bemidji, presented the audits for the district's 2007-08 fiscal year to the board Monday night. He said the district does not appear to be establishing adequate approval for all disbursements for student activities.
Vacant properties owned by the Bemidji School District are generating interest from potential buyers. On Monday night, Chris Leinen, the district's director of business services, presented the Bemidji School Board with an update on four vacant district-owned properties. He said the district has entered into a Multiple Listing Services contract with Century 21 Dickinson Realtors of Bemidji for the sale of the former Community Education building, which is located at 1420 Beltrami Ave. N.W. Leinen said the property is listed for sale at $240,000.
As President Barack Obama took the oath of office Tuesday, 12-year-old Kevin Lauderbaugh of Bemidji stood a couple of miles away, sharing the moment with crowds of people. The Bemidji Middle School seventh-grader traveled to the nation's capital Jan. 17 to attend the Junior Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference as a Junior Inaugural Scholar. As a part of the conference, he attended the presidential inauguration. "It was fun and it was tiring," said Kevin, who returned to Bemidji Wednesday.
The Bemidji School Board will receive an update Monday night on four vacant properties owned by the Bemidji School District. The board will meet at 6:30 p.m. in the Bemidji High School Media Center. The update will be among several items on the meeting agenda. Chris Leinen, director of business services, will present the board with the update.
On Monday night in Bemidji, the Minnesota Minority Education Partnership Inc. will hold the first of six research-based forums it has scheduled around the state. The forum, which the MMEP says will center on the "academic achievement of students of color and American Indian students," will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the American Indian Resource Center at Bemidji State University.
A driver died early Thursday after a 1997 GMC Sierra pickup was broadsided by a semitrailer on Minnesota Highway 32, three miles south of U.S. Highway 2, according to the Minnesota State Patrol based in Thief River Falls. Allen Solie, 43, of Crookston, Minn., died as a result of the crash. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. The accident happened at about 6:15 a.m. The State Patrol reports the semi, driven by George Tourond, 61, of Steinbech, Manitoba, Canada, was eastbound on County Road 45.
One block away from the U.S. Capitol, Rachel Becker watched President Barack Obama's inauguration on a large TV screen inside the Rayburn House Office Building. Becker, a 2006 Bemidji State University graduate who is originally from Park Rapids, was attending a reception there hosted by the Minnesota State Society of Washington, D.C. Through the building's windows, Becker could see the crowds gathered. "There's so many people outside," she said. Despite the crowds, the atmosphere was peaceful, she said. "It was the most peaceful crowd I think I've ever experience," Becker said.