Sheldon, Iowa — Northwest Iowa Community College has received yet another high ranking.

This time the personal finance website WalletHub is the one doing the ranking. They tell us that with Americans struggling financially due to high inflation and a year of community college nearly three times less expensive than a year at a public four-year college, they have released their report on 2023’s Best & Worst Community Colleges.

Northwest Iowa Community College was ranked third on the list in the United States, after only State Technical College of Missouri and Manhattan (Kansas) Area Technical College. NCC is the only community college in Iowa in the top 20.

To determine where students can receive the best education at the cheapest rates, WalletHub says they compared more than 650 community colleges across 19 key indicators of cost and quality. The data set ranges from the cost of in-state tuition and fees to student-faculty ratio to graduation rate.

Top 20 Community Colleges
1. State Technical College of Missouri (MO)
2. Manhattan Area Technical College (KS)
3. Northwest Iowa Community College (IA)
4. Mt. Hood Community College (OR)
5. Alexandria Technical & Community College (MN)
6. College of San Mateo (CA)
7. Clackamas Community College (OR)
8. Manchester Community College (CT)
9. Asnuntuck Community College (CT)
10. Montgomery College (MD)
11. Mitchell Technical College (SD)
12. Santa Fe Community College (NM)
13. Central New Mexico Community College (NM)
14. Howard Community College (MD)
15. Pasadena City College (CA)
16. San Juan College (NM)
17. St. Cloud Technical and Community College (MN)
18. Pratt Community College (KS)
19. Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture (NE)
20. Three Rivers Community College (CT)

To read the full reports, you can visit:
Individual Schools: https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-community-colleges/15076

School Systems: https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-best-worst-community-college-systems/15073

Northwest Iowa — With just a couple of exceptions, elementary, middle, and high school students in northwest Iowa will be going back to school next Wednesday, August 23rd.

We checked with online resources and school administrators.

All O’Brien County public schools will start that day, including Sheldon, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn, and South O’Brien. The one school district based in Osceola County — Sibley-Ocheyedan — will also start that day. However, Harris-Lake Park, which, area-wise, is almost half in Osceola County, will actually start the next day, Thursday, August 24th. All Sioux County public schools will start on the 23rd, including Rock Valley, Boyden-Hull, Sioux Center, West Sioux, and MOC-Floyd Valley. And all Lyon County schools will start that day as well, including West Lyon, Central Lyon, and George Little Rock.

We checked with a number of protestant and Catholic private schools as well, and most of them are also starting on Wednesday, August 23rd, including St. Patrick’s School in Sheldon, Trinity Christian and Western Christian in Hull, and Spalding Catholic in Granville. The one exception we found is Unity Christian in Orange City. Their freshmen ARE going back to school on the 23rd, but the other three grades go back on the 24th.

Several of the schools, but not all, will also have an early out that day.

Sheldon Superintendent Cory Myer says, “We will have open house on Monday, August 21st from 4:00pm – 6:00pm at the elementary, middle school, and high school.”

Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn Superintendent Patrick Carlin says, “Back to School Night is the 22nd. We are excited to get another year going!”

New Sibley-Ocheyedan Superintendent Stan De Zeeuw says, “We are super excited to see all our students back in the buildings. We have a lot of positive energy in our buildings right now and our staff has worked super hard to make preparations for the start of the new school year.”

New Harris-Lake Park Interim Superintendent Gary Richardson says, “We would want to emphasize to the public to be cognizant of students getting to and from school, and activity will be increased around the buildings. This would include a special reminder on bus safety and to understand the law regarding bus ‘stop-arm’ violations and the need to let students cross roads to enter and depart the buses safely. For HLP, there will be a community focus on a November 7th bond election, which, if successful, will make a one campus school district, as an elementary addition will be added to the current middle school/high school facility.”

Sioux Center Superintendent Gary McEldowney says, “We would encourage patience and safety with all the construction we have going on in Sioux Center for our buses, parent transportation, and student drivers. Plan for a little more time in your commutes.”

Central Lyon Superintendent Brent Jorth says, “We’re excited to welcome students back to school in a little over a week. We will hold open house on Wednesday, August 16, from 5:00-7:00. TK-12th grade students and families are invited to stop by school to meet their teacher(s) and drop off their school supplies prior to the first day of school.” He goes on to say, “Elementary teachers and secondary math teachers will be implementing a new math curriculum during the 2023-24 school year. Staff was trained in June and will have another day of training on Monday, August 21, with Illustrative Math while 5th-12th grade math teachers will utilize Envision Math. Elementary students and families will notice a focus on mathematic conversations and deep thinking using IM’s problem-based model of instruction. Secondary students will utilize curriculum materials similar to the science adoption from two years ago. The online tools have really advanced from the last time we adopted math curriculum. Teachers have spent the summer learning the ins & outs of what the curriculum has to offer.”

West Lyon Superintendent Shawn Kreman says, “West Lyon will start on August 23rd, with a 1:30 PM dismissal that day. Our calendar looks a little different this year with full day Friday in-services.”

Des Moines, Iowa — An August 2021 ruling that a man who was injured in a work accident in Sibley could not sue the City, has been overturned by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The lawsuit stemmed from a construction accident in downtown Sibley that happened in 2018. Victor Maldonado, of Worthington, was part of a renovation crew that was working on a building in downtown Sibley, on September 26, 2018. During the project, Maldonado was lowering an aluminum downspout to connect to the building’s gutter, when the downspout came in contact with a City of Sibley electrical line that sent a current through the downspout and Maldonado’s body causing, according to the lawsuit, devastating electrical burn injuries, and causing Maldonado to fall off the building’s roof, about 20 feet to the alley below, causing severe injuries.

Maldonado’s lawsuit accused the City of Sibley of negligence for allegedly failing to keep the electrical line a required minimum distance from the building. As a result, Maldonado asserted the City of Sibley knew, or should have known, that a serious injury would result.

The appeals court decision in January paved the way for the suit to continue. The City of Sibley has agreed to pay Maldonado $2.6 million, but the settlement is not an admission of liability, and will not come out of City coffers, but instead be paid by the Iowa Communities Assurance Pool, of which Sibley is a member.