Citizens rally to show support of DHS principal

CITIZENS STAYED behind to talk amongst themselves when the school board exited the room in order to go into an executive session during which employment contracts were reviewed and possible renewals were discussed

schlbrd 3 — CITIZENS STAYED behind to talk amongst themselves when the school board exited the room in order to go into an executive session during which employment contracts were reviewed and possible renewals were discussed

Kayla Barnes

Updated: Jan 17, 2013, 3:37 PM

Published: Jan 17, 2013, 3:39 PM

A group of over 80 citizens attended a special meeting of the Darlington School Board that took place Monday evening, Jan. 14 in order to show their support for Darlington High School (DHS) principal Doug McArthur.
There were so many people attending that the meeting was moved from the board meeting room at the elementary/middle school, to a larger conference room.
The main event of the special meeting was the review of the principals’ evaluations as well as the contracts of the principals and the district administrator, all of which took place during an executive session, closed to the public.
The employees whose contracts were under review included: Doug McArthur, DHS principal, Michelle Savatski, Darlington’s elementary/ middle school (DEMS) principal and Denise Wellnitz, administrator.
The citizens that attended the meeting Monday seemed to be in fear that McArthur’s job was in danger and had attended the meeting to show support in numbers for the DHS principal.
During the time set aside for public comment at the beginning of the meeting, which began at 6:00 p.m., two members of the public spoke before the school board, Pat Hardyman of Darlington and Leona Havens, a Darlington High School teacher.
When school board president, Duane Jorgenson, invited the public to speak, Hardyman stepped forward immediately and asked those in the crowd who were there to support Doug McArthur to raise their hands so the board could see the number of people present for that purpose. Hands were raised across the room.
“He [Doug McArthur] provides expertise and passion,” said Hardyman. “There’s a lot of places we can get expertise, but there’s very few people that will provide the passion that he provides.” Hardyman concluded his speech by asking the board to support the renewal of Doug McArthur’s contract and stating that there was a petition with over 300 signatures supporting the high school principal.
Havens then stepped forward and asked to speak on behalf of the teachers. She read a letter that she said, “the majority of the staff, both support staff and teaching staff have signed.”
The letter showed additional support for McArthur, saying he “is the right person for the job because of his dedication to maintaining and improving excellence in [the] school” and that McArthur has a “vested interest and knowledge of the Darlington area and our school district.”
In the letter’s conclusion, Havens read: “It is for these reasons that we request that Mr. McArthur be provided the opportunity to continue as our high school principal.” When Havens finished reading, applause from the public filled the room.
The board then took care of a few other brief agenda items and then retired to the board meeting room to enter into executive session.
Many of the citizens who had attended stayed in the larger conference room, hoping the board would emerge to take action on what had been discussed, but were informed that the school board planned to come out of executive session and simply adjourn the meeting. It was indicated that any potential votes or decisions were to be put off until the next board meeting.
The contract renewals will again be on the agenda for the next regular board meeting which is scheduled to take place on Monday, Jan. 21 at 7:00 p.m. in the Darlington Elementary/Middle School.

Cuts threatening use of local food

School lunches

SPRING CREEK CATTLE COMPANY is one of the local suppliers of food for the North Crawford Foodservice Program. Cancellation of federal funding will impact both the school district and the local agricultural business. Here, Bart and Amy Mitchell are seen with the beef cattle on pasture in the background. Spring Creeks Cattle Company is a family partnership between three brothers, their families, and their parents.

LFPA cuts_Spring Creek Cattle Company — SPRING CREEK CATTLE COMPANY is one of the local suppliers of food for the North Crawford Foodservice Program. Cancellation of federal funding will impact both the school district and the local agricultural business. Here, Bart and Amy Mitchell are seen with the beef cattle on pasture in the background. Spring Creeks Cattle Company is a family partnership between three brothers, their families, and their parents.

JORDAN DERRICK

Crawford County Independent & Kickapoo Scout

Updated: May 1, 2025, 12:38 PM

Published: Apr 30, 2025, 2:49 PM

With the federal government defunding programs around the country, it appears the North Crawford School District Food Service department will feel the impact.

Programs that fund food service at North Crawford, like the Local Food for Schools (LFS) and the Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant, had their funds frozen on March 7, when the USDA announced they would be terminating those programs.

For North Crawford, this means they have lost funding for purchasing food from local farms, something that the food service department has prided itself on. This summer, the district is covered for their efforts in serving local food.

25% sourced locally

North Crawford Food Service Director Jen Kapinus said in story published last summer that about 25% of the food served at the school is local, and specifically beef, pork, and apples are the most commonly locally sourced.

Now, that 25% is likely to drop, depending on the department’s next steps, which will have a large impact on the future of the school and the food service department.

Because of the timing of the USDA’s announcement, the food service department will have very little flexibility in the coming school year. In February, commodity orders are due, while the grant money comes in during May. Since, commodities were ordered with the assurance of getting this money in May, the department will have to figure out how to get the food still needed.

“We can no longer make the purchases we planned,” Kapinus said. “We planned ahead for two years, and there’s no money for that now.”

Having to find food to replace the planned purchases is not the only trouble with these cuts. It will also put a strain on the budget and the local farmers who provide for the program, and it will cause the department to move backwards in quality.

Cuts strain district

These cuts also put a strain on the district because they now need to work through existing suppliers to get food that they typically would not get from them.

“(The budget cuts) result in us having to look elsewhere,” North Crawford Superintendent Brandon Munson said.

It is not just the school district feeling the impact of the cuts. Good partnerships with our local families and farmers are being lost.

Although Munson believes it won’t hurt them too badly financially, Harry Young, of Young Family Farms LLC, who has been providing meat to the district since 2020, is sad to see these programs go.

Young noted the impact on the local economy. It supported farmers in the area and kept that money local.

“It was a good program,” Young said. “It got fresher food to the kids, that was more nutritious than what could be bought through the supply chain.”

Since higher quality food costs more, the department will have to compromise the quality of the food they are purchasing. Aside from the nutritional benefits of higher quality food, higher quality ingredients tend to make the food taste better.

While the department gets more local food than nearby schools, and students enjoy the food, many already feel that what they are being served is more processed than they would like it to be.

Kapinus believes that the reduction in quality will affect meal participation, which the program relies on to be able to serve the students the best they can.

Meal participation is often a domino effect. When more students eat the food, the program has a bigger budget to buy better food, which leads to more participation, but if the quality goes down, less students will eat, which will shrink the budget, which leads to even lower quality and, therefore, less participation.

Kapinus is hopeful that, through donations and possible fundraising, the department can continue to serve high-quality meals to students, but it will take a lot of hard work and support.

It can be difficult to rely on such variable methods, though. The district recently received a donation from a local farm, but there is so much to be cautious about with donations, especially with meat. It also is not consistent. Both fundraising and donations cannot be planned for ahead of time because if the needs are not met, the meals can’t be made.

Despite these hurdles, the department is doing what they can to serve the best meals with what is available to them, but there will have to be a decline in quality because of the cost of food.

“There will definitely be a compromise,” Kapinus said, “but we will continue to do as much scratch cooking as possible, and we are trying to find a happy medium between hyper-local and hyper-processed.”

Kapinus is working to prepare for the future, despite the funding losses, but it is unclear what will happen as time goes on, especially with the federal government aiming to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.

With bad news after bad news for the food service department, a glimmer of hope has come in the form of school lunch debt forgiveness.

Through School Lunch Fairy, a national program based in Florida, The North Crawford School District will be receiving a donation to cover a portion of school lunch debt owed.

School Lunch Fairy is a charity organization that uses donated funds from all over the country to support school districts struggling with school lunch debt and sets up emergency lunch funds to provide struggling students with free lunches before they fall into debt.

With the donation this program will give the district, it puts the food service department in a better standing and relieves some of struggling students’ financial stress.

This program gives Kapinus and the food service department hope for where they are headed, even when things the future is unpredictable.