Jordan Public Schools has the money to hire five teachers for the 2010-2011 school year.

Find out where they are tentatively planned to be placed. Read Superintendent Kirk Nelson's column in the March 18 print edition of the Jordan Independent.

Staff Writer Katrina Styx has taken a job at the Hastings Star Gazette. Today is her last day in the downtown Jordan office.

"In the past 1-1/2 years, I’ve learned about Jordan and all of you who live here," she wrote in her column for this week's print edition. "More importantly, I’ve learned from you, and those are lessons I will never forget."

Styx covered police, schools, and other general assignments for your local newspaper.

Read Styx's column in the March 18 print edition of the Jordan Independent.

Shannon Fiecke of the Shakopee Valley News reports:

Lightning-fast Internet could be possible for area homes and businesses if locals can convince Google to make Scott County a testing ground for high-speed fiber.

Google is looking for one or more communities across America to become trial sites for its ultra-high-speed broadband network.

With a fiber-to-home connection, Google’s networks would deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most people have access to today – faster than 1-gigabit per second.

Kristin Holtz of the Shakopee Valley News reports:

SHAKOPEE -- Scantily clad girls. Boxers exposed under baggy pants. Flip-flops in January.

You’d expect it at the mall, but not at school.

Shakopee Middle School is surveying parents on a new dress policy that would require standardized T-shirts beginning next year.

“It’s an idea that came up because we really feel strongly that we want kids to be academically focused and not fashion show-focused,” Principal Dr. Michael Neubeck said.

Need to know who to contact regarding school issues in which you have an interest? The Jordan School Board committee assignments are as follows:

Sheila Bauer represents the board on the following committees:

- Meet & confer

- Curriculum

- Community relations

- Personnel committee

- Legislation

- Budget committee

Joe Benko, who was recently re-elected, represents the board on the following committees:

- Community relations

- Personnel committee

- Legislation

Jordan middle and elementary schools are preparing to hire new teachers for the 2010-2011 school year.

Funding for the additions comes from the second of two referendum questions the board put to the public last November. The vote allowed the district $375 per pupil or about $565,000 each year, and an additional $175 per pupil or about $310,000 for the next 10 years. Prior to the election, the school board dedicated funds from the second question to the hiring of new teachers and reducing class sizes.

Ten years ago, the Jordan School Board put a two-question ballot before the voters, the second of which asked if the district should build a new high school and auditorium.

Read about this and more of Jordan's history in the Looking Back column published in the Feb. 11 print edition of the Jordan Independent.

The Minnesota Department of Education announced last Tuesday that it would delay state aid payments to schools in a state attempt to avoid short-term borrowing.

“The state’s cash flow situation reflects lower than anticipated revenues due to the struggling economy,” state Education Commissioner Alice Seagren said in a statement. “These payment delays are required by state law under these circumstances. We have taken steps to mitigate school district budget difficulties by targeting this action to districts with solid reserve funds.”

The Jordan School Board plans to discuss hiring for itself three positions currently staffed through the Minnesota River Valley Special Education Cooperative and Carver-Scott Educational Cooperative.

Director of special services Scott Hare suggested the change as a means for the district to save money, superintendent Kirk Nelson said at the last board meeting. Nelson explained that hiring the positions through the district instead of the co-ops could reduce administrative costs and estimated that savings could total about $75,000 across the three positions.