Published: Saturday, March 23, 2013 1:06 AM CDT

The Northern Lights addition at the Avera Sacred Heart Hospital is ahead of schedule, due in part to weather conditions this winter and last summer.

The project was originally set to be completed by January 2014, but now could be done by this November.

“A lot can happen between now and this fall, but that’s the timeline we’re looking at as of now,” said Doug Ekeren, vice president of planning and development at Avera Sacred Heart Hospital. “We haven’t lost many days for construction due to rain or snow over the past several months.”

The hospital expansion will feature a new lab and some new amenities for physicians.

“Right now, we only have one conference room in the hospital,” Ekeren said. “With this addition, there will be more conference space available, and there should be better communication among staff members.”

He added that the new lab will make getting blood samples more efficient.

“Some of the other features of the expansion will be some more blood drawing rooms,” Ekeren said. “There will also be a brand new cafeteria and kitchen.”

The hospital currently has had the same cafeteria since around the 1980’s, and staff members and patients have often said it’s hard to find, Ekeren said.

“The new cafeteria will have meals available where people can find it,” he said. “Staff members have often had to trek to another building for lunch and dinner, and that won’t be the case anymore.”

In addition to just being easier to find, meal service for patients and families will also be improved. There will also be conference rooms along side of the cafeteria where staff members can grab food, then go right to their meetings.

The construction project will also have a new pharmacy, allowing biomedical services to expand into the old pharmacy. In addition, the new space allows the radiology department to expand, as well. The sleep lab will also move from the Benedictine Center into the new space.

Ekeren thinks the sleep lab will be in a better location with the new space.

Recent expansions to the hospital include the emergency department, the office pavilion and surgery center addition. However, Ekeren said the last project of this magnitude came in the 1990’s when a new entrance was built to the hospital, along with a new Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

“This is the first major project for the hospital in the last 20-plus years,” he said. “We’ve had other projects where we spent money to upgrade, but, in terms of the square footage addition, this project can’t compare to a lot of others.”

Ekeren said there are a number of advantages to finishing the project ahead of schedule.

“By finishing ahead of where we expected, there is less of an inconvenience caused for patients, visitors and staff with the construction,” he said. “We’re also able to get into new space earlier. Finishing early should have a cost savings associated with it, as well.”

The next phase for construction will be finishing the third floor completed and is expected to be turned over to the hospital by about August 1. Officials hope to have the new outpatient therapy center completed by May, as well.

Ekeren said the project solidifies Yankton’s medical reputation.

“We have strong physicians here, and a lot of specialties offered that are skills unique to the region,” he said. “With physicians being able to better collaborate and communicate with the new space, it only strengthens the regional position of Yankton in terms of health offerings.”

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal

Published: Wednesday, March 20, 2013 10:57 PM CDT

From P&D Staff Reports

Dakota Education Consulting (DEC), which is assisting the Yankton School District (YSD) in its search for a superintendent is seeking members of the community to be a part of the interview process. The interviews for this position have been scheduled for the full day on Thursday, April 11.

If you would have an interest in serving on the interview team representing the parents and community members in Yankton, visit https://docs.google.com/a/usd.edu/forms/d/1p2R5i_zaQQpZjmTdQ80dMwKRefq4pjZe3Pv4faQZlGA/viewform and sign up for this volunteer opportunity.

The deadline for sign ups is Friday, March 29. You will be notified by DEC if you have been selected as an interview member. More instructions on your role as a team member will be shared prior to the April 11 interview date.

Published: Thursday, March 21, 2013 1:08 AM CDT

Officials from the Missouri National Recreational River are introducing something new this year that they hope will attract more visitors to the park.

A new mobile ranger station has been developed, which officials will take to area parks and events in hopes of getting additional traffic to the river.

“We will take the trailer, which has a lot of displays and features, outside the immediate area,” said Steve Mietz, superintendent of the river for the National Park Service (NPS). “One of the places we’ve been asked to take the station already is Mount Rushmore. Millions of visitors that go there will see the trailer and check out what we have, and hopefully they’ll go to Yankton to see the river on their way back east.”

One of the goals of the ranger station is to attract people to the river who aren’t from the immediate area. Mietz is hoping the trailer draws a more regional — and even national — audience to the river.

“It’s really a mobile visitors center,” he said. “There are displays on the inside of the trailer, with a television and photos and other features of the river for people to look at on the outside.”

Officials plan on taking the trailer to state and county fairs to promote the area.

“The trailer will really explain a lot of the features that make the Missouri River so great,” Mietz said. “Having the station at local events will give people a lot of information about the river, so hopefully they’ll come to visit or seek additional information about all it has to offer.”

Dugan Smith, who is an interpreter for the NPS, said he plans on taking the trailer to sport shows and outdoor festivals in the region.

“We really want to get outside the immediate corridor here and get people to know that the Missouri River is a national park,” he said. “One of the first things we’ll take the station to is the Watershed Festival in Sioux Falls, which has about 3,000 kids visit.”

Smith said that, up until now, officials did not have the tools to be able to go to area events and attract people to the river, now, however, they can do that.

Another feature of the trailer is an interactive map, which highlights various areas of the river and things people can enjoy while visiting.

“We’ll have a cultural exhibit with the trailer where kids can make a map of the river, sort of like a puzzle,” Smith said. “There will also be a touchscreen where people can get more details about some of the cultural and historical aspects of the river.”

Officials are hoping the trailer is completed this month.

“We’ll likely have it at local events by May,” Smith said. “We’re excited to get it done and get it out on the road.”

Smith and Mietz both said they’re happy with the way the trailer looks so far, and many of their co-workers at the NPS have said the same thing.

“It’s a new tool we’ll be utilizing to get out there, and I’m not even sure anyone else with the NPS has done something similar yet,” Smith said. “There is a lot of self-contained programming we can do with the trailer wherever we take it, especially for when school groups visit.”

Mietz said the unique qualities of the Missouri River make the mobile station a great asset for officials.

“The park is so unique because it’s spread out over around 100 miles,” he said. “It’s different than a traditional visitors center. With the trailer, we can bring the visitors center to the people.”

Smith said planning for a new outreach program began a few years ago, but they weren’t sure what they were going to do. The trailer idea came up last spring.

“Other area parks have things they do like this, but usually they store equipment inside the trailer,” he said. “With this station, we can do activities inside for kids to enjoy. We hope it will draw kids in and get them interested in the national park.”

The cost of the project will end up being under $20,000. Mietz said the benefits should outweigh the costs.

“It’s pretty cost-effective for what we’ll get out of it,” he said. “It really should also help stimulate the local economy by bringing in people from outside the immediate area.”

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal

Published: Wednesday, March 20, 2013 1:07 AM CDT

From P&D Staff Reports

The Yankton School District (YSD) School Board will hold a special meeting today (Wednesday) at 5:30 p.m. to enter into executive session to conduct teacher contract negotiations. The meeting will be held at the Avera Sacred Heart Pavilion.

Published: Wednesday, March 20, 2013 1:07 AM CDT

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the last in a series of stories in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War.

———

Brooks Schild still remembers the mail calls.

For the Yankton native, getting a letter or package from home while he served two tours of duty overseas with Yankton’s Charlie Battery meant the world to him while he was stationed in Iraq and Kuwait.

“It’s huge to get something from home,” he said. “Getting letters in the mail meant a lot, and I would smell the envelopes and letters to have something nice to smell, since there isn’t much that smells good over there.”

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War, which sent thousands of soldiers, like Schild, to the Middle East.

After growing up in Yankton, Schild taught school in Council Bluffs, Iowa, before returning to teach in Yankton. While teaching in Iowa, Schild joined the Iowa Guard in the 1990s and served there for around a decade. After moving back to Yankton and transferring to the South Dakota National Guard, he was deployed to Baghdad in 2005 for a year tour of duty, and later deployed to Kuwait in 2009 for a nine-month tour.

Life in the far-flung lands was much different, ranging from the culture to the weather.

Schild said the first time he was deployed, he did not have a lot of free time. However, occasionally soldiers would have to go around Baghdad Airport and, while there, they would get steaks for their fellow comrades.

“They sold steaks around the Baghdad airport, and we would give soldiers who went there with around $50 to pick some up for us,” he said. “We would grill up some steaks and it would be one of the best things to happen that month.”

While in Iraq, he said a majority of a soldiers’ time was spent on missions and security.

“We would do a lot of work training the Iraqi police and working with them,” Schild said. “We would also do route security missions, which included making sure there were no IED’s (improvised explosive devices) in the area.”

He said advances in technology made keeping in touch with loved ones back home a lot easier than it was for soldiers who served in previous decades.

“When I was serving in Iraq, we would each have to pay $75 if we wanted Internet access,” Schild said. “The Internet was slow for United States’ standards, and was basically a dial-up      connection.”

Even with the slow Internet, he could still send and receive emails, and could video chat with work every once in a while.

However, Schild’s tour of duty in Kuwait featured faster, wireless Internet, which gave him a more reliable way to video chat with his family members.

Nevertheless, he said getting letters in the mail meant the most.

“Getting United States mail was really the cat’s meow for us,” Schild said. “Letters are things that we all really appreciated.”

He said the strong community support that came from Yankton for service members overseas was priceless.

“Schools and organizations in the area sent us care packages, which we’re really thankful for,” Schild said. “Having the huge amount of support from the community back home was really nice. Soldiers that came before us, like in Vietnam, did not get the amount of support, or welcome home, that we got when we came back to the area.”

He added that veterans who served in previous wars helped pave the way for soldiers today to be sure they are welcomed back home.

Schild’s many experiences in Iraq also included a terrible 2005 IED attack in Baghdad, which killed his brother, Rich, and ultimately led to four Charlie Battery soldiers losing their lives.

Brooks, who teaches life sciences at Yankton Middle School, said he has a photo of Rich on his desk at school.

“It was really bittersweet being over there,” he said. “I lost my brother there, and three other soldiers were killed, as well, who I was close with. Two other people who I served with also sustained permanent injuries, so I can’t say being there was a great experience.”

As an educator, he noted that schools in Iraq were far different than schools in the United States.

Students in Iraq had beaten-up wooden desks in classrooms that had nothing on the walls. They also had few, if any, supplies, so U.S. soldiers brought them the supplies they needed for school.

“The students there really didn’t have anything. We went in and there were schools with insurgents surrounding the area,” Schild said. “Cars would get blown up in parking lots, so we went in to try to protect the kids.”

He recalls one experience where he spoke to kids about being able to speak openly about their government.

“I remember when I was there, some kids were talking about freedom of speech. They said they didn’t like Americans being in their country,” Schild said. “They wanted their freedom. When we asked them that, if we weren’t here, would they still talk about the government and Saddam Hussein, they got scared and said they wouldn’t have been able to.”

Looking back on his military tours, Schild said those who served abroad did the duty they set out to do.

“We did our duty there, served our country and made people proud of the mission we accomplished,” he said.

He added that soldiers aren’t the ones who start wars, or send others overseas.

“We just do what people tell us to do. It was our mission to go there, train the Iraqi police and make the country more stable,” he said. “We just follow orders. We went there, did our jobs and came back. We put everything we have into the missions we are given.”

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal

Published: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 1:06 AM CDT

Yankton School District (YSD) school board candidates debated several hot-button issues, including the budget, facing the district during an Interchange forum on Monday.

There are two openings on the board, with four members running for the positions. Candidates include incumbent Jim Fitzgerald and newcomers Butch Becker, Sarah Carda and Wayne Wurth.

One of the first topics of discussion was why each candidate decided to run for the a position on the board.

Fitzgerald said he decided to run for school board three years ago to be involved with something in which his family entire was involved.

“We need to continue to offer a quality education,” he said. “There also needs to be opportunities for kids in different areas, including the arts.

Carda said she decided to run after previously serving on the board at Sacred Heart School.

“It’s important for me because I have kids in the district,” she said. “I’m pro-education and want people to have choices. It’s only fair that people who are able to give back do so.”

Wurth’s motivation to run for school board is based on informing the public that the school belongs to the people.

“People get silenced if they don’t agree with school district officials,” he said.

Becker said that, if elected, he would keep a careful eye on the financial situation for the district, if elected to the board.

The candidates were asked what the district has done well and what they’ve done poorly over the past several years.

Carda cited the strong academic reputation of the district as one of the things they’ve excelled in for years.

“YSD has had an exemplary graduation rate, which is good to have,” she said. “However, I think they’ve done poorly for explaining budget implications and what it means for students.”

Becker agreed with Carda, saying he thought the district has done a fantastic job educating students. However, he said the budget needs more work.

“We need to determine what we can take on and what we can’t take on,” he said. “How many things can we take from the community while still providing a good education for students?”

Wurth said the district has done a poor job by forcing issues on the public and trying to have opt-outs passed.

Fitzgerald said he feels as if the district has done a good job educating its students, but added board members should communicate with the public better on issues, including the budget.

One Interchange member asked board candidates what the role of education is with regards to fostering student achievement.

Wurth said one of the first things he would do, if elected, would be to demand individualism from students.

“Students should be judged on their own merit,” he said. “They’re not just a number, they’re individuals.”

Becker said he would concentrate on the academic portion, and said that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) attempted to foster student achievement, but failed to do so.

Fitzgerald talked about the importance of education not just being a role for schools.

“A lot of education happens at home for kids,” he said. “This brings up the values of community members.”

He also cited NCLB making educators teach to the test, and not to students.

Carda said she would be open-minded about the issues of education at YSD.

“I would try to get the best information I can, and I’d be honest about the things that must be done,” she said. “I’ll also be thoughtful about what we’re trying to do to best educate students.”

The candidates were also asked about the top three things they would focus on if elected.

Becker said he would focus heavily on the budget, analyzing and reviewing programs and looking at the Common Core standards.

Likewise, Fitzgerald cited finances as a main concern. He also said he would like to focus on maintaining high academic standards at YSD and keeping up with the changes in education.

Carda talked about addressing the academics offered for students, providing leadership for budget issues and said the purpose of the district, first and foremost, is to educate students.

On the other hand, Wurth said he would be focused on who works for whom.

“School Board members have an allegiance to the public, because they’re the ones who put you there,” he said. “I’ll also focus on who we hire, and getting education back into the teachers’ hands.”

Another question dealt with the candidates’ experiences managing a budget.

“I’ve dealt with doing a budget for my business, as well as while serving on the Hillcrest Golf Course board,” Fitzgerald said. “The school budget is a very tight rope we have to walk on.”

Carda said she offers unique experience, having served on non-profit boards and serving on Mount Marty’s executive team.

“I’ve worked on the budgets there, and it’s the same concept, even though Mount Marty’s budget is tuition-based,” she said. “There are complicating funding issues with the YSD budget as well.”

One of the things Wurth said he’s most concerned about is the government throwing money at education. He said money does not make kids smart.

Becker said if he is elected, he would continue to watch the healthcare program, as that is a significant cost for the district.

Along with the budget issue, a question was raised on ideas candidates have to balance the budget, while maintaining a low average class size.

Carda said she’s concerned with the class size now, and said it puts the district at risk.

“We have been increasing the class sizes in order to meet the budget,” she said. “We need to focus priorities with the budget on what’s most important.”

Wurth said he would discuss the budget properly, openly and honestly if he is elected.

“Officials need to make hard decisions on the budget,” he said. “You need to have confidence in who you have making those decisions.”

Becker and Fitzgerald both cited increasing healthcare costs as something they would monitor in upcoming years.

The school board election will be held April 9, with absentee voting available beginning on Monday in the YSD Administration Building and city finance office.

Another school board forum will be held tonight (Tuesday) at 7 p.m. at the Technical Education Center.

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal

Published: Monday, March 18, 2013 1:07 AM CDT

After Dakota Educational Consulting, the firm leading the search for a new Yankton School District superintendent, posted a survey for community and faculty members to take about a month ago about the search for a new superintendent, the Press & Dakotan has learned the results of the survey.

The survey of community members featured 276 respondents, while the faculty survey had 245 respondents.

Rick Melmer, who is helping to lead the YSD search with the consulting firm, said the surveys will help a lot during the search.

“The survey helps us as we formulate questions for the candidates when we screen and do phone interviews,” he said. “It’s also probably helpful for the school board so that they know what qualities are most important in a superintendent from the perspective of faculty and community members.”

Questions included a list of options, and respondents could check all areas that applied to the next superintendent.

However, one question was open-ended and asked about the issues or topics that are important for the next superintendent to know. A final question asked respondents to rate each quality in terms of how necessary it is for the next leader of YSD to have.

Eighty-three percent of community respondents felt the next superintendent should be a good communicator. Seventy-eight percent said the next superintendent should be good with budget skills, while 74 percent said he/she should have strong interpersonal skills.

Other qualities community members want in the next superintendent include being involved in the community (71 percent), being a visionary for the district (65 percent), acting as an instructional leader (49 percent), being articulate and well-spoken (49 percent), and being courageous (36 percent).

YSD faculty members had somewhat similar answers for the qualities they want in their next leader.

Ninety-two percent of faculty members said they believe the next superintendent should be a good communicator, 80 percent felt he/she should have strong interpersonal skills and 77 percent of faculty respondents felt the next superintendent should have strong budget skills.

In addition, 70 percent of faculty members thought the next leader of YSD should be involved in the community, 65 percent said he/she should be a visionary and 57 percent felt the next superintendent should be well-spoken.

A minority of faculty respondents thought the next YSD superintendent should be an instructional leader or be courageous.

Another question asked faculty and community members how they felt the success of the superintendent after a year on the job should be determined.

Eighty-seven percent of faculty respondents felt as if success after one year should be determined based on employees being satisfied, 85 percent felt it should be based off of school culture, while 51 percent said success should be determined based on how satisfied community members are.

On the other hand, community members felt as if success should be determined based off of a positive school culture (84 percent), a solid financial base (67 percent) and satisfied employees (63 percent).

The issues that faculty respondents thought it would be most important for the new superintendent to know included, in order of popularity, budget issues, lack of community support, low staff morale, failed opt-outs, salary issues and lack of communication.

The most important issues community members felt the new superintendent should know about included budget issues, drugs and alcohol issues among students, lack of community support, low staff morale, failed opt-outs and the need to keep extra-curricular activities.

Community members also thought the traits that are most essential for the new superintendent to have include being honest and trustworthy, good communication skills, good with fiscal management, being accessible and being a visionary for the district.

Faculty respondents thought the most essential traits are being a good communicator, being honest and trustworthy, having good interpersonal skills, being good with fiscal management and acting as a visionary.

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal

Published: Thursday, March 14, 2013 9:20 PM CDT

When John and James Abrams were growing up in Canada, seeing their parents and grandparents play music was the inspiration for the children to take up careers in the music industry.

“We would all listen to my parents and grandparents when they would have practice in our living room,” John Abrams said. “My mom asked if we wanted to play the violin when we were really young, and that’s how we began playing music.”

John and James Abrams went on tour and would perform a few songs with their parents, which were some of their first shows before they became the Abrams Brothers touring group.

They’ll continue their tour at 7:30 p.m. Monday in Yankton at the Dakota Theatre as part of the Lewis and Clark Theatre Company’s concert series.

“We are excited to bring a group that we believe are going to become very famous in the not-so-distant future,” said Shauna Marlette, managing director of the Lewis and Clark Theatre Company. “The group currently has a video that is being featured on Country Music Television’s Top 20 countdown, which we believe is just the first of many for them.”

Marlette said she hopes that the community turns out to support the Abrams Brothers concert as they will entertain all ages and she really believes that they will put on an amazing show.

“Their style of music is just so fun and easy to listen to,” she said. “If you like music — any style of music — I believe you will love the Abrams Brothers. They are great musicians and you can tell that they love doing what they are doing.”

The Abrams Brothers have been on the road playing music for about the last 11 years.

“We’ve been playing longer than that, but our band and touring act has been around for 11 years,” John Abrams said. “We still play music with our family when we’re home, and we’re now the fourth generation to play music.”

The Abrams Brothers just released their fourth studio album, “Northern Redemption,” in September.

“The music on the new record is mainly bluegrass, with old folk and gospel influences,” Abrams said. “It’s a real blend of that, with some contemporary styles. We think the album is really creating original Abrams Brothers music.”

With bands like The Lumineers and Mumford and Sons, considered a bluegrass and folk bands, recently producing the chart-topping hits “I Will Wait” and “Ho Hey,” the genres have enjoyed a renaissance with mainstream music.

“It’s fantastic that bluegrass and folk has been coming back the last few years,” Abrams said. “It’s inevitable, in a way; a generation of people have been fed so much plastic from the pop media outlets. People start turning to things organic and authentic again.”

He compared this movement to the disco generation of the 1970s.

“It was a counter-culture movement that came into the spotlight,” Abrams said. “People had a desire to listen to bands that played more authentic music, like The Eagles, for instance. It became a craze, and bands started playing music that was more traditional.”

He said he feels like this is happening again with bluegrass and folk music.

“To see attention given to the bluegrass, folk and Americana styles of music from our peer groups is real encouraging and it makes us feel great,” Abrams said. “We use that as a jumping-off point as far as our musical creativity goes.”

One of the Abrams Brothers’ favorite shows was at a festival in Israel.

“We’ll be going back for the fourth time this year to headline the Jacob’s Ladder Music Festival, which features a lot of folk music and is right on the Sea of Galilee,” Abrams said. “It’s a lot of fun, not just musically. There is a profound history in that region and it feels like you’ve just stepped into a place where you’re so small in the grand spectrum of history.”

One of the Abrams Brothers’ other favorite shows came when they first performed at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Abrams said they became the youngest Canadians to play the venue, and enjoyed the experience playing on the same stage that many legendary artists have.

Abrams said the style of music the band plays never changes, regardless of show venue.

“The genesis of our music and where we started is that, even though we might play a festival with crowds of 50,000, or a theater with only a few hundred, our style of music is very much about the sense of community you get between artist and performer,” he said. “It’s the kind of music that’s conceptually accessible. People sitting in the audience can see something tangible and real, it’s not just smoke and mirrors.”

The Abrams Brothers also thrive on the sense of authenticity in their music at live shows.

“The core of organic sensibility in our music is still very prevalent,” Abrams said. “We have spent our lives devoting ourselves to the idea that it’s integral for a musician’s career to build a relationship with a live audience.”

He said he also enjoys storytelling during the shows.

“People will hear stories of how our songs came together, and stories from our past and present,” Abrams said. “Our goal for the audience at our shows has always been to have people be positively touched by our music. If we’re able to do that, we’ve accomplished what we’ve set out to do.”

Tickets for Monday’s concert are available by calling the Lewis and Clark Theatre box office at 605-665-7811 or by emailing Marlette at lctc@midconetwork.com with the number of seats you would like to reserve.

“We are doing reserved seating for this concert,” Marlette said. “There are still good seats available, but we hope that by Monday we can say they are limited.”

For more information on the Abrams Brothers, log on at abramsbrothers.com or check them out on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or MySpace.

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal

Published: Wednesday, March 13, 2013 1:07 AM CDT

The Yankton Community Library will screen a version of the documentary ‘Bully’ Thursday in hopes of raising awareness about bullying and the seriousness of the issue.

The screening will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the library on 515 Walnut. Yankton police officer and DARE officer Jeff Johnson and Lewis and Clark Behavioral Health services counselor Stephanie Lund will be available after screening to facilitate a discussion and answer questions.

“The movie is a 99-minute documentary about five students from different parts of the country who were bullied at school for various reasons,” said Kathy Jacobs, director of the Yankton Community Library. “Some of the reasons why kids were bullied in the film are because of their sexual orientation, looks or size. Two of the families that appear in the documentary have children who committed suicide because of the bullying that took place against them.”

One of the students followed in the documentary is from Sioux City. He was a middle school student who was bullied in the hallways, playground and on the school bus. The film features footage from the bus and how he was bullied on bus rides to and from school.

“The documentary is really about how bullying takes place. There are no good answers as to why, but the film shows the different settings in which it takes place,” Jacobs said. “It shows how parents weren’t always aware of the seriousness of everything going on. Sometimes parents would go to school boards and principals, and (discover) how the topic may not have been taken seriously.”

Jacobs said she hopes the film screening allows parents to become more aware of what their children may be going through. She hopes students that are being bullied will have the power to speak up and tell an adult, and she also hopes that students who bully others will see how it affects people and stop doing it.

“I have all kinds of goals for the screening,” Jacobs said. “The movie is appropriate for those in upper elementary grades on through adults. I think everyone that comes to watch the film can take something away from it.”

She hopes that the movie might influence communication opening up between parents and kids about what might be happening with children while they’re in school.

“Our job as a library is to help educate the community,” Jacobs said. “The subject of bullying might not be something everyone will be interested in. Some might have questions about the subject but won’t want to come in to a public viewing, so hearing about the movie might make them check it out on their own.”

In addition to the movie, the library will have the book, that goes along with the film available and will have resources for adults on how to deal with the situation if their child is a bully or being bullied.

“It’s a difficult subject to talk about, and I tend to get very passionate about it, but I just hope that people have the courage to come out to see the film,” Jacobs said. “People can come see the film out of curiosity, or if they feel like they want to learn more about the topic or do something about it.”

For more information, contact the library at 668-5276.

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal