YSD Retirees

Sandy Hoffner (left), Terry Crandall (middle) and Judy Tereshinski (right) are three of the 18 Yankton School District personnel retiring at the end of the school year. Combined, the staff members who are retiring have served in the Yankton district for more than 500 years.

Proposed YSD Budget Faces $1.1M Deficit

YSD superintendent Joe Gertsema discusses the potential 2013-14 school budget during Monday night’s Yankton school board meeting. Gertsema said, at worst, the district will be faced with a deficit of more than $1.1 million, but that could change depending on federal funding and teacher contract negotiations.

Retiring From MMC

After working at Mount Marty College for more than 20 years, current vice president and dean of academic affairs Bob Tereshinski will be retiring July 1. Since he began at Mount Marty, he has served as a baseball coach, instructor, professor and dean.

Bob Tereshinski still remembers first arriving in Yankton in early 1965.

“Paul Rehfuss, who was a recruiter for Yankton College and was also from the Philadelphia area, talked to me about what I thought about coming out to the Midwest, going to Yankton College and playing baseball and football there,” Tereshinski said. “I remember I flew into the Yankton airport on the Blue Goose and remember coming up to the door of the airplane, and the wind and the cold hit me. It was 8 degrees that night and I never forgot that.”

He added that he saw the snow piled up on the side of the runway, and that he was homesick for about his first two weeks in Yankton as he dealt with adjusting to the Midwest style of living.

Since then, however, he has never looked back and now he’s getting ready to retire July 1 after working at Mount Marty College for more than 20 years.

“This is my third time trying to retire and I don’t even know if it will be my last,” Tereshinski said. “I have to enjoy retirement for a while and see if it hits my likes and dislikes in life. I know that it’s time to do something else and try some other direction in life.”

He added that he is looking forward to being able to spend more time with his family and enjoying some of his many hobbies, including refinishing antique furniture, gardening, fishing and      hunting.

“I also have three granddaughters that I love spending time with who all live in Yankton,” Tereshinski said. “I spend a lot of time teaching them how to fish and they spend a lot of time teaching me a lot about dancing and gymnastics.”

Tereshinski first began his career at Mount Marty College at age 40, when then-athletic director Dean Specht approached him about coaching baseball.

“They needed a baseball coach and admissions counselor, so I started out here in that position,” he said. “I eventually went on to become an instructor here, an assistant professor, and was approached by Dr. James Barry about being the acting dean for the college.”

After becoming the acting dean, Tereshinski received the full position in 2010-11, and has been working in his current office for the past four years.

Specht said he enjoyed the time he spent working with Tereshinski.

“Bob (Tereshinski) was very successful and provided a lot of leadership for the players he coached over the years,” he said. “I knew he had a special interest in baseball after playing at Yankton College and, when I approached him, he looked forward to the opportunity to work with college-aged students.”

Since serving as the dean of Mount Marty, Tereshinski has focused on producing new programs, particularly in the nursing, anesthesia, education and business programs.

“After working here for more than 20 years, I knew those areas were key components of the educational process here at MMC,” he said. “I knew that a lot of the labor markets in this area focus on those four areas.”

Over the past several years, Tereshinski has helped develop the practical nursing program and added business specializations in finance, health administration and banking.

“In 26 years here, I don’t think there was a day that I didn’t like coming to work at Mount Marty,” he said. “I loved my baseball career because I had such great kids that played for me during those 11 years.”

Tereshinski said that he’s ready to not have a set schedule and to have new experiences outside of the confines of an everyday job.

He will also get to speak at the MMC commencement on Saturday, where he plans to speak to students about the experiences they’ll encounter in life.

“Everything I get to do here each day is a new experience for me,” Tereshinski said. “Every day is a learning experience because I’ve never really been a part of administrative work. In some cases, managing faculty is a lot like running a baseball club, except you have individuals a lot smarter than you are.”

Not so coincidentally, Bob’s wife Judy will be retiring this year as well after serving as a math and Spanish teacher at Yankton High School (YHS) for the past 43 years.

“I told my wife that I was going to retire and said to her that she shouldn’t base her decision off what I was doing,” he said. “I knew how much she loved teaching at YHS and loved the kids she taught, so she had to be able to make her own       decision.”

Many of the faculty members at Mount Marty have positive experiences working with Tereshinski during his years of service.

“Bob was an excellent coach and teacher and expected great things from himself and others,” said Sister Candy Chrystal, associate professor of teacher education at MMC. “Bob has been an excellent dean and has expected great things from himself and others. He’s gotten things done when they hit his desk, and told his colleagues and faculty when they did something well, and when they fell short, but still cared about them, regardless.”

Pam Schaefer, who has worked with Tereshinski for the past 26 years, said Tereshinski’s personality stands out to her.

“Bob has always liked working with students in all capacities,” she said. “Whether it’s teaching, coaching or administrative duties, Bob has done it all. He has the respect of everyone on campus and his smile and greetings to us brighten our day. Dedication and hard work describes Bob’s work ethic in the many roles he played during his years of service.”

Joanne Marsh, who has served as Tereshinski’s administrative assistant for the past four years, said he has always been a man of integrity and honesty.

“He’s been respected by both the Mount Marty community and the Yankton community,” she said. “He has always had the well-being of the college in the forefront of all of his decisions. I will miss his quick-witted humor, but wish him well in his retirement years.”

Sarah Carda, vice president of student affairs, said Tereshinski has been a pleasure to work with.

“Bob is one of those professionals that makes an impact beyond his own area,” she said. “He was an outstanding and committed educator who was able to evolve into an administrator without ever losing focus of our ultimate mission of education students. What’s more remarkable during all the positions he has held is that he always did it with confidence and a fantastic sense of humor.”

Tereshinski said that he has also enjoyed his career as an educator because the faculty he has worked with have been creative and supportive.

“I will really miss the day-to-day challenges that you have. Not one day is the same — each day is different,” he said. “The success stories take time to put together, as far as successful programs go. But we’ve had a lot of small successes that happen here every year, and there is getting to be more and more of them.”

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Area Bites Into Gator Meat

Jason Johnson of the Hy-Vee meat department displays two of the varieties of gator meat now available at the Yankton store. Sales of the product have been brisk as consumers seem curious about the exotic offering.

A recent addition to a local grocery store is turning Yankton into Gator country.

Gator meat, not often associated with Yankton, can be found and purchased at the Yankton Hy-Vee grocery store.

The store offers three different kinds of gator meat— a wild caught alligator fillet, corn meal breaded nuggets and alligator and pork patties.

The fillet costs $15.99 per pound, while the cost of the nuggets is $14.99 for a 1 pound bag.

Yankton Hy-Vee chef Staci Stengle said the gator meat being offered at the store has been very popular so far.

“The gator meat we have here has really started to catch on with our shoppers,” she said. “I’m not sure if customers just think of it as a novelty and buy it because they’ve never seen, or tasted, alligator meat before, but we’ve been selling quite a bit of it — we’ve had to restock it on our shelves quite a few times.”

Stengle added that the three types of meat Hy-Vee offers should each be cooked in different ways.

The alligator fillet is a tail meat, and should be cut and cooked to be used for different types of stews or be used to make jambalaya. The fillet should also be cooked and braised for a while.

The tail meat of an alligator is typically white and tender, while body meat can be somewhat tougher and darker.

The meat of an alligator will taste similar to chicken or a mild type of white fish.

In order to braise the alligator meat, you need to pat it down with a paper towel and cut the meat into cubes. After sautéing with a variety of spices, the meat should be added to the skillet with a small amount of cooking liquid. It typically takes around 40 minutes to simmer the meat until it becomes tender, according to the Hy-Vee website.

To cook alligator meat for a stew, you should first rinse the meat and dry it with a paper towel, then cut it into cubes. The meat should be mixed with flour and spices and put into a Dutch oven and covered with liquid, herbs, spices and vegetables. It should cook at 325 degrees Fahrenheit, or on the stove over low heat until the meat is tender.

The corn meal breaded nuggets should be deep fried, while the alligator and pork patties should be pan fried or grilled.

For alligator meat to be grilled, you should marinate the meat in milk and spices for around three hours. The marinade should be drained and the meat pat dried. You should brush the tail meat with oil and place on a grill with a rack from the heat source. It will take the meat about 10 minutes to cook on each side.

Frozen alligator meat can be kept in the freezer for up to about three months. The uncooked meat should be thawed in a refrigerator overnight.

In addition to just alligator, the Yankton Hy-Vee also sells a different type of novelty seafood that has also been quite popular.

“We’ve also been selling picked crawfish, which is a type of tail meat that has been very popular,” Stengle said. “In addition, we are selling whole crawfish as well.”

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

South Dakota lawmakers are taking a new look at funding for public school districts.

Last week, the Legislature’s executive board approved forming a study committee to look at the funding formula for public school districts and the revenue sources available the fund the districts.

However, local officials have cautious reactions to the committee.

“I’m happy that they’re putting a committee together,” said YSD school board member Jim Fitzgerald. “I think that the 20-plus year old way of funding schools may not be the best for us today. I’m hoping that the committee can come up with different avenues of funding to help better meet the needs of YSD and the students.”

He added that if the committee decides that everything is working well the way it is, it must emphasize that they state should follow the guidelines set in place and fund the schools at the rates that are mandated.

The current formula requires state aid to schools increase by 3 percent each year, or the rate of inflation, whichever is less.

“If they were to fund schools each year the way the formula says they should, YSD would be where we need to be right now,” Fitzgerald said.

YSD school board president Chris Specht said he believes the decision to create a committee to study public school funding is a small step in the right direction.

“As the vast majority of public school districts in the state continue to face declining enrollment, declining budget funds and greater expectations, in terms of opportunities offered to students and student achievement, state government needs to step up its funding of public education,” he said. “When public schools spend 86 percent of their general fund budgets on personnel expenses, it is only logical that cutting the budget means cutting staff, leading towards the elimination of opportunities for students and increasing class sizes.”

Specht added that some people say “if the money is not coming your way, local boards need to cut staff to meet budget.” However, he said he does not want YSD to have to do that.

“I contend that is the easy way out, which will also negatively affect students and will have a detrimental impact on our state’s future,” he said. “As a state, we need to fund education first.”

YSD board member Jay Williams said he hopes school districts can get more state funding in the future — but he is skeptical of that happening.

“Gov. (William) Janklow vowed to fix the funding problem, and he used a formula based on the cost of educating a kid,” he said. “We were doing fine, but he didn’t follow up on the formula. I don’t have a lot of faith in our state government to take care of education.”

Williams added that the concept of not wanting to fund anything, including education, is not something the state government should follow.

“I welcome any extra money we can get, but we’re in a tough situation here now,” he said. “Five years down the road might not help us much with the current students we have here now. I think the Legislature needs to address what they’ve done, but I don’t have much hope for it.”

Williams said that YSD has made significant cuts in recent years, but still faces a budget shortfall of around $1.6 million.

“We’re spending up our reserves with the idea that, when it’s all gone, there may somehow be more money,” he said. “However, I’m all for the government trying to get funding on the right track and seeing that some people recognize that there is a problem. Anything they can do to recognize the problem they’ve created, I’m all for.”

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

Children’s author David Schwartz uses the tongue of toy salamander to demonstrate proportion during a presentation at the Yankton Middle School auditorium Tuesday night.

Posted: Tuesday, April 23, 2013 10:44 pm

After months of preparation, and responding to a local drive that collected 1 million soda pop tabs, renowned children’s author David Schwartz was in Yankton Tuesday speaking to many of the schools in town.

Because many of Schwartz’s books are based on the number 1 million, officials from the Yankton Reading Council, a group of school teachers and administrators, decided they would collect a million soda pop tabs by the time he came to Yankton. Officials will donate the money collected from the pop tabs, around $400, to the Ronald McDonald House in Sioux Falls.

“More so then the money, the community effort is so meaningful,” said Kevin Miles, executive director of the Ronald McDonald Houses in South Dakota. “For families to step up and collect so many pop tabs means a lot to us.”

Schwartz had a public speaking engagement Tuesday night at Yankton Middle School. His speech, titled “Anything Can Happen (Even Math) When Children Wonder About What They Read,” dealt with how teachers and parents can utilize the math woven into his many books.

“I loved wondering about numbers as a kid,” Schwartz said. “When I would ride my bike, I would always start wondering how long it would take me to ride across the earth, or to other places.”

One of Schwartz’s most popular book, “How Much Is A Million,” deals with making the number 1 million concrete for students and young children to understand.

“I loved the idea of being able to see 1 million of something in one place,” he said. “I also wrote similar books on measuring 1 million and wrote about how long it would take someone to count up to a million.”

Schwartz gave the advice to parents and teachers that they can use graphs in a lot of his books, which help go deeper into the topics found in his books.

“There are a lot of questions that can be asked from the books I have published,” he said. “You can have kids create their own questions, then answer them.”

Schwartz added that parents and teachers need to encourage their children and students to read.

“Literature is such a big gateway to other subjects, including math,” he said. “The learning process is so powerful, and parents and teachers need to engage their kids and students in that process.”

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