4 Day School Week for North Branch Students

There are 5 main issues around my community right now. Recently it was just passed that next school year will now only be 4 days a week instead of five in the North Branch area. There’s talk of putting a power plant up over by the Sunrise River. Also the construction that’s going on with the bridge over 35, they are adding on to create more lanes. Another thing is that there is also talk about the Light Rail that would go from the cities up into Duluth. That might go through our town of North Branch or Cambridge the next town over. Of course another main issue is the people being affected by the economy.

“The two biggest issue’s going on right now are probably the school week changing to four days and the power plant that might be built,” says Steve Nelson, a teacher and coach at the North Branch High School. I asked why the school would want to change from a five day schedule to a four day schedule. He replied with, “They think it will save money. They won’t have to pay for heating for all the buildings or gases for the buses. They wouldn’t have to pay the hourly staff like the bus drivers and the cooks and some other staff. They predict that it could save the school a quarter of a million dollars a year. It would start from around 7 – 7:30 in the morning and go until around 3:30 in the afternoon and it would be from Tuesday until Friday. Monday’s the students would get off.” Although it might be nice for some older students, who could work an extra day out of the week it might not be so nice for others. Most parents work Monday through Friday and the school schedule works with theirs. But, with students having Monday’s off, not all parents can stay home and watch their children. They would have to find a daycare or babysitters for their children.

The other main issue is the power plant that may be built nearby. It would be built up near the river and used for electricity for the community. The water it would be near would help it cool. It would help the community because it would have a tax base increase. The school and community could mention that one their taxes. Talking with Steve, he quoted what many people in the community have been saying. “People don’t want a power plant in their backyard.”

Information on the 4 Day Week

http://www.northbranch.k12.mn.us/se3bin/clientgenie.cgi?schoolname=school540&statusFlag=goGenie&geniesite=599&myButton=g5plugin&db=g599_b4758

Information on the Power Plant

http://ecmpostreview.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2342&Itemid=1

Information on the Light Rail

http://www.perfectduluthday.com/2009/03/02/high-speed-train-from-duluth-to-twin-cities/

The Economic Crisis

The United States is definately going through a rough patch right now. Many people are getting laid off, their houses foreclosed and many can't even find a job. The economic crisis going on here, is affecting everyone at this point. According to, "Conservatismtoday.com" under the article "U.S. Job Seekers Exceed Openings by Record Ratio," it stated that there were 14.5 million unemployed workers in the U.S. and only 2.4 million job openings. The article was posted in September of 2009. Things seem to be worse now, so you would think that the unemployment rate has gone up so far. I know a couple people who are being affected by this. One specifically is my boyfriends mother. She worked with a company called PDI for 16 years, and because of this recession, it brought down sales and people had to be cut. So, after working with the company for that long, she was laid off. The company laid off over 400 people over the period of two years. This goes to show that the recession is not only affecting the employees that are being laid off but also their families and intern their budget; reflecting back onto the market.

My Community

I live in North Branch, Minnesota. It's about population 8,000. It is changing however. It is a wonderful community to live in, but it's getting bigger, which means more construction of new buildings and working on the bridge over Freeway 35. Speaking for myself, I think it's great that they are adding to the city with more restaurants, and little malls. As for the construction of the bridge, it needs to be done, but it's going to be a pain. Many people in our community definitely agree with that factor. As for the little malls and restaurants, some like it. They just recently built a County Market, Fantastic Sam's, Verizon Wireless, Papa Murphy's and a nail salon. That's great news for some, but bad for others. Like the small grocery store Nelsons. It's survived for decades and is family owned. But, with County Market open and taking customers, will Nelsons be able to survive?

The community has some great places for people to get together and talk. Some popular spots for that are two of the coffee shops we have in town. One called the North Country, which seems to be the more popular one. The other is Cool Beanz, where people can tan there as well. Those are more of the laid back places where it's quiet and peaceful. The most common place to get together in North Branch would be Pizza Pub. It is always packed on the weekends. Especially when they have bands come play there, which is every so often. Most people go to Pizza Pub, to relax with a beer and some friends, and play a little pool.

Information about the Bridge:
http://www.ci.north-branch.mn.us/th95-i35.html
Pizza Pub Events:
http://www.mypizzapub.com/play_PizzaPub.html

Blogging

What makes a blog a blog, you ask? Blogging is believing.. as stated in a Twix candy bar commercial. If any of you other bloggers have seen it. On the serious side, I think what really makes a blog is the writer and their ideals. That's what a blog is about. It's about writing about something that you care about. My favorite thing about blogging is that I get to do exactly that. I love writing and expressing my thoughts on things and being able to back it up with evidence and research. What the most challenging thing about blogging to me, is that I'm kind of new at it. So, I'm sort of out of the loop with some things in the world of blogging. But, I'm about to catch up with it, as well as some others out there.