RTR One Act play heading to State competition

The RTR One Act competition play “Chipped” received first place this weekend and is heading to the state competition for the first time in six years. Check out the Feb. 8 edition of the Tyler Tribute for more information.

Tentative results from School Board Election

The RTR School District released the tentative results from the Tuesday, Nov. 8 school board election on Wednesday, Nov.9.

At-large board member and current chair Pat O’Toole lost his seat to a write-in candidate Doug Possail with Possail receiving 223 votes to O’Toole’s 210 votes, RTR superintendent Bruce Houck said.

In the Tyler district Kari Hansen received 119 votes to incumbent Dave Haroldson receiving 24 votes, Houck said.

In District 3 for Ruthton Barry Erickson received 90 votes to Greg Baartman’s 60 votes, Houck said.

The District 1 school board member Paul Henriksen received 82 votes while write in candidate Scott Petersen received 57 votes, Houck said.

Keep checking the Tyler Tribute website throughout the week and next weeks Tyler Tribute for further updates on this election.

Parents night for RTR football

The RTR Football Team hosted its annual parents night before their game against MACCRAY on Tuesday, Oct. 18. Players and their families lined up, starting at the 50-yard line and stretching beyond the field goal marker, during the program.

School Board votes to purchase iPads for the sixth grade

By Robert Wolfington

tributeeditor@gmail.com

The RTR sixth grade class will be on the cutting edge of technol­ogy in the school after the RTR School Board voted to purchase iPads for the class.

During its regular board meet­ing Monday, Oct. 17, the RTR School Board approved the rec­ommendation by Superinten­dent Bruce Houck to purchase 42 iPad computers for the sixth grade class to use.

The devices can be used for text books and doing class work, Houck said.

The cost of the project will be about $26,000 Houck said.

The students will have the op­portunity to take the iPads home if parents pay a $75 insurance fee or put it on their own home owners insurance, he said.

Houck said the iPads will fol­low them into the seventh grade and the school would revisit it next year to decide if the next sixth grade class will receive iP­ads.

The board approved the hiring of a part-time employee who will work with students on math.

Each of the three schools in RTR met AYP this year, but the district did not. Houck said it was because of a few special education students not meeting AYP in math.

Houck said the position will be shared with the Lynd School Dis­trict and will split time evenly between the two districts.

A simple message with a big impact

Guest speaker Kelly Barnes talks about how habits impact everyone’s lives at RTR.

On Thursday, Oct. 6 the gym at RTR High School was filled with kids clapping, snapping their fingers and listening to a simple message, “it’s the little things that have a big impact.”

Speaker Kelly Barnes from Edmond, Okla. spoke about the little habits everyone has and what kind of an impact small kindnesses like saying thank you can have on everyone.

“The focus of the program was make it a habit, it is about the small things we do every day,” said Barnes. “It could be any­thing from waking up and mak­ing their bed or having a cup of coffee.”

“The real goal of the program is to challenge students to think about the impact small decisions make, be it the small things they do that effect their own life or impact other’s lives,” he added.

Barnes’ presentation was giv­en to the RTR High School and Middle School during an assem­bly Thursday morning.

Nearly everyone in the gym participated in games and activi­ties that Barnes presented.

“For me, as a speaker, when kids get involved like that it lets me know the school has a good atmosphere for encouraging them and rewarding those be­haviors and that has a lot to do with it,” said Barnes.

Throughout the program Barnes touched on the little hab­its that people have, connecting the things people do without thinking to how it could impact other people’s lives.

With topics like bullying and harassment in schools being discussed on a na­tional level, Barnes said he finds it easier to tackle the issue from the ground up.

“For me what has always worked, when you walk into any school, people have to realize that the hallways in schools are the toughest place to be in America right now,” said Barnes. “The most power­ful weapon is a person’s tongue and what they might say.”

By addressing simple is­sues, he said the message lands more effectively when looking at other is­sues such as bullying and harassment.

I hear from a lot of kids that, hey, it was fun or exciting, but there are al­ways a few kids, and you can tell because they’re the ones that hang around for a little bit and wait un­til everyone is gone,” said Barnes. “They say this is something they needed to hear either because it’s something they’re doing and see that it isn’t right or someone is getting treated badly and they get a sense that someone gets it.”

Barnes said it’s also im­portant for parents to take an active interest in their kids lives.

“Take the time to actual­ly get to know what is go­ing on in your child’s life. Sometimes students are guarded in that area but I always say if parents don’t take an active interest in their kid’s life why should they expect their kids will take an active interest in their own life?”

“If I want my kids to be involved, I need to be out there supporting them, showing up at their game or, hey, if you didn’t get the grade you wanted but you worked hard and that’s what counts,” he added.

RTR FFA holds Harvest Fest event at Lincoln Co. Fairgrounds

The RTR FFA held its annual Harvest Fest on Friday, Sept. 30 at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds. The event included a number of games including pumpkin launching, as pictured above. During that event participants used a sling shot to hurl small pumpkins at targets. A bean bag tournament was also held. The event also included a meal served by FFA members and the member auction. For more photos from the event turn to page 7.

FFA Fall Harvest Kickoff Sept. 30

The RTR FFA will be holding their annual Fall Harvest Kickoff and Member Auction on Friday, Sept. 30. We will be serving a free meal which includes pork loin, macaroni salad, beans, chips, SDSU ice cream and beverages. The meal will start at 5 p.m. and end at 7 p.m. At 7 p.m. we will start the member auction.

This is a fundraiser for our FFA chapter. There will be a pump­kin launching contest, bean bag tournament and other fun ac­tivities throughout the evening. This fun event will be located at the canteen on the fairgrounds in Tyler. Come support your lo­cal FFA and enjoy a night of fun.

RTR students perform well overall in statewide testing

The RTR School Board said they were happy to see strong test results from RTR students in state testing during the regular school board meeting Monday, Sept. 19.

According to state data in the MCA II testing, RTR Elementary had an overall proficiency of 83 percent in math and 91 percent in reading.

RTR Middle School was 63 percent proficient in math and 81 percent in reading.

RTR High School was 46 per­cent proficient in math and 92 percent in reading. For the high school students, the math pro­ficiency was 10 percent higher than the previous three years and more than double the 21 percent proficiency in math for 2007.

Both the high school and el­ementary school students ex­ceeded the state average in both categories.

The middle school was just a few percentage points below the state average in both math and reading, the state data said.

A representative from Restora­tion Professionals was on hand to discuss the ongoing cleanup at the RTR Middle School in Rus­sell.

The school was damaged in the July 1 storm and students spent the first few weeks in makeshift classrooms at the church and community center in Russell. Students returned to the school building for the first time this school year on Monday, Sept. 19.

Middle School Adminis­trator Jim Burns said the students are currently us­ing all of the main floor and two rooms on the sec­ond floor of the building.

Burns said he hopes to see students and staff us­ing the rest of the building within the next month.

The school board had a brief discussion about the agreement it has with the Hendricks School District for the use of Superinten­dent Bruce Houck.

This year the Hendricks School Board voted to ex­pand from a K-6 school to a full K-12 school.

School board member Stephanie Cordes said she had concerns that because of the expansion at that school, Houck was spend­ing less time working in the RTR School District.

Houck said he has spent a number of hours, more than the scheduled four days a month, with the Hendricks School over the last few months, getting it ready for a full K-12.

The school board re­quested a meeting with members of the Hendricks School Board to discuss the issue.

The school board voted to reduce gym rental costs for non-school athletic practices like the Junior Olympics volleyball and traveling basketball teams from $25 to $15.

Back in the classroom, mostly

Students in Neil Witte’s sixth grade science class are hard at work during their first day in the middle school building on Monday, Sept.19.

Students and staff at RTR Mid­dle School were in slightly more familiar surroundings on Mon­day, Sept. 19.

The middle school in Russell reopened its doors a few weeks into the school year after the July 1 storm caused damage to the roof and water damage through­out the school.

Teachers were still displaced from most of their classrooms, as only the main floor and two rooms on the second floor were open.

School Administrator Jim Burns said he hopes to see the entire school open again within the next month.

Crews are still working to re­store the building following the damage.

RTR celebrates homecoming

RTR Homecoming royalty candidates, pictured above from left to right in front, are Andrew Bakker, Philip Madsen, Brady Hauswedell, Taylor Brust and Travis King; behind them are Kendra Erickson, Lexie Rasmussen, Kristin Knudsen, Destiny Fredericks and Jenae Minett.

Homecoming Week is be­ing held this week at the RTR Schools.

Homecoming queen candi­dates were Kendra Erickson, Destiny Fredricks, Kristin Knud­sen, Jenae Minett and Lexi Ras­mussen.

King candidates included An­drew Bakker, Taylor Brust, Bra­dy Hauswedell, Travis King and Philip Madsen.

Kristin Knudsen, daughter of Kelly and Robin Knudsen, was named RTR Homecoming Queen for 2011 and Taylor Brust, son of Jason and Barb Brust, was named RTR Homecoming King for 2011.

Dressup days in the high school are: Monday was neon day, Tuesday was formal/hobo day, Wednesday is nerd day, Thursday is mustache day and Friday is spirit day.

Friday includes a boys volley­ball tournament, girls softball, bean bag tournament and pow­der puff football. Following the volleyball game on Thursday is an RTR style bonfire, sponsored by the FFA.

Middle school homecom­ing plans are the same as the high school. We do have dres­sup days: Monday was hat and shades day, Tuesday was decade day, Wednesday is character day, Thursday is pajama day and Fri­day is spirit day.

We will have the band and all of the kids in a group who are not in band.

Friday is school spirit day in the elementary school. Dress in RTR colors/clothing. The el­ementary students will partici­pate in the parade/pep fest as well.