Back to school with COVID-19

RTR Superintendent Dave Marlette.

By Shelly Finzen
lbvjeditor@gmail.com

Back to school shopping season is nearly upon us and parents wonder what the new school year will look like in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the uptick in active cases within Lincoln County, some wonder if school will even begin on time. The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) recently re­leased the results of a parent survey that school administra­tion will take into consideration moving forward.
According to the MDE, “The survey received an overwhelm­ing response from the commu­nity. Between June 15 and July 6, MDE collected more than 130,000 completed responses…The survey asked a series of questions about parents’ expe­riences with distance learning in the spring of 2020 and their hopes for the 2020-21 school year.”

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

RTR School Board moves back to on-site meetings

The RTR School Board met in person on Wednesday at the middle school cafeteria in Russell.

By Mark Wilmes
tributeeditor@gmail.com

The RTR School Board returned to in-person meetings last Wednesday at the RTR Middle School cafeteria. Attendees had temperatures checked on the way into the meeting and everyone was required to wear a mask. Two mem­bers, Troy Chandler and Tami Nelson, joined by conference call, necessi­tating roll call votes on all actions taken.
R.A. Morton Site Super­visor Michael Beach was on hand to update the board on progress at the new school site.
“We’re prepping the aux and main gym for the concrete floor,” Beach said. “We’ve got block walls that are going up in area A—the fitness room, locker rooms, that sort of thing. We have metal framing in Area B. The ductwork, plumbing and in-wall elec­tric are still going in place in that same area. Over in Area C the joists and deck are finishing up for the second level.”

For the full story and more photos, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

RTR building site continues to progress

Above: The second floor of the Area C education wing was poured last week.

By Mark Wilmes
tributeeditor@gmail.com

 
Construction at the new RTR School site continues to move forward within the parameters of what R.A. Morton Site Manager Michael Beach considers to be “comfortably on schedule.” Crews worked on pouring the upper deck last Wednesday above the elementary classrooms. The second floor will house the middle school and high school classrooms. They also filled and compacted the area that will house the shop, with concrete pouring soon to follow. The crews will then progress to the competition gym after completing the upper deck and media center floors. Also in the weeks to come, the attention will turn to the auxiliary gym, which will house three regulation basketball courts.
“It’s hard to believe that you could nearly set the entire competition gym inside [the auxiliary gym],” Beach said.

For the full story and more photos, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

Amundson Foundation grants 11 scholarships to area students

By Shelly Finzen
lbvjeditor@gmail.com

In 1992, the late Lloyd and Barbara Amundson of the First Security Bank system realized that their lives had been blessed. They wanted to give back to the communities where their banks were located. According to a statement released by First Security Bank Lake Benton, Mr. Amundson said before his death, “We were talking how lucky we have been with our education and being in the right places at the right times and meet­ing the right folks. We asked ourselves, ‘What can we do for these towns that have been loyal to us,’ and decided that scholarships would be the best thing we could do.”…

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

School board explores sports practices, cuts gymnastics program

An aerial view of the new school construction by County Road 8 in Tyler. The view is from the north side of the building.

By Mark Wilmes
tributeeditor@gmail.com

RTR High School Principal Dan Bettin went over the cur­rent guidelines for beginning practices for sports at the high school during last week’s vir­tual RTR School Board meeting. Bettin told the board that RTR Certified Athletic Trainer Aaron Sattler outlined three phases of easing back into athletics.

“We’re going to start with phase one beginning on June 15,” Bettin said. “We’re going to require all coaches and players to come in door 6…

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

Free throw finesse

Laken Baartman received her third place trophy for this year’s Knights of Columbus State Free Throw Competition, which had to be canceled due to COVID-19. Her trophy was delivered by Mark Peters, head of the Knights of Columbus in Minnesota.

RTR school board holds special informational session

A representation of the main competition gymnasium video scoreboard for the new school building.

By Mark Wilmes
tributeeditor@gmail.com

The RTR School Board met via Google Meet last Wednesday in special session for an informa­tional update on progress with the new school building.
“This is basically just informa­tion and to talk about direction,” Superintendent David Marlette said. “Any motions that would need to come out of this meeting I will put on next week’s agen­da. We have a number of things we’re going to need to decide in the future.”
Marlette told the board that the project began with a contin­gency fund of $625,420.

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

So long, farewell

RTR Elementary School teachers and staff took their respective shows on the road last Thursday evening, traveling to Russell, Tyler and Ruthton to say goodbye to their students safely and give them best wishes for the summer.

Elementary farewell parades

For more photos, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

Seniors left without final speech meets, plays

By Mark Wilmes
tributeeditor@gmail.com

Among the many disap­pointments involved in the collateral damage from the pandemic is depriving the 2020 seniors of their final season participating in speech and the spring play. We reached out to seniors on their feelings about missing out on their spring activities:
Alex Duus — Speech and Drama
“I have been involved in the RTR Spring Play for all of my high school years,” Alex told us. “The spring play has always been a highlight of my year. Ev­ery year I get the chance to go onto the Opera House stage and act in a full length play or musical with my friends…

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.