Two more days

Two more school days and one of the most memorable years at BBE will come to a close. School is out for summer on Tuesday.

These B-B-E students rock!

Here's a glimpse of the award-winners at tonight's B-B-E speech/theater banquet in Padua.

If you were unable to make it to tonight's B-B-E speech and theater award banquet at the Padua Pub, you'll definitely want to check out the video I'll be posting on Saturday. We have arguably one of the finest small-school speech and theater programs you'll find in rural Minnesota. I can't emphasize how fortunate we are in Jaguar Country to have this right in our backyard.

Regardless of what these students wish to do after high school, you can be certain of this: being a participant in Fine Arts programs like speech or theater will make it easier to do things like job interviews or simply singing or speaking in public. Beyond that, it certainly looks fabulous on a college resume! Things like that matter in today's world!

Riley Schumann accepts his final award tonight from Coach Julie Lloyd.

 
Riley Schumann, a sophomore, was named the 2014 outstanding Thespian of the Year. More will be posted on Saturday, including video.

Here's the Sauk Centre Herald photo album from tonight's banquet in Padua:
http://saukherald.smugmug.com/2014-Events/2014-BelgradeBrootenElrosa-are/BBE-speechdrama-banquet-530/

Saints beat Richmond!

The Saints gather one last time in the dugout after they beat Richmond tonight. Naturally, as winners, the mood was upbeat across the team after beating a very good team in spite of committing four errors. The Royals have played in the last two state tournaments.

James Kuefler is shown batting in the 8th inning tonight when he ultimately was walked; he had a single in the second inning as one of Elrosa's six hits.

Elrosa defeated Richmond 3-1 under the lights of Saints Field tonight. Neither team crossed home plate until the fourth inning, when the Saints pushed one across in the bottom of the frame. They added one more run in both the sixth and seventh innings for a 3-0 lead. The Royals got one back in the top of the 8th but left one runner stranded in the 9th. Elrosa had six hits and four errors in the game; Richmond had four hits and one error.

Up next: a lot of baseball in Elrosa on Saturday (tomorrow). The Saints play the Cold Spring Rockies at 1:00pm. Two other games will follow including other area teams.

(Video) Jaguars compete at Section 5A track and field

Here's Section 5A champion Taylor Gregory sailing over the high jump bar on Wednesday.

Below are two video clips from St. John's University at the Section 5A track and field meet on Wednesday...the first one is another attempt at using iMovie to mash my sports clips together for easier viewing.

Of course I made a big mistake in the last try that I'm posting below. Instead of adding Sidney Shacter's discus throw (a personal record) I added a pole vault attempt of an Albany Huskies athlete. So further below is my clip from Shacter's discus throw...the more I use iMovie the better I will get at it.


And my second attempt at iMovie:


Here's Sidney Shacter earning a personal record in the discus throw at Collegeville:

I hope you and your family enjoy the weekend. Tonight Elrosa hosts an amateur baseball game at Saints Field...I can't get to it unfortunately. So please come out to the Elrosa ball park and make up for my absence!

(Photos) Spring concert and Memorial Day

Still horribly behind on office work, big time. Today didn't bring much progress my way after spending the day at MSU-Moorhead with the Sauk Centre track and field team at the Section 6A meet...I finally uploaded photos from the spring band/choir concert that was held on May 19. Here's that link:
http://saukherald.smugmug.com/2014-Events/2014-BelgradeBrootenElrosa-are/BBE-Spring-band-and-choir-conc

...and here's the Memorial Day program/parade photos at the Sauk Centre Herald website:
http://saukherald.smugmug.com/2014-Events/2014-BelgradeBrootenElrosa-are/BBE-Memorial-Day-program-526

I'll hopefully be caught up by the middle of June!

(Photos) Section 5A track and field

Sidney Shacter in the discus throw at St. John's University today.

Section 5A long jump champion Kinlee Swanson landing in the sand pit during one of her final jumps today.

It was a terrific day to be outside all afternoon at Clemens Stadium in Collegeville for the 2014 Section 5A track and field championships.

Kinlee Swanson, the section long jump champion (16-07.25), also competed in the 100 open and placed 10th in the preliminaries with a time of 13.74 seconds. Hailey Braegelman placed 14th in the 1600 run with a time of 6:08.28. In the pole vault, Alex Schramel took 9th in his final action as a Jaguar student-athlete. His best effort today was good for 11 feet, one inch, which was a new personal record for him.

More to follow later.

*Three Jaguars to state!!

Video from Collegeville today:

The B-B-E Jaguars track and field team members who competed at today's Section 5A meet all earned personal records in their respective events.

Taylor Gregory is the 2014 Section 5A girls' high jump champion. She cleared 5-1 and advances to the state track and field meet for the 2nd straight year. Cool!!!

And Kinlee Swanson just learned that she will join Gregory at state after she won the section long jump event (16-07.5). Great job!!!

The Class A state track and field meet is Friday-Saturday June 6-7 at Hamline University.

More will follow later.

At Benson, Peyton Miller qualified for her 4th trip to the Class A state girls' golf meet. As a team, the Jaguars girls' golf team finished 3rd in Section 5A with a 410.

Memorial Day

The parade is shown finishing up down main street.

May we never forget their sacrifice.

The B-B-E Acoustics group is shown performing.

As always it was a wonderful and moving program with great participation by B-B-E high school students. The Voice of Democracy program winners gave their speeches: 1st place Katie Hieserich, 2nd place Alex Evenson, third place Peyton Miller.

Saints edge Cubs

In Saturday afternoon action, the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team beat visiting Greenwald 4-2. They traveled to Roscoe today. **Update: the Saints beat the Rangers 2-1 on Sunday with starter Ethan Vogt earning 15 strikeouts to lead the cause. Elrosa's next game is under the lights at home on Friday, May 30 with a 7:30pm start.

Section track and field qualifiers

Here's the list of section qualifiers from the Jaguars track and field team, with results from the Sub-Section 5A-20 meet in Litchfield last Tuesday:
Sidney Shacter threw a season-high 111-feet in the discus throw for fourth place; Alex Schramel continues his outstanding pole vaulting season with a runner-up finish at sub-sections (10-7); Kinlee Swanson placed fourth in the 100 open (13.93); Hailey Braegelman took fourth in the 1600 (6:10.86); Swanson was the long jump champion (15-10); and Taylor Gregory returns to sections with a high jump runner-up finish (5-2) as she seeks a second straight trip to the state meet.

The Section 5A meet is at St. John's University on Wednesday, May 28.

Tough ending

The upstart #7 seeded Royalton Royals beat the #2 seeded Jaguars baseball team 8-7 in the subsection quarterfinals today. The season is over for B-B-E, who finishes 8-12 overall.

After falling behind 6-1, the Jaguars plated five runs in the bottom of the 5th inning to tie it up. After a scoreless 6th inning, the Royals scored one unearned and one earned run in the top of the 7th. The Jaguars had a bases loaded rally going with one out, but it was not meant to be as all they could get was one run in the last at bat.

Playoff baseball moved ahead!!!

Here's the deal. Royalton beat KMS last night in the play-in game, and that school's graduation ceremonies will be tonight. Therefore the playoff game against our Jaguars baseball team has to start at 3 O'CLOCK not 5 as previously reported. The #2 seeded Jaguars host the game in Elrosa.

Assuming that change works for DMac's schedule, he will call the game on Smooth Magic 107 FM.

Spread the word!

(Photo gallery) Jaguars baseball vs. Minnewaska

The Jaguars pause while Minnewaska warmed up a new pitcher in game one last Saturday.

Here's the link at the Sauk Centre Herald website...I'm finally getting caught up on a lot of office work. (Now I'm only roughly one week behind.) If only our lawn could mow itself now...then I'd be in good shape.

http://saukherald.smugmug.com/2014-Sports/2014-BelgradeBrootenElrosa-spr/BBE-baseball-DH-vs-Minnewaska-/

This man

Proudly holding a special Minnesota Twins bats given out to long-time regular season ticket holders.

To many of you George Borgerding needs no introduction. He is quite the guy and a very special part of Jaguar Country. He is without a doubt one of the friendliest and warmest bankers I've ever known. He should be known more than just a banker and part of the North American State Bank family. He has been a special father, grandfather, husband, mayor of Belgrade, community member, Jaguar supporter and just a great man in general to those who know him.

Don't miss out on Saturday's big celebration of the bank's 125th anniversary this weekend (May 24) at the North American State Bank branch in Belgrade. http://www.nasbank.com

(Video) High school combined choir

Here's more video from Monday night's spring music concert:

Great job!

(Photo gallery) Track and field at NL-S

Shows how far behind I am on everything...finally uploaded photos from the NL-S Little Crow track and field invitational, held on May 5:
http://saukherald.smugmug.com/2014-Sports/2014-BelgradeBrootenElrosa-spr/BBE-track-and-field-at-NLS-Lit/

Girls' golf advances in playoffs

The hardware continues to pile up for the Jaguars girls' golf team, as they brought home a playoff trophy for the third year in a row from sub-sections.

The Jaguars girls' golf team is headed to the Section 5A meet for the third year in a row after they took second place at today's Sub-Section 5A-North meet in Glenwood. Peyton Miller's 90 (second place overall) and Emily Wosmek's 95 (third overall) led the Jaguars.

As a team the Jaguars scored a 414. Ortonville won the sub-section with a score of 382.

In third was West Central Area with a 452 (one section qualifier), and Lac qui Parle Valley was fourth with a 453 (two section qualifiers). A fifth school, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, competed but had just two players.

On the boys' side of the scoring, Ortonville breezed past all other teams to win the sub-section with a score of 337. The race for second place was much more competitive, with Lac qui Parle Valley coming out on top with a 359. In third was Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley's 362, while the Jaguars took fourth with a 373. A-C-GC was fifth (384), West Central Area sixth (392) and Wheaton/Herman-Norcross seventh (415).

For the Jaguar boys' golf team, senior Jackson Gregory's 90 and eighth-grader Jayden Miller's 87 led them to section berths.

The Section 5A meet is next Wednesday, May 28 at Benson.

GREAT news for Jaguar baseball

Click to read about it!
http://saukherald.com/articles/2014/05/20/b-b-e-baseball-seeded-playoffs 

(Video) B-B-E senior high band

At last night's spring music concert:


As I said before, it was a terrific night!!

Baseball seedings are coming

The Jaguars baseball team, winners of six of their last eight games, is in the running for their highest postseason ranking since 1995!

We'll know this afternoon what their seed will be. Browerville appears to be a lock for the top seed after they beat Camden Conference co-champion Lac qui Parle Valley on Saturday in a tournament.

Stay tuned!

Spring concert!! and a big announcement

Choir director and music teacher Jeremy Winders choked back tears while saying what we all hope is a temporary "good-bye" while he takes time away from teaching to spend time traveling with family.

The choir and band students were fantastic tonight!!!

What a night for the Fine Arts department at B-B-E!!! Tyler Borgerding was awarded the prestigious John Philip Sousa award by band instructor Chris Coppicus. Nick Benton was given the Distinguished Music Award by choir director Jeremy Winders, an honor given to the most-dedicated senior choir member.

And perfect timing for my Internet to bug out on me, keeping me from uploading my video clips from the night. Grrrr...and my card reader isn't working, so no photos either, just what you see above in the rough photos from my cell phone of my digital camera screen. Grrrr

By the way, click here to read some breaking four-day week news:
http://saukherald.com/articles/2014/05/19/b-b-e-school-board-decides-flexible-schedule

Baseball update

The Jaguars baseball team trails 1-0 as the bottom of the third inning is getting underway. *Update: Pierz starter Cody Meyer has taken out 9 Jaguar batters in a row as the third inning has come to a close.

**Update: we are in the 8th inning! Score tied 3-3.

**Final: B-B-E 4, PIERZ 3 in TEN innings! An RBI-single by James Kuefler in the bottom of the 10th won the game. The Jaguars are 8-11 overall heading into playoffs.

Time for the band/choir concert!

Baseball streamed online today

Go to
http://youaretheresports.com

to listen to today's Jaguars vs. Pierz baseball game that starts at 4:00pm.

Some history...trips down memory lane

Coach Julius "Evy" Evenson is shown working as an umpire in a JV-level fastpitch game in April between the Jaguars and Holdingford. Fun fact: the site of the game, played on the fastpitch diamond at the elementary school, is where Evy played high school baseball for the Brooten Buccaneers in the early 1960s.

I saw this and countless other types of historical information in the Belgrade Centennial book...the first football game held at the current location of the high school football field was on Friday, September 9, 1983. That night the Belgrade Redmen beat Eden Valley-Watkins 14-0. Gregg Weller, father of a handful of past and current B-B-E Jaguar athletes, was a co-captain of that 1983 team that ended up as Prairie Lakes Champions for the second year in a row.

I also found this interesting. During the 1985-1986 school year, the Belgrade school district added "Elrosa" to the official school name. From 1985 to 1988, the school district and the athletic teams were promoted under the name "Belgrade-Elrosa" before the athletic pairing with Brooten in the summer of 1988.

Total enrollment for the Belgrade(Elrosa) district peaked in 1969-1970, when the K-12 enrollment was 864. The total B-B-E K-12 enrollment slipped below that figure somewhere around 1999-2000.

A high school wrestling program was added to the Belgrade school in 1965-66. It was added in Brooten in 1970.

Keith Clementson, who I remember as my physics teacher at B-B-E in the 1990s, first started teaching in the Belgrade school district in 1967. He retired around 1999/2000 but still substitute teaches at area schools. I ran into him at the high school last week and enjoyed some fun conversation with him.

Dorothy Anderson, who was my junior high English teacher at B-B-E and who I give a ton of credit for teaching me proper grammar and how to write, first started teaching in Belgrade in 1968.

Julius Evenson, who most recently coached 8th grade football for B-B-E last fall and 7th grade boys' basketball this past winter, first started teaching (Phy. Ed.) in Belgrade in 1973. "Evy" as we know him was a Brooten Buccaneer athlete in the early 1960s. He has coached numerous sports through the years, too many to mention, and coached two West Lake Conference champion baseball teams for the Belgrade Redmen during his head baseball coaching tenure between 1974 and 1985. Coach Evenson's 1984 baseball team lost in the Prairie Conference championship game 7-6 in an extra inning to Grey Eagle.

Also starting at Belgrade in 1973 was Robert C. (Bobby) Cassidy, who taught social studies and served as head girls' basketball coach from 1974 through 1992 with the Redmen and then B-B-E Jaguars programs. A truly remarkable coach, he guided numerous conference and district champion teams in his tenure.

Coach Chuck Marks started teaching at Belgrade in 1977 and served as head wrestling coach for many years after he came to Belgrade through his coaching retirement in 2001. His first year as Redmen head coach was 1980-81 after he took over the program from Industrial Arts teacher Ed Arneson (my shop teacher). Coach Arneson was head coach of the Belgrade wrestling team from 1973-1980. Also starting at Belgrade in 1977 was now-retired counselor (and coach) Bruce Wing. Starting at Belgrade in 1978 was current high school math teacher Scott Gibson, who was also my high school math teacher. My junior high reading teacher Ann Cassidy started teaching in Belgrade in 1979.

Phil Olson, who retired from teaching instrumental band in 1983 at Belgrade schools when Jim DeRose took over the program, started teaching in Belgrade in 1949. At that time, not a single student in Belgrade could play an instrument, as band was put on the "back burner" in 1942 as a result of World War II when a suitable band director couldn't be found. Olson is a current local columnist and historian.

Coach Dennis Weimerskirch started teaching and coaching in Belgrade (his alma mater) in 1962. As head coach for both the Belgrade-Elrosa Redmen and B-B-E Jaguars, his teams won 83 games from 1978 to 1988 in 11 seasons with a win/loss mark of 83-26 including numerous West Lake and Prairie Lakes Conference championships, including the final season in 1988 as the B-B-E Jaguars. To those who know him, the man we affectionately call "Weimer", his 1982 and 1984 teams had undefeated regular seasons. He retired from coaching after the 1988 season and from teaching in 1997. Starting with the 1982 seasons, Weimer's Redmen teams won 17 Prairie Lakes Conference games in a row until the 1985 season, when Belgrade-Elrosa lost to conference arch-rival Osakis/Villard. His 1980, 1982 and 1983 teams competed at the state level of competition. Just one of Weimer's 11 teams finished with a sub-.500 record (1987, 3-5).

Here's Weimer's season records as head coach:
8-2    1978
8-1    1979
8-2    1980 lost to Holdingford in state playoff opener
5-3    1981
12-1    1982 Class "C" state runners-up
9-2    1983 lost in state semifinals
10-1   1984 lost in Region VI championship
7-3    1985
5-4    1986
3-5    1987
8-2    1988 (first year of the B-B-E Jaguars)

P.S. - the photo I posted below, asking if viewers recognize the building...is a photo of the Brooten High School around 1912 after a large brick addition was added.

Spring Concert

The B-B-E high school band and choir spring concert is at 7:30pm on Monday at the high school gymnasium.

Saints win!

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team beat first-place and home team New Munich 6-1 today for their second win in a row. The Silverstreaks were 3-0 entering the contest in a tie for first with Spring Hill in
the Stearns County League North division.

The Saints took a quick 5-0 lead in the first inning and cruised from there. Steve Mueller had three hits followed by two hits each by Matt Middendorf and Pat Illies. Brady "Hammer" Weller started and pitched six innings to get the win.


Up next: the Saints (2-1) host Greenwald next Sunday at 1:30pm.

Jaguars go 2-0

The Jaguars baseball team won 1-0 and 4-1 behind strong pitching today against Minnewaska Area. They are 7-11 overall, 5-3 in their last 8 games and host Pierz on Monday in Elrosa.

The Lakers fall to 7-8 overall.

Baseball on the radio

On Smooth Magic 107 FM at 11am today...the Jaguars baseball team hosts Minnewaska Area in Elrosa. The Lakers are coached by Belgrade Redmen alumni Brian Gruber. His older brother Dennis is the assistant varsity coach for the Jaguars.

I'll also be at Jr. High baseball with the 7th grade Jaguars in the booming town of Sunburg this afternoon.

It's going to be a great day!!!

Jaguar baseball wins!

They won game one 9-8 against Kimball Area in Elrosa. The second game is underway.

A 3-0 lead midway into the 2nd game didn't hold up, with the Cubs winning 5-3.

The Jaguars play again on Saturday in Elrosa at 11:00am against Minnewaska Area. It's a doubleheader with the 2nd game at 1:00.

Recognize this?

Hint: the view of this building is from the west.

Do you recognize the building? I am guessing no one recognizes the back side of what you see in the picture...what's in front is a three-story brick school building. What's standing behind it is a three-story wooden school building.

Jaguars honored at Smooth Magic 107 Sports Banquet

Mackenzie Winter, Taylor Gregory, Megan Weller, Jackson Gregory, Billy Borgerding and Brian Goodwin were a part of the banquet on Wednesday night in Glenwood.

B-B-E's Dave Montbriand was honored with the Coach of the Year award by D-Mac, while Brian Goodwin earned one of two Male Athletes of the Year awards.

Here's the introduction of the B-B-E athletes last night at Lakeside Ballroom in Glenwood:


It was a terrific night!

Here's a Sauk Centre Herald video link to watch one of the awards given out last night:
http://saukherald.com/content/brian-goodwin-earns-d-mac-award

A little more information

I am getting jammed up this afternoon so I don't have much time to fully explain all this.

Here's a few notes to keep in mind regarding the four-day week / Big Brother / Nanny State / Governor Mark Dayton foolishness:

MACCRAY moved to the four-day week schedule starting in 2008-2009. They had been under extreme financial pressure and endured budget cuts even worse than the worst B-B-E has ever seen. They operate three school buildings in three towns with K-12 enrollment not much higher than B-B-E's. Worse yet, they have a property tax levy that's significantly higher than B-B-E's. (Ours is $837 a pupil, but theirs is over $1,400.) MACCRAY is currently finishing up their 6th year on the four-day week schedule. They have added budget pressures by the need to make major physical plant-related upgrades to their two elementary schools in Maynard and Raymond. In January 2014 a bond referendum failed that would've built a new elementary school by the high school in Clara City and closed the existing elementary buildings. In a nutshell, MACCRAY is still facing very serious problems.

A-C-GC moved to the four-day week schedule in 2010-2011. Once they were in their 3rd year, they reapplied to get a three-year extension to the four-day week schedule. That was granted by the Dayton administration last year, and they are "good" through July 1, 2016.

B-B-E moved to the four-day week schedule beginning with the 2011-2012 year. I will always know that because that's the year we won the first state boys' basketball championship. We've gone three straight years without needing to do any budget cuts of any sort. None. Zero!! It's almost a miracle if you think about it...(here comes opinion)....but thinking may be too much to ask for Dayton and his cronies.

Don't forget: regardless of the 4 or 5-day schedule, those of us in Jaguar Country have to do everything we can to advocate and share our story of why B-B-E is a great school district. I wish I could take an entire day off from work and write about that. (Sounds like a vacation day will have to get burnt up to do that.)

Baseball schedule changes

The Elrosa Wood Bats tournament has been changed from a two-day event to a one-day event. The games on Friday night won't take place, plus K-M-S and Browerville won't attend. Instead it will simply be a doubleheader between the Jaguars baseball team against Minnewaska Area on Saturday with games at 11:00am and 1:00pm. The Lakers are coached by Brian Gruber, a former Belgrade Redmen athlete and uncle to numerous past and present B-B-E Jaguar student-athletes.

The wild, erratic weather this spring caused major schedule disruptions for K-M-S and Browerville, causing them to back out of the tournament.

By the way, while you're reading this I want to encourage you to add the North American State Bank's 125th anniversary Open House celebration on Saturday, May 24 from 12:00pm to 3:00pm at the NASB Belgrade branch location. Staying in business is quite an achievement for 125 years in a small town! It goes without saying that the Borgerding family is deeply committed to the success and well-being of the city of Belgrade, the Belgrade area and the B-B-E school community in general.

MDE: get a clue

So the Minnesota Department of Education is going on the airwaves telling the public that they're pushing four-day week schools back to five-day weeks because "student achievement is suffering."

I can't speak for all four-day week schools, but I can say with 100% certainty that test scores at Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, MACCRAY and B-B-E have risen in the last few years. Student achievement is not suffering.

How can MDE get away with lying like that? As I said yesterday, they seriously need to use a new message about their blow back being levied on four-day week schools. Not telling the truth doesn't work.

Question: is the state of Minnesota setting themselves up for a lawsuit by lying about schools? Pretty sure it's against civil law to spread lies like MDE is doing.

Baseball splits with EV-W

In game one of today's Central Minnesota Conference doubleheader in Elrosa, the Jaguars baseball team beat Eden Valley-Watkins 5-4 for their second win in a row. In the nightcap they fell 7-4 to the Eagles to slip to 4-10 on the season. Up next is a home doubleheader on Thursday against Kimball Area. Both today's games and Thursday's games are Section 5A contests, so getting two wins over the Cubs would help greatly in the sub-section seeding that takes place next week.

Peyton Miller's 46 and Jaden Gossen's 51 led the Jaguars girls' golf team to a third-place finish at today's Central Minnesota Conference meet at Albion Ridges in rural Annandale. The meet, won by Osakis's score of 168, was hosted by Maple Lake. One CMC meet remains on the schedule, and it will take place next Thursday at Kimball.

No word yet on the track and field teams competing in the CMC championships at Maple Lake.

4 day week

Note: much of what you read below is my opinion, not the opinion of any B-B-E staff member.

The state of Minnesota is forcing B-B-E to return to a five-day week for 2015-2016. They've "granted" B-B-E with the option of having a transitional year in 2014-2015 to move back to the five-day schedule. It's what I call the act of a very heavy-handed state government.

Details to follow! Much is up in the air right now, including whether B-B-E will return to a five-day week in the fall of 2014, the fall of 2015 or fight for a two or three-year extension to the current four-day model.

I am anxious to tell Governor Dayton what I think about Big Brother knowing best!!!

What's fascinating is how the Department of Education is allowed to lie about their decision-making process. Flat out lie. It boggles my mind. Seriously! They are the "department of education" which somehow implies they should be modeling what we want our kids to know or learn...yet what they do is model deception and not telling the truth?

For MDE to say they didn't see "any increase" in test scores at 4-day week schools is complete nonsense. I just looked at math test scores this morning, and ours and A-C-GC's went up while a long list of area 5-day schools' scores went down. That's the cold, hard fact, folks!!!

I'm trying to get more comment out of MDE. They need to straighten out their message.

Superintendent Bullard is crafting a letter to send to all parents of the B-B-E district. Once I have that I will share information from that.

I am somewhat troubled by what could happen in the cases of current B-B-E students who open-enrolled into the district in large part from the four-day schedule. For some families the four-day schedule is a hassle, but for others it's an outright benefit. From my experience, it's been working out well, and I'm terribly upset that MDE had to stick their nose into our business.

For our family the big picture isn't in favor one way or another. This past winter I saw the B-B-E community respond that we wanted another 3 years with it. The big thing for me is this: we would always have the option to revert to 5 days at ANY time any year at our choosing. We weren't married permanently to the 4 day schedule. We could've returned in one year, two years, three years...if we want to. That's the beauty of local control. But in an election year with a vulnerable governor up for reelection, all bets are off. And local control is one of the big victims.

At the end of the day, we have to remain vigilant and active on a daily basis in our advocacy for B-B-E schools and the life we enjoy ("we" meaning my family, for starters) in Jaguar Country. Whether we are a 4-day or a 5-day school, one thing won't change: we have a terrific school system that's great for kids from any type of background or family; we have absolutely awesome, stand out, truly dedicated staff. Top to bottom!!! We have generous English Language Learner staff time for elementary students. In the high school we have a full-time business teacher and a full-time agriculture teacher, two things you don't find in many rural schools of our size. Beyond that, class high school elective offerings have expanded from 57 three years ago to 64 in the current year. Hey, MDE, tell me how that's somehow not good for our students?

The successes at B-B-E will remain a constant even if school officials have to reorganize how we deliver education to students. If you believe that having your kids in a school that emphasizes a family-atmosphere that never allows a single student to fall through the cracks...by all means, come on over to B-B-E. It's a story worth sharing...in good times and in tougher times.

Boys' golf fourth at Rockford

The Jaguars boys' golf team placed fourth at today's Central Minnesota Conference meet hosted by Rockford with a score of 187. Rockford Area, the front-runner in the CMC, won the meet with a season-best 160. Jackson Gregory led the Jaguars with a season-best score of 41. Gregory sits in 7th place in the CMC individual standings (43.3) and in the running for All-Conference. Not far out of earning All-CMC honors is Austin Trustheim, who's in 15th place with an average of 45.3.

Up next is the Benson invitational on Wednesday.

Saints win!

In their home opener today, Elrosa beat Meire Grove 3-2. They travel to New Munich on Sunday, May 18 for their next Stearns County League game.

Baseball ends losing skid

The four-game losing streak for the Jaguars baseball team ended on Friday when they pulled out a 5-4 come-from-behind win at state-ranked Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted in a Central Minnesota Conference doubleheader. Dalon Bitzan’s suicide squeeze brought in Justin Schmitz from third and Trey Heinsius from second on an overthrow in the bottom of the fifth as the Jaguars (3-9, 1-8 CMC) overtook the Lakers (8-4 overall).

Jordan Wosmek pitched 5 2/3 innings to pick up the win.

At Rockford, the Jaguars boys' golf team placed fourth with a 187 in a CMC meet.