The Bismarck Tribune from Bismarck, North Dakota • 1

niagazinG inside: Women climb Consultants have plan to help KuGrain rise to top Page IF What to do with all those apples i this year Page IE 5 higher in education leadership 1 Tl UCftrzWWl OTJ Sunday, October 5, 1997 BismarckMandan, N.D. Call 223-2500 or Toll Free 1-800-472-2273 Singlecopy $1.75 Flsiws in special sd sEiock to boBM "4 it I I I I 1,, REBECCA LENTZ Bismarck Tribune Jisl re-evaluation had occurred within the three-year time limit. Delays in reviews ranged from one month to several years. Findings "strongly suggest that while policy is in place, procedures for accurate identification are not clear to personnel and that students are inappropriately identified as having a specific learning disability. The report also outlined nec By MARK HANSON of the Tribune Harney Elementary School, 35 miles east of Williston, has only three students this year, which makes it the smallest school in North Dakota.

fl 1 Tmy 1 i essary corrective actions, including: Develop and submit a plan for continuous training of all special education personnel to develop accurate and complete IEPs. Develop an internal monitoring I 1 State's smallest class is big on technology Jensen: Report. 1JN I MARK HANSON Bismarck Tribune Playground equipment and an American flag flapping high on a pole are the only indications that a school exists on this part of the prairie. "But the setting is so nice in this little cove," said Harney teacher Shirley Hegness, referring to the shelter belts that Drotect the HARNEY Happy greets you with a wag of his tail. He spends niost of the day snoozing in the entry way.

The scene is common for a Although a report outlining numerous deficiencies in Bismarck Public School's special education program was issued nearly two years ago, most school board members say they didn't know about the problems until last week. The report, required by federal law, reviewed the Bismarck Special Education Unit. It was issued Feb. 23, 1996. A team from the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction visited the schools in January 1995.

Superintendent Lowell Jensen said a report was given to board members in July 1996. What exactly the report included, Jensen couldn't recall. Martin Huschka, director of special education for the district at the time the report was issued, is now on disability due to illness, Jensen said. Three board members remembered hearing about the positive aspects of the monitoring. "The strength of the unit is the 'student first' attitude and professionalism of staff who serve students with disabilities," the report said.

"There is strong administrative leadership and support of special education staff who provide services to students and generally good support of special services by school administrators." However, board President Mel Fischer and board members Marcia Olson and Jim Miller said they didn't hear about areas of concern. "I remember only the good part, the flowery part, Fischer said. "The reports presented are what we assumed to be the findings. We never did see the complete report." The report cited several areas of concern: Regarding parental involvement, the report states a district policy "suggests the placement decision is made prior to developing the individualized education program for a child. Also, the time line for establishing an advisory committee is not stated, and the mechanism by which special interest groups are involved in long-range planning is not clear." The district's three-year plan addresses Individual Education Plan requirements; "however some of the unit's policies and procedures do not comply with regulations." Seventeen student files were reviewed for students who had been served by special education for at least three years.

In 12 cases, the 1 school i Williston -'J --J. A Harney School building. And the setting inside is just as nice. Even though it's a one-room school, there's plenty of space. With onlv three New Town system to ensure services stated on the IEP are being delivered and are effective.

Identify those students whose re-evaluations have not been completed within the three-year time limit and immediately conduct the re-evaluations following the procedures governing initial evaluations. As a condition for receiving federal funding, the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction must monitor the state's special education programs for compliance with federal law. Special education units work with students requiring additional services. The units serve children who need two hours a week for dyslexia to those who require full-time aides to complete the school day. The site visits are done on five-year cycles, said Brenda director of special education for the Department of Instruction, who submitted the district's report, In the areas cited as needing improvement, the federal law'i re-quirements are spelled out.

The team's findings what actually happens in the district and" corrective actions what the district must do to comply with the law also are included. Representatives from the DPI work with district officials to come into compliance with federal law. Some issues can be cleaned up quickly, Oas said, while others can take several months. The district was required to submit a plan of corrective action to the DPI. Jensen said the district filed documents with DPI addres-(More on REPORT, Page 12A) TRIBUNE Graphic gtudents the rural home in western North Dakota.

But past this entryway isn't a kitchen. And the tan building that rests 35 miles east of Williston isn't a home, either. Happy, an easy-going collie, is the mascot and welcome wagon for Harney Elementary School. The one-room school, one of four rural elementary schools of New Public School District 8, is home to three students this year, which makes it the state's smallest school. A gravel road off Highway 1804 takes you to the school.

room has only three desks. Hegness' desk sits in the corner, and a work table is at the front of the classroom. Across the back of the room is what could be considered the school's computer lab. "It's nice to have my own computer. I used to have to share," said first-grader Celeste Maisey.

Last year the school had seven students. Harney school may be off the beaten path, but it certainly doesn't lack modern technology. There are three computers, a microwave, refrigerator and a fax (More on HARNEY, Page 11A) Teacher Shirley Hegness, back, stands by her desk in Harney Elementary School with her three students, from left, T.J. Sailer, Celeste Maisey and Brittany Grindy. 1 lliciSti'-Cilt lowst i rat OUTSIDE Partly sunny today with a high in the lower 70s.

West 'WASHINGTON (AP) Serious crime is on the decline in America, due largely to the wind 1 0 to 20 mph. Tonight, mostly cloudy. Low in the upper 30s. Monday, mostly sunny with a high in the mid- to upper 60s. aging of the baby boom generation and the effects of a harsher judicial system.

FBI statistics released Saturday show crime was down in 1996 for a fifth year in a row. The murder rate fell to its lowest level in more than a quarter of a century. 'Tart of this is demographic: Many baby boomers are now in their 40s and have mellowed out. Thev are not The murder rate was 7.4 per 100,000 people, the lowest since 7.3 in 1969, the FBI reported. "This is really a striking new low," said professor Alfred Blumstein at Carnegie-Mellon University.

"It results largely from the 31 percent drop in juvenile murder arrest rates since 1993, although the adult rate also has been declining, though more slowly, since 1991." Overall, the FBI report chronicled 13.5 million crimes in 19, down 3 percent from the year before and the fifth consecutive decline. The total crime rate of 5,079 per 100,000 people was the lowest since 1984. "These numbers show that escalating crime is not an unsolvahle problem," Attorney General Janet Reno said. The FBI reported more than 50 percent of the murder victims knew their assailants and that 30 percent of female victims were slain by husbands or boyfriends, while 3 percent of males were killed by wives or girlfriends. "We know that in the future there will be more at-risk kids," he said "If this translates into more violence depends on the extent to which we are willing to invest in kids." The new figures are "a very good five-year trend, but the improvements are still marginal," said Rep.

Bill McCollum, R-Fla, chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime. "This is marginally improved, but we are very far from an acceptable level of violent crime in this country. That's why every night on TV people see these heinous crimes," he said. He credited any improvement to Republican-sponsored legislation that tied financial aid for prison building to a requirement that states keep violent offenders behind bars for at least 85 percent of their sentences. There were 19,645 murders in the United States last year, down 9 percent from the year before, the FBI's annual report said.

Program for the Study of Violence at Northeastern University in Boston. But Levin added: "That's not the whole picture. The other part is that we are doing all sorts of things to reduce crime: Locking away more violent prisoners; going after small offenses so they don't lead to large offenses. "We are taking the guns off the streets in high-crime areas; we've formed partnerships between police and residents. There have been large-scale grass-roots efforts in major cities, and the total effort is paying off." But James Alan Fox, dean of criminal justice at Northeastern, warned that the new numbers are "reason to be hopeful, but not reason to be overconfident." There will be a 15 percent growth in the population of teen-agers by 2005, he noted, so if we become complacent and think that all of our problems are over, we will be blind-sided by another crime wave." INSIDE APPOINTMENT BOOK 11A CLASSIFIED 1G DAKOTA 2A DEATHS 11A FOR THE RECORD 11A HOMETOWN 2E-5E MONEY IF MOVIES 11C OPINION 2C-5C SPORTS IB TODAY IE VIEWS 1C I I Reno: Solvable.

committing the high-risk violent and property offenses they did 10 years ago," said professor Jack Levin, director of the 13 'Mr. Manning' mattes it from nowhere (J. 7 Emanuet 1 Stroh stands: in front of his business, Manning Sales and Service, -along Highway 22 in Manning. motorcycle. If they aren't buying, they're having a previous purchase serviced or repaired.

The long string of boats and personal watercraft looks, well, a little strange lined up on a blacktopped highway that's another 30 miles to the nearest water, unless one counts the Knife River flowing by to the north. But it works, and Stroh says it actually works quite well. He's built a $2.5 million-dollar business in Manning literally from the ashes of a fire. Stroh owned a grocery store that burned to the ground three decades ago. (More on STROH, Page 12A) through the miniscule community.

It's across the street from the Little Knife Saloon, where better than average steaks are served with the best French onion soup in western North Dakota. A block up the highway is the nw Dunn County courthouse, Manning's biggest employer and built only after a bitter legal battle with Killdeer, population 722. Some people go to Manning to register their property titles, pay their taxes and settle issues in court up at the stone-faced courthouse. But on an average day, it's likely far more people go to Manning to buy a boat, a personal watercraft, a snowmobile or a Llr- LAUREN DONOVAN, Bismarck Tribune MANNING The town of Manning, population 49, is miles from nearly anywhere, except Killdeer, 10 miles north. Bui one man put the Dunn County town on the map for thousands of recreationists as far away as Canada, Montana and South Dakota.

That man is Emanuel Stroh. People call him Manny, but they could just as well call him Mr. Manning. Stroh owns Manning's Sales and Service, a business that stretches nearly the entire length of Highway 22 as it rushes By MIKE MCCLEARY of the Tribune mummmMMM wmtm mmmmmmmm mimmmmmwmww.