Contributed photos  

An industrial technology student at Rainy River Community College volunteers at the Borderland Humane Society last week. Students cut holes in the cat cages to allow the animals more freedom roam.

The experience at the humane society gave students some hands-on learning, while helping out the newly-opened facility.

Last week, Rainy River Community College students went to newly-opened Borderland Humane Society to measure and make a materials list of everything needed to cut holes in the cat cages to allow the cats to roam back and forth.

The project took a little teamwork. While two students cut holes and sanded them down to be smooth, other students cut PVC pipe to fit the holes. The pipe is expected to be installed this week.

According to an RRCC official, Mike Turenne, RRCC foundation board member, contacted the college to find out if the industrial maintenance class could do some community volunteer work modifying these cat cages.

Mike Koski, who teaches the class, thought it would be a great way for the college and his class to give back.

Kevin

Grover

Discussions about changing standardized testing in schools are swirling around the Legislature, and one local administrator said change can be a good thing.

Changes to the No Child Left Behind law are being considered by a Republican-controlled U.S. Senate. The law signed by President George W. Bush in 2002 requires states to test students on reading and math proficiency.

International Falls schools Superintendent Kevin Grover told The Journal this week change has its pros and cons, but overall is necessary to keep up with the way students are learning.

“We are teaching things differently today than we did 10, 20, 30 years ago,” Grover said, noting Minnesota received a waiver from the NCLB law in 2012. “There are a variety of suggestions coming out and it’s hard to say where it’ll all end...Things could change at the state and federal level.”

Grover said finding an assessment tool that works for everyone for standardized testing can be challenging.

“We need to measure student achievement,” he said. “The trick is finding a fair tool to measure that achievement that works for every district in the state or county.”

Scores for tests taken in the spring of 2014 showed the Falls district landed above the state average in its math scores; reading and science fell below the rest of the state average mark. And this year as teachers prepare for the spring tests, Grover said they will focus on math should the tests continue to be required.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if tweaks are made at the state and federal level,” he said. “Like anything, we need to look at how we’re doing and there needs to be a way of monitoring.”

A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate would eliminate annual testing requirements in favor of what’s called grade span testing, which would still monitor progress and how the system is doing, but it would be done over time.

“We need to find where kids are struggling and suggest the best practices for them,” Grover said.

One way staff at Falls schools have considered data is through the district’s new early-out schedule. Grover said at both schools, data is being looked at, and discussions are occurring on whats working and what isn’t.

“I think early outs are going to help us in the long run,” Grover said, adding whenever a group collaborates, good things happen. “I hope we see drastic changes instantly, but I am a realist and I know these things take time.”

Average retail gasoline prices in Minnesota have fallen 1.6 cents in the past week, averaging $1.94 per gallon Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 2,856 gas outlets in Minnesota. This compares with the national average that has decreased 2.3 cents in the last week to $2.02 per gallon, according to gasoline price website MinnesotaGasPrices.com.

Regular gas prices in International Falls, according to the site, ranged from $1.87 to $2.19 this week.

Including the change in gas prices in Minnesota during the past week, prices Sunday were 127.8 cents per gallon lower compared to the same day one year ago and are 24.8 cents per gallon lower than a month ago. The national average has decreased 27.1 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 125.8 cents per gallon lower than this day one year ago.

"Welcome back, $1.99. This is the week that we'll see the return to a national average of $1.99 per gallon, but motorists shouldn't expect it to last very long. Refineries have been processing less crude oil and thus producing less gasoline, which will contribute to a soft bottoming out of the national average before a small recovery back in the very low $2's," said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy. "And while this year will still feature far lower prices than last year, we'll be subject to a seasonal lift in gasoline prices as refineries slow production to do maintenance and to make the progressive switch over to cleaner burning summer gasoline. Last year's lift began the second week of February and saw the upward trend last until the beginning of May, during which, the national average saw a rise of 35 cents a gallon. This year we're expecting a similar rise, though the previous few years the rise has averaged 30-65 cents per gallon," DeHaan noted.

"On the diesel side of things, price drops have continued to outpace drops in gasoline prices. Diesel prices dropped an average 7 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.83 per gallon. By the start of February, diesel will fall under $2.80 per gallon, and by Valentines Day, they'll fall to $2.65 per gallon, a sweetheart deal for consumers and trucking companies that have seen diesel prices lag behind gasoline prices," DeHaan predicted.

Some quick gasoline price statistics as of Monday morning:

• Missouri has the lowest state average in the country; at $1.79 today, it is one of 27 states averaging under $2 per gallon.
• There is only one state averaging above $3 per gallon: Hawaii.
• In the lower 48 states, California has the highest average at $2.45, followed by New York at $2.42.
• Every state has a lower average today than the same day last year. Ohio, at $1.89 today, has seen the biggest drop from the same day last year, down $1.40 from its Jan. 26, 2014 average.
• Only one state has an average less than $1 lower than last year: Hawaii.
• There are only three states that don’t have a single station reporting a price under $2 per gallon: Vermont, Alaska, Hawaii

GasBuddy.com is a tool to help motorists save money at the pump by collecting gas price data and displaying it on websites and on a free smartphone app that has been downloaded over 37 million times. The site operates MinnesotaGasPrices.com and more than 250 similar websites that track gasoline prices at more than 140,000 gasoline stations in the United States and Canada.