Passenger rail meeting tonight
Passenger rail was a topic of discussion at the Intergovernmental meeting hosted by Northfield last week. Councilor Zweifel said Councilor Nakasian gave an update and asked for letters of support from those entities who’ve yet to do so. There are a lot of cities and townships who have already signed support for at least the study of passenger rail in the area. Zweifel commented that some of the supervisors remembered “riding the rails”. A second round of public meetings is underway with an update on the MN State Rail Plan. There’s one scheduled here in Northfield at the Weitz Center tonight from 5 to 7. MnDot representatives will discuss the draft plan and the results of their outreach efforts so far. They’re also looking for further public input.
RR spur meeting cancelled
Union Pacific Railroad officials from Omaha and Chicago have cancelled their scheduled meeting today with Bridgewater Township and Dundas. The snowstorms have hampered air travel. The railroad plans to build a bypass spur. Dundas City Administrator John McCarthy says the railroad’s plan would be to park trains. For example, a southbound train may be parked to allow for northbound trains to pass. A train could, potentially, sit there for several hours. The spur will run from approximately Cabot Avenue to CR 8. That’s a little over 2 miles. The meeting will be rescheduled.
18 month checkup into Transformation Technology
It’s been 18 months since the initiation of Technology Transformation in the Northfield School District. They’ll be asking for more input from parents, staff and students about the future of Technology Transformation. In the elementary levels, classrooms share 6 iPads per room. Superintendent Chris Richardson said that’s proving to be less than ideal for teachers especially at the intermediate levels. One of the items includes iPads for lower grade levels, specifically grades 4 and 5. Richardson says those are the grades that having access to the technology enhances their studies of social studies, science and more. He said they would not likely be able to take them home but instead leave a set for each student in the classroom. They’ll be asking for thoughts on email and whether to carry the same lease for teachers and students which means the same technology. Also they’ll look at their Schoology program in which parents have access to their child’s work. Again, looking at expanding the program into the upper elementary level. Richardson says they have a lot of work to do in the next couple of months.
High School Bands to play Winter Concert tonight
The Northfield High School Symphonic Band and Concert Band are performing their Winter Concert tonight at 7:30 at the Northfield Middle School Auditorium. The cost is $1 for adults, senior citizens and students.
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