Rep. Kadyn Wittman is in House Education now to talk about HB 1042, to cover the cost of free and reduced price lunch for students. She says it's a worthwhile investment and affects thousands. It's near and dear to her heart since she was on free/reduced-price lunch as a child. Jesse Severson (sp?) representing Hungry Hearts says it's a necessity to provide a hot lunch to every child in our schools through HB 1042. It's about giving every child regardless of their background the same opportunity to succeed, he says.

Time for the Board of Education Standards meeting to kick off in Pierre. They have a couple items on the agenda before getting to the social studies standards. There’s a digital delay they’re working to fix first. CTE standards & capstone standards will be first before social studies comes up.

Educators & Indigenous education advocates & members of @SDEAEducators & @Edequity_SD stand in solidarity outside of the Ramkota in Pierre before the social studies standards hearing kicks off at 9. 2021 workgroup member Sherry Johnson speaks out against the standards.

The South Dakota Board of Education Standards is meeting today. It's the first of four public hearings it will hold on the proposed social studies standards. Here's the agenda: boardsandcommissions.sd.gov/bcuploads/0919…
And here's where you can follow along with me: sd.net/remote1/ .@ElisaSand_AAN is on the ground there at the meeting in Aberdeen. I'm listening remotely from the Argus office.
Since I wrote my preview on the public comments (article = argusleader.com/story/news/edu…), the BOES has uploaded even more comments it's received since Sept. 9...

THREAD: Gov. Kristi Noem has proposed $900,000 in one-time funds for curriculum to help meet her goal of teaching South Dakota’s students “why the U.S. is the most special nation in the history of the world.”
Yet, some educators want to ensure teachers...
rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/edu… ...will be involved in every step of the curriculum creation process, and some political science professors said they’re worried Noem’s curriculum may end up more ideological than educational.

'It takes a toll:' More than 600 have died from COVID-19 in state's long-term care facilities.
Read how coronavirus hit Monument Health facilities in Custer and Sturgis, the VA in Hot Springs, and Westhills Village in Rapid City: rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/sta… Residents + families struggled w/ the pandemic’s emotional effects: “If someone’s used to seeing (a loved one) every day prior to the pandemic, it was reduced tremendously. A focus across the state: what can we do to mitigate the psycho-social impact this has had on residents?”

NEW: CDC study shows 86 COVID-19 cases in Minnesota tie back to the Sturgis rally. 51 were primary event-associated cases + 35 were close contacts. Four were hospitalized and one died.
rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/sta… (1/5) Secondary transmission happened at a wedding + a funeral.
16 of 48 patients reported working while infectious, including 5 who worked at the rally and 4 who worked in health care after the rally.
(thanks @ChrisVondracek for link): cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/6… (2/5)

SCOOP: "Less than 25" figure that our state epidemiologist shared today about Sturgis covid cases is literally 24 cases. Two public notices so far & 22 cases were out-of-state residents tested at Monument Health.

What about cases in schools? (thread) 1/x
rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/sta… There are “less than 40 total cases” among K-12 school students, teachers and staff in 19 different districts that have “at least one case” across the state. But the DOH won’t release specific school names or district names as part of their biweekly media updates. 2/x