Three Ortonville School staff retired at end of school year

The Ortonville School honored three retiring employees on Friday, May 23, held in the school Commons Area.

Fourth Grade teacher Kyle Kirkeby, Paraprofessional Mike Athey and Bus Driver Harley Helgeson announced they would be retiring following the 2024-2025 school year.

Kyle Kirkeby

After 35 years at James Knoll Elementary, Kyle Kirkeby has decided to retire. Kirkeby spent 32 years teaching fourth grade and three years teaching fifth grade.  Interestingly, all 35 years were in the same classroom, which is rare. His career began in the fall of 1990.

In 1997, Kirkeby was named Minnesota Conservation Teacher of the Year and in 2003 received the National Wetland Conservation Award in Washington D.C.

He served as assistant basketball coach for nine years under Roger Sandberg and three years as head coach. During his three years as head basketball coach, Kirkeby guided the team to two state tournaments in 2000 (placing fourth) and 2002 (placing second). Kyle also coached seventh and eighth grade baseball for 15 years. 

Kyle took many field trips to Bonanza Environmental Center where lots of students learned to canoe and appreciate the outdoors. He also took students skiing at Andes Tower Hills for nearly 34 years.  He served as Elementary Science Fair coordinator for over 30 years. “It wasn't always a favorite of students and parents,” said Kirkeby.  “However, in the end, students were always proud of their projects and learned something about science.  It even  inspired students over the years to pursue careers based around science, which makes it all worth it.”

Kyle is grateful to Morris Tietjen and Burt Nypen for giving him a chance 35 years ago.  He also wants to thank all colleagues, parents, students, and athletes for a memorable career in Ortonville.

Harley Helgeson

Helgeson started driving bus in 2004 as an activity driver. He drove any activity his kids were involved in. In 2007 he was asked to be a route driver.

“I told Craig Danielson I would, provided I could still drive for events my kids were in. I also enjoyed driving ski trips and getting paid to ski,” said Helgeson.

In all, Helgeson stated that he has  driven for over 20 years and about 300,000 miles.

Mike Athey

After 30 years of working in different school districts, Athey has decided to retire. Mike worked 23 years as a custodian in the Clinton School District, three years as a paraprofessional at the Chokio School, and seven years in the Ortonville School District as a Special Education Paraprofessional.

Mike and his wife Nancy have eight children, 20 grandchildren and one great grandchild.

“So that kind of tells you what we will be doing in our free time,” said Athey. “We also love to garden, go camping and travel, and spend quality time at home with each other.”

Athey added that he has always loved working with Special Education students and making a difference in other students lives.

“I just hope they can find someone who can take my place at greeting students and faculty at door 7,” Athey said with a smile.

Athey said that they have gained some wonderful life-long friends at the Ortonville School.

Federal cuts to local libraries could hurt regular services

Libraries across Minnesota are gearing up for the possibility of a funding shortfall that could threaten the way libraries operate in the future.

An executive order in March from President Donald Trump called for eliminating the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the main federal funder of museums and libraries.

Jason Frank, County Librarian at the Ortonville and Graceville Libraries,   stated that currently everything is under Judicial Review.

“Public libraries operate basically  the same way,” said Frank. “Funding comes from property taxes from the city and county. Both libraries get a share of the City and County revenue that is appropriated by population.”

Sixty-six percent of Big Stone County residents are clustered around Ortonville, so 66 percent of the funding goes to the Ortonville Library and 33 percent goes to the Graceville Library.

Minnesota is very unique in that it is considered one of the best interlibrary loan systems in the country. In Minnesota, you can go to any library in the state and access the catalog of any library elsewhere in the state.

“No matter what library you walk into across Minnesota, such as the Pipestone Library, you can get a book from the Grand Marias Library,” said Frank.

Minnesota has an interstate library system ran by Minitex based in St. Paul. Minitex is a state-funded library organization located at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Their mission is to strengthen libraries, cultural institutions, and the communities they serve. They connect libraries and individuals with information, ideas, and experiences to enrich lives and strengthen communities.

This includes a staff who fulfill the  interlibrary loans in front of a computer and they have a fleet of couriers crossing the state delivering these books.

“A lot of people do not realize how extensive that network is in Minnesota,” said Frank.

Frank added that if a patron came into the Ortonville and Graceville libraries and they need an obscure book, they can usually get that for them in less than a week.

Minitex is not funded by municipal  property taxes like local libraries are. Minitex receives $1.69 million in federal grant money from an agency in Washington D.C. called the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). With this $1,69 million, they are able to do this resource sharing and interloan process.

Minitex also receives a half million in federal grant money in subgrants for library and community organizations and then they receive a little over a half million for staff salaries and operations.

If Minitex should lose their federal funding, it would result in a major disruption of their library services that people have been accustomed in using. It’s not a large agency, but they would be looking to layoff half their staff that would result in a slow gutting of the system from the inside out.

One of the most expensive things Minitex does is the transferring of books from place to place.

“The worry is, if this funding would abruptly disappear, we would be looking at patrons starting to pay for books to be sent from outside their home library,” said Frank.

Within the Pioneerland Library System, these libraries in small communities are limited by how much funding they can get in the county and city. People who live in smaller towns are getting a lot of books outside of the library system.

“One thing this program is vital to is home schooling,” Frank stated. “Many of our most loyal and frequent patrons are home school parents and students. They depend on Minitex to receive quality academic material and text books. This could affect a lot of people in our community.”

The American Library Association (ALA) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), along with 20 Attorney Generals, including Minnesota, filed a lawsuit in Federal Court to stop this on grounds it was unconstitutional and that this is Congresses jurisdiction for determining this funding. A Federal Judge recently agreed on May 1.

In Minnesota, Minitex is funded through this fiscal year which is the end of June. If this issue is not resolved by July 1, we should see major disruption to the library service.

Frank stated that if Congress does not act, then we are facing the scenario that this will go through the Federal Court of Appeals and then to the Supreme Court.

Now is the time to reach out to your local representatives and tell them what you think of interlibrary loans and access to free information.

“Our local libraries will continue to operate as normal,” said Frank. “We will do our regular summer classes and programs. The libraries will be busy throughout the summer.”