Welcome back to school

Next week, over 4,000 New Prague Area School District students will return to their classrooms for the start of the 2023-2024 academic year. With any luck, it will be a good, really good, school year.

The school district has spent the year working to make this school year the best year possible. It has a team of elementary, middle school, junior high and senior high school teachers ready to put a curriculum into place intended to prepare students for college, vocational school and life in the working world.

From the outside looking in for years, the New Prague Area School District posted some of the top test scores in the area. Area school districts often compared their test scores to other districts and most always saw NPAS test scores at the top of the heap. Is it easy? Probably not. No doubt it takes a genuine commitment – academically and professionally – to provide students the best education possible. It also takes a recognition from families education is important, something to be valued and recognized as a tool for lifetime improvement.

No doubt children have heard the kerfuffle this summer of concerns over gender identity and who is using restrooms and locker rooms. Hopefully, this discussion will not impede a child’s academic progress and the perception the district is offering the best education possible. Students should know the adults will figure this issue out, probably in a courtroom or at the legislature and not in a school board meeting room.

In the meantime, students should focus on their classwork, their activities and learning all they need to know to grow and become a successful person contributing to this world.

Town ball: Celebrating one of state’s best traditions Last weekend, attendees at the state amateur baseball tournament saw what makes town baseball a cherished tradition. Then again, they already know if an era where everything changes, town baseball is a constant. Players sign to play with a certain team for the love of the game. They have to live within 30 miles as the crow flies of their home ballpark. Players who’ve been around the game know the players from the team in surrounding communities.

Whether rooting for Veseli, Union Hill or St. Patrick at the state tournament fans are loyal to their teams and appreciate the effort needed to put a community’s best foot forward. Veseli made a fantastic run through the loser’s bracket in the regional tournament to win a trip to Dassel. Alas, when midnight struck and Cinderella’s bubble burst, the players were down about the loss. But they appreciated the support from their small army of loyal fans.

Just as New Prague did back in 2018 and will again in 2026, every town wants to look its best when hundreds of fans come to town for a game. It takes hundreds of volunteers and tons of hours of prep to host a successful state tournament.

In Dassel, volunteers in ATVs were in the streets around the ballpark offering rides to and from the park. The ballpark was in spectacular shape. The grass was freshly mowed and every detail was covered. Waconia’s Lions Field was in spectacular shape when St. Patrick took on St. Paul.

The game matters to one and all. And when something goes amiss, like a roster violation requiring the state board to eliminate a team from the playoffs, a la Webster, or removes a team from the state field, as it did to Victoria Saturday, fans come to the defense of their team and blast the state board, demanding it hand down penalties tailor-made for each infraction instead of its one-size-fits-all approach.

Taking a minute on where hooch can be sold Now that the DFLers in the legislature have decided to OK the legalization of home production, sales and use of marijuana, communities throughout the area are enacting moratoria to give them time to decide where they will allow cannabis to be sold.

The time will allow cities and counties to contemplate the proper location for sales. It will also give them time to wait and see what tweaks the state comes up with, adjustments potentially impacting the zoning and decisions cities and counties could make.

While the answer seems obvious in many communities, the timeout to contemplate the proper locations for cannabis sales makes sense. After all, why make a decision until you have to make one? Hopefully, they’ll use the time for reasonable consideration and provide communities and law enforcement the tools they need rather than losing their minds people can now use cannabis recreationally.