Twelve teachers at Vestaburg Community School received Android tablets for training purposes as part of a three-year plan to provide one-to-one technology to the district’s 700 students. About 220 tablets will be purchased during each of the next three years, starting this fall with 220 Asus Transformer TF101s.

The Montabella Community Schools Board of Education unanimously approved a one-year lease to Endeavor to use the gymnasium located in the Montabella Central Office facility at a special meeting last week. The decision came at the recommendation of facilities committee members Dennis Stratton, Mike Rasmussen and Sheri Miel. Credit references and a security deposit were secured prior to accepting the lease agreement.

Visitors to the Robert Lee Davis Memorial Park in McBride are in for a change of scenery. The village of McBride received a letter last December that it was among those recommended to receive a $132,300 Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) development grant.

Palm trees, bamboo mats, surf boards and hammocks set the scene for a reading at Montabella Elementary School. It is one of the many ways elementary schools are motivating pupils to get into reading during the month of March.

Throughout Montcalm and adjacent counties, it’s been evident that public school districts have been in tough times. Major cuts in the state budget, many directed toward education, have forced districts to close buildings, consolidate classrooms, cut crucial sports and education programs and lay off teachers. However, according to State Rep. Rick Outman, R-Six Lakes, there is one specific school district, Highland Park, just eight miles northwest of downtown Detroit, which had the state Legislature scrambling to keep afloat last week.

Montcalm County sheriff’s officials were in a somber mood Tuesday night as a law enforcement millage was narrowly shot down by voters. A 1 mill property tax increase request lost 4,205 to 4,085 – a difference of only 120 votes. The millage passed in Belvidere, Cato, Eureka, Home and Sidney townships, the city of Carson City, the city of Stanton and three of four precincts in the city of Greenville. The millage failed in Bloomer, Bushnell, Crystal, Douglass, Fairplains, Ferris, Maple Valley, Montcalm, Pierson, Pine, Reynolds, Richland and Winfield townships. The millage passed in one Evergreen Township precinct and failed in another. It tied in Day Township.

The packaging is brightly colored, emblazoned with a “K” for “Kryptonite” radiating a green glow. Flavors include “Fuzzy Wuzzy,” “Juicy Fruit,” “Kottonmouf King,” “Kronik,” “Purple Haze,” “StrawVery,” “Tigers Blood” and “Water Mellow.” Prices range from $3.99 to $12.99 per gram. Each package states, “This product is not intended to be taken internally or externally by any mammal on planet earth. Not for human consumption.”

Unfortunately, children don’t come with instruction manuals. Parents eventually learn that preparing children for school involves more than teaching them to write their names or tie their shoes.

The holidays are over but local food pantries hope people keep the Christmas spirit of giving ongoing. Donations during the holiday season are typically greater owing to increased hunger awareness and charitable giving, according to several area coordinators. This year’s Christmas holiday boost helped meet the increasing demand for food assistance.

Fred Meijer meant a lot to Greenville and Greenville meant a lot to Fred Meijer.
The community outpouring in the wake of his death on Nov. 25 ranks as 2011’s top local news story in The Daily News.
Meijer’s father, Hendrik Meijer, founded the family’s namesake retail conglomerate in Greenville in 1934 as a modest local grocery at Lafayette and Charles streets.
Together, Fred and Hendrik Meijer launched a chain of one-stop shopping supercenters in the Grand Rapids area. After Hendrik retired, Fred expanded the chain to include 196 supercenters in five Midwest states.