Jordan Public Schools has the money to hire five teachers for the 2010-2011 school year.

Find out where they are tentatively planned to be placed. Read Superintendent Kirk Nelson's column in the March 18 print edition of the Jordan Independent.

Staff Writer Katrina Styx has taken a job at the Hastings Star Gazette. Today is her last day in the downtown Jordan office.

"In the past 1-1/2 years, I’ve learned about Jordan and all of you who live here," she wrote in her column for this week's print edition. "More importantly, I’ve learned from you, and those are lessons I will never forget."

Styx covered police, schools, and other general assignments for your local newspaper.

Read Styx's column in the March 18 print edition of the Jordan Independent.

Jordan High School held its 2010 National Honor Society induction ceremony Wednesday evening. Twenty-seven new students joined the society. See some photos from the ceremony in this slide show:

To buy these or other photos you see in the Jordan Independent, go to www.jordannews.smugmug.com.

At 11:12 a.m. March 1, officers and a K-9 unit conducted a drug search at a school in the 600 block of Sunset Drive. Two students were charged with possession and also face disciplinary action from the school.

Read more about what incidents the Jordan Police Department handles on page 13 of the March 11 print edition of the Jordan Independent.

Listen to public safety incidents as they happen by tuning in to the police scanner online at www.jordannews.com/crimebeat.

Shannon Fiecke of the Shakopee Valley News reports:

Lightning-fast Internet could be possible for area homes and businesses if locals can convince Google to make Scott County a testing ground for high-speed fiber.

Google is looking for one or more communities across America to become trial sites for its ultra-high-speed broadband network.

With a fiber-to-home connection, Google’s networks would deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most people have access to today – faster than 1-gigabit per second.

Kristin Holtz of the Shakopee Valley News reports:

SHAKOPEE -- Scantily clad girls. Boxers exposed under baggy pants. Flip-flops in January.

You’d expect it at the mall, but not at school.

Shakopee Middle School is surveying parents on a new dress policy that would require standardized T-shirts beginning next year.

“It’s an idea that came up because we really feel strongly that we want kids to be academically focused and not fashion show-focused,” Principal Dr. Michael Neubeck said.

The U.S. Department of Education announced the finalists in the first round of the federal Race To The Top (RTTT) competition. Minnesota is not among them.

Part of President Obama's American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, RTTT is a competitive grant program that aims to help reform American education.

Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee made the first cut.

Jordan Elementary School principal Stacy DeCorsey was recently recognized at a reception with Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Commissioner of Education Alice Seagren in honor of her receiving the National Distinguished Principal Award. As a result of her work, she continues to receive prestigious invitations to speak, teach, and advocate in various capacities in colleges and universities, for the state and federal government, and for professional educational associations. Also at the reception were Minnesota's teacher of the year and superintendent of the year.

“Everyone can be great because anyone can serve." (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember.  Involve me and I learn." (Benjamin Franklin)

Most of us have either read about or experienced the benefits of volunteerism. We may have been on the giving end or the receiving end.  In either case, we discovered that volunteerism is good for the soul.