By Rich Larson, News Director
The Minnesota Department of Human Services released its report this week regarding the former employee of the Northfield School District who
admitted to putting melatonin into the bottle of at least one baby while she was employed at the Early Ventures Childcare Center.
While the report found that there may have been a pattern of behavior going back to 2018, it also said that this was the sole doing of the former employee and that she did so without the knowledge of the school district or Early Ventures management.
In December the district reported that an employee had been discovered placing something into an infant’s bottle. The report said that employees had found tablets in various places over time and had even approached the former employee about the tablets who told her colleagues that they were breath mints. The report went on to detail that suspicious co-workers set up a camera in the Early Ventures infant room where they witnessed the former employee place something into an infant’s bottle. Once the woman was presented with proof, she admitted to one incident. The woman’s employment was terminated, the Northfield Police Department was contacted and the pills she had been using were later found to have been Melatonin.
Northfield School Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann said that he is still angry about the incident because he understands that it was a breach of trust, not just with the district and the employee, but also with the community and the school district.
“The safety of these kids, whether they’re an infant or a teenager, is our top priority. I’m still angry about the incident, because we work so hard to build trust and respect with our families, and it’s this kind of thing that can damage that.”
In January, Rice County authorities announced that they would not bring charges against the former employee because they could not find intent to harm the infant.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Dr. Matt Hillmann can be heard here.
Body worn cameras raise eyebrows at council work session
In a work session last night, the Northfield City Council received a presentation from Northfield Police Chief Mark Elliott regarding the purchase and implementation of body worn cameras for Northfield Police officers.
What had initially been presented as a foregone conclusion, however, was challenged by members of the council, Councilor Suzie Nakasian in particular, who questioned the process of setting policy. Councilor Nakasian said that there had been no discussion by the council on whether the city needed to implement a body worn camera program. And while she acknowledged that money in the city budget has been earmarked for the program, she held that that did not equate to an endorsement of the program by the council.
Mayor Rhonda Pownell pointed out that there had been discussion bodycams for years, and in particular a discussion in September had seemed to give the green light for the program. City staff had made recommendations to the Council that they take public comment on the program at the March 2nd council meeting, then the police department would take bids for the purchase and administration of the equipment and will then come back to the council with numbers for further consideration.
After a lengthy discussion it was decided to proceed with city staff’s recommendations.
Lippert says state must invest in water infrastructure programs
State Representative Todd Lippert has spent some time thinking about water infrastructure and flood mitigation during the ongoing legislative session.
Last week during a joint informational hearing with the Capital Investment Committee, Lippert said he was shown studies that say, using data collected since 1895, the ten warmest and wettest years have all occurred since 1997. Pointing to the fact that the Cannon River has experienced three five hundred-year floods in the last ten years, Lippert said most cities do not have the storm surge capacity to deal with, as he put it, “the storms of yesterday, let alone the storms of today and tomorrow.”
He said the state must start investing in both manufactured infrastructure and better watershed management.
“That’s something I’m doing quite a bit of work on, along with local partners and people across the state, as we encourage farmers to use practices that build soil health like less tillage and cover crops. Those are also water infiltration strategies. Protecting our wetlands and thinking about other legislation that slows the water down.”
Proactively taking climate change into account as the state makes infrastructure decisions, he said will be far less expensive than cleaning up after climate related disasters.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Representative Todd Lippert can be heard here.
