SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The South Dakota Department of Education has honored five of the state’s teachers to kick off Teacher Appreciation Week.

Teacher Appreciation Week is May 6-10. On Monday, the following were announced as the 2025 Regional Teachers of the Year:

• Region 1: Amy Verhelst, Kindergarten, Sioux Valley Elementary School, Volga
• Region 2: Erin Rieff, Art, Brandon Valley Middle School, Brandon
• Region 3: Megan Wilson, Math, Sanborn Central High School, Forestburg
• Region 4: Christy Saltsman, K-8 Physical Education and 6-8 Math, Gettysburg School District, Gettysburg
• Region 5: Michelle Abbott, 2nd grade, West Elementary School, Spearfish

A DOE panel will select one of these five teachers as the 2025 South Dakota Teacher of the Year and the state’s candidate for National Teacher of the Year.

Each of these teacher’s classrooms will receive a visit from DOE representatives during Teacher Appreciation Week.

Copyright 2024 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.

This commentary originally appeared in the South Dakota Searchlight.

Kristi Noem owes South Dakotans an explanation for the embarrassment she’s caused herself and the state.

The Republican governor has not yet told us how or why she included a false story in her forthcoming book about meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Margaret Brennan of “Face the Nation” pressed Noem for an answer Sunday on CBS.

Noem replied, “This anecdote shouldn’t have been in the book, and as soon as it was brought to my attention, I made sure that that was adjusted.”

So Noem would have us believe that she didn’t know until last week — when The Dakota Scout broke the story — that her own memoir falsely claimed she had met one of the world’s most notorious dictators.

The relevant portion of the book isn’t a passing mention of Kim’s name. It’s a full-on boast.

“I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un,” Noem wrote. “I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all).”

How could such a passage be included without Noem’s knowledge, when she’s the only credited author? South Dakotans aren’t as dumb as she apparently thinks we look, so we can deduce three possibilities:

She fabricated the story and thought nobody would catch her in the lie.She met some other official from an Asian country and mistook or misremembered that person as Kim Jong Un.She relied on a ghostwriter so heavily that she didn’t read her own book before it went to the printer.

We can rule out the third possibility, because we know Noem read her own manuscript. Prior to anyone else reading it, she posted social media videos of herself narrating the audiobook.

That leaves two explanations: She lied, or she’s incompetent. When those are the only answers, it’s no wonder she avoids the question.

Noem’s other starring television role this weekend was on “Saturday Night Live” — but not as the host. Instead, she was the butt of several jokes about another portion of her book, in which she disclosed that she fatally shot a hunting dog and a billy goat.

The show’s focus on Noem made it abundantly clear that she’s the main object of ridicule in the country right now. That’s no small feat while a former president is on trial for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payments to a porn star.

The governor’s shocking fall is an abrupt flip of the script for South Dakotans, after Noem and her enablers spent the past few years promoting her rising political fame as a boon to the state.

Now South Dakotans can only wait to see how far Noem might drag down the state’s reputation before she hits rock bottom. With the book not even scheduled to be released until Tuesday — all the damage so far has arisen from advance copies — who knows what further humiliation might be in store.

Noem intended the book’s title, “No Going Back,” as a rallying cry for her plans to move the country forward. Instead, it now stands as a sadly ironic reference to a turning point in her career.

But the title isn’t the only ironic part of the book. Its 200-plus pages include pronouncements by Noem that “excuses are not accepted” in her state, and that “we need truth from our leaders.”

Perhaps Noem should take her own advice by dropping the excuses, telling the truth about why the false Kim Jong Un anecdote is in her book, and saving what little dignity she and her state have left.

South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seth Tupper for questions: [email protected]. Follow South Dakota Searchlight on Facebook and Twitter.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem made for some awkward television viewing Sunday morning as she was repeatedly challenged over a claim that she once met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Speaking on CBS Face The Nation, journalist Margaret Brennan asked Noem about the anecdote, said to be printed in her forthcoming book. 

In one section discussing meetings with international leaders, Noem writes: ‘Through my tenure on the House Armed Services Committee, I had the chance to travel to many countries to meet with world leaders – some who wanted our help, and some who didn’t

‘I remember when I met with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor after all).’

But Noem appeared to be in no mood to offer any corrections despite others pointing out there was no meeting. ‘I’m so proud of this book and what it will bring to people,’ she said defiantly. ‘I’m not retracting anything.’

The Republican also defended her decision to put down her 14-month-old dog, a move that some have said has cost her a chance to be Donald Trump’s running mate.  

Noem wrote that she met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, above, while serving in the House of Representatives, which appears to be false.

The description of a supposed meeting between Un and herself was quickly challenged and described as implausible by experts on U.S.-North Korea relations – a fact not lost on Brennan as she asked Noem directly, ‘Did you meet Kim Jong Un?’ 

‘You know, as soon as this was brought to my attention, I certainly made some changes and looked at this passage and I’ve met with many, many world leaders. I’ve traveled around the world,’ Noem responded, avoiding answering the question.

‘As soon as it was brought to my attention we went forward and have made some edits, so I’m glad this book is being released in a couple of days and that those edits will be in place and people will have the updated version.’

But Brennan wasn’t finished. ‘You did not meet with Kim Jong-un, that’s what you’re saying?’, she queried. 

Noem was no clearer in her answer the second time around. 

‘I’ve met with many, many world leaders and traveled around the world. I think I’ve talked extensively in this book about my time serving in congress, my time as governor, before governor, some of the travels that I’ve had.’

Noem’s continues to be in the doghouse over anecdotes shared in her forthcoming book. She is pictured at a Trump rally in March

A Facebook picture shows Noem with a gun. In her forthcoming book she writes about Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehair pointer, that Noem shot dead in the gravel pit on her family property, moments before her children came home from school

Noem then attempted to give her comments an air of plausibility: ‘I’m not going to talk about my specific meetings with world leaders. I’m just not going to do that. 

‘This anecdote shouldn’t have been in the book and as soon as it was brought to my attention I made sure that was adjusted,’ Noem added. 

Brennan then asked who she might have confused Un for before stating that she had never been to North Korea.

Noem said she had visited the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea but that there were ‘some specifics’ she was ‘not willing to share.’

While former President Donald Trump met with Kim on three occasions during his presidency, Noem served in Congress from 2007 to 2011, when relations were frostier.

Noem detailed in her upcoming book a story about shooting and killing her ‘dangerous’ 14-month-old farm puppy Cricket. Another dog, Hazel, a Vizsla, is pictured

Noem has written a new book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward , which will be released on May 7

In a statement to DailyMail.com Noem’s spokesperson Ian Fury placed the blame on Noem’s ghostwriter. 

‘It was brought to our attention that the upcoming book ‘No Going Back’ has two small errors,’ Fury said. ‘This has been communicated to the ghostwriter and editor.’ 

‘Kim Jong Un was included in a list of world leaders and shouldn’t have been. The Governor spoke with Nikki Haley in 2020 and met with her in 2021,’ he added. 

Fury cast scrutiny of the errors in Noem’s book as biased, saying, ‘The media will, of course, try and make these tiny issues huge.’ 

Noem was then asked about the shooting dead of her 14-month-old puppy, Cricket.

Noem said that she took care of her ‘untrainable’ dog the correct way by taking Cricket to a gravel pit and shooting her after aggressive behaviors like killing neighbor’s chickens and trying to bite her.

She acknowledge on X she understands why ‘some people are upset’ but reiterated it was legal in South Dakota to ‘put down’ a dog that attacks and kills livestock 

Critics claim that Noem, who shot her dog while her kids were at school, could have rehomed the dog or surrendered to a shelter that may have been better equipped to train the animal.

‘The reason that this story is in the book — because people need to understand who I am and some of those difficult decisions,’ Noem said.  ‘This book is filled with vulnerable painful moments in my life, filled with times where I’ve made very difficult decisions.

‘This was a dangerous animal killing livestock and attacking people. We had many kids running around and I made a difficult choice. I would ask everybody in the country to put themselves in that situation because that’s what I faced. I talk about it because what I’m tired of in this country is politicians who pretend to be something they’re not.’

The revelation has apparently hurt Noem’s chances at being on the Trump ticket. One anonymous senator recently told The Hill that she is out of the running after defending the decision. 

‘She’s just done, too much drama,’ said one Republican senator who knows Trump’s thinking on the matter.