Tish Warner Named President as Worth County School Board Reorganizes

The Worth County School Board reorganized at their regular Board of Education Meeting Thursday. New board member Amber Monticue was sworn in along with returning board members Jeff Andrews and Tyler Steele. Tish Warner was named Board President. Tyler Steele was named Vice President, Jeff Andrews as Treasurer, and Kandi Hughes was returned as Board Secretary.

The Curriculum Program was rated as Above Average by Superintendent Dr. Matt Martz. Strengths listed including the fact that staff was working on updating and aligning curriculum. The district is seeking additional revenue streams to support curriculum material acquisition. Concerns listed include the fact that hardback textbooks were not as current as they could be, the expense of replacing textbooks, and the expense of materials based on a limited budget. Dr. Martz recommended that the school go to Open Education Resources, which are freely accessible, openly licensed, and useful for teaching, learning and assessing according to Dr. Martz. The effort would require additional professional development from the staff.

The Instructional Program was rated as Above Average. Strengths listed include the fact that teachers are familiar with and use a variety of teaching strategies that are research based. Teachers are using more technology in junior high and high school, which helps prepare students for careers and college. Concerns listed include the fact that the district no longer offers a “gifted and talented” program. The other one listed was the lack of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematical (STEM) resources. Recommendations include continuing to provide hands-on learning opportunities, especially in science; working to integrate STEM into current curriculum, working towards enriching all students’ learning, and encouraging students’ growth mindsets.

Elementary Principal Chuck Borey reported that physicals for the 2017-2018 school year will be held on May 17th. Sports physicals for all prospective Worth County athletes starting with 6th graders at 9:00 and going up to the juniors. Northwest Medical Center will be doing the Physicals and will donate money paid back to the Athletic Department. All junior high and high school athletes must have physicals before practicing or competing in school sports.

Character Superstars for March include Camden Gray & Kennedy Murphy (Kindergarten), Avah Knight & Bentley Frisch (1st), Keira Hardy & Garrett Troutwine (2nd), Jace Cameron & Wyatt Hill (3rd), Ina Knight & Bridgette Hightshoe (4th), Mitzie Gillespie (5th), and Hailey Adwell & Lance Abplanalp (6th). These students participated in minute to win it games and enjoyed a snack with Mr. Borey and Mrs. Pottorff.

The school started with MAP testing on April 20th and will finish on April 28th.

Brandon Lyddon of the Missouri Department of Conservation came in to talk with 5th graders about fishing safety and different types of fish. They will be doing a fishing clinic with the MDC on May 9th.

The Tri-County Health Department came on April 25th to do water safety with Kindergarten. They talked about water safety and gave kids in the class books.

Kindergarten VIP will be on May 2nd from 8:15 to 11:45. Next year’s Kindergarteners will come and spend the morning in Kindergarten and eat lunch. At 11:15, there will be a parent meeting to get all paperwork filled out and ready to go for the fall. There will be 30 students enrolled in Kindergarten for next year. Screenings for next year’s Kindergarten students will be on May 3rd.

Grandparent’s Day will be on May 5th from 8:30 to 11:30 am.

The Ned Show, a Character Assembly, will be held on May 8th.

Parents as Teachers will be hosting a Parent Involvement Night for the kids from 5:30 - 7:00.

On May 9th, K-3 will be attending the Des Moines Zoo. On May 15th, 4th to 6th graders will be going to the Omaha Zoo. Elementary Spring Concert will be May 11th at 7 pm at the High School Gym. Elementary Track Day will be May 12th. The Blood Drive will be May 16th. 24 students this year participated in the Backpack Buddies program.

Principal Jon Adwell reported that the Junior High Academic Bowl had an undefeated regular season. The High School was 3-12, but made it to the semi-final round at districts. Ian Hargrave was All-Conference 2nd team, while Regan Drury was Honorable Mention. Hargrave was named All-District.
State qualifiers in FFA were the Livestock (5th in Districts), Horses (3rd), and Dairy Cattle teams. Victoria Moore and Kristen Ross qualified to nationals for the FBLA. Qualifying for FCCLA Nationals were Kristen Ross, Payton Adwell, Drew Martell, Abbi Caddenhead, Kennedy Galanakis, Lauren Moore, Jenna Miller, and Nevada Hoff. At Vo-Tech Skills Competition, Alyssa Fletchall was 7th (Courtesy Corp) at Vo-Tech Skills Competition.

The Mixed Chorus and Ladies Choir both received Division I ratings and State Large Ensemble Contest. The Band also received a Division I rating. Receiving District I ratings were Dora Martz (vocal solo), Trent Gabriel (vocal solo), Merrideth Spiers (french horn solo), the Mixed Sextet of Dominique Findley, Jacob Wimer, Jeremy Wimer, Justina Wimer, Lauren Moore, and Keelin Engel, and the Ladies Sextet of Dora Martz, Lauren Moore, Victoria Moore, Kristen Ross, Merrideth Spiers, and Keelin Engel.

The board passed a Multi-Jurisdictional Hazardous Mitigation Plan for disaster planning purposes and to get future funding for mitigation projects from FEMA.

The board selected Midwest Data for the technology bid to install a firewall. It will be partially paid for by e-rate funding. Three other bidders offered bids; however, Midwest Data was selected based on the fact that they were local, included all items requested in the bid, offered longer service, and offered a better deal on installation and configuration.

The board voted to authorize Director of Building and Grounds, Loren Jackson, to spend up to $2,000 to find a replacement engine for the snow plow truck. Money that had been budgeted for a school bus purchase will be used, since the board elected not to purchase a school bus this year.

The board will hold a summer school for the purpose of credit recovery from June 5th to June 16th this year. Students identified for this program will attend classes from 8:00 to 3:00 daily during these dates. Meals will not be served; students will need to bring a sack lunch.

All non-certified staff were rehired by the board by a 4-0-2 vote, with Tyler Steele and Rodney Brown abstaining. All athletic coaches from last year were rehired for the upcoming school year on a 5-0-1 vote, with board member Les New abstaining. Les New will coach the girls basketball team on a volunteer basis, since he is also on the school board.

The board voted on a 5-0-1 vote to hire Rachel Runde on a probationary teacher contract for the 2017-2018 school year contingent on approved background check. Board member Tyler Steele abstained.

The board unanimously accepted the retirement notices of Lora Kemery (cook), Teena Stephenson (paraprofessional), and the resignation of Stephanie Schofield (5th grade). Schofield will take a job in Maryville to be closer to her family. Stephenson had been employed by the school for the last 32 years.

Superintendent Dr. Matt Martz reported that he and board member Tish Warner will attend a seminar in Savannah on bullying prevention. Dr. Martz reported that the library expansion is nearly done and that furniture has been ordered. The school and the library will move in during June and hold an open house in July.

Dr. Martz reported that the state was seeking to fully fund the state formula in its budget this year. He reported that he was expecting less Title I and Title II money from the federal government, but that he was expecting more Title IV money, which he said would give the school a wide choice of where to spend it.