The Salem R-80 School District held its monthly board meeting March 14.
Board President Steven Patterson, Vice President Sammi Parker, Secretary Andrew Wynn, Treasurer Phillip Mercer and board members Chris Heavin, Majorie Pyatt, and Dru Howard were present. Superintendent Lynne Reed, assistant superintendent Nathan Wills, high school principal Jody Heavin, middle school principal Rachel Green, upper elementary school principal Branden Piatt, W.L. elementary school principal Herman Blau, high school assistant principal Lacie Kolbe, and athletic director Clay Moody were also present.
The next board meeting will be held April 16.
Shannon Phelps, along with several students participating in elementary honors choir, made an appearance to discuss their positive experience and upcoming schedule with the board.
Phelps reported that the elementary honors choir joined other schools in the music district for the first time this year for a trip. She shared the students from R-80 were complimented on how well behaved they were. Students from R-80 were also happy to be a part of honors choir – sharing how it improved their singing, and they were able to form friendships with students from other districts. It was such a success; Phelps plans to do the event again next year.
There will be an elementary musical, Matilda, held on April 25, 26, and 27. Two will be on Saturday, April 27, at 2 p.m. and another at 6:30 p.m.
Moody shared that Rueben Hovey, a high school student, is working on establishing wrestling as a club sport. He transferred to the R-80 district two years ago from a school that already had a wrestling club established. The student found a wrestling mat with a purchase price of $6,500 for the club; in the meantime, his previous school granted him permission to borrow a mat until the new one comes in. He has raised the funds to purchase the new mat, which Heavin and Moody are planning to transfer into a club activity account so he can make a deposit and purchase the mat through the school. On March 19, he will be hosting a meeting at the high school library after school to discuss the club with other students. Practice will begin in April on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Chris Heavin celebrated serving 15 years on the board with food and gifts, including a Salem Tigers blanket and Bluetooth speaker. The board thanked his dedication to the community. Reed also shared her appreciation of the entire school board, citing March being School Board Appreciation Month: “Really, you have a thankless job, and you don’t get a lot of glory for this position,” said Reed. “The district appreciates you being very thoughtful in your approach to decision making.”
Superintendent’s report
For construction updates, Reed shared the tin gym project with ESP has been concluded. Reed and Wills met with Matt Patterson’s team from HTK architects last week to review HVAC, plumbing, and electrical plans. Patterson is going to be sharing cost differences for HVAC options. The next step is the bid process. He’s hoping to get requests for proposals out by the end of March or beginning of April. Reed is hopeful the board will be able to approve bids at the April board meeting, but there’s many steps to take before that can happen.
There was a financial report from OPA estimating a net profit of $47,000.
Wills also did a poll of the principals with a lot of positive feedback.
Wills shared an update on water testing.
They have attempted mitigation efforts on two spots where the lead tests informed them the issue was emanating – the track field hydrant and a water supply line that comes out of the lower elementary. The track hydrant has had its fixture and its vertical pipe replaced. They have purchased a $17 filter that should eliminate the lead as it comes out of the new fixture – the filter only needs replaced once a year. For the water supply line, they replaced a scullery sprayer, but it unfortunately still failed the lead testing; they’re planning to replace 15 feet of water line with PEX that should eliminate the problem. Following the replacement, they will have the water line tested again for lead.
There will be a board retreat on July 9 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Building reports
• High school principal Heavin and assistant principal Kolbe acknowledged the attendance rate being low and shared their determination in improving it. There will be an attendance assembly this week to further encourage students to attend school – students with an attendance rate of 95% or higher will be invited outside to have fun. There will also be an EOC kickoff assembly, where Heavin and Kolbe will be rapping, on Friday, March 15. They’re hopeful for successful EOCs and discussed positive data results from teacher evaluations indicating so. They are also working on developing new curriculum, such as conceptual science.
• Middle school principal Green shared they are working on instructional practices and how to use data to make improvements to classroom instruction. They are also working on how to build relationships with students and teaching communication skills, especially in discerning bully behavior and the consequences for hurtful speech. Green shared a story in which the middle school participated in a “battle of the beads” – an activity where classes had their own colored, beaded necklaces and competed in a rock, paper, scissors tournament. The event resulted in a lot of fun and chaos but quickly ended at lunch.
• Upper elementary school principal Piatt shared they would be hosting the first annual STEM (Science Technology, Engineering, Math) week. Missouri S&T provided supplies for different STEM activities. The STEM mobile visited the school for fourth and fifth grade students Friday, March 14 – there will be VR goggles, coding, and other learning activities available for the students. Piatt also mentioned students have been enjoying the March Madness activity, crediting Krystle Smith for its success.
• William Lynch principal Dr. Blau shared he felt very supported by the board during the William Lynch open house hosted on March 12. He thinks it was clear at the event the teachers of William Lynch are working hard.
In new business:
• Brian Andrews looked at several content classroom management systems and narrowed it down to two. He recommended Blocksi for its pricing, a suicidal behavior monitoring system that alerts administration if something shows risk, and a soft bypass system in which teachers can allow students to access blocked sites if needed for a lesson. Blocksi also featured a set price for three years – the closest competitor had a 3% price increase each year. Blocksi was unanimously approved by the board.
• There were robust MSBA policy updates, mostly related to medical marijuana in relation to the drug testing of employees. In order to drug test employees, the employees must appear to be impaired – unless that employee is a bus driver, in which case they cannot use marijuana at all. There was also a section included on artificial intelligence in the academic dishonesty section of the discipline code. The board unanimously approved the recommendation of policy updates.
• High school principal Heavin and vice principal Kolbe requested a change to high school courses offered. There’s concern for the limited selection of electives offered for freshmen, as most electives offered are PE classes. Students not interested in PE aren’t participating or exhibiting behavioral issues in class. Because of these issues, Heavin and Kolbe are wanting to offer family consumer science (FCS) again to provide more options. The position would be filled by a teacher capable of teaching FCS as well as health. The course addition was unanimously approved.
• The board unanimously approved renewal of insurance. Reed reported that in 2021, premiums for insurance went up 7%; in 2022, it went up 5%; in 2023, it went up 22%; meanwhile, in 2024, there’s a positive trend in premiums going down 2%. The trend is also seen in the plans with UHC. For ancillaries, there will be a switch from principle to standard – there are decreases like 13% on dental, 15% on vision, 16% on short term disability, and 8% voluntary long-term disability. This is expected to save employees a significant amount. There are plans for an insurance meeting for faculty on April 15 during professional development.
• The board unanimously approved the participation in the HERA program through the Federal Communications Commission. There are several items needed by the R-80 district that total $74,000 – participation in the program would make the cost $14,000.
• Summer school dates were unanimously approved for dates from May 20 to June 7, with Memorial Day being off.
• The board unanimously approved salary schedule steps for 2024-25.
All resignations and retirements approved by the board:
• Judy Moore, high school English, will be retiring.
• Resignations include Hannah Brown, third grade; Brittany Sibiga, high school science; Rene Moncrief, middle school SPED; Mia Billings, speech language pathologist; Juliana Skeeters, middle school math; Janet Creek, middle school ELA; Dustin Bell, middle school social studies; Bekah Hayes, basketball; Krystle Smith, middle school volleyball.
