Local News – Monday, November 20th, 2017
The Salem R-80 Board of Education met Thursday night for their regular meeting. Superintendent John McCulloch allowed the building principals to report on the parent-teachers conferences and they all said they went very well. Assistant Superintendent John Smith gave the report on the Annual Performance Report and Salem scored a 98.6% which is the highest in the SCA Conference and the highest ever at Salem. That is up from the 97.1% score set year. This is the second straight year Salem has led the SCA Conference with their APR score. Keith McCarty from RTI in Rolla was in attendance to present an award to Salem High School junior Scilar Gibbs, a student at RTI in the Health Science Academy. Gibbs created a logo for the Health Organization Student Association (better known as HOSA) that was entered in a statewide contest. It was voted on and received over 50% of the votes and was chosen to represent the logo for the state of Missouri. The logo will be on the state pins, t-shirts and banners. It will also be utilized to represent Missouri in the national contest. The building principals all gave their building reports before High School Principal Marty Anderson discussed with the school board about creating a Construction Trades Program at the Salem High School. The program would be funded from donations, state grants and fundraising projects and would not receive money from the school general revenue funds. This would be relevant technical training that would be done on existing community housing projects that are determined by an advisory committee for students to learn and perfect their skills. This could also create post-secondary pipelines for the student. Anderson said the program startup costs would $25,000 for tools that can be increased to $100,000 as the school could apply for a grant for another $75,000, $30,000 for a truck and trailer, and $55,000 for a teacher and their benefits. The total set up costs comes to $115,000. Anderson said he is looking for six students the first year. This program would not change the contract with RTI, but those construction students currently at RTI would move to the Salem campus allowing students interested in other courses to take their place. Anderson reported there has already been a gift of $150,000 for the first year with other commitments for three to five years from other sources. Donations could also be made to the program where scholarships could be established in people’s name. The school board approved the program pending all needed funding was secured. The board approved the audit report for the last school year from Matt James that showed the schools finances in good shape. The board also approved board of education candidate filing dates of December 12th through January 16th. The board approved policy update 2017C and accepted the resignation of the ECSE director, Stephanie Floyd at the end of the 2017-2018 school year. The board went into closed session where they discussed student discipline issues before adjourning.
An accident occurred Saturday afternoon at 12:29 on Dent County Road 6190 about 3½ miles south of Salem. According to the highway patrol report, a 2007 Ford F-150 driven by 23-year old Jesus Frausto of Salem, failed to negotiate a curve and traveled off the right side of the roadway. The Ford struck a tree and came to rest. Frausto suffered minor injuries and was transported to Salem Memorial Hospital by Salem Ambulance. Frausto was wearing a safety restraint at the time of the accident. The Ford was totaled and towed from scene by Whitakers Towing of Salem.