Local News – Monday, January 21st, 2019

The Salem R-80 Board of Education met Thursday evening at the District Administrative Offices. Superintendent McColloch recognized the members of the Board of Education in honor of School Board Recognition Week. He also reported that incumbents Dustin Howard and Dr. Bernie Sirois were the only two who filed for the positions coming up on the Board of Education so no election of the R-80 School will need to be held. McColloch introduced Elizabeth Hogan, Jessica Crites, and Angela Loughridge from the High School Science Department who gave an update on the curriculum and class changes for the 2019-2020 school year. McColloch gave a budget update that shows revenues year-to-date are $7,325,106.78 with expenditures coming in at $6,962,721.29. McColloch gave the board information on the tuition calculation tool that the district will be using to determine tuition for the 2019-2020 school year. In the school reports, William Lynch Elementary has 255 students enrolled that breaks down to 65 in pre-kindergarten students, 117 kindergarten students and 73 first grade students. Currently, 91.22% of William Lynch students are above 90% in attendance for the year. At the Salem Upper Elementary school, their current enrollment is 353, with three more expected this week. Currently, 95% of Upper Elementary students are at or above 90% in attendance through the end of December. It was also announced that the Salem Upper Elementary has been nominated to be a featured story in the February Positive Focus Newsletter, an electronic publication of Missouri Schoolwide Positive Focus Newsletter. At the Middle School, their enrollment currently stands at 220 students with 90.08% of the students attending school at 90% or above for the year. The Salem High School enrollment is at 578 with 93.2% of the students attending school 90% of the time or better. It was reported that Workkeys testing will occur in February and the district received a $4,000 grant from the Department of Labor for the testing. It was also reported ACT testing will occur on April 2nd and that is open to any student in grades 9 through 12. Ten Salem High School students graduated in December. The board accepted the resignation of James Joynt, the high school business instructor, effective at the end of the 2018-2019 school year before going into closed session where the board voted to extend Superintendent John McColloch’s contract through the 2021-2022 school year and add an additional 5 days of vacation. The board also hired Lindsey Major to instruct high school math before hearing from four community members concerning athletics. The meeting as then adjourned.

A Prescribed Burn Workshop will be held TONIGHT from 6:00 until 9:00 at the Salem Community Center@The Armory. Cody Roberts
from the Missouri Department of Conservation will describe how prescribed burning can be a valuable tool for managing native plant diversity and controlling undesirable vegetation, but it can be dangerous and ineffective when not used properly. This workshop will provide basic information about how to plan and execute a prescribed burn for grassland management. For more questions or to register for the class, please call Cody Roberts at 573-226-3241 ext 106. You can also register from the Missouri Department of Conservation website at mdc.mo.gov.

The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors will conduct their January meeting on Tuesday, January 22nd in the hospital library beginning at 6:00 pm. After approval of the agenda, the board will hear the administrator’s report that includes a summary of the operations for the month of December with Monica Stogsdill, the Chief of Nursing Report for the month will be given by Debbie Hines, a report on the hospital foundation as well as the marketing and community perception with COO Chris Strickland, and Administrator Kasey Lucas will present the auxiliary report and the patient satisfaction survey results. After the Chief of Staff report, the Board will be informed of candidates who filed for the two open board seats. In new business, the board will review the conflict of interest policy and discuss purchases before going into closed session. The January board meeting of the Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors is open to the public.