Making The Grade

It was a role reversal recently for the McDonald County School District.

Instead of giving out grades, the school district received its score from the state by the way of the Annual Performance Report, which is presented to all 500 plus school districts in the state after a review of criteria that includes academics, attendance, graduation rate, how well the district is doing getting students college and career ready (advanced classes at the high school and ACT scores) and more.

Principals from all 10 of the district's attendance centers presented the scores from their building at the board of education meeting held Sept. 11, following an overview of the district as a whole by Angie Brewer, assistant superintendent.

Brewer said she was excited to present the scores to the board, probably because the district received a score of 94.3 percent, up from the 92.9 percent score it had last year.

"We are in the top 25 percent in the state and tied with Carl Junction for second in the Big 8 Conference," Brewer said. "We are tied with Webb City and Carl Junction for sixth highest in the Southwest Region. Our high school is first in the conference."

Brewer said overall the district received 100 percent for attendance, which was a dramatic increase from the previous year. She said that the increase was not something that just happened, but was due to the work put in by everyone involved, including the students' parents.

"We appreciate our families working with us on attendance and bringing their kids to school," Brewer said. "On our end, we are making sure our schools are engaging, fun and exciting places to be so our kids want to come. We want our schools to be open and inviting to the public."

Dr. Mark Stanton, superintendent, said he is very proud of the staff and students.

"Our kids want to do well," Stanton said. "I think students, teachers and administrators take ownership in the tests because they want to show the rest of the state what McDonald County can do. McDonald County is an outstanding school district and our teachers are doing an outstanding job. McDonald County is about being the best academically for our students and it shows."

Brewer said the review was based on the 2013-2014 school year and she wanted to make sure Mary Littlefield, assistant superintendent in charge of curriculum who retired at the end of last year, received credit for her outstanding work.

"Ms. Littlefield put a lot of hard work into this," Brewer said. "She definitely deserves credit for aligning curriculum, working with teachers and making sure our kids were focused on learning."

Other Business

In other business, the board approved a resolution in opposition of Amendment 3, which will be on the Nov. 4 ballot. The resolution calls the amendment a, "poorly drafted and deeply flawed proposal that has many unintended consequences for teachers, administrators and school boards."

The resolution goes on to state the amendment is "a state mandate that shifts local control for educational decisions away from parents, teachers, administrators and school boards."

Bills in the amount of $1,009,103.46 were approved for payment.