Canton R-V Superintendent’s Corner

Canton R-V

Earlier this month, the Missouri Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (DESE) released its report cards on the academic health of Missouri school districts with their Annual Performance Reports (APR). The Canton R-V School District received very high honors by receiving a score of 99.2% for 2018. This score was calculated using the Missouri School Improvement Program 5 (MSIP 5), which promotes continuous improvement within each district.

I am extremely proud of our entire K-12 team at Canton R-V. This APR score reflects the hard work and dedication our teachers and administrators engage in daily as they strive to increase academic rigor, enhance curriculum, and continually improve classroom instruction and student learning.

A district’s APR score is created from a wide range of data based on results from academic achievement, state standardized tests (MAP/EOC scores), subgroup achievement, college and career readiness, attendance, and graduation rates. The APR score provides a practical tool for the Board of Education, administrators, and teachers to identify strengths as well as areas of focus within the district.

The 2018 APR score clearly shows that our students, parents, and faculty are committed to the mission and vision of our school district. Canton R-V continues to provide its students with a high-quality education, through a continuous focus on our core belief that all students can learn. The score on the 2018 APR demonstrates that everyone in the Canton R-V community is committed to the success of each individual student and are working together to ensure that all students have the skills necessary to be successful after graduating from Canton R-V.

Jesse Uhlmeyer-Superintendent

Canton R-V

Lewis County C-1

Welcome to the North Pole, or at least that is how it has felt in Lewis County. This kids have had essentially two extended breaks this year in what is the worst winter weather I can remember. Ice and snow have wreaked havoc on our county, city and state roads. As of February 13th, Highland has missed 20 days of school due to the weather and road conditions. Additionally, we have released early twice due to weather and had one day that we started with a 2 hour delay.

Everyone is probably wondering: “Will they have to be in school all summer?” The simple answer is “No” and quite honestly Highland is better off than many of the schools in the state, even the ones that have missed less days than we have. Thanks to the way our district established our calendar and where we placed our snow make-up days, Highland’s last day of school will still be on Friday May 24th, which is also the same date as graduation.

Let me explain. First, our early releases were both at 1pm, so those days counted as full school days and do not require a make-up. The “Late Start” was on a Wednesday that was originally scheduled as an early release day, but we extended the day to a full day, so absolutely no time was lost on that day. As for the 20 days missed, that will take a little more explanation.

Section 171.033.4 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri provides forgiveness for inclement weather days after a school has reached a total of 10 days made up. Essentially, each district must schedule for 6 make-up days in their school calendars. After the 6 days are used, then a school must make up 1 for every 2 days missed above that (i.e. the odd number days missed) until they hit a maximum of 10 days required to be made up. Therefore, once a school has missed 13 days total, then anymore days missed beyond that are forgiven.

Lewis County C-1 School District had built 8 days into their school calendar. This included the 6 required by statute, plus we have traditionally schedule 2 extra days in the calendar which could be used for snow days, to cancel for a school team that makes it to state, or to bring in a special speaker for professional development for the teachers and staff. So, Highland only needed to add 2 days to the calendar to be in compliance.

The board of education met on Thursday, 2/14/19, and amended the school calendar to use President’s Day and March 15th as make-up days. These two days were not originally designated as make-up days, but now will be used to ensure the last day of school remains prior to Memorial Day, Graduation date doesn’t change, and the start date for Summer School (5/30/19) remains the same. The March 15th date was a scheduled day off for teachers and students following the planned parent-teacher conferences following the end of the third quarter. The board also amended the calendar to move the end of the third quarter date to March 22nd to more evenly distribute the number of days in the 3rd and 4th quarters, given the snow days missed. This means Parent-Teacher Conferences will be moved to the week of March 18th – 22nd. Therefore, March 15th was an obvious choice to use as a snow make-up day.

The other major factor that has helped Highland is that our first planned make-up day was not scheduled until April 18th. Many schools have missed school days and some of their designated make-up days, which make the matter even worse in that case.

It seems like everyone thinks Highland is so much worse off than the other schools. In reality, we are within a day or two of the number of days missed by other area schools such as Knox County, Marion County R-II, Canton, and Clark County. Furthermore, our calendar setup has us in the same or better shape than some schools that have missed half as many as Highland. So, while some schools will still be attending their regular school year into June, Highland will not!

That doesn’t mean there aren’t concerns about the educational time lost. We have also faced a nightmare in scheduling issues with activities. We have had everything from Band events, to FBLA competitions, to a Blood Drive, fundraisers and athletic events cancelled and rescheduled only to have to cancel again and try to reschedule. In some cases, events have had to be cancelled with no plans to make up the activity due to a lack of available dates to schedule.

For example, the Missouri High School Basketball post-season playoffs begin this week. There are still conference games between several schools that have not been played yet. The conference is working on a way to remedy that situation and is even considering playing the conference games after the post-season is over to fairly establish Conference Champions and who makes the All-Conference teams.

While the circumstances have not been ideal and have caused a lot of extra work for many of our school employees, our students’ safety is always a top priority for the Lewis County C-1 School District. The calls to cancel were justified and I would make the same decisions all over again to keep our kids, bus drivers, and district employees safe. I have extreme confidence in our schools. We have outstanding teachers and excellent students and we will adjust and accommodate to the situation to ensure our kids are ready when the school year ends!

To end on an even better note, I would like to congratulate Morgan Jennings on her excellent performances at the Quincy Community Theatre as she played Wednesday in the ‘The Addams Family’ production on February 7th through the 10th. I also wanted to congratulate Mrs. Hamlin and the Lewis County C-1 FFA program for their top Area Proficiency Results. Kenzie Rutledge received 1st place in Specialty Crop, Luke Luttrull received 1st place in Oil/Fiber Crop, Ellie TenEyck received 2nd place in Agricultural Services, and Logan Meyer received 3rd place in Ag Processing. All four will be recognized at the Area III Banquet and Kenzie Rutledge and Luke Luttrull will be recognized on stage at the State FFA Convention. Way to go Cougars!!

John French – Superintendent

Lewis County C-1 School District