Board of Education Meeting - Thursday, May 16, 2024

Presentations to Board of Education

Dr. Shane Medlin, Board Excellence Award

The Board of Education presented Dr. Shane Medlin with the Board of Excellence Award. Dr. Medlin served the Willard School District for 18 years as a teacher and principal. Dr. Medlin will serve as the Superintendent at Ash Grove Public Schools next year. We are so thankful for his time and service to the Willard school district. Thank you, Dr. Medlin! 

Readers Theatre

Our WHS Theatre department continues to be one of the best in the state!

Theatre teacher Brandon Compton shared with the board highlights from the year. He mentioned that our theatre program has 23 MSHSAA District Championships and 13 State Championships, ranking the Willard District second in the state for total theatre championships!

We heard from several students who talked about readers theatre, districts and state, and what they have learned throughout the year competing in theatre.

Congratulations to each of these students! You represent our district well!

Speech and Debate

Our WHS Speech and Debate team has had yet another successful year! Speech & Debate Coaches Kathy Tobin and Ethan Gambriel introduced some students and shared highlights over the program. Included below is a list of Speech & Debate students who will be competing at Nationals:

• Emery McEvoy - Humorous Interpretation (Auto-Qualification)
• Kaeden Abraham - Humorous Interpretation
• Adalea Vaughn - Dramatic Interpretation 
• Madeline Frandsen - Original Oratory
• Mikayla Hammer - Original Oratory
• Kai Eaton & Isabella Windmiller - Duo Interpretation
• Reagan Thomas - Program of Oral Interp
• Corbin Fowler - Program of Oral Interp
• Jachin Hodson - Student Congress, House
• Bly Sublett - World Schools Debate
• Ethan Loveland - Supplemental Events
• Wesley Jones - Supplemental Events

We were the only school in Missouri to place at state in both Speech and Debate and Theatre. Congratulations to each of these students! You represent our district well!

Science Olympiad

Kameron Coates, Honors Chemistry, AP Chemistry & Biology Teacher and

Science Olympiad Head Coach, presented to the board an overview of the newly implemented Science Olympiad state level competition. There are 23 events involving designing, building, and testing over several topics. We have 22 students who participate in Science Olympiad, who are coached by seven teachers.

Kameron shared that 2024 was Willard's first time bringing a full team to state regionals. Despite that, our students received 22 medals total—sixteen individual medalists—and placed third overall! At the state competition, the top four teams from each region compete at state for a total of 32 teams. Our students received 14 medals, 11 individual medalists, four state champions, and placed 7th overall! Some highlights from state below:

• WHS had the 3rd most 1st place medals
• WHS finished 2nd amongst teams in our Region
• WHS placed top 9 in 11 separate events
• WHS beat dozens of teams that have been competing for 20 - 30+ years
• WHS beat Ladue HS in 3 separate events

WHS State Medalists are included below:

• Anastasia Jones - 1st Place in Write it, Do it, 5th Place in Microbe Mission
• Alexis Holyfield - 1st Place in Write it, Do it
• Kevin Giboney - 1st Place in Detector Building
• Alder Dabelow - 1st Place in Detector Building
• Titus Dudden - 4th Place in Optics
• Andrew Cooper - 4th Place in Optics
• Evie Sly - 5th Place in Ecology, 6th Place in Geologic Mapping
• Nataly German - 5th Place in Ecology
• Trey Norman - 5th Place in Microbe Mission
• Victoria Stevens - 6th Place in Chem Lab
• Elijah Graves - 6th Place in Chem Lab, 6th Place in Geologic Mapping

2024 State Champions included below:



• Anastasia Jones
• Alexis Holyfield
• Kevin Giboney
• Alder Dabelow

Congratulations to our science olympiad teachers and our students on their success!

Willard Orchard Hills Elementary, Academic Spotlight

Principal Lucianna Brown, Instructional Coach Kristin Ausmus, teachers Amber Carlyle and Lyndi Pilch, and Counselor Kaitlin Babb shared highlights from the 2023-2024 school year at WOHE. They shared their mission statement which is to Love, Learn, and Lead and the different ways they live out their mission. Some highlights included weekly student shout outs, Tiger Tickets, UFLI and Heggerty tier one reading interventions, student leadership teams, and groups like WOHE wildflowers!



Thank you, WOHE, for updating us on all the amazing things happening at your building!

Administration Reports

Dr. Eric Wilken

Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Eric Wilken, recapped the state board meeting he attended in Jefferson City last Tuesday. He showed the updated Show Me Success new strategic plan which emphasizes early learning, literacy, success-ready students and workforce development and educator recruitment and retention.

He also mentioned that at the state board meeting they talked a lot about first year teachers. He shared a graph of teachers in the state of Missouri, which shows that only 43.55% of currently employed teachers in the state are comprehensively prepared, or have their teaching degree and certification.

He also provided an update on legislation, including Senate Bill 727 which is an omnibus bill that focuses on vouchers, charter schools, and teacher salaries. He mentioned that the state budget passed, and the formula was fully funded, including fully funded budgets in transportation and the Missouri Baseline Teacher Salary Grants. The Career Ladder Program will receive flat funding next year, and there will be an increase of approximately $119 million in Proposition C funding. Dr. Wilken mentioned that MSTA has put out a summary of the bill, which you can read at the link below.

Dr. Josh Ladd

Assistant Superintendent of Academics, Dr. Josh Ladd, recapped graduation which took place on May 11, 2024. We had 303 graduates in the Class of 2024 with a 99.3% graduation rate. He informed the board that we had five graduating students receive the Seal of Bi-literacy awarded by the State of Missouri. The class was awarded $5.3 million in scholarships. Sixteen students achieved at or above a 30 on the ACT, placing them in the 93% of students in the nation.

He provided an update on district enrollment, which is 4,270 as of May 6, 2024, which is down 211 students from our August count. The average attendance for the 2023-2024 school year is 94.9%, which is up from 93.1% in 2022-2023. He also shared that we have 12 certified and 12 classified positions open.

Cathy Shoup

Assistant Superintendent of Operations, Cathy Shoup, provided an update on Water Testing. In 2022, the Missouri legislature passed the Get the Lead out of School Drinking Water Act (RSMo 160.077), which sets standards for lead concentrations in school drinking water. The law requires schools to conduct inventory, sampling, remediation, and monitoring at all potable drinking water outlets used or potentially be used for drinking, food preparation, and cooking or cleaning utensils. The district just received testing results from the third round of testing and all but two areas passed. The area that did not pass at Trade Services will be removed, and the area at the Middle School will be remediated and re-tested.

Cathy also updated the board on the facilities committee, who worked throughout the the school year to eventually produce a ten year long-range facilities plan. The committee visited all district buildings throughout the 23-24 school year and has gathered and summarized committee feedback, which will be presented to the board in June. She shared the results from the Facilities Survey that was shared with all district staff, families, and shared on social media for community members. A list of those results can be found below:

Cathy provided an update on current bond projects, including the High School safe room addition, which will soon have flooring installed after crews finish at Central.

At Central, progress is moving quickly towards an end-of-June or early July completion. Flooring is installed and the first coat is down, with painting scheduled next and a final coat by the end of the week. The stage with a portable wall is finished, the new parent drop-off and pick-up corridor is complete, and classroom additions are receiving final touches.

At South, weather has delayed the placement of roofing steel. The safe room floor is complete and was used by 4th-grade students for their transition event to Intermediate South. For North and the Middle School, a bid meeting is scheduled for this week.

Program Updates

Gifted Program

Marc Allie presented to the board an update on our Gifted Program, also known as the Pioneers Program. The goal of the program is to assist in meeting the unique educational needs of gifted students. Pioneers serves 52 students ranging from second to sixth grade. He shared some activities and book studies our gifted students have completed and provided some insight into parent support and student and parent feedback of the program. He also shared with the board some recommendations to continue the success of the program.

Strategic Planning

We highlight one of our 11 Smart Goals at each Board Meeting throughout the school year. Dr. Ladd presented on the following SMART Goal and Strategies.

SMART Goal: The Superintendent’s designee will develop a shared leadership model through a collaborative culture aligned with the pillars of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) to examine district programs in order to ensure equitable learning opportunities across the district.

Strategies:

1. Explore options for Pre K-12 Professional Learning Communities and develop a district-wide vision on how to effectively facilitate a PLC.
2. Develop professional learning opportunities for building leaders throughout the 2024-2025 school year.
3. Review the effectiveness of Pre K through 12th Grade Professional Learning Communities.
4. Present comprehensive professional learning timeline/plan to the Board of Education.

Dr. Ladd mentioned an upcoming conference focused on Strategic Planning that will take place in Republic May 29-30, 2024. The district plans to send our leadership team to attend the conference. The conference focus areas include:

• Differentiation and the PLC Process and the Four Questions
• Instructional Agility and Formative Assessment
• Response to Intervention
• Behavior and Culture

Business Items

Career Ladder Plan Update



In the transition from FY23 to FY24, the Career Ladder program saw progression across its stages, with 21 teachers at Stage I, 25 at Stage II, and 165 at Stage III. The retention rates were promising, with an overall teacher retention of 86.91% (332 out of 382) and a higher retention rate among Career Ladder teachers specifically, standing at 92.07% (151 out of 164). Financially, the program received a state contribution of $570,000 and a local contribution of $528,575, making the total budget allocation for FY24 $1,098,575.

Out of State Trips



The board voted to approve the following out of state trips:

• National Speech and Debate Association (Nationals) - De Moines, Iowa, June
• FBLA National Leadership Conference - Orlando, Florida, June 29-July 2

The board voted to approve the following out of state trips for NJROTC:

• US Air Force Academy - Colorado Springs, Colorado - September
• Montgomery Bell Academy - Fort Campbell, Kentucky - October
• Shawnee Mission North HS - Overland Park, KS - November
• Alma High School - Alma, Arkansas - December
• Mountain Home High School -Mountain Home, Arkansas - January
• Western Heights High School - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - January
• Shawnee Mission North HS - Overland Park, KS - February
• Ocean Center Arena - DOD Drill Nationals - Daytona Beach, FL - April/May

New Hires

The Board of Education voted to approve the following hires at the May 16th meeting. Please join us in welcoming the newest members of our team!

• Kristi Wilson, EBS Paraprofessional at WOHE
• Kara Crighton, ELA Teacher at MS
• Shaddrick Edwards, Assistant 7th Grade Boys Coach
• Robin Taylor, Secretary at MS
• Jennifer Alkire, Essential Skills Teacher at Central
• Bret Lovekamp, Assistant Football Coach at HS
• Madison Kitts, Registered Behavior Technician
• Jamie Davis, 5th ELS/SS Teacher at WIS-S
• Renee Brake, Registered Behavior Technician
• Jennifer Wessley from Teacher at MS to At-Risk Teacher at HS
• Rachel Young from School Nurse at HS to Float Nurse
• Amber Kirksey, from Float Nurse to School Nurse at HS
• Daniel Davis, Principal at HS

Board Meeting Recording

To view a recording of the May 16, 2024 Board of Education meeting, click here.

Upcoming Meetings

The next board meeting will be a Study Session held on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. Open session will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the District Office Training Room.