February 20, 2025

The Festus R-VI School District is pleased to welcome Dereon Hill as the new Director of Food Services. Hill was previously the Director of Dining Services at Chartwells in the University City School District and later in the East St. Louis School District. "I am super excited to be here," he said. "We live in this community. My wife student taught here. We just want to be a part of this community and this was the best opportunity to put our anchor down here." Dereon's start day will be early next month.

• Four Festus girls wrestlers are headed to the state meet next weekend. Mya Hairston won the district championship in her weight class. Trinity Butler and Addi Cupp were second in their divisions and Dani Gullet was third. The boys wrestle in their district meet this weekend.

• Calvin Ellis, CeCe Meppiel and Alex Yates earned the Distinguished Student Leader Award from the Missouri Association of Student Councils. They will receive their awards at the state convention in Poplar Bluff next month.

• Senior Claire Napier was named Festus’s Elks Club student of the month in January. The elks began the award last month. They are recognizing students who are demonstrating leadership and integrity in their community. Students receive a certifcate and a 75 dollar gift card.

• The Morgan Anderson Kindness Club delivered valentine treats to residents of Autumn Ridge last week. The Kindness Club also made wreaths for our school resource officers to celebrate them for national SRO appreciation day.

• The intermediate and elementary schools are collecting teddy bears during February, which is Kindness Counts month. The teddy bears will be donated to St. Louis Children’s Hospital. The drive is to bring awareness to childhood cancer and to honor a student who has battled brain cancer three times.

• Two elementary school teachers received valentine cards from all around the country. Kindergarten teacher Abby Tinnin and second grade teacher Meredith Toberman participated in the “Hearts Across America” program. Their goal was to receive a card or letter from at least one person in every state. Ms. Tinnin received more than eight hundred letters in just a few weeks. Mrs. Toberman’s class got cards from nearly every state. Both teachers say their students are learning a lot about the states, their traditions and geography.

The board unanimously passed the consent agenda. Items were:

• Regular session meeting minutes from November.
• January Financials
• February Ledger Subtotals
• Approved the District Calendar for the 2025-26 School Year
• Summer School Dates May 29-June 26, 2025 (no school June 19)
• First Reading MSBA Policy 2024D IGBI
• Fireworks Display at Graduation
• PAT Administrative Service Agreement
• Cross Country Overnight Trip - Chili Pepper

• Superintendent's Report

1. Cultural Diversity Luncheon is Saturday. The district has 2 tables (20 people). Students from high school, middle school, and intermediate school will be in attendance.
2. Kindergarten registration begins next week (Feb. 27 & 28) then resumes April 10 & 11.
3. High school and beyond will be March 19
4. Upcoming election on April 8. PAC is a voting location
5. Enrollment is currently 3497. Last year at this time it was 3459.

• Maintenance & Custodial Report - "Mr. Copeland is doing a great job."
• Technology Report (E-Rate) - E-rate is a federal program that provides reimbursement on hardware and services based on a district's free and reduced lunch population. We currently will receive a 50% reimbursement. Items approved at full price with reimbursement to follow include:
• Firewall - it has been 6 or 7 years since it was last replaced. Accepted the low bid of $8563 from PDS
• Wireless expansion in the wing at the Middle School - Accepted the low bid of $11,324 from PDS
• UPS (battery back-up) and switches for the Middle expansion - accepted the low bid of $5934 from ENT
• Compiled agenda from Feb. 15 PD Day - day went well. Feedback so far has been generally positive. There have been some good suggestions for different break-out sessions for next year.

New District Budget Program - The current budget program will no longer be available after this school year. Approved Balance HQ to be the new budget program. It was built specifically for Missouri School Districts. 4 year contract - $8696 for the first year, $10,640 each of the next three years

Health insurance rates will increase 9% for the 2025-26 school year. This will cost the district $176,000. I will not affect the amounts placed in health savings accounts. Coverage will remain the same. Those who pay for spouses and/or children will see an increase.

Facilities Report

Roy Mangan from ArchImages discussed the progress on the projects around campus.

• He doesn't expect crews will hit more rock. That's good news. They were within the budgeted amounts for rock. Masonry on the building is about 90% compete. The roof structure is up. Roofers are planning to work at least part of this weekend to make up ground lost to weather. Electrical rough-ins are ongoing. Still working toward a June 23 completion date to give R6 crews time to do floors, move furniture, etc. Change orders are at a little over 1.2%.
• Architects are finishing the construction documents for the Intermediate expansion. Expect it to be out to bid in the next couple of weeks. Bid results are expected at the April meeting. It is on a 1 year schedule, with expected opening in August 2026. There will be a new playground on the expansion side and a renovated playground where the current one is. Both will be secure spaces.
• Dusting off the plans for the gym project that could begin in about a year.

Parking lot project - After receiving RFQ (request for qualifications) from 4 companies it came down to 2. Jokerst Paving was approved to be the general contractor to design the new parking lot by the middle school where the house is currently located. This also includes demolition of the house across from the elementary. Jokertst will engineer and design the project and will have a cost at the March meeting.

Extended the current lawn care contract with Dunn Rite Lawn Services at the current rate.

Summer Projects

Summer projects are currently out for bid with costs expected at the next meeting. On the agenda for summer are:

• restroom renovations (4) in the intermediate school
• Tremco is developing a rotational plan for long range roof and HVAC replacement that will be done through the cooperative purchasing program. High school cafeteria area will be replaced this summer.
• 3300 sq ft. of tile in the intermediate school cafeteria will be replaced with Festus colors
• Early childhood center playground fencing will be removed and replaced with a privacy fence. There will also be parking lot improvements.