ENews: Thursday, March 2, 2023
March 2: Board of Education Special Meeting
March 6: School in Session, Inclement Weather Make-Up Day
March 8: CTA School Board Candidate Forum
March 9-11: HHS Spring Play
March 10: 3rd Quarter Ends
March 14: 4th Quarter Begins
March 15: Board of Education Meeting
March 16: 2nd & 3rd Grade Concerts
March 27-31: Spring Break
April 5: K-5 Art Show
April 26: Kindergarten Orientation
You can view the district calendar in ParentSquare or subscribe to the calendar here.
You can subscribe to the District and Athletics & Activities events and calendar here.
The Hallsville Community Teachers Association (CTA) is hosting a School Board Candidate Forum on Wednesday, March 8, at 6:30 p.m. in the Hallsville Primary School cafeteria. Board candidates who have filed for the Tuesday, April 4 election will be in attendance to answer questions and meet community members. Five candidates are running for three open seats.
School Board Candidates (in order of filing):
- Craig Stevenson
- Brian Mottaz
- Stephen Garnett
- Jennifer Martin
- Secley Kennedy
If you have questions regarding the forum, please contact CTA representatives Sherri Briedwell at sbriedwe@hallsville.org or Kayla Eads at keads@hallsville.org.
Yesterday Hallsville Primary School celebrated 100 Days Smarter! Since the beginning of the school year, students have tried to catch Zero the Hero, who began to show up on the 10th day of school. He continued to pull pranks on students every ten days, all the way up to the 90th day of school. This morning, on the 100th day of school, HPS staff were finally able to trap him! He then led students in activities celebrating 100 Days Smarter, such as counting to 100, hula hooping for 100 seconds, building with 100 items, and more!
Save the date for the Hallsville High School spring play, Let’s Murder Marsha! Performances will be held at Rocky Fork Fellowship on Thursday, March 9, Friday, March 10, and Saturday, March 11, at 6:00 p.m. The cost is $4 per adult and $3 for students and children over the age of 3.
Let’s Murder Marsha is a comedy about a happy housewife named Marsha, who is hopelessly addicted to reading murder mysteries. She overhears her loving husband discussing her upcoming birthday surprise with an interior decorator, and to her ears, though, it sounds like they are planning to murder her!
Online registration for the 2023-2024 school year is now open! Registration for current students and families involves updating parent and student information in the parent portal, Tyler SIS. Registration for new families to the district involves creating a parent portal account for your family and uploading required residency verification forms. All registration must be completed by Tuesday, March 21.
Construction work packages were let for bid at the end of January. A pre-bid meeting was held at Hallsville Primary School on February 9, and SMWilson held a bid opening meeting on February 15. The Board of Education will hold a special meeting today, Thursday, March 2, at 5:00 p.m. in the primary cafeteria where SMWilson will present their evaluation of the bids and make recommendations on selection of winning bids to the Board. SMWIlson will also present an updated GMP Amendment. The agenda for the special meeting can be found here.
Klingner’s survey team is completing the necessary work to facilitate the transfer of a small amount of real property from the water district to the school district at the north end of the stadium complex. This work includes setting points at the new corners, preparing an updated legal description, and preparing a plat of the survey work. Once completed, the district’s attorney will prepare the legal documents for presentation to the water district. The lease financing through Simmons Bank closed on January 31. Funds are now available for use on the project.
DESE’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) Advisory Council is asking students, parents, business leaders, and educators to take short survey to share your general perceptions of CTE programs in Missouri. Career and Technical Education (CTE) gives students real-world, hands-on experience in a variety of employment fields. Formerly known as Vocational Education (or Vo-Tech), CTE programs in Missouri schools encompass a variety of educational programs and pathways, including programs in Agriculture; Business and Marketing; Health Sciences; Family and Consumer Sciences; Skilled Technical Sciences (e.g. Automotive Repair, Collision Repair Computer Sciences, Construction, Law Enforcement, Machining, and Welding); and Project Lead the Way (PLTW). The survey is open until April 12.
Graduation for the Hallsville High School Class of 2023 will take place on the main campus on Friday, May 26, at 7:30 p.m. Additional information will be provided to the community in early May. If you have any questions, please contact Matthew Cooley at mcooley@hallsville.org.
Below are the highlights of items discussed during the open session of the Board of Education meeting held on Wednesday, February 15. The full agenda is available on the district website. The March Board of Education meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 15. When available, the agenda can be viewed here. You can also view the full highlights of previous meetings here.
RECOGNITIONS
School counselors Sarah Wulff, Codi Campos, Kayla Lewis, Kellie Austene, and Matt Boyer were recognized during National School Counseling Week for their impact on helping students achieve school success.
Sarah Bradshaw and Whitney Myers were recognized for the planning and execution of Title I Literacy Night in January.
Christina McMullin and Dianna Orr were recognized for their work during Courtwarming Week and for assisting Student Council with the planned events.
PROGRAM EVALUATIONS
With each program evaluation, strengths, concerns, and future recommendations are reviewed. The board approved the following program evaluations.
LEGISLATIONS
Mr. Downs provided an update on several pieces of draft legislation that would directly impact education. One proposal moving through the process is open enrollment, which would allow students to transfer to districts other than where they live, with certain limitations. Dr. Kyle Kruse from St. Clair spoke to the House Education Committee recently. Mr. Downs provided Dr. Kruse’s comments to the Board, as there are similarities between Hallsville and St. Clair.
As previous updates from Mrs. Esquivel mentioned, the state is transitioning from the fifth version of the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP 5) to the sixth version (MSIP 6). MSIP is the statewide accountability system for reviewing and accrediting Local Education Agencies (LEAs). It outlines expectations for school practices and student outcomes with the goal of each student graduating ready for success in college, career, and life. This year’s Annual Performance Report (APR) will be the first under MSIP 6. The new APR scoring system will result in scores that are not comparable to previous years. Recently, districts received a timeline for the release of the 2022 Annual Performance Report (APR):
APR Data EMBARGOED until March 7
Secure Release of Preliminary APR for Local Education Agencies (LEA) review: February 8-15
Secure Release of Final APR Data available for LEA review: February 28-March 3
Public release of final APR: March 7
The Board approved the following additional faculty stipends:
PBIS Leadership Team: The district and our schools have committed to implementing Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support (PBIS) systems across the district. Faculty members who participate on the district or a building PBIS leadership team that meets outside of school hours will be compensated at a rate of $25 per hour up to a maximum of $500 per school year.
LETRS Literacy Training: This literacy instruction training is recommended by DESE for all elementary teachers in Missouri. The training sessions are held outside of regular school hours. Teachers who volunteer to complete the training during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years will receive a stipend of $1,000. Of this, $500 will come from the teacher retention grant allocation, and $500 will come from a separate state literacy initiative grant.
Hallsville Little League Registration
Hallsville Little League Registration is now open for students entering kindergarten through 8th grade, in the fall. Registration closes on March 15. Registration must be completed online here. If you have any questions, please contact Erika Wildenhain at hallsvillelittleleague@gmail.com.
Twisters Hockey: Learn to Play Clinics
Twisters Hockey is hosting Learn to Play Clinics in March! Students ages 5 to 18 of all skill levels are encouraged to attend! For more information, please follow Twisters Hockey on Facebook!