October 19, 2023

• "The Curious Savage" on stage at the Performing Arts Center Nov. 2, 3 & 4
• Special Olympics Bowling
• Cross Country clean sweep at conference meet
• Bryant Wright MSHSAA Cross Country Coach of the Year
• Volleyball co-conference champions
• Delaney Willis school record 1,343 career volleyball assists and counting
• Sawyer Partney - FHS Student of the Month
• Homecoming recap
• Intermediate School Tiger Pride Assembly
• Early Childhood and Kindergarten learn about community helpers

Roy Mangan from ArchImages, the architect for the Performing Arts Center announced to the Board that the Performing Arts Center was selected as an Outstanding Design in the auditoriums/music rooms category in a contest in American School & Universities Magazine. More information can also be found at SchoolDesigns.com. Mr. Mangan presented Board President Doug Wendel with a special plaque about the award.

The board unanimously passed the consent agenda. Items were:

• September meeting regular session minutes
• Bills payable for the month
• Financial Reports & Statement
• Ledger Subtotals
• Budget amendments
• 2nd and final reading of MSBA Policy updates 2023C Policy Overview AC, EF, BBBA, BBF

Classroom Expansion - ArchImages is currently finishing up the documents needed to open the bidding process. They are planning to go to bid by the end of the month. Expect to award a bid at the December Board meeting with a projected start date in December. Looking at an August 2025 date to open it.

Superintendent's Report

The high school student council will be hosting the district student council convention in the Performing Arts Center on November 1. Students from schools in the southeast part of the state will be here for the convention. Last year the Festus student council was voted to the President's school position, earning the right to host the district convention. This is a big honor among student councils.

TAB meetings this week were well-attended. There were lots of good discussions. Many surrounded Infinite Campus. Class sizes & expansion were also a big topic.

Parent-Teacher conferences begin next week.

Veterans' Day assemblies will be Nov. 9 at the Intermediate School and Nov. 10 at the high school. The Veterans' Day parade is also scheduled for Nov. 10 at 11:30am.

1st Quarter Financial Update

There is an expected increase in projected income because of an increase in the assessed valuation.

There is also an increase in expected expenses because of a few new teacher positions, and channel changes for certified staff.

At the quarter mark of the fiscal year, 23% of expenses have been made, so still well within the budget.

Investments of $14.5 million dollars that was set aside for the new gym project are expected to net approximately $1.2 million in interest payments by the Spring of 2024.

Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment

There were 114 respondents to the PD Day survey.

Comments were mostly positive.

Dr. Ruess presented the first of 3 MAP/EOC reports to the board. This one focused on Festus compared to the state numbers. Generally speaking, Festus outperformed the state numbers by a large margin. In many instances, the Festus numbers went up compared to last year.

Unanimously approved a new camera system for the high school that includes a converter for the cameras in the PAC and new cameras to be placed at Tiger Field. - Cost approximately $95,000