Ozark Tiger E-News

Students across Ozark School District celebrated Veterans Day by honoring veterans in various ways throughout the week. Find more coverage on our District and building social media pages.

Retired 1st Sgt. William Crawford was honored during an Ozark High School Veterans Day Assembly Nov. 9 with the Salutes Plaque, the highest honor a civilian can receive for their outstanding recruiting efforts.

“First Sgt. Crawford's dedication has not only ensured a steady stream of dedicated individuals into our ranks, but it has also enhanced the reputation of the JROTC program at Ozark, " Air Force Staff Sgt. Greg Butler said. “His commitment to shaping the next generation of Air Force leaders is truly commendable.”

Read the full story here.

The Ozark Junior High Grace Notes Choir performed patriotic songs at the Ozark Senior Center Friday for their Veterans Day Lunch. The Ozark High School JROTC also presented the colors. Thank you, Ozark Senior Center, for inviting our students to be a part of your Veterans Day Lunch honoring our veterans!

Last week Ozark Junior High celebrated veterans with an awesome assembly! The assembly included a performance of the Armed Forced Medley by OJH Choir students, performances from OHS's JROTC Mountainettes and Mountain Guard Drill teams and a special shoutout to retiring Master Sgt. Nicola Mozingo!

On Nov. 3, South Elementary fourth graders learned how to set a White Table in honor and remembrance to service members held prisoner of war or missing in action. Each part of the table represents something a soldier and their family may have felt or gone through. Following the presentation of the White Table, James Price with the Ozark VFW answered student questions about the table, the military and veterans.

On Nov. 2, 17 high school and junior high Ozark Culture Club members went to Convoy of Hope. For a couple of hours, students packaged, counted and sorted hygiene packs to be sent to refugees and baby packs for mothers in need. It was a fun night to help and hang out.

On Tuesday, 12 West second graders were selected to join Cox Health's Little Medical School! This is a program where a real medical professional spends three sessions with students to teach them about their health and medical safety! This week students learned about the respiratory system and their heart! Thank you Cox Health for investing in the future of medicine here at Ozark West!

East second graders took a field trip to College of the Ozarks this week. Some highlights were the museum, the mill, the dairy barn, the greenhouse, and the old schoolhouse!

Payton Shelor’s second grade class at South Elementary was patiently waiting for their guest reader to arrive on Nov. 8 when in walked Spc. James Wall with the Army National Guard. Still dressed in uniform, Wall’s first stop after a more than 20 hour flight from Africa was to see his son, second-grader Jax. Surrounded by his classmates, Jax, who is normally quite talkative, was speechless by the surprise.

Read the full release here.

North first graders had a lot of fun taking AR (Augmented Reality) photos with an animal they're researching in technology class! Find more of these photos on North's Facebook and Instagram pages.

All Missouri children under 5 years old are now able to register for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. There is no deadline to register. The Imagination Library is dedicated to inspiring a love of reading by providing age-appropriate books each month to children free of charge. In order to receive books, a parent or guardian must register their child on the Imagination Library national website. Books will be mailed directly to the homes of registered children every month.

Read the full DESE release here.

Nov. 6-10 was National School Psychology Awareness Week. So we want to highlight the important work our school psychologists and other educators do to help all students thrive.

What do school psychologist do? A lot!

• Provide direct support and interventions to students
• Consult with teachers, families and other school-employed mental health professionals to improve support strategies
• Work with school administrators to improve school-wide practices and policies
• Collaborate with community providers to coordinate needed services

Thank you to our school psychologists for all they do for our students!

Nov. 8 was Parents as Teachers Day, and we want to thank our amazing parent educators for all they do! Parents as Teachers promotes the optimal early development, learning and health of children by supporting and engaging their parents and caregivers. All families expecting a child or those parenting children that haven't entered kindergarten, are eligible for PAT parent education services through Ozark School District. And it’s free! Learn more about PAT here - tigerpaw.ozarktigers.org/parents-as-teachers

Congratulattions to our OHS girls Cross Country team for placing 13th at state, which makes them the top team from Southwest Missouri! Also, Ellsie Estes earned All-State honors by placing 16th. She is the 3rd individual to earn this honor in school history. Her time of 18:33 ranks third fastest all-time for our program.

The OHS boys soccer team is the 2023 Class 4 District 5 Champions after defeating Nixa 3-1 Nov. 6! We are so proud of these players who have proved that hard work, dedication, and teamwork pay off! Congrats guys! The team takes on Rockhurst in the state quarterfinals this Saturday at home! Tickets must be purchased on the MSHSAA website $8 and cannot be purchased at the gate.

The first 70 students to show up with their Ozark student IDs get in for free courtesy of the OHS Booster Club. Tickets are $8 and must be purchased before hand through MSHSAA (use the QR code to purchase tickets). If you can't make it in person, stream the game on MSSHAA website for $10: https://www.mshsaa.tv/

Congrats to five OHS choir students who made all-state choir! Seniors Matthew Baum, Harleigh Preston and Kamryn Mayfield all will perform with the all-state choir in January. Junior Ella Hulse is an alternate and junior Andrew Shuford received an honorable mention! Congrats to all our awesome choir students.

OHS's JROTC Raiders teams recently traveled to Ft. Knox, Kentucky, for the the largest Raider competition in history and came home with a third place overall win! They also placed first and set a new record for the one rope bridge, placed fourth in the gauntlet, placed fifth in 5k terrain run, placed fifth in the cross country litter run, and placed fourth in the physical training test! Great job Raiders! What a great finish to a phenomenal season!

Parents, you have options:

• Visit www.myschoolapps.com to see if you qualify for free/reduced meals and to fill out the application, this is completely confidential.

• Pay your meal balances at www.myschoolbucks.com or download the app “My School Bucks”

• Send a check or cash with your student in their backpack. Please communicate with the teacher when you send it so they can look for it. Put the check or cash in an envelope/zippy bag with their name on it and write “lunch money.” Checks should be made out to Ozark Schools.

We are currently hiring for many positions, including food services, evening custodian, paraprofessionals and bus drivers.

Find all of our open positions here and click through the categories on the left to find the right fit for you.

Join us as we work to develop plans to accommodate Ozark's growth! The District is inviting the community to participate in three Long Range Planning Committee meetings. The Demographic Report, along with current construction projects, will be reviewed at the first meeting Nov. 14, 2023.

Long Range Planning Meetings

• Nov. 14, 2023 | 6:30 - 8 p.m. | Ozark Innovation Center
• Dec. 12, 2023 | 6:30 - 8 p.m. | Ozark West Elementary
• Jan. 16. 2024 | 6:30 - 8 p.m. | Ozark Middle School

* Dinner will be provided for participants and childcare will be provided for school-age children

• COMMITTEE REGISTRATION
• FULL PRESS RELEASE ON DEMOGRAPHIC REPORT