Malta Bend school board hears proposals from student council

The Malta Bend School Board met Thursday night, Nov. 13, to hear proposals from Malta Bend Student Council (STUCO) and reports from counselor Erica Sims.

Kelsey Forqueran, STUCO treasurer, spoke about switching to block scheduling for next year. She proposed a five-block schedule that would allow students to take more courses per year and give teachers more planning time.

Dakota Kiser, STUCO president, presented the council's plan for outside eating regulations. The privilege would be limited to high school students with good behavior and no failing grades. The two STUCO members also asked the board to consider creating set guidelines for Courtwarming King and Queen candidates, such as athletic participation and being in the senior class.

The board approved STUCO's eating regulations and Courtwarming rules and will discuss changing to block scheduling at a later date.

Counselor Erica Sims has been working on ways to promote taking the ACT among Malta Bend High School students, and she shared that information with the board.

"What we're really trying to hope that we can do is excite our kids more into taking the ACT," she said.

Sims has solicited Marshall businesses, asking for donations for ACT incentives. She received a positive response from many restaurants, like Subway and Pizza Hut, which donated gift certificates.

Board President Art Madden applauded Sims' efforts saying, "If somebody has an opportunity," we want to "give them every advantage to take that opportunity."

Sims also discussed the implementation of a character program in the school, with elements like a character pledge and character words. Sims hopes such a program would help turn around students' bad attitudes and foster self-esteem.

"This is inexpensive," she said, "but it is worth so much."

In the principal's report, Roger Feagan showed the board new attendance reports, broken down by grade level. He said the current total enrollment in Malta Bend is 103 students.

In her report, Superintendent Melissa Vesser shared the results of a parent survey distributed at recent parent-teacher conferences. The feedback was pretty accurate, she said.

"The majority of the people who filled out the survey do not feel that the community works together," she said.

The results of the survey will be compiled into a flyer, which will be available at the Wagon Wheel in Malta Bend.

Vesser also discussed a recent decision from the Social Security Administration (SSA) concerning Missouri's public schools. The SSA has determined that too many employees of Missouri schools are exempt from Social Security. This could affect the retirement of many employees, and will potentially create more costs for Malta Bend and other districts.

"I don't think it's going to help our teachers in the long run," Vesser said.

U.S. Sen. Kit Bond is working on this issue, and the school board moved to write him a letter outlining its concerns and thanking him for his efforts.

"You never know," Madden said. "It might be our letter that he reads."

In other business, the board approved a fundraising application from the school's cheerleaders, who want to put on a school dance to raise money for new uniforms.

The board also approved measures to fix the heating systems in the school. The heat exchanger in the commons area needs to be worked on, and the agricultural room needs a stand-alone heater. The board capped the price for these projects at a total of $5,000.

Contact Sydney Stonner at marshallbusiness@socket.net