Malta Bend board reorganizes, hears end of year reports

At its meeting Tuesday evening, May 19, the Malta Bend Board of Education reorganized and welcomed one new member.

Art Madden will remain board president, Mindy Rigby will keep her post as vice president and Scoot Moore was asked to continue being the board's treasurer.

Newly appointed board member Casey Klein was also sworn in at the meeting.

Board members Moore, Klein and Jackie Plattner volunteered to be on the budget committee.

Malta Bend resident Becky O'Donnell was present at the meeting to voice her complaints about the school board's behavior in appointing a new board member. O'Donnell, who had hoped to be appointed herself, felt she was treated unfairly, and she also expressed her concern about the recent, frequent rescheduling of board meetings.

In response to O'Donnell's remarks, Superintendent Melissa Vesser said, "There would not have been any person that we could've picked that night that would've been a bad person," but the board sought diversity in a new member.

In her report, Vesser told the board about a food service grant the school is applying for. It could provide funds to replace the stove, steam table, hood and to purchase a walk-in freezer, she said.

Vesser also said that the American Legion has donated $9,000 to the school to fix lights in the gymnasium.

"We were pretty floored that they did the whole thing," she said.

Principal Roger Feagan reported on attendance at the meeting. The overall average for the school year is 93.36, which is an improvement over last year, he said.

The board heard program evaluations of the counseling department, the preschool and the professional development program.

Counselor Erica Sims, who has just completed her first year as Malta Bend's counselor, reported on her work for the year.

She has been working on bringing the A-Plus program to Malta Bend and will continue to do so this summer. Sims also said she was pleased with her work with kindergarten through fifth graders, but would like to focus on junior high and high school students next year.

"I'm really looking forward to being able to" work with them more, she said.

Sims plans to begin a character education program next school year as well, which will teach values and appropriate behavior to all students schoolwide.

"I think the character education is extremely important," Madden said.

Lora Kiehl reported to the board on both the preschool and the professional development program.

About the former, she said her main concern was with the failure of some parents to pay tuition, even those who can afford to do so.

"It's been a headache for nine years," she said.

Kiehl was proud to tell the board the the preschool's outdoor classroom is only the third of its kind in Missouri, and she has been asked to give a presentation about it at an education conference.

The professional development program, which provides funds for teachers to attend conferences and workshops, spent the majority of its monies on teacher training for the school's new reading program, Kiehl said.

In other action items, the board approved out-of-district tuition as $3,500 per year.

The board also approved a parking permit policy. To obtain and keep a permit, a student must maintain a 2.0 grade point average, have no excessive absences or tardies and attend an assembly discussing driving safety.

"If we can't be safe in the parking lot," Vesser said, "then we can't park in the parking lot."

Board members amended the graduation requirement policy to "meet minimum state requirements or above."

The board adjourned into closed session to discuss personnel, legal, property and student matters, where Katie Todd was officially hired as a preschool aide.

Contact Sydney Stonner at marshallbusiness@socket.net