Student achievements for year celebrated

BY MURRAY BISHOFF Special to the Cassville Democrat

The Purdy school board filled several positions and celebrated year-end achievements by students at its May meeting.

The board hired Kolby Hosp, a recent Missouri State University graduate and Republic resident, as the new agriculture education teacher. She succeeds Jace Rutledge, whose resignation was accepted. They also hired Erin Wilson, a Purdy resident who has been teaching third grade in Monett, as a sixth-grade English language arts teacher. Caroline Edwards was hired as coordinator of online learning and support for both Family, Career and Consumer Leaders of America and Future Business Leaders of America.

Hired as paraprofessionals were Vanessa Nelson, Miranda Garcia, Robyn Schad, Marlene Villa and Viviana Bedoy.

Principal Julie Dalton walked the board through year-end reports. The Reading Success program, according to the STAR assessment, saw major gains in reading skills from kindergarten through third grade, reducing the number of students not reading independently by about half by the end of the year. All the fourth graders crossed that plateau by year’s end, she noted.

“Every grade level had growth — in every classroom,” she said, This was the base year for the Reading Success program, providing test data that will serve as a reference for future years.

Dalton expected the Parents as Teachers program, limited to 15 students this year with a new coordinator, to expand next year.

Among the student achievements noted were 24 high school art students taking home ribbons at the conference art show, 16 winning awards, including four first places. Business technology, multimedia and yearbook students competed in the 2025 Media Showcase at Missouri Southern State University, taking home six first and second place awards. The Academic Team took second place in the conference. The Eagle Echoes choir earned a 1 Superior rating at the Worlds of Fun Festival of Music. The sixth-to-eighth-grade junior high baseball team won the SWLC Conference for the third consecutive year.

This year for prom, Dalton was approached about a group that wanted to go but had no transportation. Staff stepped forward, found dresses, had a hair and makeup party, arranged to use a school bus, and had a successful event at the Diamond Room in Springfield.

Superintendent Travis Graham announced plans for Summer School, running May 27 to June 20. Approximately 130 students were expected to attend. Of those, 36 would take the health and personal finance class, freeing up their schedules to add an elective during the school year.

Looking at the legislative session in Jefferson City, Graham said issues still pending lay in Gov. Mike Kehoe’s hands. He did not expect Kehoe to veto full funding for the school Foundation Formula. The legislature approved allowing home-schooled students to try out for sports in public schools. When that could go into effect is still uncertain. With students in the public schools required to meet an academic standard before being eligible to play sports, board members questioned how the district could evaluate home-schooled students similarly, another question that remains unanswered.

The board scheduled its next open meeting for June 26 after a budget workshop on June 19.