APR report discovers technical issues

By Murray Bishoff Special to the Cassville Democrat

The Purdy school board wrestled with scheduling for the coming school year and reviewed issues with the Annual Performance Review (APR), as assessed by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, during its Feb. 12 meeting. 

Board members found themselves torn over the options the Missouri General Assembly imposed over when school could open, no earlier than 14 days before the first Monday in September, putting the start date on Aug. 24. Superintendent Travis Graham took two options to the faculty. 

The first choice called for 169 in-session days, with five additional school days in May. That would have pushed summer school back an extra week to allow the five days to be placed at the end of the year if needed for snow make-up days. It would also start school one day later and have one less day in the April break. 

The second option, preferred by faculty, called for fulfilling the number of hours required by the state rather than counting days.

While two board members preferred the first option, Board Member Ken Terry observed asking teachers for their opinion then ignoring it represented a poor faith gesture. Option A did not receive a second to the motion, while Option B passed on a 4-2 vote. 

Graham explained he delayed his report on the Annual Performance Review because of several issues surfaced. During the  district’s trial-run year under the Missouri School Improvement Plan 6, the Purdy district scored 70.3 percent. With more background on what the state wanted, in the second year Purdy’s score rose to 80.5, then to 80.8 percent. For last year, however, Purdy’s score dropped to 74.2 percent. 

Graham responded by digging into the district’s performance totals, finding several areas only scored at “approaching” and thus did not receive sufficient points in those areas. 

“I looked at the CSIP [Comprehensive School Improvement Program] plans, talked to the core teachers, and looked at what we are teaching,” Graham said. “These scores are reflecting on the MAP [Missouri Achievement Program] scores and the EOC [end-of-course exams for high school students]. Fortunately for us, the state puts out blueprints on what standards are going to be assessed. We went backward designing from there to make sure our standards align, and in growth.”

A more difficult issue surfaced in looking at the continuous improvement variable. While the district earned 100 percent of points in several areas, data for the kindergarten assessment was not put into the data uploaded to the state’s Missouri Student Information System (MOSIS). Since then, Graham made sure the data was in the district’s system, but in a test, found it still failed to upload. The Individual Career and Academic Plan also failed to transfer. 

“I took for granted the data was in the system,” Graham said. “It should have exported. The state would not make the exception because I did not meet the appeals window.” 

Graham pulled in former principal Bob Vice and enlisted the high school secretary to run monthly reports, as well as data company Infinite Campus. The problem has still not been resolved. 

Had those issues been overcome, Graham said the district’s APR score would have come in at 78 percent, only a 2 percent drop. 

“We’re working on aligning our curriculum and instruction, making sure we are instructing appropriately. I anticipate a good jump going into next year,” Graham added. He noted the efforts to fine-tune the curriculum and following the action steps he put in place would be crucial as the state shifted to imposing a letter grade on all school districts after evaluating numbers for the current school year. 

In other reports, Graham noted the Missouri General Assembly was considering a number of education-related bills, including tax reform and open enrollment that could impact Purdy. Open enrollment represented a potential loss of student enrollment up to 5 percent and a transportation burden if students chose to go to a nearby district. 

“There are a lot of moving parts in preparing the FY27 district budget,” Graham said. “With the level of uncertainties regarding financial resources, I am working on several scenarios and will be attending legislative sessions as I am able.” 

The district will have an election on April 7. The four candidates for three open positions are David Young, Nathan Lamp, David Wormington, and Kaley Thigpen. 

In student achievement, the Eagle Echoes elementary choir received a 1 rating at the Northeast Oklahoma A&M College’s choral festival. Two students in eighth and ninth grades had their artwork chosen for display at WonderWorks in Branson. Winn Htet was named the elementary school’s spelling bee winner.

Graham reported the Purdy Future Business Leaders of America chapter scored 15 district championships, earned 45 medals and qualified 29 for state competition. Two seniors had received Missouri State University Presidential Scholarships, valued at $75,000 over five years. 

Graham noted receiving positive feedback from faculty on changes made in the structure for SOAR hour. Teachers now had the opportunity to work with students in smaller settings that allowed tutoring-style intervention. 

In personnel action, board members added a year to the contract for principal Julie Dalton, who oversees grades eight and under;

The following administrative contracts were renewed:

• Jennifer Cornelius as athletic director and assistant principal for all grades

• Darcy Brown as special education director

• Kristy Cook as director of district business services

• Emily Kool as director of technology

• Julie Keeler as director of operations 

Resignations were received from English language arts teacher Brandi King for seventh and eighth grade, high school special education teacher Robert Ryman, and paraprofessionals Marlene Villa and Grace Gardner. 

The board hired Emaleigh Harper as a second grade teacher, Jacy Cash as an administrative assistant for the superintendent, and Julia Brown and Veronica Rey Sanchez as paraprofessionals. 

In extra duty assignments, Drew Williams was hired as the boys golf coach and Carder Eaton was named middle school baseball assistant coach.