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The Pride
September 26, 2014

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Your Voice
 
Each week this section will feature a 2 minute survey asking for your input on an important school issue. Please take a couple minutes to let Your Voice be heard.
Willard Parks

 

Youth Basketball Registration

Oct. 1st - Oct. 18th  

 

Safe Halloween Trunk or Treat
October 25th 2014 from 6pm-8pm

 

Dungeon of Doom Haunted House

Friday, Oct. 24th & Saturday, Oct. 25th: 7-10 pm 

 

9th Annual Christmas on the Frisco - Nov. 22nd

www.christmasonthefrisco.com

 

3rd Annual Willard Turkey Trot 
Thanksgiving Morning November 27th 2014

 

Music Class Registration Underway

www.willardparks.com/music-classes

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

  
District Office
Are we just keeping up with the Jones'????

I have been asked this question a few times since we began communicating the bond issue, so I decided to share my thoughts.The Bond projects are estimated to cost $14.5 million dollars. The district is bonding $15.2 million to have sufficient contingency funds in place if actual bids exceed the current estimates.  Out of the $15.2 million approximately $1.8 million will be expended upon athletics.  This equates to 12% of the total bond.  This includes the new track, turf, and tennis courts.  Why Turf????
  
Here are points to consider:
  • Willard has only 1 football field.  Peer conference schools have multiple football fields and are able to divide the use. Several have turf on at least one of their fields.  Our natural grass turf, simply, is destroyed during football season due to overuse.  The school has a 7th Grade , 8th Grade, 9th Grade, Jr. Varsity, and Varsity Football Program.  The Willard Youth League plays several games on the field on Saturday.  By the end of the season there are large areas which are bare of grass.  Ultimately this causes injuries to athletes.  
  • Injury rates of football players who compete on turf is less than those that compete on natural grass.
  • Considerable funds are saved when turf is installed at the same time as a new track.  The inside curb of the track anchors the turf in place.  If turf is installed at a later date the cost will be significantly increased.  The track must be replaced soon due to deteriorating foundation base.    
  • Turf has become common in quality high school programs.  
This argument is settled for me simply utilizing the point of injury to athletes.  Football is a tough sport and injuries occur.  However, this is an opportunity to lessen the possibility of serious injury to our athletes.  
  
Tonight we play Webb City!  It is going to be a great game.  Come and cheer on our boys.
  
Have a great weekend!
  
Dr. Kent Medlin
Superintendent
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Athletics & Activities
Well isn't this getting fun!  ALL of our Tigers are on the prowl and, me personally, wouldn't mess with them right now!  
  
Congratulations to the volleytigers on their HUGE win over Nixa on Tuesday!  They followed that up with a convincing win over Neosho last night to run their record to 13-4 and 2-0 in the COC.  The girls continue COC play next week as they travel to Carthage on Tuesday and host Branson on Thursday.
  
Congratulations to the soccer tigers on their 10-0 victory over Hillcrest last night in the opening round of the Willard Fall Classic!  The tournament continues tonight but our Tigers don't play again until Saturday.  Tournament games will start at 8:30 and the championship match will be played at 2:00pm.  Next week they will travel to Nixa on Tuesday and will host Bolivar on Thursday.
  
Congratulations to the Lady Tiger softball team on their COC win last night over Branson.  The girls will play in the Springfield Tournament this weekend and start with Waynesville at 11:00am today.  They will then play Buffalo at 4:00.  The tournament will conclude tomorrow.  All games will be played at Killian Sports Complex.  Next week, the girls will host Cassville on Tuesday and will host Pleasant Hope on Thursday.
  
Oh....I almost forgot.....there's a football game tonight.  Seriously, congratulations to our Tigers on their victory over Ozark last week 40-14.  They are now 5-0 and ranked #4 in Class 5 in the state of Missouri!  Tonight they will host Webb City, ranked #1 in the state and #25 in the nation.  Gates will open at 5:30.  It should be a great atmosphere!
  
The girls golf team struggled at the COC tournament but will look to improve at districts on Monday in Carthage.  Here are the results of the conference tournament:
Team Score - 444
Team Place - 7th out of 7
  
Individuals
Brooklyn Teague - 103
Brooke Mitchals - 105
Tory Butler - 114
Hannah Scott - 122
Sydney Stuart - 128
  
Cross Country will be hosting the Willard Highline Invitational next Thursday.  It should be a great day for a great event!  The team will be in Branson for a race this Saturday.  Good luck Tigers!
  
The Cutting Edge will begin their marching season tomorrow as they will be competing in the Ozark Marching Festival at Ozark High School.  Our kids will be performing at 3:00 in the preliminaries.  Finals are later that night.  Good luck band!!!!!
  
It's Good To Be A Tiger!
  
Jeff Staley
Director of Athletics / Activities 
High School

On October 6, WHS will be hosting a special guest, Jennifer Schiffman.  She will be conducting presentations for high school students, teachers, and even an evening session for parents on Digital Safety.  In the era of social media with facebook, twitter, snapchat, etc, the information and safeguards presented are extremely relevant for us all.  I invite our parents and patrons to attend the 6:30 PM presentation in the WHS Theater on October 6th.  More information is available on the high school website.

 

Sometimes the smallest of things brings a realization to the forefront.  This week we took the 2014-15 Staff and Senior Class photos.  Honestly and quite possibly like some of you, picture days are not my favorite.  However, our seniors did a terrific job listening, organizing, and posing for the picture.  We have awesome student leaders at WHS; I'm proud of our seniors and the leadership they continue to exhibit in so many areas of our school!

 

The excitement and spirit in the building is extremely high!  Many, many successes are occurring at WHS, athletically and academically.  It is awesome to see so many of our students excelling in so many areas; these are too numerous to even count.  Several positives and recognitions are listed on the website.  Names continue to be added to the ACT banners.  We continue to look for additional ways to recognize academics as well as extra curricular achievements. 

 

It is GREAT to be a Tiger!

 

Curt Graves

Principal 

 

  
Middle School

"Let's Paint this Town!"  Willard Middle School students are literally painting the town at our school and area businesses.  The Window Painting e-Time group began to answer the essential question:  How can we develop pride in our school and community?  

 

As a group, they researched ideas for their own window design.  Next, they collaboratively developed their unique creation, message, and template.  This week, they were excited to begin working on their project.  While driving through town, we hope that you enjoy their designs and hopefully catch a little Tiger Pride!

  
Amelia Yates
Assistant Principal  
Intermediate School
With the school year in full swing, many of our students are now taking advantage of some of the unique opportunities WIS offers them. Activities like Drama Club, Running Club, Friday morning choir, and Lego club have our students finding ways to connect with the building outside of the regular school day. 
  
These before and after school clubs give our students ways to explore and develop talents that might go unnoticed without these opportunities.  We would encourage our students to find one of these to plug into!  
If you would like more information about any of our clubs just give us a call at 742-4242.
  
Tom Davis
Principal  
North Elementary School

 Willard North held their second Super Tiger on Wednesday.  We celebrated several students who had shown great character, teamwork, improvement, and academic achievement for the month of September.   

 

On Monday night, 1st grade held their Parent Information Night and Kindergarten held their Open House.  The kindergarten students were very excited to show their parents their school and all the things they have been learning and working on their first few weeks of school!  

 

 

Looking Ahead...

Monday, September 29- K-2nd McTeacher Night

Thursday, October 2- Bond Parent Meeting @ Intermediate-6:00

Friday, October 3-1st Grade Music Program @ Highschool-6:30

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Amanda Hambey

Principal

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South Elementary School

This week our kindergarten students have been learning about community helpers.  As a culminating activity, the Willard Fire Department came and visited today.  The students learned all about the responsibilities of a firefighter, what to do in case of a fire, and they even got to explore the fire engine.  The students were excited to share what they had been learning about fire safety with the firemen.

  

Just a reminder, fundraiser order forms and money are due next Friday, October 3rd.  The coupon book needs to be returned if it has not been purchased!  Students who return the coupon book or the $20 for it, will receive a prize! 

 

Picture day will be this upcoming Thursday, October 2nd.  Order forms should come home on Monday.  

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Lindsay Wallace

Teacher

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East Elementary School

While you are reading this information we could very well be celebrating our 1st Tiger Pride Assembly of the 2014-2015 school year! During Tiger Pride we like to recognize all the positive things going on with our

 students. We have a variety of recognitions and our students love it!

 

 

  
  
  
A big shout out to Ms. Mathers who made this year's traveling trophies. Each month the classroom that has the most Tiger Tokens or collects the most Box Tops will own the
traveling trophies for the month. 

 

 

 

 

Melinda Miller

Principal

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Central Elementary School
Fall is in the air and the end of the 1st quarter is around the corner!  I would like to thank Mrs. Owen, Miss Siebert, Mrs. Bass, Mrs. Floyd and Mrs. Jones for doing an outstanding job presenting to the Board of Education last week on how students start the school year in reading and math.  They painted a wonderful picture of the learning day and how students build their independence and stamina as learners. 
  
This week and next week, students will continue to show their teachers about their learning through their Developmental Reading Assessment.  During these student and teacher conversations about their reading, teachers will identify individual students strengths while targeting specific areas for support to move students forward in their reading.  Take some time to talk with your child about their reading strengths and goals, and ask them what strategies they can use when they read with you to support their learning.
  
WC also ended our PTO Fundraiser this week.  Thank you to our students and families for supporting our school!  Also, a huge thank you to Mrs. Jarvis and Mrs. Michael for their efforts to organize and manage our fundraiser!
  
Enjoy the beautiful weather and have a great weekend!
  
Shane Medlin
Principal

Orchard Hills Elementary School
  
 
Special Services

This week, the Special Services Administration and Process Coordinators attended the Missouri Council of Administrators of Special Education (MO-CASE) Annual Fall Law Conference.  By attending and participating in these professional development opportunities, our staff can learn about changes and new ideas in the area of special education.

 

This year, the keynote speaker was Dr. John Draper, CEO of Educational Research Service in Washington, D.C..  Dr. Draper spoke about finding the positive in an ever increasing world of negative.  It seems as if everywhere we turn, someone is telling us that schools are failing, teachers aren't good enough, students aren't achieving.  However, current research indicates that is not the case.  His challenge to educators was to speak up about the wonderful things that ARE happening in schools.  So today, I choose to celebrate the things that ARE working and there is not enough room in this PRIDE to list all that I am proud of here at Willard and more specifically all that is being done to serve students with special needs.  I appreciate our leadership team, teachers, paras and support staff and parents for all that they do each and every day.  We don't just have a good team, we have a GREAT team! 

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Caryn McDonnell

Director of Special Services 

Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment

This past couple weeks we have had teachers from across the district to continue our common assessment platform.  We have already launched our first two meetings with great success. Teachers came together from all buildings to share their knowledge and work towards creating some valuable assessments to be shared in our CAP site.  The district CAP site is an online platform that houses our curriculum across the district.  

 

Teachers will be meeting to continue assessment work throughout the year as well as gain knowledge and training in new testing the state is requiring this year of all students.  Students in the elementaries will be required to take the SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium).  This will be an online assessment for students in 3rd through 8th grades.  High School students will be participating in EOCs (End of Course Exams), and all 11th graders will take the ACT this year through the high school.
 
As part of the Department's process, we encourage and ask for feedback from teachers.  We know their time is valuable and want them in their classrooms as much as possible.  Thank you to all the teachers involved in this process across the district for bringing your knowledge, training, and input to create a great curriculum for Willard students!
 
Angela Stevens
Director of Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction



Willard Public Schools | 417-742-2584
500 E Kime
Willard, MO 65781

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