WillardPublicSchools
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The Pride
October 24, 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
How small and fragile is the bubble????

  

We are blessed to live in a very special community!  The Willard community has high expectations for values, morals, ethics, respect, honesty, hard work, etc...  These concepts are not only taught at home but reinforced by the public school. 

 

I was invited to two meetings yesterday in which this entered into the conversation.  Last night I was invited to attend a dinner in which former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was the keynote speaker.  I don't agree with all Mr. Huckabee says however, I do believe he is a respectable person. During his speech he spoke about how public schools are no longer able or willing to reinforce those key concepts mentioned above.  (No, I did not interrupt his speech and challenge him to come to Willard and witness that those beliefs are still incorporated in Willard.) 

 

Yesterday morning I, along with the Superintendent from Springfield and Nixa, were invited to participate in a dialogue with State Legislators, and representatives from Missouri State University and the Springfield business community.  Topics discussed included graduation rate, drop-out rate, attendance rate, student work ethic and apathy.  I thought to myself, "Willard has a dropout rate of approximately 1%, a graduation rate above 95% and an attendance rate above 95%".  Governor Huckabee approached the topic of public schools from a federal level and the legislators and business representatives approached the topic from a state level. 

 

I thought to myself "How small and how fragile is the bubble that surrounds Willard Public Schools."  I have family members that live in Southwest Missouri that home-school their children and others that send their children to a private Christian School.  My voice in the conversation is always "Move to Willard!"  I am not asserting that our school district is perfect.  We are continually working to improve.  However it is paramount that the district and community continue to be committed working in harmony to provide this special learning experience for young people.  I wish every child in our state, along with the 4520 students within our districts boundary, could share the Willard experience.  I work very hard not to take it for granted.     

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Dr. Medlin

Superintendent 

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Athletics & Activities
Let the championships begin!!!!  It seems that our Tigers have a knack of coming together and playing their best when it counts.  They have proven this year after year and this Fall is no exception.
  
Congratulations to the VolleyTigers on their Class 4, District 10 Championship as they defeated Central in the semifinals and Waynesville in the championship match 25-20, 35-33!!  They now head to Columbia Rockbridge this Saturday to play in the Sectional Tournament sporting an impressive 28-6 record on the season.  We play Carl Junction at 4:30.  The championship match will start at approximately 6:00.
  
Congratulations to the football Tigers on their victory over Carthage last Friday securing the #1 seed in the district tournament!  The Tigers end the regular season with an impressive 8-1 record and will host the winner of the Neosho/Belton game on Oct. 31st.
  
Congratulations to the soccer Tigers on their clean sweep this week, defeating Neosho, Rogersville, and Webb City!  The Tigers will start their district tournament next week as they play Hillcrest on Monday at 4:30 at Hillcrest.  The championship match will be on Thursday.
  
Good luck to the cross country Tigers as they run in the district meet this Saturday in Ray-Pec.  The boys race at 11:00followed by the girls.  Good luck Tigers!
  
Congratulations to "The Cutting Edge" for taking 1st place in preliminary competition in the Class 5A White Division and 4th place in Open Class Finals at the Champion of Champions Festival held on the campus of Missouri University this past Saturday. Willard was one of 30 bands from Missouri, Kansas and Iowa participating in this event. Congratulations also to the Color Guard for receiving special recognition as the 5th highest scoring guard of the day and to the Percussion section for receiving the 4th highest scoring percussion section of the day. Our final competitive performance will be this Saturday at the University of Central Missouri Festival of Champions. Preliminary performance time is 4:30 pm.

It's Good To Be A Tiger!
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High School

Saturday, October 25th, WHS will host students for the ACT.  This is a national testing date.  In late April, all juniors are required by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to complete the ACT.  Staff continue to plan and prepare for this change.  Additional communication of information to junior parents and students will follow as we get closer to the testing window.

 

Departments completed new course and course change proposals this week.  Each department representative will meet with Mr. Graves in the next couple weeks in order to review and discuss.  In mid-November, proposal will be presented to a committee for approval.  This process exemplifies how Willard staff continue to analyze, reflect, and problem solve to best meet the needs of our students.

 

The Veterans Day assembly is scheduled for November 11 at 1:35 PM.  Once again, SGA will be hosting all visiting veterans and their families prior to the assembly.  NJROTC and Mrs. Kiesewetter continue making plans for the program. 

 

It is GREAT to be a Tiger!

 

Curt Graves

Principal 

 

  
Middle School

 

Our 2014 Veteran's Day Assembly is scheduled for Tuesday, November 11. WMS students are encourage to invite a veteran to this annual event.  We will be serving dessert starting at 11:30 and the assembly will begin at 12:30.  Students can pick up an invitation in the WMS office.
 
If you have a picture of a veteran family member that you would like to share with us for the assembly, please submit it to the WMS office by Nov. 5th. Designate the student's name, Veteran's name, and the branch/years of service on the back of the picture. We will return it after scanning. You may also email the picture to [email protected]

We need student volunteers! If your student would like to help serve Veterans and assist in the Veteran's Day assembly, please have them attend the Operation Hometown Hero Supporters Club meetings on Wednesdays in Mrs. Loveland's room until 3:15 pm.
 
Please email Mrs. Loveland if you have any further questions. We are so excited for this Veteran's Day so we can honor all who have served and are currently serving. All are invited to attend!

Science Club Meeting
Mrs. McDowell and Mrs. Nelson-Gramm held a science club meeting on Thursday afternoon.  This group of scientists were "exploding" with excitement.  Check out the 2 videos below!


Thanks, 
Amy Sims
Principal
Intermediate School
We would like to invite everyone to attend the first annual Our Town Fall Festival and Country Show on the WIS campus this Saturday from 10-6.  Over 70 vendors from food to crafts, live music, pie eating contest, cute cowboy/cowgirl parade, beautiful fall weather, and a TON of door prizes will make this something you do not want to miss!
  
WIS parent/teacher conferences will be taking place next week, October 27th - 31st.  Make sure to call or email your child's homeroom teacher if you would like to schedule a time to visit.
  
Enjoy your fall weekend!

 

Tom Davis

Principal  

North Elementary School

  

  

 Willard North has been very busy!  Fall is here and our classes have been learning with pumpkins!  In Mrs. Robertson's Kindergarten class students and parent volunteers carved pumpkins.  These pumpkins will be displayed at the Dickerson Park Zoo during their Spooktacular.

 

 

 

  

We also had our Willard North McTeacher Nights.  The classes compete for the best attendance and the winning class receives a Happy Meal party.  The K-2nd grade winning class was Mrs. Choate's Kindergarten and the 3rd-4th grade winner was Mrs. Hayes 4th grade.

 

 

Looking Ahead...

Tuesday, October 28-Parent/Teacher Conferences

Wednesday, October 29-Super Tiger

Friday, October 31-Fall Parties


Have a great weekend!

 

Amanda Hambey

Principal

 

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South Elementary School

 

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East Elementary School

 

We had another great turn out of parents wanting to be involved in PTO on Tuesday night this week! We are really excited about the possibility of getting a Parent Engagement group up and running from this year forward. The more the merrier too! If this is something that you are interested in being a part of please let us know.

 

Thank you to everyone in our school community who supported our Fall Fundraiser. Our initial estimate is that we raised a little over $11,000! This is the largest fundraiser at Willard East in 11 years. Money raised this year will go towards student t-shirt purchases, field trip grants for classrooms, library book bins, and playground upgrades. We are currently working on establishing a new working budget.
  
Looking forward to Red Ribbon Week, Fall Parties, and fundraiser celebrations next week!
  
Melinda Miller
Principal

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Central Elementary School

Fall is in the air and students and teachers are busy preparing for Student-Led Conferences next week.  Student-Led Conferences differ from traditional parent/teacher conferences as students help direct this time and conversations on their learning.  Students model activities they do in class, share their learning goals and demonstrate their skills to their parents.  The student, parents and teacher discuss the report card and progress to this point in the year, but these conferences give the student the opportunity to shine for their parents and ownership over their learning.  We are excited for a great week!

 

Others at Willard Central are gearing up for a great week at WC as well.  Mrs. Roth is busy putting the finishing touches on the Book Fair.  Her efforts in this monumental task are greatly appreciated!  Mrs. Gromer is busy preparing for our Red Ribbon activities on Wednesday as we support students in making healthy choices.  On Friday, we will be celebrating our students hard work for 1st quarter at the Terrific Tiger Celebration and then we will enjoy your PTO parties that afternoon at 2:45.
  
Looking ahead to November, our teachers and students will be sleeping in on November 3rd with a well deserved break from the full week of conferences.  On the 4th, school will not be in session but our teachers will be participating in professional development with other districts at the Star Summit.  November 4th is an election day and Willard Central will be opened as a polling station for that day.  For our patrons on the south side of the district that vote at WC, please remember the bridge at B over I44 is closed for construction.  Make plans for the drive around as you head to the polls to vote on several important ballot issues and the proposed Willard School Bond issue.
  
  
Don't forget to make plans to join us for the Katrosh Chili Cook-Off.  You won't want to miss the good food, fun times and all of the great items that have been donated for auction while we support Mrs. Katrosh!  You can help us plan for the evening with your RSVP on our school's Facebook page or by calling the school office at 831-4440.  We look forward to seeing you there!

 
  
  
Shane Medlin
Principal

Orchard Hills Elementary School

 

 
Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment

As we get towards the end of the month of October, we are gearing up for Parent/Teacher conferences.  Conferences are a great time to make additional connections with your child's teacher and school staff.                                                                                        

                                                                 Book Fair is a popular event during Parent/Teacher conferences.  It provides a great opportunity for you to shop for books for your child and your child's classroom.  There is a great new app from Scholastic this year that you can load onto your device called "Book Fairs".  This app allows you to scan the cover of the book, barcode, or QR code.  After scanning the book, the app will give you information on reading levels and price of books.   
  
This was a great app I used myself to help my child pick out appropriate books for her this week.  Please take the time to visit the Book Fair at your child's building.  Have a great weekend and happy reading!  
    
Angela Stevens
Curriculum Director  



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500 E Kime
Willard, MO 65781

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