WillardPublicSchools
 Student Focused | Strongly Connected | Success Driven
The Pride
February 5, 2016
In This Issue
Quick News
Click on headline for more details.
 
School will now be in session on Monday, March 28 & Friday, May 20.

The Board of Education unanimously approved language for a $5.5 Million No-Tax-Increase Bond Issue to be placed on the April 5, 2016 ballot. 

Candidates for School Board
Seven patrons have filed to run for the three open school board seats in the upcoming April 5 election. Voters will elect two directors for three-year terms. 

The district calendar for next school year (2016-17) has been set.

Our next Breakfast Club will be held Thursday 2/4 at 7:15 a.m. at the district office. 
Willard Parks

Youth Spring Soccer Registration Now Open
Registration Ends:  March 5th
 
 
Valentines Dance
February 5th @ THR REC
 
         
District Office
"The Millennial Generation will entirely recast the image of youth from downbeat and alienated to upbeat and engaged with potentially seismic consequences for America!"  This quote from a book called Millennial's Rising describes what is the outcome of this unique generation moving into the workplace. 
 
Millennial's are defined as individuals born between the years of 1981 and 2004.  Most of the district's new teachers and younger staff are part of this group.  This week I invited Don Harkey to provide some insight into how these individuals are motivated in the workplace.  Don is a parent in our district and owns "People Centric" a leadership consulting firm in Springfield.  Don presented to all administrators and Instructional Coaches.  The feedback was extremely positive giving us ideas to better understand our employees.  My generation, the Baby Boomers ended in 1964 and Generation "X" is sandwiched between.  Much data exists demonstrating that all these group's desire similar outcomes but are motivated differently. 
 
The current generation of students in K-12 classes have not even been formally named!  I know one person that is effective with all these groups.  They are the "Master Teachers" that serve kids.  Willard has many of these individuals.  They are able to transcend generations and connect effectively with people of all ages.   I am thankful for all of them! 
 
Have a great weekend!
Dr. Medlin
Athletics & Activities
Absolutely:
"The greatest teammates follow a simple premise - they put the needs of the team ahead of their own in every decision they make.  This includes things like how hard they practice, eating right, getting enough sleep, doing their homework to the best of their ability, making the right decisions on weekends, and so much more.  they have intentionally and purposefully moved from "ME" to "WE".  They live by a standard that says, "don't let your teammates down."

A huge congratulations to our volleyball players who were made Academic All-State!  They had to maintain a 3.6 gpa while playing in 75% of varsity matches:

Kate Bushnell
Kenzie Bouse
Madi Page
Kaitlyn Cook
Kaitlyn Williams
Timberlyn Barnett
Madison Bouse
Macey Quigg

Ladies who have a cumulative GPA of 4.0 or higher:
Kenzie Bouse, Kate Bushnell, Kaitlyn Cook, Kaitlyn Williams, Madison Bouse, Grace Creed, Ashton Huffman, Morgan Johnson, Allison Van Veen, and Macey Quigg.

Great job ladies!!!!!  Proud of you!

After snow days, a cancellation of a couple duals, and 14 days off from competition the Tigers headed into their Conference Tournament Saturday.  Going in we expected to finish in the top 2 and do our best to give Neosho a run for their money.  That being said when the whistles started blowing the Tigers preformed pretty well.  We started the day in 2nd place and never lost our position but unfortunately never had a chance to take over 1st.  It was a pretty good showing considering last season the Tigers finished in 6th place as a team and improvement is something you can always feel good about.  The Tigers placed 5 in the finals which was second to Neosho's 10 finalist, with the Tigers claiming 8 Top 4 finishes individually. 

Individual Results
106 Jonah Peters 2-3 Record 4th Place
113 Tallon Heimbach 5-0 Record 1st Place
120 Alex Garrett 4-1 Record 2nd Place
126 Bruin Wildermuth 2-3 Record 7th Place
132 Gracie Lawhon 1-4 Record 6th Place
138 Niko Chavez 5-0 Record 1st Place
145 Tyler Carcione 3-2 Record 5th Place
152 Morgan Earl 2-3 Record 4th Place
160 Open
170 Kyle Caldwell 4-1 Record 2nd Place
182 Christian Smart 4-1 Record 3rd Place
195 Hunter Yeargan 5-0 Record 1st Place
220 Austin Hymer 2-3 Record 6th Place
285 Martin Eidson 3-2 Record 5th Place

The wrestlers will be traveling to Union tonight for a quad meet with Borgia and Washington as well as the host school, Union.  Tomorrow, they will compete in the prestigious Francis Howell Central Tournament!

Congratulations to our basketball Tigers on their victory over Carl Junction on Monday!  They will travel to Ozark tonight in a huge COC showdown.  Next week they will continue their COC matchups as they host Webb City on Tuesday (we will also be recognizing our 7th and 8th grade basketball teams and unveiling the cheerleading state sign and Project Grad will be having their Chili Supper!) and travel to Carthage on Friday.

The Lady Tigers will finish up the Seneca Tournament tomorrow as they will play Joplin at 3:00pm.  Next week the ladies will host Webb City on Monday and will travel to Carthage on Thursday.

Please read this update from the Theater Dept.:

Come to Panera, 2535 N. Kansas Expressway, next Monday, February 8 from 4-8.  Join your theatre friends for food, kindness, and thanksgiving.  See the website for an app to support theatre arts.  Thank you for your help and love.

It's Good To Be A Tiger!

Jeff Staley
Director of Athletics / Activities
High School
I heard the 2012 National Principal of the Year, Jimmy Casas, comment this week that "you can't talk about a culture of excellence without challenging average."  The quote has caused me to reflect.  I've written more about this in my blog: Pursuit of excellence.  At WHS, even Willard Schools as a whole district, we do things really well.  Our traditions are strong, our successes result, and our kids are awesome because we challenge average in the pursuit of excellence!  I am proud to be a part of such a great system and honored to work with such awesome students and staff daily!

Speaking of challenging average and pursuing excellence.  WHS is planning the implementation of a new program for next year that will start with two semester classes: Career Exploration 1 and Career Exploration 2.  CE1 standards will include resume development, interviewing strategies, career interest development, business tours, career guest speakers, soft skills training, and employability skill work.  CE2 standards will require students to intern with business partners and industry mentors at two 9-week locations.  This program has great potential to blend academia with real-world experience to bring greater relevance to learning through experience.  We will be seeking business partners for internships and developing the curriculum more thoroughly in coming months.

Counselors have been in classrooms this week scheduling with high school students for 2016-17.  Parents should be seeing information brought home; questions can be directed to the appropriate grade-level counselor.  Near the end of this month, the administrative and counseling staff will begin building the 2016-17 master schedule for next year based from the pre-enrollment numbers.

We were honored to host Culinary STAR events for our FCCLA district this week.  Our FACS wing is an awesome part of the high school facility.  Saturday we will be hosting the ACT as February 6 is a national test day.  These are great academic events with sponsors who pursue excellence for students and students who are in the pursuit of excellence!

It is GREAT to be a Tiger!  
 
Curt Graves
Principal
Middle School
WMS is so proud of the archery club!  This past weekend the Willard Middle School Archery Team placed 2nd in the Spokane Tournament.   Sarah Kiesewetter had a score of 274 out of 300 and she placed first in the middle school girl's division.  Way to go!!!

This week we have been collecting money for Willard Children's Charitable Foundation in our eTime classes.  The outpouring of donations has been so amazing.   We truly appreciate all the donations and the monies go right back to Willard kids.   

Students will receive their progress 5 report next Tuesday.  Please be sure to check your parent portal next Tuesday for an update on your child's progress.  
 
Amy Sims
Willard Middle School Principal
We Learn. We Lead. We Succeed.
Intermediate
Who is the most important member of a school community?  A school is comprised of so many individual "parts" that it is a somewhat unfair question.  Each part plays a vital role and if one piece is missing the whole system breaks down.  Schools across the country celebrated National School Counseling Week this week and WIS is no different.  We are blessed to have the two most awesome counselors I have ever had the privilege to work with in Mrs. Beth Johnson and Mrs. Melissa Skaggs.  These ladies are truly the glue that hold our building together!  Some of the things they do for us are visible for everyone to see but the most important ones go on behind the scenes.  Their calm and caring natures make them a perfect fit for their job and our building.  So who is the most important part of a school community?  It would be very hard to convince me that a school counselor would not be at the top of anyone's list!

Thank you for everything you do for us Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Skaggs!!


Tom Davis

Principal 

Orchard Hills
Central
Willard Central focused on Habit 2 this week - Begin with the End in Mind.  This year for the Willard Children's Charitable Foundation fundraiser our students did a change drive.  Change counted positively towards each class' goal and bills counted against a class total.  Classes strategized together all week in carrying out their game plan for how to achieve their goal of raising $1 per student while trying to win a dodgeball game against the staff.  Our students took this great cause of helping fellow Willard students to heart by supporting the WCCF.  They also worked hard in carrying out their class plans to increase their class totals while blocking other classes that were moving ahead on the totals board.  At the end of school on Thursday, more than $950 had been donated.  Their plans will kick in to full swing on Friday when the closing bell sounds and the classes make their final moves.  We are excited to see the grand total and celebrate our students' generosity!

Our students have also worked hard to achieve their mid-year goals for their fitness testing in PE.  Beginning with the end in mind, students set goals based on their first quarter performance.  Students pushed each other to be better through some friendly competition.  Congratulations to Cameron for setting our new high score on the PACER.  New goals and plans for the end of the year are being created as students continue to grow and challenge themselves.
 
Dr. Shane Medlin
Principal
East
North
We had a great week at Willard North!  This week we had a penny war between the classes to collect money for the WCCF.  Mrs. Nikki, our secretary, has counted a lot of pennies this week.  The classes are excited to find out totals to see what grade level wins a popcorn and movie party with the principal.  
 
 We also honored Mr. Anderson this week because it was National School Counselor's Week.  We appreciate all that Mr. Anderson does for Willard North.        
 
Looking Ahead...
Willard North McTeacher Night-Tuesday, February 9 (4-8)
Early Dismissal-Friday, February 12
Valentines Parties-Friday, February 12
 
Have a wonderful weekend!
 
Amanda Hambey
Principal 
South
Special Education
"I know you came in to observe when we had just started the multiplication unit.  I thought you would like to know that both of my math groups are completing 2 by 2 multiplication with their own (handmade) multiplication charts with pretty close to mastery level work.  There is not an emoji big enough to show my smile!"...WIS Math Teacher

You may be wondering why I am publicly sharing this with you.  It's because it illustrates several things that we strive to achieve as a district and a department and we must continually remind ourselves of why we are here!
  • Student Focused-what does the student need to know and be able to do that will help them move forward to the next step. It's not just about a standard or objective, it is about helping a student  move from one point of learning to the next and making progress over time.
  • Strongly Connected-teachers and students working together to grow and celebrate both in and out of the classroom. Don't you wish everyone was so excited about learning their multiplication facts?
  • Success Driven-understanding that we ALL can achieve, even if it requires different methods or amounts of time. These students started this year in remediation, but have continued to practice and  are now close to mastery level.  It would have been just as easy to hand them a calculator and move on, but success takes time and patience.
     
The topping on the cake for me as a leader is observing both the students and the teacher celebrating a sense of accomplishment! This is learning and it happens everyday across the district in our classrooms at Willard.  

Proud to be a tiger!
 
Caryn McDonnell
Director of Special Services 
Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment




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