• Why Willard?
• How do you rank your abilities to teach? 
• Tell me about yourself? 
• Is it fair to evaluate teachers based on test scores? 
• What is an element of teaching that you need to improve upon?

These are just some of the questions that candidates have to answer to become a “Willard Teacher.”  Last night at the regular meeting of the Board of Education we hired a batch of new teachers.  Some of these are straight out of college, some from other districts, but I will tell you all of them have one thing in common:  They want to become a “Willard Teacher!”  I believe there is a distinct difference between the average teacher in public schools and the Willard Teacher.  The difference may be in work ethic, knowledge of instruction, love of children, or character and integrity of person.  Many districts find it very hard to fill positions because of the lack of applicants.  Even in our district we no longer have the number of applicants that were submitted 5-10 years ago.  The hard fact is that there are fewer and fewer individuals that are finding the teaching career as their heart’s desire.  After painting this bleak picture I want everyone to know I am excited about our new hires. WOW!!!  I believe this year we have hit the new hiring pitch out of the park.  Our administrators have found outstanding candidates for our classrooms.  Last night we hired over 25 new people into our district.  I still interview every new teacher recommended by the buildings prior to being hired.  It is a pleasure to see a new group that is excited, idealistic, and pumped about teaching kids.  I bet a few of them will teach some of us old dogs a few new tricks.  I also will wager they will learn many tricks from some of the best old dogs in the business!!!

Have a great weekend!
Kent

We are at the halfway point of our MAP testing.  The kids are really pumped up and excited!  The real fun came before the MAP test even started!  We had a MAP celebration assembly on Tuesday.  We had a very entertaining 35 minutes!  Our whole school came out to encourage our students!  Coach Bills sang our MAP rap which the kids love!  We also had some very important people compete in our game show “Are You Smarter Than A MAP Student?”   Dr. Medlin, our Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Marcum, our curriculum director, Officer Cozzens, our School Resource Officer and myself all competed.  Thanks to 3rd and 4th grade students Matthew, Tessa, Austin, and Abi who played the roles of “cheats”.    

Who won?  I will let the scoreboard tell you!    ←  Needless to say, I didn’t have homework! 

We also had the MAP Momma’s and Papa show up to do a great cheerleading routine!  If these pictures don’t raise your spirits, nothing will!  Thanks to Co-Captains Angela Stevens and Shelley Williamson for putting together such a great squad!  Thanks to Lee Ann Peterson,  Julie Gottbehuet, Beverly de la Torre and of course, Matt Rosebrough for their extremely talented performance! 

Second grade took a field trip to Frontier Theater this week in Marshfield and had a great time!  We are looking forward to next week and checking another milestone off our list!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Rhonda Bishop, Willard North Principal

Another busy week has come to a close at Willard High School. Instrumental music, vocal music, theater, baseball, track, agriculture, DECA, FBLA, soccer, golf, and industrial technology are just a few of the programs that are in competition this spring. Add to that the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP Test), and that makes for a full week! I am extremely proud of our students and their efforts on the MAP test. I remember how stressful standardized testing can be and our students and staff has done an outstanding job of preparing for this critical time of the year.

I appreciate the efforts of many individuals who have worked extremely hard to make the testing time run smoothly. Our counseling staff has put in endless hours of work, and will continue for the next couple of days to finalize this process. Mr. Ramsey and Mr. Cook worked to provide snacks and water for our students with the volunteer help of several patrons and businesses. They also have worked with Mrs. Brenda Grass to develop an enjoyable time of celebration for our students who have earned free time today 6th and 7th hour through our MAP incentive program. These things can not happen without a great deal of planning and extra supervision from our staff.

Finally, I must recognize our instructional staff that work hard each day to make sure that our students are appropriately prepared for the MAP. Their efforts are directly related to the performance of our students. We are proud of the recognition that our district received last year for Distinction in Improvement from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. We look forward to seeing the results of our labor when test scores come back to us next fall.

Don Tuck

Principal

The Intermediate School has several fun events coming up in the next few weeks.  Tonight, Mrs. Staley will be hosting a “Library Lock-In”, and rumor has it that if the kids read enough pages, they might get to tape their principals to the wall!  Hopefully, someone will cut us loose before the weekend is over!  On April 30, we will be hosting a Fine Arts Night, with a talent show, writing and art fair.  Later in the month of May we’ll be sending our 6th grade to spend a day in St. Louis, our 5th grade will be enjoying a trip to the symphony, our honor choir will be singing the anthem at the Springfield Cardinals, we’ll have our last DARE graduation for the year, and we’ll be having a Career Fair here at school. 

Our third and fourth grade students completed the math portion of the MAP test this week.  Students will be taking the communication arts test next week.  I want to thank all of the students, parents and teachers for working hard to ensure that students are present each day and trying their best!  We have also started our talent show try-outs for our Fine Arts Night on May 1st.   We have some very talented and unique acts.  We have seen magic tricks, dancing, singing, poetry, piano solos and much more. It will be a hard decision to narrow down our finalists. Next week we are looking forward to our kindergarten music program on Tuesday at 1:30 and 7:00.  On Thursday evening, we will be celebrating our annual Sock Hop from 6:30-8:00.  I know there are several teachers who are ready to show off their dance moves! We will also have a bond information meeting in the library at 7:00 on Thursday evening.  On Friday at 10:00, the WHS Fast Forward group will be performing for all of the students in the cafeteria. Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the sunshine!

“Willard South is ROARING with excitement!”

Willard Central is “On Track for Success” with the MAP.  We completed the Mathematics portion of the MAP this week with only 1 student absent out of the entire 3rd and 4th grade!!  The students did an amazing job and gave their BEST effort.  As we look ahead to next week, we will take the Communication Arts portion of the test on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  We are confident our students will do just as well next week.

Besides enjoying our Celebration of Learning MAP test, Willard Central celebrated the birth of 2 healthy future Willard Tigers this week.  Mrs. Roth, our librarian, welcomed Barrett Evan into their family on Monday.  Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Robinson, had her first child, Carter Brookes on Wednesday.  Both moms and baby boys are doing well and we are thrilled for their little bundles of joy!

Please plan to join us for our Outdoor Classroom Workday on Saturday, April 21st from 8:00 to 12:00 as we build a tree nursery, do some spring cleaning/weeding and enjoy the beautiful weather together.  Then make plans to enjoy our Kindergarten concert on Thursday, April 26th at 7:00.  Thanks for staying “On Track for Success” with Willard Central and have a great weekend.

Shane Medlin, Principal 

Congratulations to the boy’s track team on their 2nd place finish and the girls team on their 5th place finish in the Willard Relays. There were a total of 10 teams competing. Individual results were as follows:

1st place – D. Harr, pole vault; B. Childers, 400m; J. Carpenter, triple jump; Z. Thompson, shot put and discus

2nd place – K. Hession, 800m; J. Carpenter, high jump and 110m hurdles; A. Scarlett, 100m

3rd place – B. Carpenter, long and triple jumps; K. Hession, 1600m; C. Reeves, 300m hurdles; D. Childers, 3200m; C. Dickinson, pole vault; J. Carpenter, long jump; 4×100 meter relay team.

4th place – C. Dickinson, 300m hurdles, D. Childers, 1600m

A special congratulations to the Symphonic Winds and Percussion Concert Band on earning straight One ratings from all 4 judges at the MSHSAA State Band Festival. This is the 25th consecutive year that the band has received an Honor I Rating.

After losing a tough one to Rogersville, baseball Tigers have rebounded strong with convencing wins over Reeds Spring and Branson. This runs their record to an impressive 13-2 on the season and 4-1 in the COC! The Tigers will host Bolivar on Monday, will be at Buffalo on Tuesday, and will host Republic on Thursday. First pitch is at 4:30 for all games next week. A special congratulations to B. Hansen for pitching a no-hitter against Reeds Spring on Wednesday.

The soccer Tigers lost a heartbreaker to Neosho last night but will look to get back on the winning side tonight as they will host Bolivar at 4:30. They will then host Catholic next Tuesday and Marshfield next Thursday before hosting the Willard Soccer Invitational next weekend.

It’s good to be a Tiger!

Jeff Staley, Director of Operations

This week MAP testing has taken over our school! I am happy to report that the teachers and students have been working very hard this week. “The Great Miller-ini” has been delivering healthy snacks each morning with the assistance of the Lovely Ladies of PTO Donna Creed and Beth Ryan. Thank you to PTO and everyone who has donated supplies and assistance to help MAP testing go off without a hitch!

LANDSCAPE-O-RAMA Tomorrow April 21st 9:00AM – We were “snowed-out” last weekend and we have lots of beautiful plants and shrubs to plant this weekend. Please bring shovels and gloves and join us!

Kindergarten Screening- If you have a student who will be joining us at Willard East next year please call our office to schedule an appointment for Kindergarten Screening May 8 and 9.

Field Day – May 11th – Please let your child’s teacher know if you are able to help that day.

See you tomorrow!

Melinda Miller