I appreciate our members of the Willard Board of Education. These seven individuals volunteer hundreds of hours per year to help make Willard R-II a great place for learning. Like any other area in education, in order to be a quality board member you must be dedicated to continual professional development. This weekend Willard Board Members participated with board members from across the State at the annual Missouri School Boards’ Association meeting at Lake of the Ozarks. This workshop offers training on many levels of public education. Participants may choose from topics of School Finance, NCLB, Professional Learning Communities, Superintendent Evaluations, School Law, and many, many others. Many times ideas are generated though simple discussions with other board members from around the state. I am sure that they would have rather been at home watching football, or catching up on chores, but once again they took the time out of their schedule to help the district improve. I appreciate their time and efforts for our district.

Kent

Dr. Kent E. Medlin
Superintendent of Schools

Last week was an action-packed week at Willard Central! Mrs. Gromer organized a wonderful Red Ribbon Week to remind our students about the importance of making healthy choices. We would like to thank Chief McClain from the Willard Police Department, Mrs. Chappell and the Willard High School Drama Department, Louie from the Springfield Cardinals, and Reverend Tim Banks from MADD for taking the time to share with WC’s students about making positive choices.

Last week was also Student-Led Conferences. Students were able to sit down with their parents to demonstrate what they learned about during the first quarter of school at various centers before meeting with the classroom teacher. I would like to thank the WC special area teachers for providing sibling childcare during conferences to allow for uninterrupted time for students to share all of their learning with their parents. These teachers provided childcare for more than 90 kids. WC would also like to thank PTO for providing a wonderful dinner to the teachers on Tuesday evening. Thanks to everyone’s efforts, Student-Led Conferences were a wonderful success.<br />

To complete our action-packed events for the week, our librarian, Mrs. Roth, hosted the Book Fair. Thank you to her and to the wonderful parents who volunteered to manned the Book Fair for making it a success!
With all of the happenings of last week, the 3-day weekend was greatly appreciated by staff and students alike. As we look forward to this week, we will have our Fall Parties at 2:45 on Wednesday and our 2nd grade students will have their music concert on Thursday evening at 7:00. We have another wonderful week ahead of as we continue to “Reach for the Stars” at Willard Central. –Shane Medlin, Principal

It’s been a busy week in special services classroom across the district as teachers prepare for conferences, IEP meetings and classroom instruction.  While visiting classrooms and observing our teachers in action, I was so impressed with Willard Intermediate teacher Lani Triplett and her gracious manner in dealing with students and staff.  Lani’s Study Skills class was a hive of activity as ten students with a variety of special needs required her constant assistance and teachers brought in missed assignments. Lani’s responses to each of the many demands of her role were consistently calm, positive and in the best interest of her students.  Her skill in pairing higher functioning students together to work, providing one-on-one instruction to others, while tracking completion of work was second to none. Despite the juggling act involved in effectively balancing these demands, signs of frustration or impatience were never shown. It was obvious Lani has earned the respect and love of her students with special needs. One, who required help in completing the district student survey, stated Mrs. Triplett is a “teacher who always cares about me.”   

Lani is a master teacher and we are proud she is a part of our special services staff!

My wife Angie and I had the pleasure of attending the Ozarko Showband Festival at Missouri State University.  It was amazing.  Willard came away champions once again.  The fact that we won the competition is not the most important part of the day.  We were able to see 240 students working together as a team!!!!  They looked like an army when they were walking toward the performance.  Mr. Church, Mrs. Meraz and Mr. Chapman, all pour their heart and soul into their kids.  In the end it does not matter that we are the largest, it matters that they perform and act as a team.  These kids are truly fun to be around.  The day was filled with fun, camaraderie, and pride.  They are committed to each other, to the band as a whole, and to their community.  It is a great feeling to be a part of something bigger than yourself.  I know that feeling everyday that I come to work.  Great job to the Cutting Edge!

Have a great weekend!

Kent

Dr. Kent E. Medlin

Superintendent of Schools

Next week looks to be quite a week! We will be hosting parent-teacher conferences on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 4-7:30 pm. We hope all our parents can be in attendance.

Our library is currently hosting the book fair that will continue through Thursdy evening. Mrs. Staley has had a big smile on her face all week as our students are so excited about visiting the book fair. Next week is also red-ribbon week and on Tuesday we look forward to our red-ribbon assembly with a presentation from the high school drama group. During this assembly we will also recognize the winner or our classroom school vision competition. The winning class will be treated to a lunch from McDonalds.

We will also be celebrating spirit week in conjunction with red ribbon week. Each day our students will be able to participate in the “theme” for that day.

Monday: Decade Day
Tuesday: Twin Day
Wednesday: Team Day
Thursday: Tiger Pride Day
Friday: No school!

We look forward to everyone showing thier school spirit and desire to be drug free by participating in our spirit week. I don’t think we could fit anything else into the week if we tried!

Special recognition goes to all the participants from the WIS running club that participated in the Sunshine Run. What a group! Over 70 of our students and parents were in attendance.
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Congratulations to Chris Church, Vicki Meraz, and John Paul Chapman and the Cutting Edge Marching Band on taking home a trailer load of trophies from the Ozarko Competition held last Saturday at MSU. In the prelim they took first place in Class and took home “Outstanding Hornline”. They then proceeded to march into the finals and take 1st place out of 18 bands along with “Outstanding Hornline” and “Outstanding Percussion”. They will be in the Carthage Maple Leaf Festival tomorrow. On a sidenote, a special “thank you” to all the band boosters and supporters for all the work you do to make this possible!

Athletically speaking, districts are in full swing! The football Tigers will start it off tonight as the 5-2 Tigers will host the 6-1 Carthage Tigers. In conjunction with the game there will be chili fundraiser for Karla Shaffer in the Middle School cafeteria starting at 5:00. Kickoff is at 7:00 and it should be a beautiful night for football so come out and support your Tigers!

The Volleytigers will start there district title chase next week. They received the 2nd seed in the tournament and will play Tuesday in Aurora. The semifinal contest will begin at 7:30 with the finals taking place the same night at 9:00. Good luck girls!

Congratulations to K. Hession on her 1st place finish at a cross country meet held here at Willard. Also a congratulations to the following medalists: A. Bird – 3rd, J. Bird – 5th, R. Cook – 5th, B. Childers – 10th, and B. Park – 11th. The district meet for cross country will be held next Saturday in Nixa.

A very special congratulations to S. Sechler and M. Ulesich and being named to the All-District softball team. Both girls were unanimous selections!

It’s good to be a Tiger!

Jeff Staley – Director of Operations

We have had a fun and busy week of learning and celebration this week at Willard Central.  The 4th grade celebrated Missouri Day on Wednesday by creating edible maps of our state and other activities that brought MO’s rich history to life.  The WC Science Cadre also hosted an Outdoor Classroom Workday on Thursday afternoon to beautify our facilities while creating an inviting outdoor learning area.  Our 3rd grade students and Mrs. Chatman held their concert on Thursday evening.  Their musical performance was a sight to behold.   They shared the importance of nutrition through music under the premise of a television news studio called “5 a Day Live.”  Friday, our newly elected student council members facilitated the 1st Quarter Terrific Tiger Celebration recognizing student achievement for the first quarter of this year.  Everyone at WC has worked hard this week while celebrating the learning taking place at Central.

As we look ahead to next week, don’t forget these important events:

• Student-Led Conferences on Tuesday and Thursday.
• Red Ribbon Week
• Book Fair
• NO SCHOOL on Friday.

Have a wonderful weekend and rest up for another amazing week at WC.  As always, remember to “Reach for the Stars.”  –Shane Medlin, Principal

We are winding down the month of October with lots of excitement!

2nd Grade Hoedown – Willard East 2nd graders put on an excellent performance this week and will finish up the week with a Hoedown extravaganza! Hats off to Mrs. Kuchta and Miss Mathers and the 2nd grade teachers for all their hard work preparing for all the festivities.

Bus Driver Appreciation Breakfast – We would like to thank our PTO volunteers and our ladies in the kitchen for preparing such a wonderful breakfast for our bus drivers. Many of these drivers are on the bus with students from 6:00AM – 8:30AM and then again from 2:00PM – 5:00PM. They are a dedicated and caring group that get our students to and from school safely. A BIG thanks for all they do!

Parent/Teacher conferences coming up next week – Oct. 23 & 25 are our schedule conference nights. This is an opportunity for teachers and parents to meet and talk about strengths and academic goals for the upcoming quarter. Parent conferences should be a regular ongoing event throughout the year initiated by parents and teachers. Open lines of communication can greatly effect a student’s achievement over the year.

NO SCHOOL FRIDAY OCT. 26

Fall Parties Wed. Oct. 31st – If your child’s teacher or Homeroom Mom has not contacted you regarding the Fall Party. Please feel free to drop either on or our office a note and we will find out about your child’s party details. All parents are welcome to attend Fall Parties and school-wide events.

Mr. Gann’s 4th Grade Podcast - For your listening pleasure please check out Mr. Gann’s 4th grade podcast CHAMP-Cast. You can also subscribe in iTunes. This is very professionally produced podcast and fun to listen to.

Currently there are 524 public school districts in the State of Missouri. Approximately 200 of these districts have an enrollment less than 200 students K-12. This year the Willard School District gained 195 students. This increase in enrollment represents more students than 1/3 of the school districts in the state. The State of Missouri requires an official accounting of students in September. September of 2006-2007 reported Willard with an enrollment of 3,852 students. One year later our current enrollment is 4,047 students. This is a 5% increase in enrollment. This rate of growth is considered high for a community. If you have an average classroom of 22-24 students this results in the need of 8-9 additional classrooms. Needless to say we are filling our new elementary school before it is even built. This month at the regular meeting of the Board of Education we have an agenda item to discuss long term planning. Clearly our continued growth will be a large part of that discussion.

Have a great weekend!
Kent

Dr. Kent E. Medlin
Superintendent of Schools

It’s 7:15 a.m. on Friday morning, and the hall by the music room is quickly filling up with students awaiting the arrival of our music teacher, Mrs. Morris, to begin Honor Choir practice.  By 7:30, there will be nearly 90 students filling the room to practice.  The amazing thing is this is a VOLUNTARY choir!  Mr. Lawley, beware, they are headed your way in a few years!  We appreciate the extra time Mrs. Morris puts in to prepare these kids for their future as Willard singers.  They will be performing at the Lighting of the Frisco Trail, and next spring at a Springfield Cardinals game, in addition to other venues throughout the year.

Coach Hancock and the volleytigers are getting hot at the right time! Not only did they take 1st place in the Licking Classic last Saturday but after their victory over Nixa last night they have now rolled off 4 straight COC wins to move into 2nd place just one game behind Reeds Spring. The girls will host Ozark next Tuesday and will end their regular season at Marshfield on Thursday.

The football Tigers lost a heartbreaker last Friday at Nixa before a standing room only crowd. The team played hard and led most of the game before falling 24-27. It doesn’t get any easier tonight as they travel to Ozark. We’re looking for a great crowd to represent Willard in Christian County!

The softball Tigers ended their season with a tough fought 0-3 loss to Marshfield in the semifinals of the district tournament. The girls had an impressive victory over Rogersville in the quarterfinals the day before.

Congratulations to the girls cross country team on their 5th place finish in the COC meet held in Nixa. K. Hession led the way with an 11th place finish and A. Bird finished 14th. On the boy’s side, R. Cook finished 14th. A special congratulations to B. Hession on her All-Conference performance in the junior high COC cross country meet!

Congratulations to the Cutting Edge on their 6th place finish in Tulsa last weekend. The band qualified for finals by finishing 2nd in their division. They will be performing this Saturday in the Ozarko Festival at MSU.

The Chamber Choir Girls have been invited to appear with the Springfield Symphony! They will be giving two performances with teh Symphony – both on January 12. The first concert will begin at 2pm and the second one at 7:30pm. The concerts will be at Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts.

It’s Good To Be A Tiger!

Jeff Staley, Director of Operations