In early October, we hosted nearly 100 parents for our Parent IgNIGHT meeting where we reviewed tips for navigating remote learning. If you were unable to join us, you can view the meeting recording and check out the additional resources shared below.

Parent/Teacher conferences are scheduled for Wednesday, November 4 and Thursday, November 5. This is a very important time for parents to discuss their student's progress with his/her teachers, as research has shown that parental involvement is one of the most important factors in a student's success in school. Please see the schedule below (buildings and teachers will be communicating their process for signing up for virtual meeting timeslots).

At this time, winter activities and athletics are expected to move forward in the Suburban Conference. District leaders and activities directors are currently working on participation and spectator guidelines similar to the fall season.

Do you know of a special volunteer; a former teacher, employee, or student; or a community member who has contributed significantly to the enhancement of the Platte County R-3 School District or has had outstanding accomplishments after graduating from PCHS? If so, you can complete a Hall of Fame nomination to recognize those special individuals. The PCHS Booster Club accepts nominations until December 1, and the Hall of Fame will typically induct new members in February. Click on this link to complete an online nomination form.

For the Pirate Pride portion of the October meeting, Board members recognized Northland Career Center’s Jeff Green, who has been named Missouri Assistant Director of the Year by Missouri Council of Career & Technical Administrators! Mr. Green was surprised with the honor at NCC's Staff meeting in late September, where he was joined by the teachers, students, and director who nominated him for the honor.

Each month, PCR-3 recognizes staff members who are living our vision, mission, and values, by presenting the "SCHIVIR Me Timbers" award. SCHIVIR is an acronym for our values:

At the October board meeting, Shelli Baldwin, Coordinator of Instructional Technology and Professional Development, and Dr. Aaron Duff, Coordinator of Academic Services, were recognized for their Visionary Leadership. These individuals are taking on many additional duties this year leading the teams of remote learning staff at the elementary and secondary level.

Jay Harris, Executive Director of Facilities and Operations, provided the Board with an enrollment summary by building for the 2020-21 school year. Kindergarten through 12th grade enrollment across PCR-3's schools has decreased by 54 students, the first time PCR-3 has seen a decrease in enrollment in 22 years (enrollment decreased by 1 student in 1998 to 1,891). Official PCR-3 enrollment numbers were reported to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on the last Wednesday of September with PCR-3's 2020 K-12 enrollment at 4,205. This equates to a little over a 1% decrease from the previous September enrollment count. The slight decrease in enrollment is consistent with what area school districts are experiencing from the effects of the pandemic.

At the October meeting, the Board approved a plan to phase into full in-person learning from the alternating schedule scenario at the secondary level. Pending Platte County Health Department approval, the plan allows for in-person students in grades 6-8 to return to daily in-person instruction starting November 30. With this change, families will be informed that there is increased possibility of student quarantine due to the increased number of students per classroom and limited ability for complete 6-foot physical distancing. Families with in-person 6th-8th grade students should complete the e-Form on Parent Portal by October 23, to indicate if these plans have changed their preferred learning scenario.

Under the proposed plan, at the start of second semester (January 11) students at PCHS will have an opportunity to return to full in-person instruction. Remote learning will continue to be a scenario, and families will receive another declaration e-form for selecting their student’s second semester scenario by November 13.

The proposed plan is a result of working with the Platte County Health Department, other local health professionals, and other school districts in Platte County to determine a holistic criteria for returning to school. The criteria considers qualitative and quantitative goals with regards to mental health, behavioral health, food security, workforce availability, hospitalizations,

cases, testing, and transmission.

In September 2020, a telephone survey was conducted with 400 randomly selected registered voters in the Platte County R-3 School District to learn their views on the District's performance, and on ideas being considered for a potential ballot issue. Following the phone survey, a similar online version of the survey was made available to District parents and community members, with 985 responses. At the October Board meeting, summaries of the survey results were presented (see attached phone survey and online survey summaries). Respondents gave the district an overall grade of a "B" or a 4.02 rating on a 5-point scale via the phone survey and 4.15 rating online. Overall, responses on the District's performance varied from 3.45 to 4.41. Respondents found favor with all of the proposed components of a 2021 PCR-3 ballot issue (including district-wide security upgrades, a new middle school in the southern part of the district on donated land, renovations to convert Barry School and Pathfinder Elementary to K-5 elementaries, and the first phase of complete rebuild of Platte County High School). With knowledge that these projects would be provided with no tax increase, project opinions from telephone survey respondents showed 76% strongly favoring or favoring the proposal, and 81% from online survey respondents.

Assistant Superintendent for Academic Services and Continuous Improvement Dr. Mike Brown, gave an overview to the Board on the District's Quality Continuous Improvement (QCI) key process which guides the improvement of all other processes of the District. He explained how QCI provides the District with a means to organize, understand, align, measure and prioritize needs while continuously improving teaching and learning. QCI is our District's approach to getting better while helping us stay true to our vision, mission, values, and principles of learning.  For each category in the QCI framework (Leadership, Customer Focus, Strategic Planning, Workforce Focus, Process Focus, Measurement/Analysis/Knowledge, and Results) and for each of our District's key processes and classroom improvement processes, we ask similar questions to drive improvement. This process is also used to develop our Comprehensive Strategic Improvement Plans (CSIP) annually. Click here to review the presentation.

October 21: PLC Day, 2-hour early dismissal

October 23: End of First Quarter

October 30: Report Cards Go Home

November 4 & 5: Parent/Teacher Conferences

November 6: No School

November 11: PLC Day, 2-hour early dismissal

November 19: Board of Education Meeting, 6:30pm, (reconvene from closed session which begins at 5:30pm)

November 25-27: No School, Thanksgiving Break

Thank you to all our Pirates ROCK Star business partners who support character education in our schools! And thank you to our District-wide Pirates ROCK Star partner, Tradition Home Group.

Vision: Building Learners of Tomorrow...

Mission: To prepare individual learners for success in life, 

Values: Student Focus, Collaboration, High Expectations, Integrity, Visionary Leadership, Innovation, Results Orientation