School Calendar
Dates to Remember
Monday, March 29 - Friday, April 2: Spring Break
Friday, April 2: Kindergarten Registration Closes
Friday, April 16: No School
Wednesday, April 21: Board of Education Meeting
Friday, April 23: No School, PLC Day
Friday, May 7: No School
The school district calendar is available on our website in PDF. You can now subscribe to the calendar for updates and also view the district calendar in the Hallsville app!
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Congratulations, Mrs. Nichols!
Hallsville Primary School names new principal
We are pleased to announce that Rachael Nichols has been selected as the new Elementary Principal for the Hallsville Primary School for the 2021-2022 school year. Mrs. Nichols will take over for Mrs. Jackson on July 1, who recently accepted a position with Boonville School District.
Mrs. Nichols has worked for the Hallsville School District since 2011, serving her first nine years as a first grade teacher at Hallsville Primary School and last year as the Elementary Assistant Principal for Hallsville Primary and Intermediate Schools. She has been instrumental in the success of the district return to school plans this year and a key leader in our K-5 elementary buildings.
Mrs. Nichols states, “This year has been trial by fire, and I am so proud of how our district has adapted to changes and challenges while continuing to put our students' needs at the forefront. I feel so blessed to continue to serve the community and the building I call home. I’ve always been a primary teacher at heart, and I am looking forward to leading to primary for years to come.”
Rachael is a proud Hallsville Indian graduate, having attended the district preschool through twelfth grade. She looks forward to continuing her educational career in the place where she grew up, as well as raising her three children here. Bristol is currently in second grade at Hallsville Primary School, and next year Patton and Quinn will enter kindergarten.
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Summer School
Registration Now Open
Registration is now open for Summer School! Summer school is offered Monday through Friday for students entering 1st-12th grade June 7, 2021, through June 25, 2021, from 8:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Kindergarten Jumpstart is a half-day program for students entering kindergarten in the fall of 2021. This program runs from June 14 through June 25. There is a morning AM class from 8:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. and an afternoon PM class from 12:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
As we continue to move forward with a traditional in-seat summer school, the safety and wellness of our students and staff continue to be our number one priority. We will be utilizing the same safety protocols as described in our Fall Entry plan.
Registration for grades K-12 can be found online here.
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Board of Education
March Highlights
Below are highlights of items discussed during the open session of the Wednesday, March 17, Board of Education Meeting. The full agenda with document links is available on the district website or you can read the full highlights here. The next regular session meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 21, 2021, at 6:00 p.m. in the secondary cafeteria.
RECOGNITIONS
Lydia Stephens, HHS senior, was recognized by the Board of Education. Each year, the Board selects one student to represent the Hallsville School District as an applicant for the John T. Belcher Memorial Scholarship. This year, the Board nominated Lydia Stephens for this scholarship based on the strength of her application. We are pleased to announce that Lydia was selected as the regional winner and will receive a $1000 scholarship paid to the college or university of her choice. Lydia's application and essay were selected from a competitive field after being read, evaluated, and discussed by a committee of school board members from area districts.
Sherri Briedwell, the elementary media specialist, was recognized for all that she does to support Hallsville teachers and students. Sherri is an advocate for our students in the community and works tirelessly to ensure that students have all their basic needs met. She stays abreast of all the new, popular titles to keep in the library, arranges for authors to present to students, and has come up with creative ways to still offer the book fair to students and families.
Kari Yeagy, Communications Director, and Dianna Orr, secondary media center assistant, were recognized for their work on running the district’s Athletic & Activities Facebook page. Both have done an outstanding job of keeping the community informed of game updates, scores, and highlights.
PROGRAM EVALUATIONS
The evaluations of Facilities and Grounds, Communications Programs, and Technology Program were approved by the board. With each program evaluation, strengths, concerns, and future recommendations are reviewed. The board held discussions on the technology program’s evaluation and the need for equitable access to technology for our students. The technology department is actively exploring the cost and feasibility of expanding the infrastructure to support moving to one-to-one devices for each student.
BUDGET AMENDMENT #3
The third amendment to the 2020‐21 budget was presented and approved by the board. The purpose of this amendment is to make this year’s budget as accurate as possible to serve as the foundation for the development of the 2021‐22 budget. This amendment includes adjustments in revenues and expenditures. Additional information on the budget amendment can be found here.
FY22 BUDGET
Mr. Downs and Mr. Hoffman have calculated preliminary revenue estimates, and are anticipating modest increases in local revenue due to reassessment and new construction. Conversely, they anticipate again using FY20 Average Daily Attendance to draw state aid, which would lead to minor decreases in those revenues due to a change in the Dollar Value Modifier (which reflects regional cost of living). Additionally, there will be many atypical aspects to the budget related to the significant influx of one‐time federal Coronavirus Response Fund dollars and our pandemic‐related expenses.
Major requests for next year include increased faculty and support staff positions, along with a number of capital expenditures. The district has received a rate pass (0% increase) on our medical insurance premiums for next year. We plan to operate the salary schedule and would like to increase the base teacher salary. We are also doing a deep dive into pay for our hourly employees and substitute teachers, in an effort to propose increases more in line with comparable jobs as a means to attract and retain employees. However, through all this, we need to exercise caution to ensure we do not overextend the district by using the one‐time federal funds previously discussed in a rash manner.
MAP & EOC ASSESSMENTS
Preparations are underway for our 2021 summative state tests, which are expected to take place in April and May. The State Board of Education has determined that all MAP and EOC tests will be administered this spring, absent any federal intervention. This year’s assessment results will not be used for district accreditation purposes; however, results will be made available to the public. With the ongoing interruptions to instruction since last March, there are many unknowns regarding the potential impacts on student achievement.
iREADY ASSESSMENTS
Our administration of reading and math assessments using iReady have revealed that our students are making progress this year in excess of the average student served by iReady; this encouraging news is a testament to the hard work of our faculty and administration, who have retained student learning as a priority even during a global pandemic.
SCHOOL BUS LEASE PURCHASE
In October 2020, the Board of Education selected Midwest Bus Sales for the purchase of five 77-passenger Thomas buses with dashboard air conditioning and no extended warranty. The district then initiated the process to secure financing on the lease-purchase of the vehicles. Terms from four lenders were received, and the Board of Education selected Central Bank of Boone County to provide financing for the lease-purchase. The board approved the lease-purchase Certificate of Resolutions and agreement at the meeting.
PURCHASE OF GYM CHAIRS, SCORE TABLE, AND BATTING CAGES: Three bids were received for each project, and the board approved the purchase of game day chairs by Bulte, the score table by KBA, and batting cages by Wamco Athletics. The projects will be funded using the Capital projects fund.
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Kindergarten Registration & Screenings
Class of 2034
Kindergarten Registration for the 2021-2022 is now open and ends April 2! We look forward to welcoming our future Indians and Class of 2034 in the fall of 2021!
Kindergarten screenings will take place in April at Hallsville Primary School. In order to sign-up for an appointment, registration must be complete. Please call our Registrar’s Office at 573-696-5512 ext 2220 or email [email protected] to sign up for an appointment!
Online enrollment and registration is available for all children who will be 5 years old on or before July 31, 2021, and will be entering kindergarten in August 2021. All registration and verification documents must be completed online and submitted by Friday, April 2, 2021. More information on how to register can be found here.
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CTA Candidate Forum
Board of Education Elections
Hallsville's CTA gathered questions from the staff and community of the Hallsville School District and sent them to the three candidates running for a seat on the Hallsville School Board. These questions have been answered and can be viewed here.
Hallsville's CTA understands the importance of providing information from the board candidates to members of the community so everyone can make their own informed decision. If you have any follow-up questions, please feel free to contact Rachel Sides, CTA President, at [email protected] or you can reach out to any of the candidates via their social media pages.
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Reserve your yearbook now!
Deadline March 26
Yearbooks are now on sale online through Friday, March 26! Elementary books are $15 and high school books are $40.
The elementary book (PreK-8) will be delivered in May before school is out for the summer. The high school book will be available during registration the first week of August 2021. Seniors or senior parents will be able to pick up books during registration or in the high school office. The later delivery date on the high school book is due to coverage of spring sports and graduation.
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Spring Sports
Track, Baseball, Golf
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Superintendent Update
What have we learned?
Hallsville Family,
Over the past week on social media, you’ve been hearing from teachers from all buildings on the lessons they have learned throughout the coronavirus pandemic. When the same question was posed to me, I wondered how in the world I would convey my experience without writing an 800-page book. This situation has been like no other in our lifetimes, and has provided innumerable opportunities for each of us to learn and grow. Rather than taking an expansive approach, I limited myself to just a few topics.
While I already knew our teachers, administrators, and other staff would go to great lengths to support students and their learning, the pandemic demonstrated just how far their commitments extend. Our teachers have worked tirelessly to provide a quality education to students who attended in-seat, elected the virtual option, and when they were away due to illness or quarantine. This point cannot be overstated. Meeting the unique needs of each student is challenging under ideal circumstances during a typical school year. Doing so while a portion of your class is at school and others are at home for two weeks represents an incredible task. In the face of mental and physical exhaustion, our faculty has never considered giving up on our students and their learning. This speaks volumes about their character and their personal and professional values.
Our administrators and support staff likewise have been dedicated to supporting both the children and adults of Hallsville. The building principals and department supervisors went above and beyond all spring and summer, developing detailed logistical plans to keep students and staff safe. During the school year, they ensured these plans were carefully implemented, while also handling all of their usual leadership responsibilities. The staff also came together in ways no one would have ever thought necessary to ensure students were fed and had access to educational resources, even when the schools were closed. Secretaries joined Opaa kitchen staff in preparing boxed meals for the community’s children. Paraprofessionals and bus drivers delivered these meals, even door-to-door when needed. Responding to the pandemic has been a true team effort, and the members of our team have been all-stars.
The pandemic has provided further evidence of just how resilient our children are. Human beings--especially youth--thrive on consistency, and life doesn’t feel very consistent when you find yourself in 14-day close-contact quarantine three times during the fall and winter months. Despite the many new challenges they faced over the previous calendar year, our students have adapted and continued to succeed. Students returned to school last fall eager to learn, and have managed the additional demands of COVID protocols without issue. Our preliminary i-Ready benchmark assessment data demonstrates that Hallsville students, during this very unusual year, are growing academically at a rate outpacing the average Missouri student. This is a testament to both the hard work of our students and the dedication of our faculty and instructional staff. Hallsville students adapt and learn, no matter the obstacles before them.
We have also observed one major area where the district needs to make significant improvement, and that is in the equitable availability of educational technology resources. A quality mobile device (like an iPad, Chromebook, or laptop) and high-speed Internet access literally places the entirety of human knowledge at our fingertips. To live without such access puts any student at a disadvantage in the twenty-first century, and such limitations disproportionately impact minority students and those from families with fewer financial resources. Ensuring every student has access to these critical educational resources will allow children to continue their learning from home in the event of school closure, whether due to a communicable illness or an ice storm. The lack of consistent access to instructional technology is the single greatest challenge we face to providing consistent learning experiences for every student when they are away from school. Correcting this situation must be an important goal for our district.
Institutions like public schools are often criticised for being bureaucratic and slow to change when improvements can be made. The coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated precisely the opposite: the schools of Hallsville have been nimble and immediately responsive to the challenges we have faced, adapting to rapidly evolving circumstances continuously for an entire calendar year. I am honored to serve in a district where inventive and committed professionals are always ready to do whatever it takes to meet the needs of the students in their care, and where hardworking students respond to new challenges with flexibility and excitement for learning.
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School & Community Events |
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Upcoming Events
Community Events & Resources
Join the City of Hallsville on Saturday, March 27 Easter event! From 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. they will host the Easter Bunny and local businesses for a drive-thru event with treats at Tribble Park.
Check out a list of adult and children’s events happening at Daniel Boone Regional Library! Programs for February include a virtual visit to The Elephant Sanctuary, Tickles & Tunes: Songs for Spring, The Power of Positive Workshop, and spring break activities.
The Hallsville Food Pantry takes place the fourth Tuesday of each month from 3:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. at the Hallsville Baptist Church. Food is provided at no cost for families in need. Please contact the church at 573-696-3621 the third week of the month to set up an appointment. Dates for each month are also posted on the district’s calendar which can be found online here or on the app!
Free counseling for Boone County youth and families is available through FACE, the Family Access Center of Excellence of Boone County. FACE will help youth (ages 0-19) and their families connect to services such as mental health, social services, parenting support, and activities for home during these challenging times. All of their services are free. You can click the flyer link above for more information or call 573-771-3223 to connect to FACE directly.
You can view all Peachjar flyers here or by individual building here.
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Improve lives through learning. |
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Hallsville School District
421 East Highway 124
Hallsville, MO 65255
Phone: 573-696-5512
Fax: 573-696-3606
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