The Newtown-Harris R-3 Board of Education approved the district health insurance provider on February 9th. The provider will be the Ozarks School Benefits Association, and the district will pay $575.82.
Contract extensions were approved for Superintendent Doctor Lucas McKinnis and Kindergarten through 12th Grade Principal Kim Palmer.
Counselor Megan Brown’s resignation was approved.
The board also approved updates to the Safe Return Plan.
There was a discussion about a potential coop with Princeton for football and a cooperative agreement with Grundy County R-5.
Newtown-Harris graduation will be May 20th. The senior trip will follow.
Palmer reported visits to college and vocational schools are scheduled for students this month. Tenth graders interested in vocational education classes have an opportunity to visit the North Central Career Center of Bethany next week. Tenth through 12th graders can visit State Tech on March 1st.
The end of the quarter is March 11th. Newtown-Harris will send out report cards after that. Parents are invited to contact teachers to set up conferences if they wish. Teachers will schedule conferences with parents as well.
Grandparents Day will be celebrated on March 9th.
Palmer said that at a professional development day on February 7, staff worked on aligning assessments with priority standards or curriculum and ensured skills are being taught at the correct level of rigor. In some cases, the assessment and alignment work resulted in the shortening of assessments while increasing rigor. Palmer mentioned trainers were complimentary of the work the teachers did and their commitment to Newtown-Harris and the community.
She reported meetings were held with Lumen and Tyler Technologies both for Student Information Systems. The Lumen price quote was $7,500 for the first year and about $6,400 each following year. She had not received a price quote from Tyler as of February 9th’s meeting.
