Instrument donations are being sought for students participating in music classes in the St. Joseph School District who may not be able to afford one of their own.

“We have a growing group of students that come from backgrounds where their socioeconomic status prohibits them from either being able to rent or buy an instrument to be in their school band or orchestra, said Kevin Griffin, Secondary Fine Arts Coordinator. “Eight years ago we started a program called ‘Music In Our Schools’ to help meet that need and we went to the community and asked community members that had instruments that weren’t being used to donate them to the school district for that purpose.”

Griffin said several businesses in the community have also stepped up to help with the program. Lanham Music donated a Cello to the district Thursday morning. Griffin said string instruments are especially needed.

“The biggest need is for string instruments for 6th grade students. 30-40 students might not be able to participate in the strings program because there are no instruments available to them,” said Griffin. “At this point, our biggest need is to supply beginning band and string students with instruments.”

He said studies have shown that learning to play music can boost academic and social skills and help to keep kids in school.

“There’s a lot of history involved in music, there’s a lot of science involved in the sound of music so it’s very related to all of their core academic areas and there is a lot of data that shows that students that perform in instrumental ensembles do find greater success in the other core academic areas,” said Griffin.

Individuals wanting to donate to the program can drop off instruments at Troester Media Center at 3401 Renick.   Anyone with any questions can call (816) 671-4390.

While gas prices have fallen the average remains higher in St. Joseph than other metros in the state.

According to AAA the average for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in St. Joseph was $2.10 as of 3:45 a.m. Wednesday.  That’s .10 more than it would take you to fuel up in Kansas City, Mo. that posted an average of $2.06.  The lowest average was $1.98 in Springfield.

St. Joseph came in lower than the national average of $2.28 and tied the state average.

However, gas prices haven’t changed much in a week in most locations.  AAA reports prices have stalled due to refinery maintenance.  Both the National Average and Missouri’s Average remain unchanged from last week.  St. Joseph’s $2.10 is actually a drop of .6 in a week.

The agency reports the stall comes after a 37 consecutive day decline driven by relatively low crude oil prices, declining demand for gas following the end of the summer driving season and a switch to cheaper-to-produce winter-blend gasoline on Sept. 16 in many parts of the country.

The St. Joseph Post found gas going for slightly below the average at several locations in St. Joseph for $1.07.  CLICK HERE to view some of the latest prices found around town.

 

The Platte County Sheriff’s Department held two checkpoints during the month of September and said more could be held throughout the month of October.

“We’re getting into the holiday season,” said Sgt. Jeffrey Shanks with the Platte County Sheriff’s Office. “We don’t want to see an increase in DWI related accidents.”

Both checkpoints in Sept. were held on 92 Highway. The first was held Sept. 5 at M-92 and Prairie View Road in Central Platte County.  During that operation 732 vehicles were checked from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. leading to a total of twelve arrests. Five DWI arrests and seven other arrests.

217 cars were checked during the second checkpoint held Sept. 25th at M-92 and North Creek Road in Eastern Platte County. Two DWI arrests and three other arrests were made during that operation that ran from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Shanks said the department is trying to concentrate on areas in the county as well as city limits.

More checkpoints could be coming during the Month of October.  Shanks said by law they are required to inform the public of the possibility but that the exact location and dates are not released.

He said the office has been working with the Missouri Department of Transportation to aid in funding for the operations.

Platte County Sheriff Mark Owen said delays at checkpoints will be brief for most drivers.

“We appreciate the cooperation from the public as we conduct DWI Checkpoints and take drunk drivers off our roads,” said Sheriff Owen.

The St. Joseph School District has shown improvement in a follow-up audit report from Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway.

In February the district earned a “poor” rating.  The report was critical of the district’s practices in a number of areas, including compensation, payroll procedures record-keeping and policies, summer school funding, the district’s financial condition, bonds, procurement procedures and construction projects.

The follow-up report, which does not include an overall rating, highlights steps the district has taken to implement audit recommendations.

“St. Joseph School District officials have used the audit process to improve operations and transparency across the district,” Galloway said. “Although additional work is necessary, the district has made clear improvements over the past six months and I expect the community will continue to hold the district accountable as it moves forward.”

In the St. Joseph School District follow-up report, 22 out of 40 recommendations were selected for evaluation. At the time of the follow-up review, 10 recommendations were implemented and 12 recommendations were in progress.

“We have worked very hard this last few months to address these issues,” said Joey Austin, St. Joseph School District Dir. of Communications. “There are other areas that are in process and will require time and diligence to fully complete but we are confident that that will happen.”

The district has made progress toward implementing recommendations to increase transparency and oversight of district compensation, appropriate personal use of district vehicles, and accuracy of vacation leave and pay.

Austin said the board of education approved a priority checklist to tackle the list of concerns in the audit report.

“We appreciate the patience of the St. Joseph School District staff, students and the St. Joseph Community as we work and continue through this process to correct the policies and procedures of the district that will make the district stronger and better than before,” Austin said.

The follow-up report said the district has successfully implemented findings related to Missouri Sunshine Law compliance; computer data backup and recovery systems; summer school attendance reporting; board approval for contracts and large purchases; supervision and review of payroll and timesheet activities; and bond proceed and expenditure accounting.

Significant issues of stipends were also addressed in the initial audit report finding that a staggering $25 million in stipends were paid over the last eight years that were “either unapproved, unauthorized or improper.” The total is estimated to be in excess of $40 million dating back to 2001.  The follow-up said the district is currently working on the state’s recommendation to conduct a compensation study.

“The study will be conducted between May and September 2015 and results presented to the Board in October 2015. In January 2015, the Board adopted a salary schedule for the 2015-2016 school year that incorporated all previous administrator stipends into the base salary amounts,” the report stated. “The only additional compensation now available for administrators is for graduate degrees. The district also developed administrator contracts rather than continuing to use teacher contracts for the various administrative positions. Additional compensation for teachers and other staff was included in salary schedules approved by the Board.”

To view the full report CLICK HERE.