(News Release) – The St. Joseph Museums, Inc., and the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art have joined together to provide a “Director Tours” package for the public.

The tours will be held on Friday, March 24 and Friday, April 28, 2017. They will begin at the St. Joseph Museum, 3406 Frederick Avenue, in St. Joseph, Missouri, at 10 a.m. on both dates. The morning tour will be led by St. Joseph Museums Director Sara Wilson. Then tour participants will have lunch at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, 2818 Frederick Avenue, and enjoy a tour of the museum led by AKMA Director Dr. Brett Knappe.

The St. Joseph Museums, Inc., guided tour will include the Black Archives Museum, the Doll Museum, the Harry L. George American Indian collection of the St. Joseph Museum, and the Glore Psychiatric Museum. The Black Archives Museum showcases the story of African American life in St. Joseph and Buchanan County in such areas as education, music, the Civil War, and the local impact of the Civil Rights era. The exploration will continue into the world of dolls in the Doll Museum, which houses dolls from many cultures dating from the 1840s to the present day. In the St. Joseph Museum exhibit area guests will visit “Lines & Legacies – The Harry L. George Collection,” which is one of the largest collections of American Indian items in Missouri. In the History Gallery of the St. Joseph Museums guests will tour “World War I St. Joseph – Reflections on Conflict & Community.”

Lunch will be served for tour participants at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, which will provide a fresh, farm-to-table lunch before guests join Dr. Knappe for the afternoon tour. The AKMA Café’s chef, Jason Thomas is known for his unique, made from scratch menu items that are guaranteed to please. Tour participants can choose from homemade soups, salads, sandwiches, or entrees that are as unique as the beautiful surroundings of the dining area at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art.

After lunch, guests will enjoy a guided tour of the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, which has one of the finest collections of 18th- through 21st century American art in the Midwest region. The historic home provides a perfect backdrop for works by Mary Cassatt, Robert Henri, and Edward Hopper. Participants will also be able to tour the temporary exhibit areas during their visit.

The “Director Tours” will be held from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on March 24 and April 28. Space is limited and reservations are required. The cost is $35 per person, which includes guided tours at the St. Joseph Museum and the AKMA and lunch in the AKMA Café. For more information or to make a reservation, call 816-233-7003 or visit albrecht-kemper.org.

Metropolitan Community College (MCC) and Northwest Missouri State University will launch a pilot program in the fall saving students time and money.

The partnership will provide students with an opportunity to complete both an Associate of Arts and a Bachelor of Science degree in four years or less while allowing the two institutions to develop a more seamless transfer process and remove challenges that add time and cost to degree completion.

The institutions submitted their joint proposal to the Missouri Department of Higher Education through a statewide competitive process, and the program was one of three selected by the state.

“This is an innovative enrollment approach that will emphasize profession-based learning at a reduced cost and shortened timeline, getting students into the workforce more quickly and with a greater level of academic and practical experience,” Northwest Provost Dr. Timothy Mottet said.

Students applying to the pilot program must meet Northwest’s admissions requirements. Those who do not will be tentatively accepted and allowed to enroll in specified courses within their pathway until they complete at least 24 hours of coursework from MCC and Northwest with a minimum 2.0 cumulative grade-point average. Students will be automatically granted full admission to Northwest after meeting all requirements.

Students will enroll in one of four degree programs in education (elementary, special education, early childhood), business management, communication and public relations, or applied health science in preparation for professional careers in one of those fields.

MCC and Northwest will work together to provide students a seamless application process without additional fees, and financial aid will be managed between the two institutions.

If the pilot is successful, MCC and Northwest will seek to expand the program to include more profession-based academic majors that may be completed in an accelerated format. The institutions plan to build on the program and continue fostering seamless transfer and maximizing dual credit with area high schools.

For more information about the pilot program, contact Fran Padow, MCC director of educational services, at (816) 604-1081 or Terry Barmann, director of Northwest-Kansas City at (816) 809-2953.

 

Two new inductees are being welcomed into the Black Archives Museum Hall of Fame this month in St. Joseph.

The two new inductees are Sheila and Kenzie Gilbert.  As part of Black History Month, a reception and induction will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 23, at the Black Archives Museum, 3406 Frederick Avenue.  The induction ceremony will take place at 5:30 p.m.  The Black Archives Museum Hall of Fame showcases the achievements and contributions of St. Joseph’s Black community members.

The Black Archives Museum of the St. Joseph Museums features exhibits on many aspects of the African American experience in St. Joseph.

For the Hall of Fame, a call for nominations from St. Joseph community residents is made.  Nominees must have had a significant and lasting positive impact on the St. Joseph community as a whole (economically, physically, spiritually, or intellectually).

According to the museum, as with previous inductees, Sheila and Kenzie Gilbert have given freely of their time and talents to benefit the St. Joseph community.  Among other projects, the couple founded “Food-For-Kids” in 2007 after seeing a need in midtown St. Joseph.  Food-For Kids is a summer outreach program that has grown into providing 150 lunches per day in the summer months.  The Gilberts solicit what is needed from donors and coordinate with local volunteers to keep the program in place for those in need.  It is a project that they believe is God’s will for them.

New inductees are chosen by the Black Archives Museum committee members.

Jewell Robinson, the founder of the original Knea-Von Black Archives, and his wife Geraldine, were the first inductees.  Since that time, Helen and Ramadhan Washington, Earnestine Blakley, Jerry Cooper, Alonzo Weston, Joyce Starr, Dr. William and Lois Hedge, Rep. Martin T. and LaVell Rucker, Pastor Louis and Rev. Connie Monroe, Leo Blakley, Leechia Jones, Rev. James and Mrs. Cozetta Foster, Dorothy Blakley and Charles Triplett, Rev. Robert and Kimberly Warren, Virginia Glass, and Gary Wilkinson were inducted.

 

The public is invited to the 2017 Black Archives Hall of Fame Induction on February 23.  Admission is free.  Refreshments will be served.  Call 816-232-8471 for more information or visit stjosephmuseum.org/events.

St. Joseph, Mo. – The Music Department of Missouri Western State University will host a full day of jazz on Saturday.

Groups will perform in the Hoff Conference Room, Blum Student Union room 219 and the Fulkerson Center during the eleventh annual MWSU Jazz Festival.

Each ensemble performs for the adjudicators, receiving recorded and written critiques of the performance from the clinicians. Immediately following each band’s performance the clinicians will give a 25-40 minute clinic for the band, discussing and working on specific areas of the performance.

“The focus and commitment of this festival is to make this an educational and musical experience for students and directors alike,” said Bob Long, director of jazz studies.

Local ensembles that will be performing are Benton and Central High Schools of the St. Joseph School District.

During the day students will have the opportunity to attend clinics for their specific instruments conducted by Missouri Western faculty: Lee Harrelson, trombone; Stephen Molloy, trumpet; Josh Knight, percussion; Bob Long, saxophone; and Kathleen Holeman, vocal jazz.

The festival will conclude with a short performance by the Missouri Western Jazz Ensemble, directed by Bob Long.

The festival will start at 10 a.m., with the Missouri Western Jazz Ensemble performing at 3:40 p.m. in the Fulkerson Center. The event is free and open to the public.

For more information please contact the Music Department at (816) 271-4420 or email long@missouriwestern.edu.

The St. Joseph School District is refuting allegations that the district failed to comply with new regulations on bullying policies.

As we previously reported, St. Joseph resident and parent Brian Cronk sent the Board of Education a letter Thursday night stating the district was not in compliance with a new law regarding a bullying policy and a violation of the Missouri Sunshine Law. Cronk said he started looking into the issue after several kids close to him experienced bullying at an elementary school in the district.

“I don’t want a suicide to occur because the district couldn’t follow the laws designed to protect kids,” Cronk said. “I filed some sunshine law requests at the end of January to determine the extent of bullying at Bode. The responses from their attorneys are what led me to discover that they are not complying with the law.”

Superintendent Dr. Robert Newhart said the district is aware of the new regulations and has been working since last year on following the new requirements. Newhart said even though a written policy has not been updated they have been following the new law.

“In October we received the policy updates from MSBA and sent them to legal review. We received those legal reviews back both from our internal Spencer Fane attorneys as well as MSBA in January and are working through these. All in the meanwhile, implemented many of the law requirements, rightfully so since August of 2016,” Newhart said. “There’s no way you’re going to get that into a handbook for a 16-17 school year for a statute change.”

The St. Joseph Post plans to contact the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and MSBA to try to find out what the requirements are but at the time of this post business was closed for the weekend.

In information provided to the St. Joseph Post Thursday, Cronk said he contacted Missouri’s Attorney General and the Buchanan County Prosecutor’s Office in reference to the new bullying legislation and the district’s failure to comply with his sunshine request for documents. When we emailed Buchanan County Prosecutor Dwight Scroggins to find out if the office is looking into the matter. Scroggins said the office will look at any investigation that gets presented to the office from a Law Enforcement Agency on the matter.

Dr. Newhart said the district took some time in compiling the sunshine requests due to the amount of work involved in compiling the information.

“When you get as much information as they’re wanting it takes a little bit of time to compile them,” Newhart said.

Cronk said the district’s attorneys’ sent him a response to his sunshine request Friday.  We are continuing to look into the story and will follow up on Monday when businesses reopen for the work week.

 

 

(Update 4:30 p.m.) -(News Release from SJSD) The safety of students in the St. Joseph School District (SJSD) is a top priority and our administrators, faculty and staff work throughout the year to ensure policies are followed to protect kids from bullying and to educate and train our employees on how to handle and report bullying complaints.

We think it is important provide a response to recent questions about the revised Missouri statute (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 160.775) that requires school districts to update existing antibullying policies.

A false allegation suggested that the St. Joseph School District is in violation of that statute by virtue of the fact that the District has not yet updated its policy (JFCF) to account for the recent revisions.

Subsection 6 of the statue provides that “Each district shall review its antibullying policy and revise it as needed. The district’s school board shall receive input from school personnel, students, and administrators when reviewing and revising the policy.”

The District had no legal obligation to begin undertaking the review and revision required under the amendment (including the receipt of necessary input) until the amendment took effect. The District has a recognized process in place, namely the Board’s Policy Committee, to account for the law’s new requirement that it receive input on the policy revision. The District is committed to that process, including the following steps:

• The District received the policy updates from the Missouri School Boards’ Association (MSBA) in    October 2016
• The District sent questions and concerns on the policy to our attorney, Spencer Fane, in November 2016
• Spencer Fane’s team responded in November 2016, then that information was sent to MSBA
• The District received a legal response from MSBA in January 2017

The statute now also requires the District’s anti-bullying policy to be included in the student handbook. Student handbooks are published and distributed at the start of the school year, so those had already been distributed for 2016-17. The statute therefore recognizes that there will be some lag between the effective date of the amendment and the adoption (and distribution of) implementing policy regulations.

Since Missouri adopted its first anti-bullying law in 2006, the District has been making good faith efforts to address bullying in the school environment. Moreover, the measures the District has taken since the start of the 2016-17 school year to structure its bullying investigations in accord with the amendments to Section 160.775 should be commended as a proactive measure to address bullying in ways envisioned by the amendment even before the District was required to do so (please see the attached form).

The District anticipates finalizing its revisions to Policy JFCF at its regular February Board meeting, and those revisions will be reflected in next year’s student handbooks.

All sunshine requests, including those made in conjunction with questions regarding this policy, and the responses to those requests will be posted on the District’s website at this link.

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(10 a.m.) – The St. Joseph School District plans to issue a news release later today addressing an issue brought forward in a recent letter to the Board of Education.

Last night, Brian Cronk a St. Joseph resident and parent sent a letter to the Board of Education which he said is in reference to the district not being in compliance with a new state bullying law.

In his letter, Cronk said the required changes in RSMO 160.775 are substantial and intended to protect children.

“They were required to be in place and fully implemented by January 1, 2017 and the District had six months to prepare. Additional changes that take effect over the next 18 months are designed to reduce suicides (RSMO 170.048 by July 1, 2018) and mandate additional staff training (RSMO 170.047 beginning in the 2017-18 school year),” he said. “The SJSD is knowingly in violation of state law. You have each willfully neglected or refused to perform duties imposed on you by Chapter 160.”

CLICK HERE to read his letter in its entirety.

Cronk also provided us with a letter he sent to the Buchanan County Prosecutor’s Office stating he believes the district is in violation of the Sunshine Law as well as the new RSMO. CLICK HERE to read his letter.  We have left a message with the prosecutor’s office to try to find out if they are looking into the matter or can comment on the issue.  We are currently waiting to hear back.

Bridget Blevins, St. Joseph School District Dir. of Communications said she plans to issue a news release later in the day addressing the information provided to us which she said should make things more clear.

The downtown St. Joseph skyline now boasts the corporate logo of Mosaic Life Care, as the health care provider increases its downtown footprint. Work continues on several different projects, including renovation of the historic German American Bank Building at 624 Felix St.

Ryan Rush, Mosaic’s Director of Construction and Property Management says they are on schedule with the massive renovation project.

“We’re coming along nicely,” Rush said “A lot of the floor is being laid, the bank lobby is currently getting the marble in it.”

“It’s looking like we’ll have a completion date around the end of April, so we’ll start to occupy, hopefully in May, getting furniture in and getting people moved down here,” he said.

On Friday, Rush and others hosted a media tour of the renovation in progress. Workers were installing some huge exterior windows offering some spectacular views. Other crews were cutting out old concrete and laying new marble on the first two floors of the building. Extensive renovation continues on the third, fourth and fifth floors.

Much of the Beaux-Arts detailing and historic artifacts remains intact. Field Manager Dave Berthiaume of the construction management firm CPM says there are seven vaults, including a vault-within-a-vault in the former bank building. The largest of these vaults will eventually become a dining area in the “caregivers area” in the basement. Berthiaume says each of the building’s six stories will require the installation of 50,000 feet of networking cable, not to mention extensive repairs and electrical rewiring.

The facility was built in 1889. The six story, rectangular brick building was designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. It will house the business arm of the hospital.

“A lot of the business functions, financing, corporate services will be down here, and a couple of call centers will be down here,” Rush said.

A surface parking lot bought by Mosaic is complete and in use. Construction continues on the retail center and parking garage being erected at 8th and Felix.

Rush says that project appears to be on schedule as well.

“We’re hoping that we’ll be able to have that in by the end of 2017, the parking itself,” he said. He was not ready to announce who will occupy the retail space. The initial announcements suggested that a grocery store was being sought.

“Nobody to be named yet, but we’re definitely trying to weigh of all our options, and get a good person for the community down here to help revitalize the area.”

A court hearing is scheduled next week for a Weston, Missouri man who has been charged in a 15-year-old rape investigation.

According to court documents, Douglas James Nickles was linked to the case when his DNA prompted a “hit” on the Combined DNA Index System last July. Police say the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Laboratory confirmed the DNA match with a sample taken during the investigation of a sexual assault reported on October 7, 2001.

St. Joseph police arrested the suspect Thursday, according to online court records. Nickles, 47, is charged withone count of Forcible Rape – Sexual Intercourse By Forcible Compulsion. If convicted, the crime carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Forcible rape is among a list of about a dozen crimes for which there is no statute of limitations in Missouri.

A judge set bail at $50,000 cash. Nickles is being held in the Buchanan County Jail awaiting his initial court appearance Feb. 14. Online court records do not list a defense attorney in the case.