Missouri Commissioner of Education, Dr. Margie Vandeven (courtesy; Missourinet)
(Missourinet) – The Missouri Department of Education’s annual performance reports say more than 98% of the state’s public school districts scored high enough to be considered “accredited.” Accreditation is certification that a school meets all educational requirements.
Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven said low-income, black, special needs, and English language learning students are still lagging behind in achievement compared to the rest of the student population. The most recent Missouri Assessment Program – or MAP – verifies that.
“We’re looking at that gap very carefully. What we have noted is that as you move through the system, it does appear that the gap decreases in the upper grades,” said Vandeven. “We see that as a positive trend but again we never want to read too much into one year of data.”
In 2013, the first year of performance reports, 30 districts scored below accreditation and that number is down to eight districts.
“What we’re working on this year is to try to obtain additional funding for the Missouri School Improvement Program support and intervention plan so we can provide more intensive support to our districts that need the support the most.”
State statute does not permit the Missouri School Improvement Program accreditation for charter schools, but the department issues the same annual performance reports to them. About 27% of charter schools earned more than 90% of the points possible, up from 15% in 2013.
The reports are used to help the State Board of Education decide if a school should be accredited.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City civic leaders have announced a campaign to boost the legal age for buying tobacco products to 21.
The Kansas City Star reports that the campaign is called Tobacco 21KC. The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, and other organizations announced the effort Thursday morning.
The goal is to get every municipality in the metropolitan area to raise its legal age for buying tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.
Several cities, including New York, already have voted to increase the minimum tobacco age to 21. This year, Hawaii became the first state to do so.
Chamber of Commerce president Jim Heeter said he didn’t see a downside and that the public health evidence is “overwhelming.”
The St. Joseph School District bus provider is urging safety in the wake of bus safety week and searching for more drivers.
Bus Safety Week took place Oct. 19 – 23. However, Apple Bus Company Northwest Regional Manager Kim Green said safety is always a top priority.
“Sometimes it is small choices, like getting to your bus stop on time, that can help us keep students safe,” Green said.
She offers these tips:
Always be at the stop five minutes before the scheduled pick up time. This may not seem like a safety tip, but a late student running after a bus can be a real safety concern, as the driver can’t see them.
Do not rough house and play around at the bus stop, as someone could fall or trip in front of a bus.
Stay back off the road, and don’t approach the bus until it comes to a complete stop. If crossing in front of the bus, make eye contact with the driver and wait for the driver to give the okay to cross.
Always cross in front of the bus – never behind the bus, which is a blind spot. Walk 10 feet (10 giant steps) in front of the bus.
There must always be a responsible adult present for a kindergartner or a first grader.
Apple Bus is currently looking for drivers. Green said Parents are especially encouraged to apply.
“Bus driving has parent-friendly hours and children below school age can ride along,” Green said.
Barrel Bob has seen better days (photo courtesy Missourinet)(Missourinet) – Motorists might have noticed that Barrel Bob, the Missouri Department of Transportation’s 10-foot tall orange mascot who works to promote work zone safety, is missing from his post on U.S. Route 50/63 in Jefferson City.
Barrel Bob hasn’t been kidnapped (which has happened before), but it appears he may have been victimized by an act of early Halloween villainy. The friendly work zone safety mascot was set on fire Tuesday evening on Route 50/63. Bob was discovered slumped over on the ground, with severe burns on his legs and torso. One leg was completely melted and the other was damaged in the fire. Both legs will need to be replaced.
Bob was taken into the shop on Wednesday and is receiving intensive repair. The mascot is expected to be out of commission for at least the next two weeks.
Barrel Bob didn’t swear revenge, but he has vowed to return to his post and resume his job of spreading the important message of work zone safety as soon as he is able.
If you would like send Bob get well wishes, you can follow him on Facebook
Officials in the St. Joseph School District are touting progress shown in the recent Annual Performance Report (APR) for the Missouri School Improvement Program 5 (MSIP 5).
The report is the state’s yearly comprehensive assessment of school districts. In a news release, officials say the St. Joseph School District showed growth in all five areas, and earned 124.5 points out of a total of 140 points.
The APR assesses school districts on academic achievement, subgroup achievement, college and career readiness, attendance and graduation rate.
“We are moving in the right direction and this is a positive momentum swing for us. To see growth in all five areas is an impressive feat for the students and staff in the St. Joseph School District,” said Dr. Robert Newhart, Interim Superintendent. “Our district is making progress on our graduation rates, college and career ready measures and attendance rates indicating that our students are being better prepared for life after high school,” continued Newhart.
Find more detail in the school district announcement here.
The Trenton Police Department is asking the public for help identifying and finding a man who allegedly broke into several homes in the area and slept inside.
“Several Trenton residents have located an unknown male either sleeping in their home or inside of their home,” said Chief Tommy Wright with the Trenton police department.
Wright said the recent break-ins have taken place over the last few weeks. The man is described as white, slight build, multiple tattoos on his arms last seen wearing a red shirt, jeans and possibly one black glove with bones printed on it.
Det. Jerry Smith said there have been two reports of possible break-ins. The first Oct. 11 on Mulberry Street where the homeowner had noticed someone had been in her house and moved stuff around.
The second on Oct. 12 on McPhearson street where a woman found a man in her bedroom around three in the afternoon.
“Her husband was at work, she walks into the bedroom and he’s down on his hands and knees on the side of the bed,” Smith said. “He pushes her down on the bed goes out looks out the front door, probably checking to see if there was anyone else there and there wasn’t anybody out there so he he bolted out of the house towards the railroad tracks.”
Smith said the woman found a bag of items on the bed the man had collected from around her home.
“Picked up items like boxer shorts, leather-man knives, pennies,” Smith said. “Phone charger, bottles of pop.”
Smith said he believes the invader was probably a transient, someone who came into town off of a train and said it’s unknown if the individual is still in the area.
Wright is still encouraging residents to secure their homes.
“All area residents are encouraged to lock their doors, secure their property and report any suspicious persons or activities in their neighborhood,” Wright said.
Anyone who may have encountered this person in their home and has not reported it yet is asked to contact the Trenton Police Department.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Lt. Rex Ross or Detective Jerry Smith at (660) 359-5557.
(Missourinet) – Medicare Part B premiums are expected to increase by more than 50% next year, unless Congress figures out a solution. Part B is a Medicare option that covers doctors’ charges and outpatient care bills.
Senator Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) hasn’t offered a solution, but said the rise is due to the Affordable Care Act.
“Anybody that’s surprised by these costs and didn’t think they were going to happen when the federal government decided to so dramatically change all of healthcare without knowing what the impact would be has some second thinking to do and some explaining to do to the people we all work for,” said Blunt. “This is not the only part of healthcare that’s going up a lot. It’s going up generally a lot because of the President’s healthcare plan.”
Some Senate Democrats are exploring options to prevent the increase. If an agreement is not found soon, Democratic staffers said a freeze or other fix might be part of a year-end budget deal in Congress.
About 30% of the roughly 52 million people enrolled in Medicare could be affected by the increase. 2016’s open enrollment for Medicare is underway.
(Missourinet) – The state Department of Education will stop collecting students’ Social Security numbers except when it has to have them, after a state auditor’s review.
State Auditor Nicole Galloway looked at the Department’s handling of its Student Information System. That system collects information from school districts for the administration of state and federal programs for students and for providing the public with feedback on district and charter school performance.
It found the Department unnecessarily collected and kept personal information from students, including Social Security numbers.
“What we’re saying is, collect it at the time you need it, and then don’t collect it again, don’t type it in the system again, don’t type it in a spreadsheet and upload it to DESE’s system again,” said Galloway. “Only do it when you need to because every time you do it, it creates an opportunity for it to fall into the wrong hands.”
Galloway said the Department has agreed to collect only “absolutely necessary” information, destroy unneeded sensitive data from its systems, and to maintain the information it does need safely and securely.
It has also agreed to create policies for dealing with data breaches and to update its policy for recovering from one.
Galloway said DESE does not have a comprehensive data breach policy that would allow, “a quick and effective response when a data breach occurs.” She said the Department’s plan for recovery after a breach has not been updated since 2004.
The audit also recommends DESE end the sharing between personnel of user names and passwords. Such sharing makes identifying those responsible for unauthorized or inappropriate changes difficult or impossible.
Galloway says the Department should be implementing changes in practice now.
“DESE has been cooperative throughout the audit process. They started making changes immediately when we brought them to their attention,” said Galloway.
In a statement the Department said it will remove optional social security numbers in Student Information System data collection by June 30, 2016.
“Department staff agrees that this is no longer a necessary collection field as it was historically collected for determining A+ scholarship eligibility, but that responsibility now falls within the Department of Higher Education,” the statement reads. “However, the auditor acknowledged the need for SSN in certain records ‘because of the importance of using the data when linkages are needed to other record systems, such as across education levels within a state.’”
DESE said it will also conduct periodic reviews to ensure that any personally identifiable information collected is necessary. It agreed with the auditor’s recommendations and says it has already implemented or is implementing changes.
The overall rating of the Department’s management of the Student Information System was “Good.” It found no deficiencies in internal controls and no significant noncompliance with legal provisions.
Galloway’s office recently launched a review of five school districts’ cyber security status, and says those reviews are ongoing with more to start once those are finished.
St. Joseph residents will be able to burn yard waste during open burning season slated for November.
The City of St. Joseph has approved open burning for the fall for Monday, Nov. 2 through Sunday, Nov. 22.
Open burning is permitted on these days within the City of St. Joseph under the following guidelines:
Burning of yard waste of residential properties only – ONLY dry yard waste
such as leaves, brush and logs grown on the property can be burned. NO
trash, paper, lumber or building debris may be burned.
Burning is allowed between 10:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
All fires must be in an upright cylindrical metal container with a volume equal
to no more than 55 gallons. Containers must be located at least fifteen (15)
feet away from any building. Only one burn container per residence.
All fires shall be monitored from a point on the property where the fire is
located, by a person capable of containing a fire, should containment become
necessary.
Fire-fighting material, including but not limited to, a garden hose or a
container of water sufficient to contain any fire started shall be at the site of
the fire.
If weather conditions such as high winds indicate the safety of the
community or the public may be endangered or if open burning may create a
health hazard, the Fire Chief or Health Director may invoke a temporary
burning ban.
Any violation of the open burning restrictions may result in a summons to appear in
court for a misdemeanor violation.
Residents are encouraged to explore alternatives to open burning. Many options for
disposing of yard waste are easy, do not contribute to air pollution, are not dependent
on time restrictions or the weather, and provide the healthy benefit of physical activity
while doing yard work instead of breathing acrid smoke from a waste fire. Such activities
include mowing leaves into fine particles and leaving them lay to fertilize the lawn, or
incorporating leaves into a mulch container to decompose into humus for use in
vegetable and flower gardens or for use on lawns as a soil amendment. Larger wood
brush that can be chipped makes excellent mulch around trees and shrubs. Family and
friends with gardens may want additional yard waste to use as mulch.
An Andrew County man is facing seven charges after allegedly assaulting his wife who is an officer with the Savannah Police Department and discharging a firearm into a patrol vehicle.
Anthony Lamont Williams, 42 of Savannah is charged with felonies for first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle, first-degree property damage, and three for unlawful use of a weapon. He is also charged with two misdemeanors for third degree domestic assault.
According to court documents the incident took place Monday in the 11000 block of Country Road 159.
“Anthony returned home from a night of being out with friends and had been drinking alcohol. Once inside the house Anthony became angry and a verbal argument started between Anthony and Wanda,” Investigator Grant Gillett with the Andrew County Sheriff’s Department said in court documents. “The verbal argument then turned into a physical assault where Wanda stated that at one point ‘Anthony had grabbed her by the face and kept saying he wanted his phone’. Wanda stated that she was screaming for help and Anthony who still had Wanda pinned down on the bed with his hand still under her ear and cheek said ‘I will Choke you out.'”
Gillett said after releasing her he went looking for his cell phone.
“Anthony then retrieved a Kel-Tec handgun from a drawer and went to the spare bedroom where Wanda keeps her duty weapon for Savannah Police Department. Anthony removed the Glock 23 from the holster then removed all the extra magazines from her police duty belt,” Gillett said. “Wanda stated that she heard the garage door open because the master bedroom is located above the garage. It was then stated that she heard approximately two gun shots.”
Later that day Police Chief David Vincent and Officer Daniel Zeigler went to pick up the patrol vehicle from the home. Gillett said when Officer Zeigler started to move the vehicle it began having mechanical issues.
“He stopped the car and Chief Vincent and Officer Zeigler noticed fluid coming from the vehicle. They then notice apparent bullet holes in the patrol vehicle,” Gillett said. “I asked Anthony if he shot the patrol vehicle intentionally and he stated ‘no’.”
Anthony’s bond was set at $25,000.
According to court documents Wanda was off duty at the time the incident took place.
