District Newsletter

The staff of Willard R-II wishes to express their heart felt sympathies to the family of Bobby Lee Patton. Bob was a mainstay in the Willard District serving as the Director of Maintenance for over 14 years, retiring in 2004. Bob had many talents that served the children of Willard. Major projects that Bob constructed in his later years of service included the visitors restroom and concession stand at the Football field and the new wood flooring and the installation of the seating at the Middle School upper level basketball court. Bob was the Willard School District Employee of the Year in 2001. Through his years of service to children Bob left his fingerprints throughout our district.

Please join me in offering the Patton family our thoughts and prayers.

Dr. Kent E. Medlin Superintendent of Schools

Willard R-II Central Office

This year I started the year bringing all teachers and many other staff together for a welcome meeting. I love this time to see staff from all over the district together. The group numbered 400+. Willard truly has an amazing staff! During my welcome I shared a DVD about a young man named Johnny. Johnny has Down Syndrome. Johnny worked as a bagger at a grocery store that was trying to figure out ways to improve in their customers eyes. The owner of the store had challenged all employees to come up with an idea. Johnny decided that he had a good idea. Every night Johnny would go home and write out his "Thought for the Day". His dad helped him each night copy it onto the computer and print out several hundred for the following day. Johnny would put this "Thought for the Day" in each customers bags that he helped. A month later the store manager noticed that grocery line one was backed up all the way down the store aisle. He immediately announced for additional cashiers to open more lines. The manager tried to get shoppers to move to the new lines but they wanted to stay in aisle one because that was Johnny's aisle and they wanted his "Thought for the Day!". One customer commented that she used to just come to the store once a week but now she comes by 3-4 times per week to buy things just because she loves to get Johnny's "Thought for the day". Johnny's idea spread through the store and the floral department started pinning flowers on little children and older ladies that had a broken stem. Other ideas followed. Needless to say, store sales dramatically increased. We need to decide if this story is about how to increase store sales or simply how to be of service to others.

I believe we have many, many, teachers and staff members that are servant leaders. They simply do whatever it takes to help others succeed. That is the kind of district that I want my children to grow up in, and I know that many of you feel the same. Johnny gave us the example that small acts of leadership can have huge effects to an organization. I challenge all of us to look for small ways that we can serve others!

Have a great week!

Kent

Dr. Kent E. Medlin Superintendent of Schools

Director of Operations

It's hard to believe but Fall sports is in full gear and the Tigers are off to another great start!

The softball lady tigers opened their season last week with an exciting come-from-behind win over Reeds Spring and then followed that up with a convincing 10-0 win over Kickapoo! The 2-0 Lady Tigers will be at Bolivar tonight, at Republic on Thursday, and will host Strafford on Friday. All games will start at 5:00.

The Lady Tigers golf team teed it up last week in Nixa taking on Rogersville, Nixa, and Branson. Willard came out on top finishing in first place! The girls will travel to Bolivar next Tuesday in the Bolivar Invitational.

The football tigers opened the new Tiger Plaza as well as their new locker room facilities Friday night as they hosted the Rolla Bulldogs. The Tigers came out roaring but couldn't hold on in the end losing 20-31. It was a great crowd and a beautiful evening and all of the Tigers, from the Tigerettes, cheerleaders, and the Cutting Edge, appreciate your support. The tigers will travel to Ozark to open up conference play this Friday. Game time is 7:00.

The Volleytigers will open their season tonight in Buffalo. Game time is 6:00pm. They will then travel to Hillcrest on Thursday starting at 5:00. Coach Hancock has high hopes for this year's squads and they should be very exciting to watch.

The soccer tigers will open their season tonight under the direction of new head coach Tim Magee. The tigers will be hosting Aurora with the jv game starting at 4:30 followed by the varsity contest. The tigers will then host Joplin on Thursday at 4:30.

The cross country tigers will open their season on Saturday, Sept. 13th at Strafford. The tigers are lead by 1st year head coach Clark Giboney and assisted by Greg Hession. The cross country numbers are up and so are Coach Giboney's expectations.

Finally, I would like to add that each year brings a renewal of our commitment to these young athletes. Parents, coaches, directors, booster clubs, administrators, and board members have all made a commitment to these students that they have the best facilities, equipment, and support in southwest Missouri. And they have responded...BIG TIME! Our numbers are up by over 15% across the board and by increasing the number of participants in extra-curricular activities we increase the number of young students who are benefiting from what we have to offer. Fewer positive drug tests, higher attendance rates, higher grade point averages, the list of positive side effects of extra-curricular activities goes on. Thank you to everyone who makes this possible.

It's Good To Be A Tiger! Jeff Staley, Director of Operations

Director of Special Services

Special Services wants to welcome new to the district the following people: North- Donna Carney, Lindsey Campbell, Annette Finn; Central- Stacee Anderson, Ron Keys, Dagny Ogle, Shawna Small, Anne Wyman; Intermediate- Mollie Leek, Lisa Messick, Bethany Miller, Angela Owens; Middle School- Belinda Arnold, Jennifer Burney, Larry Chainey, Beth Hansen; HS- Sharla Beuerlein, Caysea Conant, Libbie Toth, Deana Vivas, Alt school-Jeff Jones, Elaine Miller, Micah Wilson, Transportation- Jim Berry.

We also welcome Shannon Roberts and Kelli Akers as process coordinators for our department. Both have worked in our district as special services teachers and are prepared to work with teachers, parents and staff and have already shown their dedication to helping special services students start off with a great year. Also new to our office is Cindy Farmer who is supporting special services staff with her secretarial skills.

Volunteer training for our Horses of Hope program took place last night at the Springfield Livestock Marketing Center with 50 volunteers in attendance. Stephanie Sechler, Willard HS student who brought Horses of Hope to our district, opened last night's training and Melinda Keithley of Horses of Hope explained various duties required, demonstrated live safety procedures and ended the evening with two film clips which thoroughly showed the significance of therapeutic riding. Our next training is scheduled for September 8 at Sac River Stables with actual sessions beginning Sept15. We invite you to become involved. Sandy Gold, Director of Special Services

Willard High School

Willard High School is off to a great start with 1,270 students in attendance. The energy level is high as students greet new faces and old friends. We started the year with 9th grade orientation day on August 18th, which allowed the 9th graders a chance to attend a half day of school to meet teachers, familiarize themselves with the building and "get in the groove" of things. We were very pleased with Freshman Orientation Day as it was a voluntary day with 300 out of 350 total freshmen in attendance. On Tuesday, August 19th all students came together for the 1st day

Each grade level met as a class this past week and talked about expectations and goals for the year. Here are the goals: Each grade level achieve 95% attendance, Reduce total number of "F's" received, and improve ACT composite scores. We will keep you updated throughout the year as we try to meet each challenge. Stewart Pratt, Principal

Willard Middle School

The 08-09 school year got off to a great start at the Willard Middle School, with approx. 600 eager young people spilling through the doors and anxious to learn! (Most of them anyway) Things have gone amazingly smooth so far, and we are looking forward to a great year. Our school has been able to begin an expanded version of the teaming approach to education this year, and our teachers are working very hard to take full advantage of the benefits that this will open up for our students. We were able to add several new improvements and decorations to our building over the summer , including new cafeteria tables, classroom updates, technology, and banners and signs that focus on positive messages for kids to see each day around our campus. Last Friday we held a back to school fun day, which involved several different stations where the kids and teachers alike were able to get to know each other a little better, and enjoy their time at school. The day ended with a frantic race to the finish at the high school track, where the teachers were involved in what can only be describes as an "Amazing Race," which is our theme for this year. The kids really had a great time, and I think the teachers did too. Sunday night was Willard night at the Springfield Cardinals game, and our Middle School cheerleaders gave a great performance before the game, which ended with a home run in the last inning and a Cardinals win! As always, the support for Willard was great, and we thank those that were able to come. This week we had our parent night at the Middle School, and again had fantastic support from the parents and students as well. This night is designed to allow the kids to show their parents where their classes are, and introduce them to their teachers, who can then answer any questions that might have come up at the beginning of the year. Many positive comments were given, and we appreciate the support from all those involved. What a great start, and it will only get better. Welcome back, and enjoy the year. Tom Merriott Assistant Principal

Willard Intermediate School

WIS is off to a fast and furious start on our way to our best year ever. Our meet the teacher night was a huge success and we appreciate everyone that made it out. We had 92% of our parents in attendance!

Our theme for this year is iPod (I power on daily) and we have several new programs in place to support and encourage our students. Our iChoose program has everyone pumped up and our students are working hard to earn a chance at a iPod of their own.

WIS is currently looking for a few hard working parents to help us get our first ever PTO off the ground. Any parents that might be interested are invited to attend an organizational meeting on Tuesday, September 2nd at 7:00pm in our library.

Hope you enjoyed your 3 day weekend! Tom Davis, Principal

Willard Central Elementary

Willard Central is Wild About Learning this year! From our jungle themed entryway to the learning taking place in each classroom, there is a buzz and energy at Willard Central that proves WC students are indeed Wild About Learning! The excitement started on Meet the Teacher Night with help from the WC PTO. They provided hotdogs, chips and drinks for all of the WC families while allowing time for families to mingle together and enjoy some new playground equipment after visiting the classrooms. It was a wonderful evening that helped make a smooth transition into the beginning of the school year.

We have had a blessed beginning of the year with parent involvement, PTO activities, and engaging classroom instruction. I am excited about the growth of our building and the new faces we have added to the WC Team. We have a wonderfully wild adventure ahead of us this year and I am looking forward to the journey. Shane Medlin, Principal

**If you are a Fantasy Football fanatic or an NFL football fan, please see a WC student, teacher, or PTO member to purchase a Football Mania card. This exciting fundraiser will support the students of WC while making Sunday afternoon games more exciting.**

Willard North Elementary

Willard North is off to a great start! We have all settled in to our classes and school is going great. Don't forget to sign up to join PTO this year! They have done some amazing things for us including purchasing SmartBoards for all third grade classrooms! If you would like to see events going on at Willard North, go to <http://www.google.com/>www.google.com and search public calendars for the Student/Family Calendar for Willard North. We are updating this all the time and you will be able to see what we are doing! If you sign up for google, you can add this calendar to your own so you never forget an event! Today a newsletter for parents will go home with our 4th grade MAP scores. I will be at the first Willard Football game tonight and I hope you are also! GO TIGERS!!!! Rhonda Bishop, Principal

Willard South Elementary

Willard South has started off with a fun and different beginning to the school year. Principal Kara Crighton-Smith is out on maternity leave enjoying her time at home with little baby Jada. Things are running smoothly , and the students are really enjoying the new gym. The parking lot is an added blessing and procedures for picking up and dropping off students is going well. I am loving the adventure and am excited to be working with the teachers and students at South during Mrs. Kara Crighton-Smiths maternity leave. Angela Stevens, Interim Principal