District Newsletter

Willard R-II Central Office

I have been through every building several times since the start of school and Willard Schools continue to impress me with the hard work and enthusiasm for children that exists throughout our district. Thank you for the hard work.

This next year will bring about changes for our K-4 buildings, staff, and families. Orchard Hills Elementary is quickly taking shape and we still believe we can meet our goal of opening at the start of the 2009-2010 school year. It is my goal to help make this process as smooth as possible utilizing continued communication with staff and the community. The administrative team is working hard to stay in front of this process.

Last week the Board of Education unanimously accepted my recommendation to name Mrs. Rhonda Bishop as the new principal of Orchard Hills Elementary. Rhonda is a successful, seasoned, veteran and has led North Elementary for nine years. She will be missed by the community at North, however I love the vision that she plans to cast for Orchard Hills.

Have a great weekend!

Kent

Dr. Kent E. Medlin Superintendent of Schools

Director of Operations

What's that beautiful music I hear? Oh, it's just Mr. Lawley and his choir students winning more awards! The Willard High School 9th and 10th grade choir earned 16 spots in the South Central All District Honor Choir. They are: N. Olson, H. Plummer, C. Hall, S. Vincent, T. Inglett, C. Bird, A. Dean, M. Bryant, T. Maus, C. Shuck, T. Huskisson, B. Bumpers, L. Ward, B. Farr, L. Akers, S. Hale.

The soccer Tigers are roaring through the competition by capping off an incredible week beating Carl Junction last night. The game went three overtimes before Willard prevailed, winning on penalty kicks. The Tigers started the week by winning the Monett Tournament last Saturday. The boys defeated Monett and Aurora while tying with Carl Junction. They will be at Carthage next Tuesday before hosting the Willard Fall Soccer Classic next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

The softball Tigers are coming off two heartbreakers in the COC as the lost to defending state champions, Webb City, 1-0 on Tuesday and fell to Carthage last night 3-2 in extra-innings. The girls will compete in the Hillcrest Tournament this Friday and Saturday. Games will be a Cooper Park. They will then host Branson on Tuesday in a make-up of a rain out earlier in the year and will travel to Republic on Thursday. Game times are both at 5:00.

The football Tiger's tough schedule doesn't get any easier as they host 4-0 Branson tonight at Tiger Stadium. We have had great crowds at every home game this year and look forward to another great environment tonight.

Congratulations to the girl's golf team as they finished in 1st place at Marshfield last Tuesday. The girls defeated Marshfield, Buffalo, and Branson.

Congratulations to K. Hession on her 9th place finish at the Nixa Cross Country Invitational on Tuesday. The girls team finished in 6th place overall.

After an impressive showing in last week's Kickapoo Tournament, the volleytigers had a couple of rough outings this week. The girls will look to come back strong as they continue COC play next week traveling to Webb City on Tuesday and hosting Republic on Thursday. The Webb City game will not have a freshmen match so the JV game will start at 6:00.

The Cutting Edge will open their competitive marching season this Saturday at Webb City. Prelims will start at 3:45. Finals will start at 5:45.

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

Special Services

It's hard to believe that we are almost at the end of September! The special services process coordinators (Susie Thieman, Shannon Roberts, Kelli Akers, and Janet Turner), and Amy Stroder went to the Special Education AdministratorsConference this week. This is a way for our department to increase our knowledge of the special education laws, and learn more about burning issues such as Response to Intervention. The professional development opportunities are numerous, as we learn to implement the ever changing requirements of IDEA and provide much needed support to our special services students. Willards own Mark Gideon was the keynote speaker, who motivated us all to do whats good for our kids. Sandy Gold stayed in the office to take care of day-to-day business while the rest of us were gone. All in all, we learned a lot, and are anxious to share everything with our teachers. Janet Turner, Process Coordinator

Willard Middle School

This week the middle school sent home 1st quarter progress reports, and the students, as well as teachers had a chance to see how things were going so far in this new school year. Most of all, it gives the parents/grandparents a chance to sit down with their kids and see how they are progressing, and plan ways to improve if needed before the 1st quarter grades come out. After school tutoring is available every Tues. and Thurs. for students who need a little extra time or guidance, and we encourage anyone who could benefit from this help to take advantage of it. The school's athletic teams are all in full swing, as Sept. is already about to come to an end. The big event at this time of year at the Middle School is Growl Nite, which will be Saturday the 27th. There will be live music, games, food, a silent auction with great items to bid on, and great fun for anyone who is able to come. We want to sincerely thank all of those who have helped to make this event possible, with donated items, time, and dollars. We think it will be a great event that the kids will enjoy, and will hopefully benefit our entire community. Have a great week, and thanks for checking in on us. Tom Merriott Asst. Principal

Willard Intermediate School

What a great time of year to be a part of WIS! I am amazed at the level of dedication and hard work I witness from our students and teachers on a daily basis. From the DRA testing teachers are finishing up on every student to the after school clubs we have weekly to the student work on display in our halls you can tell we are fully back into the swing of school. We hope our students enjoy the 3 day weekend as our teachers are hard at work improving their instructional strategies.

Parents that provided a working email to the school should have recently received a confirmation email to register for our parent-link program. If you would like to register for this service please contact our office so we can get it set up for you. We would like to say a special "thanks" to the school district for the new bleachers in our main gym. They are quite an upgrade over the ones they replace. They look great and we look forward to everyone getting a chance to try them out. Tom Davis, Principal

Willard Central Elementary

It has been a short, but action filled week. A special thank you to Nurse Melody, all of our PTO parent volunteers and CMH for doing our Health Screening on Monday. It was a busy day, but everything ran smoothly. Friday, we will not be in school as teachers will be in professional development meetings. WC teachers will be meeting with teachers across the district for MRI (Missouri Reading Initiative) training, creating and revising Acuity tests, analyzing MAP data, revising curriculum, and creating lessons and activities that connect special area instruction to communication arts and mathematics. It will be a busy, but productive day!

As we look ahead to next week, we will have our Mr. Zs fundraiser for PTO kickoff on Thursday morning during Community Time. On Friday morning, October 3rd, we will have our Accelerated Schools kickoff assembly during Community Time. After our presentation, students will be given their Accelerated Schools t-shirts for this year and we will take an all-school picture together to show our Unity of Purpose principle. We are looking forward to a great week that shows Willard Central is Wild About Learning! Shane Medlin, Principal

Willard East Elementary

Tiger Pride Thursday!!! Thursday was our 1st Tiger Pride assembly and students were given their Tiger tshirts. Willard East was a sea of green with our new t-shirts and had a school-wide picture taken at the football stadium. Our annual fundraiser kicks off today with a new company. Our cookies are always a huge seller! We hope you can support Willard East this year.

Open House was held Tuesday evening. Thank you to everyone helped make our chili supper a success! Melinda Miller, Principal

Willard North Elementary

I am so proud of our 3rd grade students! Last week they completed their Community homework project. This assignment encourages the whole family to design and construct a community. They were AWESOME! The details and the work that went into the projects was wonderful. Thanks to all the 3rd grade parents who helped with this huge project! The first graders also have had an exciting week. Thursday night they performed "Tikki Tikki Tembo" for a sold-out crowd! It was wonderful! Thanks to Mrs. Sharon Reed, our wonderful music teacher, for her direction! Also, huge thanks go to Teresa Palmer, Willard North art teacher, for all her help with costumes and to Dale Delzer for helping with costuming! Thanks to Matt Rosebrough for doing sound and all the classroom teachers and special teachers for helping corral children! Finally our appreciation goes to Mrs. Kendra Chappell, Matt Young, Stewart Pratt, Mark Lawley, John Paul Chapman, and Keith Garcia for making our performance at the high school possible. It's the little things that help make little dreams possible!

Have a wonderful week and GO TIGERS!! Rhonda Bishop, Principal

Willard South Elementary

Mark your calendars for this Saturday, September 27th from 7:00am-12:00pm. Stop by and shop at the community garage sale at Willard South. Remember that all the money will go to help students and families in our school district. We have a large variety of one of a kind items! Come and shop for the holidays, birthdays, weddings, baby showers, or buy back the items you have donated! This is all for a good cause!!

Upcoming Events: Tuesday, September 30th-Title One Parent Night from 6:00-7:00

Kara Crighton-Smith, Principal