Marshall Public Schools

860 W. Vest St.

Marshall, MO 65340

PH: 660-886-7414

Dr. Carol Maher, Superintendent / Dr. Terry Lorenz, Asst. Supt. of Business Operations
Mrs. Terri Porter, Director of Special Services / Mrs. Diane Gillaspie, Director of Curriculum and Instruction
Mr. Jim Papreck, Director of Data Analysis and Dissemination

July, 2017

Dear Marshall Board of Education:

We don’t have a regular Board meeting this month, but I wanted to keep you in the loop on a few items of business going on in the district. (Please remember that, due to the audit on Monday and Tuesday, the Board meeting will take place on Wednesday at noon.)

  1. The MPS Central Office is ready for the beginning of the 2017 – 2018 school year! The official welcome back letter is scheduled to be sent to the faculty next week, new teachers report on the 8th, everyone on the 9th, and the kids on the 16th. We will be back to business as usual in MPS before we know it! YEA!

2. We are transitioning to the Google platform for our building and district communication, including email. As with all change, even if for the better, there are difficulties along the way. The old district email has been on and off over the past week, as has other connections (such as the internet). CTS is working hard to keep us in touch with each other and the rest of the world. We’ll ask everyone to be patient and work with us during these growing pains.

  1. The high school roof, HVAC, concrete, asphalt, and other construction projects are moving along appropriately and weather permitting, we are hopefully optimistic that they will all be completed before the first day of school. Among items that have been, or will be, addressed this summer are the following:
  • MHS, IA, and SCCC roofs and HVAC replacements (It is undetermined as to whether the projected date of completion [Aug. 11th] can be met.)
  • MHS circle drive, parking lot, and sidewalk concrete repair/replacement
  • MHS tennis courts renovation
  • MHS clean up under the stadium storage, ground work and repair (to stop water from running on the track)
  • Interior and exterior painting and clean-up of elementary playgrounds
  • Remodeling of MHS girls’ locker room
  • Recoating roofs on Southeast and Benton
  • Repair and retile entrance at Northwest
  1. As many schools across the state and country, there is growing concern about the large amount of money the district is covering for unpaid breakfast and lunch charges, both student and adult. MPS also has this concern, with $14,417 left unpaid from last year. At Southern Boone County in Ashland, student meal charges exceed $30,000. The school board is considering several ways to address the problem, including not permitting entrance to school activities for parents who owe money. I will be asking the admin. team to discuss this and possible solutions, then have those and more detailed information at the August meeting.
  1. I have received information from Debbie Russell, Saline County Clerk, pertaining to the district’s assessed valuation, needed to set the tax rate for the 2017 – 2018 school year. The table below shows a comparison between the past three years and the pending one. It should be noted that these figures were generated BEFORE the Board of Equalization’s final report. Dr. Lorenz and I are setting up a meeting to speak to the re-assessor about the appeals that were settled before the actual meeting of the BoE. It is always interesting to see the outcome of appeals by taxpayers, including businesses, to reduce their taxes – especially during reassessment years, which 2016 was. Of course, this affects the school district but the value added to attracting home owners and businesses to locate in Marshall but the added value for the community must be considered also.

So far as this year, the numbers in the table below may go up or down (after the BoE), but the difference hasn’t been significant in the past. For the past few years, the pipeline income has impacted the district’s tax rate. Beginning last year, the greatest impact has been from a significant reduction in corporate taxes. Those numbers will be availablebefore the tax levy hearing, for which we will set the date during the meeting Wednesday.

ASSESSMENTS / 2014 – 2015 / 2015 - 2016 / 2016 – 2017 / 2017 - 2018
Real Estate / $117,564,211 / $188,314,015 / $119,712,515 / $119,599,906
Personal / $43,535,571 / $46,878,790 / $46,053,859 / $46,295,408
New Construction
  • Real Estate
  • Personal Property
/ $942,560
$4,515,861 / $589,560
$3,532,514 / $1,426,160
-$840,802 / $1,378,490
$563,579
TOTAL ASSESSED VALUATION / $161,099,782 / $165,192,805 / $165,766,374 / $165,895,314
GAIN OR LOSS FROM PREVIOUS YEAR / $5,540,088 / $4,093,023 / $573,569 / $128,940

As the Central Office has been warning, the significant cut in corporate taxes over the past two years has made a huge difference in the growth (or lack of it) in the district’s valuation (highlighted in yellow).

  1. As I had informed you last week, I met with a group of teachers concerning changes to the policy concerning personal days. This wording, in purple, is what I had included in the proposed policy I sent to the Board last month:

Unless considered and approved by the superintendent, or designee, as an essential absence due to a timely, significant, or unusual circumstance; personal days should not be granted during the first or last week of school, the day before or after a holiday/school break (which is more than one day), or a day deemed by the Board or administration as critical for adult attendance. Upon denial of a personal day request by the superintendent or designee, a teacher may appeal the decision to the MPS Board of Education.

As a result of our visit and to demonstrate my good faith in their efforts, the addition to policy I am now suggesting to the Board for adoption is below, in red. This way, teachers are responsible for requesting appropriate times to be gone, with pay, from their jobs. It also requires that administrators be accountable for approving such days. After negotiation with the teachers, the addition to the policyis:

Teachers are encouraged to avoid using personal leave during the first and last weeks of school, on professional development days, and on the days before and after school breaks (when the break exceeds one day). It is understood that administrators are accountable for approving personal days appropriately. (Because this policy is different from the one I gave you, the first reading will be this month on the 26th. The second reading and approval will be in August.)

During the meeting, teachers requested data on how many and what types of days had been taken last year. Our system, Aesop, saves such information on teachers and administrators and we were able to provide those data. The table is below and, although we did not include individuals, the collective report displaysoverall numbers, which should be a cause for reflection on our practices.

MARSHALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Frequency of Personal and Planned Sick Days (doctors’ appointments)

2016 – 2017 School Year

Before or After a School Holiday or Break (of more than one day)

Building / Personal Days Taken / Planned Sick Days Taken / TOTAL
Early Childhood / 1 / 1 / 2
Benton / 4 / 4 / 8
Southeast / 1 / 4 / 5
Northwest / 1 / 1 / 2
Eastwood / 2 / 5 / 7
BMS / 2 / 13 / 15
MHS / 8 / 9 / 17
SCCC / 1 / 3 / 4
Spainhower / 0 / 2 / 2
Administrators / 6 / 2 / 8
TOTAL / 26 / 44 / 70

First and Last Week of School*

Building / Personal Days Taken / Planned Sick Days Taken / TOTAL
Early Childhood / 4 / 2 / 6
Benton / 9 / 9 / 18
Southeast / 10 / 4 / 14
Northwest / 4 / 4 / 8
Eastwood / 6 / 1 / 7
BMS / 13 / 13 / 26
MHS / 13 / 10 / 23
SCCC / 3 / 6 / 9
Spainhower / 0 / 1 / 1
Administrators / 5 / 2 / 7
TOTAL / 67 / 52 / 119

* 72 personal and planned sick days were taken the last week of school.

Professional Development Days (12:30 Early Release)

Building / Personal Days Taken / Planned Sick Days Taken / TOTAL
Early Childhood / 0 / 0 / 0
Benton / 0 / 2 / 2
Southeast / 0 / 1 / 1
Northwest / 0 / 3 / 3
Eastwood / 1 / 3 / 4
BMS / 1 / 4 / 5
MHS / 1 / 4 / 5
SCCC / 0 / 3 / 3
Spainhower / 0 / 2 / 2
Administrators / 0 / 2 / 2
TOTAL / 3 / 26 / 29
  1. The Board asked if I would contact superintendents to see what other districts are planning for eclipse day, as far as personnel issues. Here is what I have as of this week:

Our district has no restrictions on personal days. / We have fun plans for the eclipse. There are no requests for personal days. / We’re not granting personal days that day. / We’re not in session yet. / We’re getting out at 11:15. / We have called school off for that day. / Special permission is needed for personal days.
Hannibal / Hardeman / Boonville / Sedalia / Santa Fe / Malta Bend / Kirksville
Fulton / Moberly / Marshall / Cole Camp / Mexico
Fulton / Columbia* / Orearville
Warrensburg
Grain Valley
LaMonte
Slater
Sweet Springs
Carrollton
Chillicothe

*Dr. Stiepleman’s, Columbia’s superintendent, was typical of the superintendents I contacts: We've got a full day of activities and are holding school. We are going to have to take a stand on personal days because there is no way to get that many substitutes to cover the day.

The MPS Administrative Team made the decision at our last meeting on May 25th to deny personal days for August 21st. Currently, we have around 25 requests and 19 substitute teachers, so it remains sensible to restrict the granting of a personal day. Of course, if teachers feel strongly, want to have that day, and are willing to give up their pay, that is their choice. We will ask our subs to let us know if they will be available on the 21st (if teachers are or aren’t gone) because the team thinks it would be a good idea to have extra hands to help that day. It’s up to the principals how they want to handle visitors at their specific buildings.

  1. The handbooks from each level have been revised to reflect the prohibition of vapor or electronic cigarettes so they are ready for the Board’s vote of approval during the consent agenda.
  1. So far as the Hab Center property goes, Dr. Lorenz had planned to be farther along in the process than we are on removal of the asbestos from the Forensics Building and replacing the roof on Spainhower. Our status, however, has not changed since the state and city still are at a standstill. Dr. T has asked our architect to have specs for our project in early spring to be able to begin the bidding process as early as possible, beating everyone else. So far, the mechanical engineers have looked at replacing the HVAC system, rather than just repairing the chiller. They have also suggested we powder coat the roof instead of replacing the tin.
  1. The principals have collectively asked for a district-wide set of expectations for MPS employees to be given at the back-to-school discussion on the 9th. We will be putting together that list and the principals will present it at the meeting. The list will be sent to Board members.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you Wednesday, at noon! Carol