Education

By Marcus Clem The St. Joseph Board of Education shot down on Monday a school district plan to adopt the four-day class calendar, preserving the status quo at least for now. Whitney Lanning, Latonya Williams and Rick Gehring voted “yes,” while Kenneth Reeder, Kim Miller, David Foster and Isaura Garcia voted “no.” Superintendent Gabe Edgar

By NewsPress Now The Mosaic Life Care Foundation’s Children’s Discovery Center has its first hire. Katherine Patterson-Paronto will be the center’s director and begins her job on March 1. She has years of experience in children’s discovery centers and programs including at KidSight, Wonderscope and Science City. “We are pleased to have Katherine join our

By Jazmine Knight Normally the Free Application for Federal Student Aid opens Oct. 1. However, for the 2024-25 period, students had to wait almost three months for it to open on Dec. 30, causing issues for students and financial aid departments. According to the Department of Education, it computed about 3 million submitted applications by

By Marcus Clem Barbara Spencer and Miranda Ham are recognized as the very best at what they do across the St. Joseph School District for the 2023-24 school year. In being named as Support Person of the Year, Ham is said to represent the height of work done by hundreds of staffers, which includes all

By Kendra Simpson Many residents received a text message with a link to a survey on Wednesday afternoon containing questions about St. Joseph schools, though it did not come from the district. One question inquired about “sexually explicit” and “pornographic” books in St. Joseph elementary school libraries. The same question also said, “The school district

By Marcus Clem The Missouri Western State University Board of Governors unanimously voted to give Elizabeth Kennedy a three-year contract extension as chief executive of St. Joseph’s hometown higher education campus. Kennedy assumed office as university president in February 2021, having become interim president in summer 2020. Her current contract expires on June 30 of

By Marcus Clem Broad staff shortages will worsen if the St. Joseph Board of Education does not implement some kind of reform soon, several teachers warned on Thursday. The teachers spoke to the committee on recruitment and retention at the Noyes Administration Building, offering commentary that favored dropping Monday from the weekly class calendar. The

By Marcus Clem Contributors to a key St. Joseph School District panel often talked over each other and struggled for common ground Wednesday as a presentation on the district’s future arrived from Superintendent Gabe Edgar. The plan, which in part envisions St. Joseph becoming by the year 2030 a two-high-school town — with both schools

By Marcus Clem Where student proficiency can be simplified to color codes of green, yellow and red, the St. Joseph School District sees much more red than would be preferred. The district conducts i-Ready diagnostic testing several times per year. These tests do not have impacts on how the state regulates each school, like the

By NewsPress Now Highland Community College has named its next leader. Dr. Vincent Bowhay will be the 45th president of the school located in Highland, Kansas. More than 50 people applied for the job as part of a nationwide search that was narrowed to three finalists, and Bowhay was selected by a unanimous vote of

By Marcus Clem Research in part funded by a nonprofit with St. Joseph ties advises caution before additional Missouri school districts adopt the four-day class calendar. The Show Me Institute is producing a three-part study of the increasingly popular calendar plan, which the St. Joseph School District might adopt for the 2024-2025 year. A Board

By Marcus Clem Research in part funded by a nonprofit with St. Joseph ties advises caution before additional Missouri school districts adopt the four-day class calendar. The Show Me Institute is producing a three-part study of the increasingly popular calendar plan, which the St. Joseph School District might adopt for the 2024-2025 year. A Board

By Marcus Clem Amid proposals to reduce the St. Joseph School District weekly class calendar to four days, Missouri Western State University finds that its own reduced weekly schedule has worked well, its leader said Friday. University President Elizabeth Kennedy offered her thoughts on the concept at the same time as the district conducted the

By Marcus Clem Students from around the region got a glimpse at their future careers in technology on Thursday. The 2024 Hillyard Tech Center Career Fair is as much about finding a path in life as it is finding a job, because the students who earn a certification from the center are in especially high

By Marcus Clem The St. Joseph School District has to fix teacher recruitment and retention, and a big change is on deck to try to do that. The Board of Education will vote at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26, to either give Superintendent Gabe Edgar permission to put in a four-day class calendar, or block

By Marcus Clem Perhaps more than ever before, in announcing the dismissal of class this week, the St. Joseph School District told the public it really didn’t want to, and felt forced by the circumstances. Speaking before he made the final decision, Superintendent Gabe Edgar said the moment in which it seems likely class should

By Marcus Clem It comes down to the wire on whether the St. Joseph School District will have approval to move forward with plans to drop Monday from its class calendar this fall. David Foster is committed to voting “no” on the proposal when it comes up at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26 at the

By Marcus Clem A Kansas City-area school leader told the St. Joseph Board of Education on Monday that the four-day weekly class plan he installed last year has worked well. Superintendent Dale Herl, speaking via video conference from Jackson County, Missouri, gave a briefing on what the Independence School District has done since it dropped

By Marcus Clem A Kansas City-area school leader told the St. Joseph Board of Education on Monday that the four-day weekly class plan he installed last year has worked well. Superintendent Dale Herl, speaking via video conference from Jackson County, Missouri, gave a briefing on what the Independence School District has done since it dropped

By Marcus Clem St. Joseph public schools will not be holding class on Wednesday amid the championship parade to be held for the NFL Super Bowl LVIII victors, but classes will be held as normal elsewhere in the area. The St. Joseph School District explained the situation on Monday regarding the Kansas City Chiefs. Given

By Marcus Clem St. Joseph public schools will not be holding class on Wednesday amid the championship parade to be held for the NFL Super Bowl LVIII victors, but classes will be held as normal elsewhere in the area. The St. Joseph School District explained the situation on Monday regarding the Kansas City Chiefs. Given

By NewsPress Now St. Joseph’s hometown university will not be in normal operations on Wednesday to celebrate the NFL Super Bowl LVIII champion Kansas City Chiefs. Missouri Western State University’s campus will be closed in honor of the Chiefs, amid the official parade that is being organized by the Kansas City Sports Commission in Downtown

By NewsPress Now St. Joseph’s hometown university will not be in normal operations on Wednesday to celebrate the NFL Super Bowl LVIII champion Kansas City Chiefs. Missouri Western State University’s campus will be closed in honor of the Chiefs, amid the official parade that is being organized by the Kansas City Sports Commission in Downtown

By Marcus Clem A week of events has served to recognize the specialists who perform lifesaving work in school buildings with a sense of compassion and responsiveness that is sometimes in dire need. National School Counseling Week honors the work school counselors do to respond to students in distress that can be attributed to incidents

By NewsPress Now The St. Joseph School District said Wednesday that its interim director of operations has been honored as among the best leaders in the field of ensuring school buildings are kept in the best possible shape. Casey Housman won praise for good performance in day-to-day tasks, several large heating, ventilation and air conditioning

By NewsPress Now Clarence Green is concluding 28 years of service to Northwest Missouri State University and will retire effective March 31, according to a news release. A Class of 1994 baccalaureate alumnus from East St. Louis, Illinois, Green became a university employee in 1996 and took on several roles, most persistently as chief of

By Marcus Clem On previous occasions that St. Joseph’s elected school leaders went to the Missouri Capitol to talk education policy, they advocated for funding increases they described as a need, which has now become a crisis. Board President LaTonya Williams and Board Vice President Kenneth Reeder will be leading a board delegation on Tuesday

By Marcus Clem A locally authored book offers professional guidance to parents who take their kids out of the conventional school system to give them an education at home. “Homeschool Tackle Box,” published by retired Central High School teachers Nancy Piercy and Sue Nothstine via Amazing Things Press, is designed to assist parents in developing

By Marcus Clem After years of trying, lawmakers are making another attempt to break down rules that require most students to attend the school district wherein they reside. Passed on Wednesday by a vote of 86-73, House Bill 1989 would hypothetically permit students in St. Joseph to attend one of the neighboring districts like Savannah