NEVC Board: parent complaint and low test scores

By Johannes Brann

Meeting a week before Thanksgiving (Nov. 20th), the six board members present (absent: Heather Brown) at the Northeast Vernon County (NEVC) R-1 School Board approved the purchase of four new school bus tires, increased substitute bus driver pay from $37.50 to $46.00 per trip ($92 per day); heard a presentation on the great success of the district’s  Parents As Teachers program, and reviewed unwelcome scores in the state’s annual report card for the district, the Annual Performance Report (APR). The most dramatic item came just after the opening prayer, in the time reserved for citizen comments.

“My name is Dana McCannon and I’m here to speak about an incident which happened to my son who’s in the first grade and resulting in him going through the concussion protocol; thankfully, I am a nurse and recognized the symptoms and knew what to do.”

She went on to describe the incident in further detail, adding that she was told by her son that the school bus drive saw what happened but did not report anything to student’s teacher or the school’s principal, Mr. Eric Rhodes. When she later contacted the principal and asked for the bus video to be retrieved and reviewed, she stated Mr. Rhodes said that was not possible due to there being too much video to review.

She concluded her presentation by asking the board to have the superintendent and principal review this situation as well as their incident reporting procedures. She stated, “I love this school. I graduated here. But this is not the only time something like this has happened. The bus drivers and principal need to be on top of all situations because not everyone’s mom’s a nurse! Thank you.”

Mr. David Bruce, board president thanked her and said this would be reviewed by the board in the closed session.

Just as students receive a report card so November is when public school districts in Missouri receive theirs in the form of the Annual Performance Report (APR). This comes as a numerical score with districts earning above 70 percent being assured of retaining accreditation while those earning below 50 percent receiving attention and intervention by the state.

Reviewing the past four years of combined scores (elementary and high school buildings) for the district shows scores being in 2021: 71.7; 2022: 68.2; 2023: 76 and in 2024: 66.4. For comparison, the combined score for the El Dorado Springs R-II School District was 61.2 while the Miami R-I School District was 70.2 with the school receiving the highest score in the Golden Valley-Vernon County Conference was 88.7 by the Hume R-VIII School District.

Commented Superintendent Christy Jones, “We know where we are and we’ve already started to make sure we teach what will be tested and give teachers what they need so students better retain what they have learned and really try on the MAP test.”

Kristen Coda, the NEVC R-I District’s Parent’s As Teachers (PAT) educator and the PAT director from the El Dorado Springs R-II district, Jennifer Caldwell, jointly reported on the first full year of NEVC having its own stand-alone program for several years.

Reviewing a written report distributed to the board while standing next to Coda, Caldwell said, “Just look at those numbers. For all of the 2024 school year you served 12 families, served 16 children and reached 26 percent of the your under-five population. But this year, from July to now, Kristen has already served 25 families, served 30 children and reached 46 percent of the under-five population. That is huge!”

Superintendent Jones said the hours for when district residents may file as candidates for the three school board seats which will be on the April ballot has been placed on the district’s website. Current board members whose terms are about to be completed are Connie Gerster, David Bruce and Deland Prough.