Richland School Board gets a look at active education

ESSEX, Mo. -- The Richland School Board enjoyed a student presentation prior to their scheduled meeting Wednesday night.

Six students demonstrated roller coasters they made in physical science class, following Newton's laws of motion. Their instructor, Kurt Miller, instructed the students that they were to make a roller coaster with three hills, three curves, and three loops. Beyond that, he was not involved in any of the design aspects.

High School Principal Cindy Rhodes explained to the school board how this is just one way teachers are eliminating text books from the classroom and substituting project-based learning for today's children, which are more kinesthetic learners.

The roller coasters were tested based on the speed with which a marble could successfully travel through the courses, which were made from pipe wrap, plastic cups, and duct tape.

The winning roller coaster was designed and built by Laura Brown, Jordan Carmack, Laura Stickles and Emily Blunt.

After the presentation, the consent agenda was approved, and the board passed the operating budget for the 2015-2016 school year.

The board then passed some new policies that were recommended by the school attorney Tom Micke.

Among the new policies are policy number 0320 -- which prohibits anyone with any kind of criminal record from running for school board. Also passed, were policies: 2230 -- which states that if a student's parent(s) is deployed with the military, they do not need to provide proof of residence to attend the school; 2710 -- which calls for all schools to display child abuse reporting posters; and 4120 -- which states that all school employees must be trained to retrieve background check information that has been gathered for a potential hire.

The policy regarding transgender students -- 2115 -- was not discussed. The board determined not to pass it.

"The school administration will continue treating all students fairly, and professionally along with following past precedents," Superintendent Frank Killian said.

The board also passed the following concerning Richland's self funded Preschool guidelines:

students living in Richland School district, along with non-tuition paying students, will have priority over tuition paying students.

Elementary Principal Cara Merritt told the school board that Richland Preschool is extremely beneficial for the students' educational process.

School board members David Wyman and David Wheeler expressed their gratitude to High School Principal Cindy Rhodes and Elementary Principal Cara Merritt for the great job they do. It was also brought up that Richland High School has qualified to be a Missouri Gold Star School.

This requires a school to meet the assessment goals set by the State Department for three consecutive years in all Math and English areas. The top eight schools with the highest three-year average will be recognized as Gold Star schools. That information will not be released by the State Department until 2016.