District News

Mallory NewsCongresswoman Vicky Hartzler, Representative for Missouri’s

4th Congressional District visited Mrs. Becky Turner’s 1st grade classroom at D.A. Mallory Elementary on Tuesday, April 2nd. First grade students knew Congresswoman Hartzler was coming to visit them, so they did some research on her to fi nd out more about her life. Students also prepared a few important questions to ask her

such as “Do you have a dog or cat?” and “Do you have a tractor on your farm?” Congresswoman Hartzler read “The Little Engine that Could” to the students and talked about how important it is to do your very best to be successful. Mrs. Turner and her students were very honored that Congresswoman Hartzler came to their class-room to read to them.

Improvements at Mallory Elementary School

On April 14 Mallory Elementary School will be cel-ebrating its 46th birthday. When originally opened in 1967, construction of D. A. Mallory Elementary School cost $433,628. Over the years many renova-tions have been made to the Mallory campus, but, ongoing maintenance is more and more necessary as the building is beginning to show its age. Within the last year we’ve completed a major roofi ng project on the southern most wing of the building. In addi-tion, we’ve begun the process of repainting hallways and classrooms in the building. A major project from last summer was the placement of tile fl oors on the southern end of the building as seen in the photo. The new classroom tile features an interesting design that provides a little extra “life” to the classrooms. One project we’re very excited about is the addition

of a covered walkway/canopy that will be constructed in the pickup/drop-off area on the south end of the building. This project will provide some much need-ed cover from weather as children and staff leave or enter the building. We will begin construction of this new canopy very soon and it will hopefully be com-pleted early next school year. The project is being completed in part by students from the Dallas County Technical Center. Another upcoming project on the Mallory campus will be some security improvements to the main entrance that will limit access to the hall-ways and classrooms by providing additional doors between the entrance area and the hallways leading classrooms. Improvements on the Mallory campus over a three-year period will nearly exceed the origi-nal cost of construction of the building, all done with-out a tax increase or any tax dedicated to building maintenance or improvements.

Facilities Planning for the FutureFor the past two years the Dallas County R-I School

Board of Education and a group of citizens have been evaluating the status of facilities on our school campus-es. Over 20 community members have been participat-ing in these meetings. This facilities evaluation has in-cluded work with engineers and architects as we look to the future needs of the Dallas County R-I School District.

Some common themes from these focus groups con-tinue to rise to the top of the needs list. Some of the most prominent concerns are:

Use of modular classrooms or trailers on the Buffalo High School, Buffalo Prairie Middle School, and Mal-lory Elementary School campuses. The facilities review committee has voiced a strong desire to remove all mo-bile classrooms from our campuses. Currently there are eight classrooms in mobile units on the high school campus, two classrooms in mobile units at Mallory Elementary, and two class and a number of offi ces in mobile or “out buildings” at Mallory Elementary School.

The current condition of the Dallas County Technical Center building in Louisburg is a concern. Due to the condition of the DCTC building, there is a desire to ul-timately move the campus to Buffalo in order to better provide services to students and to expand the vocation-

al offerings for all students at Buffalo High School. The building suffers from severe settling in some buildings, limited workspace for some vocational programs, dated electrical and ventilation systems, and a sewage treat-ment lagoon that needs attention. In addition, major renovation in some buildings would be very expensive due to asbestos in tiles and walls. Due to travel time, there is also a concern that some students at Buffalo High School are not able to take vocational classes be-cause of the distance to and from the facility from the high school campus.

In order resolve the mobile classroom issue, there will obviously be a need in the future to construct new classrooms on the high school and middle school cam-puses. The Dallas County Technical Center issue would also either involve new construction or renovation of an existing building in Buffalo. The facilities committee will be meeting again within the next couple of months in order to fi nalize a recommendation for the school board. The Dallas County R-I School Board of Education is committed to developing a long range facilities plan so that all patrons of the school district will better under-stand the facility needs of our children and staff for the next 5 and 10 years to come.

Important Upcoming Events

School Board Meeting April 15 6:30 p.m. BHS LibraryBHS Spring Music Recital April 18 6:30 p.m. Shewmaker Center7th & 8th Grade Choir Concert April 19 7:00 p.m. Shewmaker CenterDCTC Awards Ceremony April 25 7:00 p.m. Shewmaker CenterBHS Spring Band Concert/Awards April 28 2:00 p.m. Shewmaker CenterBHS National Honor Society Induction May 2 7:00 p.m Shewmaker CenterFFA Banquet May 4 5:00 p.m. BHS CafeteriaBHS Mixed Chorus Spring Concert May 7 7:00 p.m. Shewmaker CenterBaccalaureate May 12 7:00 p.m. Shewmaker Center3rd Grade Musical May 14 7:00 p.m. Shewmaker CenterGraduation May 17 8:00 p.m. BHS Field HouseSchool Board Meeting May 20 6:30 p.m. BHS LibraryLast Day of School May 21 Early Release at 1:15Summer School May 28-June 21School Board Meeting June 17 6:30 p.m. BHS Library

School District School Tax Debt Service/ Levy -2012 Capital Projects/ Teachers Tax

Levy-2012

Dallas County R-I $3.35 NoneFair Grove $3.65 $.90Skyline (Hickory County) $3.6672 $.75Halfway $4.1256 $.60Bolivar $3.76 $.45Lebanon $3.22 $1.12

School Tax Rates of Neighboring School Districts

State Testing Begins April 22 in DCR1

One of the most stressful and important times of the school year is late April and early May as students complete their annual state testing known as the MAP test. All stu-dents in grades 3 through 8 will take an English/Language Arts and Mathematics MAP test. All students in grades 5 and 8 will take a Science MAP test. MAP testing is a little different on the high school level as high school students take End-of-Course (EOC) state examinations rather than grade level examinations. High school students completing courses in English I, English II, U.S. History, Government, Algebra I, and Biology will take the state EOC exams for each course no matter what grade they are in when they complete the course.

The results from the MAP tests are the most important factor when the state of Missouri evaluates the performance of our school district. The MAP test is also obviously impor-tant in that it helps us all evaluate the learning success of our

students. State testing season is a time when those of us at school really appreciate some extra help from families. If you can help us with the following areas we think it will help your child do their very best on the state MAP test.

Tips for Helping Your Child Do Their Best on the MAP Test

�Encourage your child. Talk with your child about the MAP test and let them know that you think it is important and they should try their very best on the test. Tell your child you know the MAP test will be hard and there will have some questions they may not know the answers too, but, they should try hard to do their very best. Encourage them on questions that involve writing to never leave a question blank and to try to come up with a response to a question even if it’s hard.

�Make sure your child gets a little extra sleep on the nights before MAP testing. Research shows that even 30 minutes of extra sleep the night before a test helps a child’s

performance on a test. Middle school and elementary aged students should be getting a minimum 9 hours of sleep be-fore a test.

�Make sure your child attends on the testing day. While absent students will be able to make up the test when they return, we’ve found that students that are taking make-up test do poorly, so, do everything you can to make sure your child is in attendance on testing days.

�Give your child a well-balanced diet. For children eating at home on testing days, try to make sure your child gets breakfast that includes both healthy carbohydrates (cereal, fruit, bread) and protein (eggs, meat, yogurt).

Dallas County R-I Schools State MAP Test DaysMallory Elementary, Long Lane Elementary and

Buffalo Prairie Middle School April 30, May 1 & 2

Buffalo High SchoolApril 22-May 3

Both Buffalo Prairie Middle School and Buffalo High School hold classes in modular classrooms. In this photo you can see the four modular classrooms on the Buffalo High School campus, each trailer contains two classrooms each. These trailer classrooms are located just west of the new FEMA shelter and north of the football fi eld. You can just imagine how much “fun” it can be to change classes between the trailers when it’s raining or there is snow or ice on the ground. The classrooms are also approximately half the size of normal classrooms inside the high school building. Originally these rented classrooms were intended to be a temporary solution when the old freshman wing of the high school was condemned and had to be demol-ished in 2007. Six years later we’re still searching for a permanent solution on the high school campus for our classroom needs. Hopefully the long range facili-ties plan being worked on by the school board will give everyone a better vision of the future of our facilities on all of our campuses.