St. Peter School celebrates lessons from ye olde Renaissance

By Kalen Ponche

Elementary students at St. Peter Catholic School in St. Charles toured a medieval castle Friday, meeting monks, sword makers and knights along the way.

Middle school students explained life during the Middle Ages to the younger students at the end of a weeklong Renaissance program.

The school hosts a Renaissance Week every few years, said Mary Blechle, a teacher who organized the events this year. This year the school received a $1,000 Governal/Ryan Memorial Development Grant from the Archdiocese of St. Louis that helped fund the program, so Blechle had the eighth graders perform a children’s version of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” for the whole school.

St. Charles School Board wants info on cost to reopen Blackhurst

By Kalen Ponche

St. Charles Board of Education members Thursday pushed off a decision on reopening Blackhurst Elementary School.

Superintendent Randy Charles had presented nine ways the district could accommodate growth in elementary enrollment to the community and the board in February. Several of the options included reopening Blackhurst Elementary, one of two elementary schools that was closed in 2007 because of falling enrollment.

On Thursday, Charles suggested the board narrow the nine options to three: reopen Blackhurst as a regular elementary school, reopen Blackhurst as an early childhood center to include kindergarten or reopen Blackhurst as a “school of choice,” which would function like a magnet school.

Charles said he hopes the board will select a plan in May so staff members can implement it in time for the 2011-12 school year.

But board members said they weren’t ready to eliminate any of the nine options yet. Board member Wayne Oetting said he thought the public needed to know the cost for each choice.

Warren County Schools cut summer school

 By Kalen Ponche

Students in kindergarten through eighth grade won’t have access to a summer school program at Warren County Schools this year. The Board of Education voted 6-1 to cut the elementary and middle summer school program and several high school summer courses, saving the district $240,500.

The summer school program will be limited to classes for special education students, make up classes for high school students who failed, and physical education and world history courses for high school students who want to finish those requirements early.

Trailers approved for Green Tree Elementary School

By Kalen Ponche

The Wentzville School District will make room for kindergarten students at Green Tree Elementary School in the fall by putting in two modular buildings behind the school.

The Lake Saint Louis Board of Aldermen on Monday unanimously approved a special-use permit that allows the district to install the two buildings, commonly known as trailers. The district will have to request a new permit every six months.

The buildings will provide the school with four more classrooms needed to accommodate full-day kindergarten. Children in older grades will be the ones who attend school in the modular units, however. The district already owns the modular buildings and will move them to the school this summer.

Francis Howell wrestles with summer school options

By  Kalen Ponche

The Francis Howell School District may still offer summer school this year for elementary school students, despite concerns about a potential drop in funding.

The Board of Education on Thursday voted 4-3 to cut the original budget for summer school from $1.3 million to $1.1 million. Board members directed the administration to bring a new plan for summer school funding to the next meeting.

District spokeswoman Jennifer Gasper said administrators will create a smaller plan for summer school that will try to incorporate as many of the programs as the district has had in past years.

Wright City passes school bond

Wright City voters overwhelmingly supported a $1.4 million bond issue to finance the purchase of 85 acres for a new high school.

In the Warren County School District, incumbent Jan Sutherland won reelection to the board of education and joins newcomer Scott Costello, manager for an insurance agency, who also won a seat.

Wright City bond issue

Wright City School District’s bond issue won 64.8 percent of the vote Tuesday. Just 879 people voted on the issue, and of those, 35.2 percent were against it.

Orchard Farm School Board candidate loses by 3 votes

By Kalen Ponche 

 

 Jane Baum, athletic development director at Lindenwood University, narrowly lost reelection to the Orchard Farm School District to Joe Bushdieker, who is retired after 40 years in construction. Bushdieker won 472 votes compared to Baum’s 469- less than one percent difference. 

The third candidate, Carrie Doza, a marketing communications manager for Agritain International, won 35.23 percent of the vote. 

Baum could decide to file for a recount, but she said she’s not sure if she’ll do that. The results from the election will be certified April 15, so Baum said there’s still hope the official count could change. Baum said after three years serving on the board, she’s disappointed with a loss. 

“I feel I gave a lot to the district and I wanted to do so much more,” she said. 

Parents, teachers recommend district reopen Blackhurst elementary

By Kalen Ponche

Parents, teachers and community members said they’d like to see the St. Charles school district reopen a closed elementary school as a way to cope with growing enrollment , according to results from a survey.

Some district elementary schools have reached capacity because of an increase in the number of kindergarten students. Superintendent Randy Charles expects to see the growth continue and said he wants to have a plan in place to put into action for the 2011-12 school year.

Charles presented nine possible ways to cope with the growth at parent meetings in February and asked everyone to respond to an online survey. About 730 parents, 160 teachers or staff, and 40 community members responded.
Members of the Board of Education are expected to discuss survey results at their meeting set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

All three groups rejected most of the nine options presented, but agreed that reopening Blackhurst Elementary School was the best choice. In 2007, the school board decided to reorganize the whole district because they anticipated a drop in enrollment. Blackhurst and Benton Elementary Schools were closed and the children were sent to other elementary schools.

Fifth grade students were moved from the elementary schools to Jefferson Middle School along with sixth grade students; seventh and eighth graders attend Hardin.

More than 60 percent of each group said that reopening Blackhurst Elementary School as a regular school was a “good” or “very good” idea. Some parents who responded to the survey said they thought the district should not have  closed the school in the first place. Others didn’t want to see their children uprooted for a second time.

“Allow some choice to students on the boundaries, even if no bus service,” one parent commented on the survey.

But for this option to work, the elementary boundaries would have to be redrawn said Charles.

School Board Election Results

Three incumbent school board members retained their seats on area boards of education and two others were ousted by voters in this year’s election with just 10.5 percent of registered voters casting ballots. For the full election results visit the Election Authority’s website.

In the Fort Zumwalt School District incumbents Carol Russell and Scott Grasser retained their seats on the board for another three-year term, each taking about 39 percent of the vote.  Candidate Will Klein had 20.9 percent of the vote in that race. For the two-year term, incumbent Barbara Story beat Renee Porter with 59.8 percent of the vote. Porter had 39.64 percent of the vote.

Francis Howell School District candidates Cynthia Bice and Amy McEvoy won seats on the board and will replace Terry Black and Sandy Sanders, who did not run for reelection. Bice, who was backed by the Francis Howell Education Association, took 30.25 percent of the vote. McEvoy had 26.45 percent of the vote, beating Gary Miller, the other candidate backed by FHEA who had 20.74 percent of votes. Other candidates included Daniel Wright, who took 13.9 percent, and Todd Mizell, who had 8.2 percent of the votes.

In the Wentzville School District incumbent Dale Schaper took 23.3 percent of the vote and will serve a second 3-year term. Longtime district volunteer Pat Hacker took 20.48 percent of the vote, beating incumbent Joe McDonald, who had 16.48 percent. McDonald has served two terms on the board. Other candidates included Peg Scholl, retired district teacher, who took 19.74 percent, Michelle Caracci, parent, 10.85 percent, and Paul Werner, 8.69 percent.

Orchard Farm School District candidate Carrie Doza took 35.23 percent of the vote, winning one of two open seats. Donald “Joe” Bushdieker edged out incumbent Jane Baum with 472 votes to Baum’s 469. Bushdieker is retired after spending 40 years in the construction industry. Baum is the athletic development director for Lindenwood University.

Warrenton School Board incumbent Jan Sutherland retained her seat for another three-year term taking 39.21 percent of the vote. Candidate Scott Costello won the other seat taking 35.04 percent of the vote. The third candidate, Clifford Tucker, won 20.35 percent of the vote.  Sutherland is also running in the Republican primary for the 99th District House of Representatives seat.

Fort Zumwalt superintendent wins awards

Bernard DuBray, superintendent of the Fort Zumwalt School District was recently awarded the St. Charles County Amateur Sports Hall of Fame Outstanding Achievement award.

Elbert Henzler, vice president of the Amateur Sports Hall of Fame said DuBray was selected because of his support of athletics in the Fort Zumwalt School District and the St. Charles Gateway Athletic Conference.

In addition, DuBray was selected by the St. Louis Chapter of Southeast Missouri State University Alumni Association to be one of the 2010 Southeast Salutes recipients. The Alumni Association selected three outstanding St. Louis-area alumni for their continued passion and commitment to the Southeast. DuBray graduated from Southeast with a Bachelor’s degree in Education in 1969. He’ll be honored Oct. 8, 2010