MOKANE, Mo. - South Callaway schools parents packed the school board meeting Wednesday night for student presentations on academic programs at the schools.
The board also heard updates from the Early Childhood Learning Center (ECLC) and middle school.
First up were the ECLC students who make up the Big Dawg Leadership Team. The teacher who introduced the students said more than 60 students applied for the leadership team during their recess. Those applicants then went through an interview process and a small group of students were selected to serve as the school's leadership team. The Big Dawg Leadership Team has two representatives from first grade and four from second grade.
Responsibilities include monitoring the hallways and gym each morning before school, conducting school-wide morning meetings, reporting student behavior on buses and leading the Pledge of Allegiance.
The students often perform skits to reinforce for their fellow students the seven habits of leadership, part of the Leader in Me Program. The group presented some of those skits to the school board.
Elementary School Principal Corey Pontius discussed the Leader in Me Program after the ECLC presentation. The ECLC, elementary and middle school all take part in the program, which Pontius said has shown positive results.
"It's a framework for success," Pontius told the board Wednesday night. "It's a way to make what we do better."
He noted other schools have contacted them to learn more about the program and to see how South Callaway is integrating it.
A group of sixth-grade students demonstrated the school newscast they put together called South Callaway News Network (SCNN). Students read off of a teleprompter and videotape a variety of segments for their school. They shared some of their favorite segments, including the weekly lunch menu; a "live" update from Italy, in which a student talked about famous monuments and their importance; and the school's book drive.
Parents, board members and school administrators laughed as they watched a segment titled "South Callaway Investigators" (SCI), which was modeled after CSI. For the segment, students helped one teacher solve the mystery of who stole his "World's okayist teacher" coffee mug.
Nichols said SCNN has built confidence in students participating, especially the more camera-shy students.
In other news, Mary Van Orden, director of curriculum and instruction for the district, updated the board on curriculum reviews this school year. She also discussed the instructional coaches, who assist teachers with technology integration and curriculum. The instructional coaches finished their last training of the school year, she told the board, and have some training set for the summer. The district added the instructional coaches this school year.