Bob Foos
The Webb City R-7 School Board met Tuesday – just days before the 2025-26 school year begins on Monday, Aug. 18.
Open house at all schools will be held Thursday, Aug. 14, according to this schedule.
Also on the district website is the Back to School Checklist, along with the 2025-26 School Calendar.
Allison Pope, assistant superintendent for instructional services, shared preliminary results of the statewide student testing that took place in May.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is finalizing the results and will release them for each school district in November.
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Alicia Zornes, gifted program director, gave her annual presentation about the program to the board. Last year, there were 152 (49 elementary, 29 junior high, 74 high school) students in the program, which she said represents 4.4% of the entire student body. The state suggests 5%.
She concluded that “overall, the district’s gifted program continues to make positive strides in identifying students and providing an educational experience to meet the unique needs of gifted learners.”
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For the first time, the district and Webb City Police Department have a formal agreement regarding school resource officers.
Police Chief Don Melton said the officers have up until now been provided under a “gentleman’s agreement,” but it’s nice now to have a written one – even though nothing is changing,
The agreement calls for the city to provide three full-time commissioned officers who have attended the basic SRO course.
The district agrees to pay half of the officers’ wages during the school year.
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Athletic Director John Roderique updated the board on Senate Bill 63, which allows home-school students to participate in extra-curricular activities without attending any in-person classes.
He said specifics on how to comply are being considered by MSHSAA, the state activities association.
Previously, home-schooled students were required to attend two classes before participating in extra-curricular activities.
In some cases, such as debate and band, home-schooled students, like the others, will be required to take classes associated with the activities.
For sports, however, he said there are no such classes. Like the other players, however, they will have to be selected through the tryout process.
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In other action, the board:
• Accepted two late resignations:
– Landon Bebee, high school special education.
– Deena Stinnett, high school math.
• Hired two teachers:
– Brandi Rogers, special education at Carterville Elementary School.
– Harold Welch, high school special education.
• Held an annual hearing prior to the regular meeting for public input about the tax levy. The board later voted to keep the existing tax rate of $3.43 per $100 assessed valuation.
Revenue is expected to increase $989,725 over the current year, with $887,246 (89.65%) of that due to reassessment.