 We have had a tremendous start to the 2018-2019 school year. Each day there are numerous positive things occurring around the District. This would not be possible without everyone working together toward our goal of creating a positive learning experience for all students. Thank you for doing your part to make Fort Osage the special place we all appreciate. Please enjoy your break and we will look forward to seeing you on January 2nd. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
 We are excited to continue to have access to the Consiglio Wellness Center from January 1 to December 31, 2019. All Fort Osage School District regularly employed employees, their spouses and dependents, and Fort Osage retirees, their spouses and dependents will have access to the Consiglio Wellness Center for a fee of $40.00 per person per visit. The Consiglio Wellness Center is a “convenient care” facility located at 1501 NW Jefferson Street in Blue Springs. Medical staff includes physicians and family and pediatric nurse practitioners as well as various wellness providers focused on prevention and urgent care needs. While this is not a substitute for a primary care physician, it will provide a convenient and affordable option for our staff to receive basic and immediate health care. The $40.00 is a fee for service and does not go toward your insurance deductible. A health savings account (HSA) can be utilized to pay the fee for service. Appointments will be taken by phone. Walk-ins are also welcome. Due to federal guidelines, employees and retirees who receive Medicare or Medicaid are not eligible to utilize the Wellness Center.
Hours of operation are subject to change but will be implemented as follows: Monday 7:00 am-12:00 pm and 1:00 pm -6:00 pm Tuesday 7:00 am-12:00 pm and 1:00 pm -6:00 pm Wednesday 7:00 am -12:00 pm (closed afternoon) Thursday 7:00 am -12:00 pm and 1:00 pm -6:00 pm Friday 7:00 am-12:00 pm (closed afternoon) Saturday 8:00 am -12:00 pm The center will be closed annually on December 24th and 25th. Early Notification of Intent to Retire: Those staff members who plan to retire at the end of the school year through the PSRS/PEERS system are eligible for a monetary incentive if a retirement letter is received in the Human Resources Department by 4:00 pm on January 4, 2019. The following are Board approved incentive amounts:
Transfer Request Form Contract Change Request: Certificated staff members who would like to request a change in column movement on the salary scale due to graduate hours or would like to request a National Board Certification, Licensed Professional Counselor, or Certificate of Clinical Competence stipend for the 19-20 school year must fill out the Contract Change Request Form on or before January 25, 2019. All coursework must be completed by the first day of the teacher’s contract in order to be considered for column movement. Contract Change Request Form  The Fort Osage Board of Education invites you to join us in celebrating the opening of the Woodland Early Childhood Center on Wednesday, January 2, 2019. The ribbon cutting and dedication will take place at 4:00 p.m. followed by a reception and tours of the facility. The Woodland Early Childhood Center is located at 1419 N. Whitney Independence, MO 64058.
 A $20.00 gift card to Tuscono’s in Buckner will be given away to one lucky winner utilizing the RNG. For those of you interested, please send an email to jsnodgrass@fortosage.net with ‘Tuscono’s’ in the subject line. Entries will be accepted until 8:00 am on Wednesday, January 2nd.
Give Away prizes are not purchased with District funds. Only Fort Osage employees are eligible to enter the drawing. On Saturday, November 30 three Fort Osage High School activity groups will be competing at their respective state competitions. The state cheer competition will be held in St. Louis while the all state band auditions and state football championships will be held in Columbia. The cheerleaders qualified for state by winning the regional competition and will be defending their Class 4 varsity state title on Saturday morning. The football team qualified for state by defeating Columbia Battle in the state semifinal and will play in their fourth state championship game in the last ten years. We have four students who are auditioning for the all state band who first had to be selected to the all district band. Congratulations to each student representing Fort Osage this weekend and to all the coaches and teachers who support them! I know you will make us proud! It's a Great Day to Be an Indian!  New Law
In August House Bill 1413 became law in Missouri prohibiting the District from negotiating with organizations in regard to salary and benefits until the organization went through an election process governed by the Department of Labor. In years past the District had worked with CEA on salary and benefits, and the new law prohibits this particular process. Fort Osage Wants to Receive Staff Feedback Fort Osage values involvement with employees. In order to achieve this goal in compliance with the law, the District will be using the following process: Under Missouri public sector labor law, courts have found employee ‘committees’ are not labor organizations when certain factors are present. When these factors are present, it is unlikely that a court would determine that the committee is a labor organization. What are the Guidelines that Define an Employee Committee
The committee will be called Team Fort Osage and will meet throughout the year to provide feedback regarding salary, insurance, calendar and other employee-related District matters. It will not replace existing District committees such as Safety First, PDC, and the Attendance Task Force. Will we continue Team Fort Osage if an organization wins the election through the Department of Labor? Yes. The committee will continue to meet in order to gather feedback from representatives of the entire staff. If an employee group (i.e. CEA, MNEA, MSTA) wins the Department of Labor election process, the District would meet and confer with that group as well. What’s next? Committee members will be selected by the end of first semester. The first meeting will be held in January.  Each fall central office administrators travel to every school to discuss improvement plans. The visits have recently been completed and everyone is extremely pleased with the work that is being done in each building. The thoughtfulness, collaboration, review of data, goal setting, instructional strategies, curriculum discussions, incentive plans, interventions, and dialogue about building strengths and opportunities for growth is impressive. The work being done toward continued improvement is remarkable. The student successes are a direct result of the difference you’re making on a daily basis. Thank you for everything you accomplish!
 In order to attract and retain substitutes the Board of Education voted this summer to increase the daily pay rates and to decrease the number of days in a row a substitutes must work in a long-term teaching assignment to get long-term pay. We continue to immediately interview all new applicants and are continuing to find ways to recruit including job posting sites, speaking at the retired teacher meetings, contacting universities, etc.
Although this is helping we still need more subs. If you know someone who has 60 college credit hours and would like to work with kids on a part time basis please talk to them about substituting for the district or have them call Debbie Peterson at 816-650-7004 for more details. Substitute pay rates below: Regular Subs- $97 per day for teacher and para assignments Long Term Assignment (on 11th day)- $115 per day. Retired Teachers- $110 per day Retired Teacher performing Long Term Assignment (on 11th day)- $132 per day |
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