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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  Humana has updated their HSA accounts and your current UMB Visa will be replaced with a UMB MasterCard. As a result, your current HSA Visa card will be available for use through 12/24/2018 with a blackout period in which you cannot use your card from 12/25/18-12/31/18. You should receive the new MasterCard in late December and can begin using it on 1/1/19. We just wanted to make sure members were aware this does not change your account number, or where your account/funds are located at all. ONLY the card will be changing. If you need to pay for medical expenses between 12/25/18 and 12/31/18 you can still reimburse yourself from your HSA account.
State assessment results are far later this year than usual because of the transition between testing on common core standards and the new Missouri Learning Standards (MLS). Here’s the latest information on the results for different subjects:
English Language Arts and Mathematics: The state worked with teachers and others to determine the achievement level scores for each grade level. This process led to some controversy among educators and questions from the State Board of Education because data shows that fewer students are scoring at Advanced/Proficient than in previous years. The results were delayed but finally made available to districts the last week of November. Individual Student Reports for ELA and Math will be sent home with students the week of December 17. Science: The 2018 tests for 5th grade, 8th grade and Biology were field tests aligned to the new MLS. The district will not receive any information regarding student performance on these assessments. Government: The District has received 2018 results for the High School Government EOC. The 2019 Government test will be a field test and the district will not receive any performance data, although this test will meet the requirements for graduation. Purposes of State Assessment: The federal educational law (ESSA) requires that states administer statewide assessments. Missouri School Improvement Plan (MSIP) requires district accountability regarding student performance on state standards. These assessments are not as useful at the school and classroom level to hold students accountable or to communicate achievement with families. That is why, in addition to state assessments the Fort Osage School District uses a variety of locally administered assessments to guide instruction and monitor student progress. We will continue to work together to provide our students with a quality education that will prepare them for college and career.  The holiday season is a great time to enjoy a movie and some popcorn. A $20.00 gift card to AMC will be given away to one lucky winner using the RNG. If you're interested, please email me at jsnodgrass@fortosage.net with ''Movie" in the subject line by 8:00 am on Monday, December 3.
Give Away prizes are not purchased with District funds. Only Fort Osage employees are eligible to enter the drawing. |
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