Ash Grove R-4 board earns Governance Team Award

School board first in state to grab achievement six straight times
 
In a brief ceremony at Monday night's Ash Grove Board of Education meeting, members of the board were presented a plaque in honor of the group earning the prestigious Governance Team Award from the Missouri School Boards Association. Presenting the honor was MSBA Associate Executive Gerry Lee, who celebrated the fact the it was the school's sixth time in a row to earn the recognition; a feat never seen.

"To put this into context, what you're doing, there are 14 districts this year that got the Governance Award, 14 out of 389," Lee said. "You got it six years in a row. That's less than one percent. You're in the top 99.5 percent of Governance Team Awards. And I know that doesn't happen accidentally. … The MSBA and myself thank you for that."

Lee added that the current board has amassed 523 hours of continuing education.
"To me that's incredible, that's impressive," Lee said. You're one of a select few who have done it consistently. A lot of people have done it over the years, no one has consistently done it six years in a row. We've had four do five, but six is pretty impressive. It's something to be really proud of."

Accepting the award on behalf of the board was board Vice President Jeremy Willmon who was presiding over the meeting in the absence of Board President Bill Duncan.

Also during the meeting, the board voted 4-0, in the absence of members Duncan, Jerry Morton and Caleb Smith to:
- Set the school bell schedule to 8 a.m. and 3:06 p.m.;
- Accept the school handbooks, certified handbooks and non-certified handbooks;
- Accept contracts for the speech, physical and occupational therapists;
- Accept new lunch rates, which increased 10 cents.
- Keep the non-resident tuition rate at $7,000.

Next meeting, hearing
The next board meeting is set for 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 22, and will be held at Bois D'Arc Elementary School. The meeting will be preceded by a tax rating hearing set for 6:30 p.m.