Eagles,

As we wrap up second quarter and head into the holiday season, I want to pause and say thank you. This has been a strong and meaningful first half of the school year, and it’s because of the daily work of our students, staff, and families. Your support, partnership, and belief in our schools truly matter.

We also have important news to share as we look ahead. The Board of Education has approved placing a no-tax-rate-increase debt extension bond proposal before voters this spring. This proposal does not raise the district's tax levy in our community, instead extending the current tax rate into the future. In the weeks leading up to the April 7 election, we’ll be sharing much more information about the proposed improvements and how they would impact our schools. These projects are focused on updating and strengthening facilities used by students and staff across the district so they can continue to support high-quality teaching and learning for years to come.

At the same time, we recently celebrated that Joplin Schools’ APR scores show strong academic growth and significant improvement. This progress reflects the commitment of our educators, the effort of our students, and the support of our families. As our academic successes continue, it’s essential that our facilities keep pace and provide the environments our students and staff need to thrive.

As always, this is a shared journey. We’re grateful for a community that values education, asks thoughtful questions, and stays engaged in the future of our schools. We look forward to continuing the conversation and providing clear, transparent information in the months ahead.

As the holidays approach, I hope you find time to rest, reconnect, and enjoy time with those you love. Thank you for another great quarter and for all you do for Joplin Schools.

Happy holidays,

Kerry

Work is officially underway on building improvements at Jefferson, McKinley, and Royal Heights elementary schools!

This Phase 1 work addresses recommendations made by the district's Long Range Facility Committee (LRFC) to improve educational suitability at three of our oldest elementary buildings that were identified as highest priority needs. We're using $11M of the district’s capital reserves to fund the work, because capital reserves can only be used on facilities and large equipment costs.

We're excited to see the upgrades get started and we'll share progress updates along the way!

We are still celebrating a major step forward! The 2025 Annual Performance Report (APR) from DESE reflects a district score of 81% - up from 69.1% just three years ago, coming out of COVID.

This steady rise reflects the hard work happening across our schools. Updated curriculum, stronger assessment practices, improved graduation rates, better data use, and a focused effort through our Continuous School Improvement Plan (CSIP) have all played a role in this growth. We want to give special thanks to teachers and instructional support staff who have created such a strong environment for growth across the board.

Some highlights:

DESE measures school district progress and accreditation using the MSIP 6, a system that looks at three years of data including student achievement, growth, graduation rates, and continuous improvement efforts.

These are important milestones for Joplin Schools, and a reminder of what’s possible when a community works together for its students. With your help, we'll continue working to improve outcomes for all students and build on this progress.

Joplin Schools is seeing exciting growth in our youngest learners! New data from this year’s kindergarten readiness screenings shows that students who take part in our early childhood programs are entering school more prepared than ever.

On average, incoming Joplin kindergartners typically score around the 51st percentile nationwide in an early literacy screening called DIBELS. Students without early learning experiences usually score closer to the 45th percentile.

This year, we also looked at how our newer Flight School and SOAR Transitional Kindergarten (TK) programs are helping students get ready for kindergarten. The results are impressive:

This is a a great moment for our early learners, and a sign of the strong foundation being built for their future success. Many thanks to the teams who are making such progress possible!

Senior Ava Doll is the first Cross Country champion in Joplin High School history, having won the Missouri Class 5 Cross Country Girls State Championship earlier this fall. We are still so proud of her resilience, grit, and effort!

Ava began running cross country as a junior and quickly hit her stride, continually breaking personal and school records. She currently holds the school record after breaking the previous record that was nearly 50 years old. Now, she has become the first SWMO girls runner to win an individual state title in the class 5 - the state's largest competitive class - since 1995.

Way to go, Ava, and GO EAGLES!

Elementary and middle grades Special Olympics athletes went bowling earlier this month in a show of solidarity, friendship, and healthy competition.

Athletes from eight Joplin schools came together to cheer each other on, share plenty of laughs, and show off their impressive bowling skills. From medal moments to pure joy on the lanes, our students made us proud in every single frame.

Special Olympics opportunities open the door to friendships, confidence, and unforgettable experiences for our student-athletes. Congratulations to each and every bowler: you were amazing!

Soaring Heights second grader Tiago made a special presentation to his friends in Ms. Koeshall's class as part of their Holidays Around the World unit. Tiago was uniquely able to give insight into the traditions of his home country: Germany.

Tiago's presentation described many German holiday traditions, and he followed it up by sharing chocolate-covered gingerbread treats with the class. Thank you for sharing your first-hand knowledge at school, Tiago! We're glad to have you with us in Joplin Schools!

South Middle School's Interact Club members are in the middle of a collaborative project to support pollinators all around our Joplin community!

The students are building bee boxes to support local pollinator bees, many of which are non-honey native bee species who appreciate small, burrowing homes. A variety of hole-diameters have been drilled into wooden blocks, and next, the students will work with young friends from Irving Elementary to paint and beautify the blocks before distributing them into local backyards and gardens.

The Interact Club is sponsored by Joplin Rotary clubs, and is supported by help from local volunteers with Missouri Master Gardeners.

Their student-made bee habitats will help provide safe spaces for native bees to rest, nest, and keep our environment thriving. Good work, SMS Eagles!

Did you know that Duenweg Education Center exists as a place of transition for students in need of targeted supports to help them succeed in a general education classroom? It's a special place full of special people, and we want to introduce you to one of their most recent celebrations.

Meet Sebastian. He’s been at DEC for a little over 3 years in the Beacon Behavioral program. He joined in the fall of 2022 as a 2nd grader and has now FULLY transitioned back to Eastmorland Elementary as a big 5th grader. Sebastian has worked hard to create growth behaviorally, academically and emotionally during his time at DEC. And because successful student transitions rarely occur without hard work from parents too, the team at DEC extends their thanks to Sebastian's family for their partnership.

The staff at DEC will miss Sebastian, but are so proud of him and will continue celebrating his successes as he continues on his path. To learn more about DEC and Beacon Autism Center, visit our website.

This year, to spread our appreciation of even more amazing Joplin Schools employees, we've started recognizing a monthly Support Staff Star. These staff members are in non-certified roles like paraprofessionals, custodians, secretaries, nurses, cafeteria staff, bus drivers, and more, and they truly make our school days better from top to bottom!

Our November winner, with awards sponsored by our friends at Mid-Missouri Bank, was Gena Brown, building secretary at Dover Hill Elementary. We are so thankful for the exceptional skill, professionalism and compassion she brings to her work each day.

The December winner will be announced Saturday, Dec. 20 on the district's Facebook page.

Winners are chosen at random from the list of nominees and celebrated on the third Saturday each month. Please nominate a support staff star you feel deserves some recognition for their efforts!