A new, phone call notification system has been installed at School of the Osage — even better, since parents’ phone numbers were automatically programed, parents won’t have to remember to register.

The district plans on using the alert system to notify parents and guardians of school cancellations and early dismissals due to weather. The superintendent can also use the program to send out other emergency messages deemed necessary.

The School of the Osage High School Homecoming Parade is Friday, Sept. 24, at 4 p.m. Community businesses and organizations that would like to support School of the Osage are invited to submit an application to have a float in the homecoming parade on the Bagnall Dam Strip. The application can be found on the School of the Osage website.

The deadline for applications is Monday, Sept. 20 at 4 p.m. Return all applications to the main high school office or email completed applications to durninb@osage.k12.mo.us.

The School of the Osage held the line on its 2010-11 tax levy for the fourth consecutive year.
The board of education last week voted to set a tax levy of $2.72 per $100 of assessed valuation after a mandated tax levy hearing.  The hearing preceded the board’s regular monthly meeting.

Taxpayers in the Camdenton school district will see no change in the levy for the upcoming year.
The Camdenton R-III Board of Education met last week to discuss and set the district’s tax rate. A total tax rate of $2.87 per $100 of assessed valuation was adopted, the same as last year.

Mary Ann Johnson, superintendent of School of the Osage, has decided she wants to spend more time with her grandchildren.

She announced her resignation and subsequent retirement at the conclusion of Monday night’s monthly board of education meeting. Her decision is effective at the end of the 2010-11 school year.

“I dearly love the school, the board and the people, but it’s time,” she said.

This is Johnson’s seventh year as superintendent, and the 13th with the district.

With Camdenton and School of the Osage students heading back to class this week, all public schools are now in session for the 2010-2011 academic year.

We want to see your pictures, too. If you took pictures of your child, grandchild, niece and/or nephew, etc., as they headed back to school, share them with us!

The Eldon School District will likely seek an increase in the tax levy for the 2010-2011 school year.
Superintendent of Schools Matt Davis said that the school is living within its means, but it needs some help.

“The Eldon community passed a tax levy increase in 2006 for 30 cents,” Davis said.  

“The district has not fully used the 30 cents for the past two years. This year, the Eldon School District is going to need to raise the operating tax rate by 10 cents to generate an additional $170,000 in revenue.  This will enable the school district to maintain the resources necessary to provide a quality educational experience.”

Four Camdenton Laker football team members scarfed a victory Saturday, Aug. 21 over three Osage Indian football players and one very brave dance team member at the Ozark Bar-B-Que in Sunrise Beach. The Laker and Indian booster clubs held a pork eating contest, “Packin’ in the Pigskin,” at the restaurant to raise funds. 

The final two schools in the lake area — Camdenton and School of the Osage — begin their terms Monday. Officials at both schools have been furiously putting the finishing touches on various projects as school opens for students in both districts Monday, Aug. 23.

Dylan Bryant has set lofty goals for himself. He wants to be a corporate lawyer. In order to do that, the 18 year old has laid out the next five years of his life: which schools he’ll attend, classes he’ll take and activities he’ll participate in.

The path to this point was filled with achievements as well.
Bryant, a 2010 Camdenton High School graduate, left behind a name for himself by taking home a national award through Future Business Leaders of America, an organization Bryant joined two years ago as a junior.

That’s when Bryant got to work.

Back-to-school serves as a time for kids to reunite with friends after summer vacation, get excited for the upcoming year of learning and compete in fall sports. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, this time of year also makes kids more likely to be involved in an auto accident.

In Osage Beach, police officers will watch for risky behavior from drivers of all ages, especially in the area of School of the Osage High School and middle school in the afternoon.

In Lake Ozark, the police department takes a proactive approach in the school zone surrounding Mills Elementary.

Troopers remind school zone travelers that all drivers must stop on a two lane road when a school bus displays stop signs and flashing lights. On a four lane road, drivers behind the bus may not pass when stop signs and flashing lights are displayed.

Gathering input from teachers and parents will be the next step as the School of the Osage School District determines whether it is going to move forward with writing and implementing a drug-testing policy for district students.

Twenty-five Missouri college students related to injured or fallen soldiers will be able to get partial scholarships this fall under a new state program.

Missouri lawmakers created the Wartime Veterans' Survivors Grants in 2008. Participants must be under 25 and either a child or spouse of a Missouri soldier injured or killed in combat after Sept. 11, 2001.

Sunrise Beach local Rebecca Bays, a native of Camdenton, has joined Teach For America, the national corps of top college graduates who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools in low-income communities.

“The achievement gap in education is one of the most pressing civil rights problems facing our nation today. I am so blessed to be part of a national movement that makes a direct impact on our educational system and allows all students an opportunity for equal education,” Bays said.

Bays is a 2006 graduate of Camdenton High School, 2010 graduate of Washington University, and will teach in Miami beginning this fall.

The state Department of Higher Education should have been more involved in picking projects for a college construction program and choosing what to delay when money ran short, according to a review released Wednesday by the state auditor's office.

Missouri State Auditor Susan Montee plans to release reviews of the state Department of Higher Education and a college campus construction program.

School district ends fiscal year with nearly $1 million surplus, not $1.7 shortfall anticipated

District unanimously votes to random drug testing of students

Athletes, musicians, actors, and motorists from the student body at Camdenton High School will be subject to random drug testing this fall. The Camdenton R-III Board of Education approved a policy for random drug testing Wednesday night without further debate or public comment.
The drug testing plan is the result of a year of deliberation by a special task force, school board members, and other experts.
Under the plan, 30 to 40 students in the drug testing pool will be called in to submit urine samples every month during the school year. A contracted drug testing company will administer a 12-panel test to seek out signs of marijuana, cocaine, barbiturates, ecstasy, uppers, downers, and prescription painkillers.
Extracurricular activities under the testing program include athletics, band, choir, academic team, cheerleading, color guard, and speech and debate. All students who hold an on-campus parking permit will also be subject to random drug tests.

By the numbers

CHS Drug Use Survey
33.5% of CHS students used some form of illicit drugs once in the past year

30.5% of students admitted to using marijuana at least once a year, compared to a national average of 25.7% of high school students

Students admitted to trying the following drugs at least once:
7% Cocaine
7.5% Ecstasy
16.6% Painkillers
12.6% Uppers
3.3% Methamphetamine

22.1% of CHS students say they use drugs at least once a month.
(data taken from Pride Surveys)