Gasconade County R-2 Assistant Superintendent Dr. Staci Johnson on March 18 asked the board of education to add a preschool teacher and an aide position to Owensville Elementary School (OES) as enrollment numbers are expected to rise.

“With the updated numbers (for preschool) at OES, we started the year at 78 preschool students and right now we are at 92, and next year we’re anticipating 126 3-4 year-olds,” Johnson said.

Johnson introduced the topic with numbers. Since the district implemented the preschool expansion program last year, the community has lost two daycare centers. At least one of the centers was certified and the former director is now employed as a teacher within the district.

Additionally, MOCA Head Start has seen a decrease in 2023-24 students. Immanuel Lutheran School has expanded its preschool education program and saw a rise from 11 to 17 students this past school year.

“When we received the preschool expansion grant last year, we equipped a third classroom,” Johnson said. “There  wouldn’t be an additional cost now for a room. They just opened a grant yesterday for $75,000, so I’ll apply for that.”

The district’s $320,000 preschool expansion grant implemented at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year was expended by the deadline. Aside from the teachers’ salaries, very little startup funds to add the classroom at OES are needed.

Director Molly Steinbeck, asked about the number of students in the Gerald Elementary School (GES) program.

“Currently at Gerald we have one classroom going a full day — so 30 (kids)?” Steinbeck asked.

Johnson said they have two classrooms with 30 kids. There isn’t a half day option. There are 20 kids in the full day option currently and each OES classroom can seat  20 students.

Steinbeck, who plans to retire from the board after the April elections, asked if the district needs another reading intervention teacher instead of another preschool classroom. The 3-year-old classroom is not full yet, but 39 3 to 4 year-olds are expected for next year, so the rooms will be full.

“Here’s my only concern,” Steinbeck began. “I don’t have a problem with adding a teacher position, my only concern is we have a lot of reading nonintervention kiddos that need reading intervention. To me, it really feels like we need another reading intervention teacher or two. I feel like we’re doing a lot to approach the kiddos coming ini and making sure they’re not behind, which I love. But I don’t feel like we are doing as much as we could for the kids who are struggling as they advance. I know that both could happen, my only concern is if it’s one or the other, I feel like I’d have to go for reading intervention over another pre-k because I feel based off our testing scores and everything, I feel those kids aren’t getting maybe the help that they are needing.”

Johnson expressed the district has made great strides in expanding the preschool program so students at the bottom don’t fall behind.

“I’d love to live in the world of both,” Johnson said. “Lessen those numbers from the front and end. We know that kiddos who don’t go through our pre-k program are 2.5 times more likely to end up in our Title One services. We are getting it on the front end, lessening the number. I’m with you. I’d love both.”

Steinbeck asked Gerald and Owensville elementary principals for their input.

“I’m not asking you to pick, I know you ideally want both,” Steinbeck said. “But do you feel like that is something that is a struggle for the current reading intervention teacher, that they don’t have enough time in the day to see the kids they need to see to move them along?”

Gerald Elementary School (GES) Principal Brad Royle said he doesn’t feel like there are enough hours in the day to see the kids they need to see. GES has 70 students on reading success plans. He said his school’s reading success teacher creates and shares reading success plans. With the new requirements in the reading success planas, the teacher is trying to offset some of the burden and trying to write the plans and send them to teachers to implement.

“She liked in the past to have a day open for screening and testinig,” Royle said. “She’s are making it work.”

OES Principal Tricia Ridder said her building has two reading success coaches to meet with 116 students. One is a teacher who uses her planning hour to help and has discussed giving the work back to the intervention and classroom teachers.

Johnson intervened.

“Where (the OES reading success teacher) is feeling burdened, she’s trying to take on the management of reading plans,” Ridder said.

“How do we offer support?” Johnson said. “Between all buildings, they are seeing about 300 kids.

Director Jean Baker asked if students were testing out of the reading program and Ridder said yes.

“Yes, we are seeing growth and kids are able to fade off,” Ridder said.

Johnson said the district has really specific data about skills students have mastered or not mastered. “We are already discussing ways we can shift kids to meet those needs,” she said.

Baker reverted the conversation back to Steinbeck’s question.

“Can a reading intervention teacher be split between the two buildings?” she asked.

Hardy said GES needs to be equitable to OES and receive the same amount of support in education.

Johnson said most of Title One funding goes to teacher salaries. There is a bill currently in legislation that may increase the funding. Additionally, some legislation coming out of Jefferson City may change the data numbers, allowing the district to count three and four year-olds in enrollment numbers. They may be able to use creative financing to pay for another preschool teacher.

“Open Enrollment passed out of the House and Senate,” Hardy said, adding Gov. Mike Parson hadn’t signed the bill into law yet. “We don’t know if we will get an influx of kids or how that’s going to look in those positions. We will have to wait till August to see. We may need to do some shifting depending on what enrollment looks like.”

Hardy said there were different versions of the bill. One version limited the district to accepting more than a three percent cap in enrollment. Baker said that wasn’t a huge increase.

“It is if you lose it,” Johnson said.

Board President Glenn Ely speculated that the board may need more time to discuss the topic to decide the best course of action to bridge the reading intervention gaps.

“It feels like there’s three gaps: the little ones, which is fantastic; performance gaps and COVID gaps,” Ely said. “How are we trying to manage those to create success for each population. Are we confident we’ve the resources to those groups?”

Johnson asked the board if she could bring more information with her to the next board meeting and the directors agreed.

Hardy asked if they were going to table the request.

“I know it’s time sensitive and as we get later we have trouble filling positions,” Steinbeck said.

“We’ve already screened kids and parents are already committed,” Superintendent Dr. Jeri Kay Hardy said.

Director Russ Farrell agreed.

“We need the other, but we’ve got to have this one,” he said. “Let’s get this done. It’s not an either/or. If we decide we need the other, let’s get it.

“That was my question,” Steinbeck said. “If we had to chose either/or, then I was hesitant to support this.”

“You can’t make it an either/or,”Farrell said.

“In reality, it really is an either/or, because eventually you cannot add more positions,” Steinbeck argued. “So, if we had to choose to add another position, would it be this or that?”

Hardy said at this time, the district can sustain both positions.

Baker asked for a plan on how to address students who aren’t coming in through the preschool program to address those who are behind. Farrell made a motion to open the preschool teacher and aide positions. The motion was seconded and passed with a 7-0 vote.