OWENSVILLE — Gasconade County R-2 Assistant Superintendent Dr. Staci Johnson on Feb. 17 presented the district’s 180 Day Graduate Follow Up Survey from Owensville High School’s Class of 2025 to the Board of Education.

Johnson brought the report into discussion addressing the board.

“Next is the 180 day graduate follow up survey,” said Johnson. “Elizabeth Hinch and Lori Steinbeck in the counseling office do an excellent job. If you’ll remember, three years ago, we stopped using an outside firm and started doing it ourselves, and our response rate has gone from below 50 percent to 100 percent which is very important to our APR. It’s not necessarily that they (counselors) want to see a certain number of students going to a certain path, because every student has their own path. They (counselors) want us to know where our students are going.”

The report was conducted by the guidance department during the first two weeks of February.

“We are keeping a close eye on the category that is other, because that is students that are unemployed and not going to school or doing any kind of plan,” said Johnson of the 11 graduates responding other. “That is a little high this year for the number of graduates — higher than we would’ve liked.”

She shared that the results from 2025 were similar to the class of 2023, with the majority of students choosing a two-year college or they went straight into the workforce.

“The 2024 cohort was a really unusually high percentage of four-year college attendees,” said Johnson in contrast to 2023 and 2025 graduating surveys. “I think the most important thing is I’m really happy that we have the relationship with our students, and after they graduate, the relationship with them to be able to touch base and see where they’re going and what they’re up to.”

Superintendent Dr. Jeri Kay Hardy shared what changed because of doing surveys in-house.

“And since we took that back over from the company that we used to hire out (for surveys), we really reach almost every single family,” said Hardy. “So that was really a good move for the district.

Last year the district received four full points for their Annual Performance Report (APR) for Follow Up surveys and the district predicts that they will earn up to the same amount for this year.

Johnson shared information about students planning.

“We have students in their Freshman year line out their four-year plan and we sit down with them frequently to set them up for success,” said Johnson.

She commented on what the district is looking for in surveys.

“Whatever we’re looking at is that they’re currently enrolled to be counted as a two-year or four-year college, and get down where they’re employed, each group is different.”

Of 125 people surveyed, 84 graduates from 2025 said that they were going to a two-year college or entered the workforce. Of those surveyed, 26 said they were going to a four-year college, two said they were going into the military and one said they were going to be a homemaker.

The next Board of Education meeting will be at 6 p.m. on Monday, March 16, in the Administration building.