HERMANN — For Gasconade County R-1 Superintendent Scott Smith and the district’s directors, getting through the school year in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic might be the easy thing this year. 

The more difficult task ahead of them — and like-minded public school administrators across Missouri — might be in keeping the Missouri General Assembly from doing what school officials see as substantial harm to public education.

The status of a busy — and what he sees as a threatening — legislative session was outlined Thursday night by Smith at the Gasconade County R-1 School District Board of Directors regular monthly session. His frustration this year in trying to fend off legislation seen as harmful to rural district was evident in his report to the directors. 

“I’ve talked to our legislators more this year than I have at any other time,” the superintendent said.

There are several pieces of legislation that are working their way through the General Assembly, particularly the House of Representatives, that have public school administrators concerned. One is a bill referred to as the “open enrollment” bill that would allow a student to enroll in any district he wishes. The problem is that the student’s home district would have to fund his attending his district of choice. 

Another bill would authorize tax dollars to finance a student’s virtual classes. Another would allow tax dollars to be used for private and charter schools that are not accountable to taxpayers.

Yet another measure being watched would move school board elections to November, putting the historically no-partisan elections smack dab in the midst of partisan campaigns.

Retired educator and longtime Director Mike Pratte monitors legislative action perhaps more closely than anyone. He is critical of lawmakers’ efforts this year to focus on public education.

“They’re taking away any local control for local boards,” he said, referring to the open enrollment and virtual classes bills.

Also surprising to local education administrators is the pace the lawmakers, especially those in the House, are advancing the proposals. “All of these things are moving fast,” Pratte said. “I don’t why, but they’re hammering public education,” he added.

Smith said he might know why things are moving so quickly. After talking with other administrators and some legislators, it appears lawmakers are frustrated because some school districts have been slower than others to resume full-time in-class instruction. Smith said that if that’s true, his belief is that lawmakers should be selective in acting on that frustration. “Punish them and leave the rest of us alone,” he said. “We’ve been in school since Aug. 24 and not missed one day because of COVID,” he told the board.

R-1 Board Vice President Dot Schoenig voiced an interesting perspective on the open enrollment legislation. She said the bill sounds like a “sports-recruiting tool” for districts to attract top athletic prospects.

Her view might not be all that far-fetched. Smith pointed out that if a student leaves one district for another to participate in sports and decides to return to his home district, he must sit out 365 days under current regulations before returning to sports. Under the proposed legislation, that wait time would be cut to 90 days, he said.

Smith is paying particular attention to the open enrollment bill — which was supported by State Rep. Aaron Griesheimer, R-Washington, whose 61st District includes the R-1 School District. He said it appears the House is determined to move the bill to the Senate. “Right now, I’ve been told it’s going to go through the House,” he said.

That means Smith and his counterparts across the state will be directing their lobbying efforts to their state senators in an effort to derail what they see as an erosion of local control and support for public education, especially rural school districts. 

“The rich get richer and the poor get poorer,” Smith said.

Scheduling changes this term

In other matters at the monthly school board session, Hermann Middle School Principal Matt Mueller told the directors that later this semester students would be experiencing a change in scheduling to get a feel for the coming school year. HMS will going to an 8-period schedule that would allow students to take more elective classes and bring middle school scheduling more in line with Hermann High School’s block scheduling. To get an idea of how going to an 8-period schedule will work, a one-day trial run will be held in the coming weeks, Mueller said. 

To squeeze another period into the school day, Mueller said the existing seven periods would be shortened by about six minutes. “I don’t see this as any major drawback,” the first-year HMS principal said.

Transportation concerns

HHS Principal Chip Stutzmann, who also serves as the district’s transportation director, said maintenance staff have been busy preparing the fleet of buses for the annual safety inspections that are scheduled for this week. That has meant paying extra attention to a bus that has been missed while it’s been out of commission in recent days. The bus, a 2009 model, has about 183,000 miles on it, Smith said, noting that R-1 officials are becoming more concerned about the aging buses in its fleet.

“These days, it’s becoming more about the years (on the buses) than the miles,” he said, adding that the district has “a couple of other buses that are right on the fringe of going out on us.”

Also, Smith said, the entire fleet will be needed as student activities increase in the spring months. “In order to make it through our spring sports, we’ve got to have every single bus running,” he said.

School pictures contract

The R-1 board approved Wagner Studios for another year for student pictures, even as school officials work out some issues with the large portrait company. Smith told the board that Wagner was the only portrait studio who responded to a call for bids for school pictures — despite the administration’s efforts to reach out to other companies who had expressed interest in past years.

Prices of student photos will remain the same as they were last year. There were some concerns that Wagner did not cover some school events and there were some problems with misspelled names of students and some problems delivering the photos on time. Smith said.

Perhaps because of that, the board split 5-2 on a voice vote with President Mark Brooks and Director Kevin Stiers voting not to approve a contract with Wagner.