The Tarkio R-I Board of Education meeting was called to order by board president Garrett Wood at 7:00 p.m. January 19, 2022. Other board members in attendance were: Jamie Barnett, Heather Olson, Ann Schlueter, Chris Yates and Sam Hannah. Josh Wright was absent. Others in attendance included board secretary Lanette Hogue, Tarkio Elementary Principal Kari Taylor, Tarkio R-I Superintendent Carrie Livengood, Blu Dow, Shannon Bruns, Deyton Thomson, Markie Sundermann and Erica Taylor.

The amended agenda and district obligations were approved.

• CTA Reports – Fourth grade is learning about maps and Earth’s features in science and is focusing on learning the 13 colonies in Social Studies. Fifth grade is focusing on natural resources in science. Kindergarten is doing great on their beginning reading skills. Third grade is working on multiplication and division in math and learning about Missouri Economics in Social Studies. In Library, first-third grades are reading the Show-Me nominees during class and fourth-sixth grades continue to read the Mark Twain nominees independently. One School, One Book kick-off was held and the elementary is doing activities during library to make that home/school connection. The high school band is preparing for Atchison County Band Day that will be held on February 16, 2022. Brooklyn Wennihan was selected as FCCLA Region 1 Treasurer for the 2022-23 School Year. Eighth grade is learning about family structures in FACS. Seniors are learning about taxes in FACS. The Junior High Academic Bowl Team has eight students and meets every Tuesday morning. They won their first three matches. The High School Academic Bowl Team has started practices. Staten’s Junior High Book Club meets every Wednesday evening and the members are currently reading “Lord of the Flies.” English 1 just finished writing argumentative papers and are beginning “Of Mice and Men” this week. Multimedia just finished its culminated project for a graphic design unit by creating flyers for the Daddy Daughter Dance. Yearbook students have created their first pages. Accounting has finished the complete accounting cycle for a service business organized as a sole proprietorship. Business Leadership has enjoyed a couple of business tours and a community service project. FBLA is underway with their contest season.

• TAC Report – Carrie Liven-good shared a report from Nikki Parshall on the happenings at the TAC. Dance, tumbling and cheer classes have started. There are over 100 students signed up. Basketball, wrestling and club volleyball continue to hold practices at the TAC. The fitness center stays busy with as many as 60 people signing in daily.

• Administrative Reports – Elementary Principal Kari Taylor reported that the elementary had 94% attendance for December. The first semester ended with Sing Around the Tree and room parties. The second semester is well underway. Leadership team is helping plan the 100th day of school and twos-day which is 2/22/22. A group of teachers are doing a book study over “Help for Billy.” Elementary is holding a school-wide spelling bee for grades 3-5. Elementary is starting a new Student Support Team and they will meet every three weeks. NWEA Winter testing will be January 19 and 20. They will be hosting Literacy Night on January 27 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Laura Forehand is now an Executive Board Member of Whole Brain Teaching. Kindergarten and first grade teachers will attend a Professional Development opportunity on Differentiated Instruction on January 26. The third grade parachute routine is scheduled for February 8, 2022. Valentine parties are scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on February 14, 2022. Parent Teacher Conferences will be February 17, 2022.

Superintendent Livengood shared a report from high school principal Nick Kemerling on high school happenings. Sixth-12th grade attendance is 95.09% YTD. The EA Boys’ Basketball Team won the Fairfax Tournament. Bo Graves, Aaron Schlueter, Brooklyn Wennihan and Aly Wooten have all placed at wrestling meets. Four students participated in FCCLA STAR Events. Seventeen students are eligible for NHS. NWEA testing is underway.

Superintendent Livengood gave a financial report. She stated that she has started gathering documentation to support our CSIP goals. She will continue to go through the documentation and get it put together for MSIP 6. Mrs. Livengood shared board member training information and had members sign off for their training. Mrs. Livengood shared a newsletter from Tarkio Tech.

• Covid Safe Return to School Plan – The board voted to approve the updated Safe Return to School Plan as presented.

• Program Evaluation – Mrs. Livengood shared a program evaluation over the custodial department.

• Track Lighting – Mrs. Liv-en-good shared quotes that Bill Joesting has received on adding lighting to the track. The board would like Mrs. Livengood to look into grants to help offset the cost of the lighting.

• 2022-23 Calendar – The first reading of the calendar for 2022-2023 was approved.

• Hiring – Board members voted 5-0-1 to approve the hiring of Stormy Nordhausen for the TAC Fitness Center.

• Retirement – The retirement of Jerri Harbin was approved.

• Seamless Summer – Mrs. Livengood shared that DESE has raised the reimbursement rate for Seamless Summer, which is the program that is feeding the students for free. DESE has raised the reimbursement rate to $4.56 for lunch and $2.60 for breakfast as of January 1, 2022.

• Fitness Center Lights – Board members voted to replace the eight fitness center lights with all LED lights for a cost of $3,880.00-$4,000.00.

The meeting moved into closed session pursuant to RSMo§ 610.001, record and vote at 7:50 p.m. The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.