The Tarkio R-I Board of Education held its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. in the central office of the Tarkio R-I School District. The meeting was called to order by board president Josh Wright. The agenda was approved by a 6-0 vote with the addition of a presentation by Veregy added prior to the consent agenda. This presentation was related to the old business item concerning a possible future renovation project at the elementary building. Board members present were Amy Hurst, Sam Hannah, Jamie Barnett, Josh Wright, Corey Martin, and Brooke Vette. Board member Raymond Gebhards was absent.

Veregy presentation – Mrs. Keegan Corrigan, Mr. Ryan Becker, and Mr. Rory Stegman, members of the Veregy Construction Firm, gave a presentation to the board focused on a future building timeline at the elementary building. The presentation included information related to a thermal imaging report Veregy did for the district. The findings demonstrated that the elementary building is a good candidate for a geothermal HVAC system, according to Veregy. The presentation included estimated costs and timelines for this project. Depending on the course of action and which HVAC system the district would select, the project could be completed in one year or up to three years. The estimated cost of the project would range between $6.5 million and $8.5 million, based on which HVAC system was selected. The board asked questions about the project. No action will be taken at this meeting.

The consent agenda was approved by a vote of 6-0, which included the following items:

• The minutes from the October 15 regular and closed session meetings

• Transfer of funds to pay certified teachers

• The hiring of Garrett Alsup as an East Atchison assistant boys’ basketball coach and Mrs. Crissy Drummond as a special education teacher.

• Program evaluations for transportation services was presented to the board.

• The dates and times the school will be open for board candidates to file for the board election to be held on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, was presented and will be posted on the school’s website.

The district financial reports were presented for the month and the board approved the bills for the month. A three-year utility report was provided with the addition of 2022 as the base year, so going forward, the district will see the savings from the geothermal system in the high school. The MOCAAT accounts have a combined $331,000 in interest earnings YTD on the reserve balances the district has invested with them since July 1, 2024.

There were no public comments during the public time of the meeting.

The TAC report for the month of November was presented. As always, thanks to Mrs. Nikki Parshall and her staff for all the wonderful things that take place at the TAC each month.

Mrs. Blu Dow submitted the CTA report for November. It is obvious from this report that there are a lot of remarkable things happening in the district’s classrooms. Both reports demonstrate that everything is in full swing and moving forward at a rapid pace.

Mrs. Joey Stevens provided a food service report on the meals served in October 2025 compared to October 2024. There was a decrease for 2025, but this was since last year’s October had 21 days of meal service and this year there was only 20 days of meal service.

Administration Reports

Tarkio R-I Assistant Superintendent/Tarkio Elementary Principal Mr. Dustin Barnes submitted an elementary report. Overall enrollment for the building is 152 students. That is up five students from last year. Attendance for the first quarter was 96.36%. The elementary school is sponsoring a book blast event through the library. Each student in the elementary school received at least one book regardless of how much money they raised. Thanks to Mrs. Prather for organizing this. The Veterans Day assembly occurred November 11. This was a combined event this year district wide and the kindergarten and fourth and fifth grade classes sang. Elementary school hosted a game night on Wednesday, November 12. Elementary music programs are upcoming: third grade program – November 25; kindergarten-second grade on December 12; and Sing around the Christmas Tree – December 19. Kindergarten STAR Assessments were completed by November 14. DIBELS reading assessments will be started the week of November 17. Mid-year STAR math and ELA benchmarks will start the first week of December. Turkey Trot will take place the morning of November 25. The district has been busy with P.D. opportunities for teachers. The elementary and high school staff members met with the DCI consultants on Monday, November 3, to go over data behavioral data and to start working on learning targets in the classrooms. The K-8th grade math teachers met with the math consultant on November 4. The staff was surveyed regarding the district’s participation in the 275 Conference P.D. Day for next year and the staff has decided not to attend this event next year.

Tarkio High School Principal Mr. Terry Petersen submitted a junior high and high school report. Enrollment numbers are as follow: high school, 91; and middle school, 78. Parent teacher conference attendance percentages were shared with the board. Counselors Mrs. Ellie Graves and Mrs. Marisa Hedlund met with parents during parent/teacher conferences to discuss student ICAPS and how to navigate through the parent portal of the school’s LUMEN System. EIS student climate and culture survey information has been received and is being looked at with the EIS problem solving team. On November 4, the high school staff met with the DCI Group to discuss behavioral data and learning targets. On November 4, district math teachers met with the district’s math consultant to discuss instructional strategies. Fall sports seasons have all come to an end. High school basketball and wrestling practices have started. The FFA trip to the national FFA conference in Indianapolis went well. The school play “Willlie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” will be performed November 21-23. The FCCLA and NHS chapters are conducting a canned food drive. On November 13, the junior class attended ACDC’s Youth Professionalism Workshop at the TAC. Mrs. Hedlund has been working on the following assessment schedule for district students: Pre-ACT – November 9; ASVAB for all sophomores and any juniors and seniors who have not taken the exam – January 30; ACT – March 12; Star assessments in the junior high/high school – December 1-5.

Tarkio R-I Superintendent Mr. Bob Heddinger gave his report. He shared an MSBA video summary of the events around the fall conference. Candidate filing for the Tarkio R-I Board of Education positions will be December 9-30, 2025. The board seats held by Mr. Raymond Gebhards, Mrs. Amy Hurst, and Mr. Josh Wright will be up this spring. The election will be held on April 7, 2026. The greenhouse project is back in full swing after unforeseen delays. Veregy gave its presentation at the start of the meeting. There was a request for quotation for a storage shed at the track complex to replace the three containers that are currently being used. A DESE update was given. Core data and MOSIS submissions for October were completed on time. The annual assurance checklist that is required by DESE will be coming out sometime near Thanksgiving. APR and assessment data has been released to the public by the time of this meeting. Mr. Barnes will give a breakdown of this information during new business. The General Assembly’s next session begins on January 7, 2026, and will conclude on May 15, 2026. Legislatures can begin to prefile legislation on December 1, 2025. Mr. Heddinger will begin meeting with the school’s calendar committee on November 24. During this initial meeting, Mr. Heddinger will gather information from the committee members to help direct him in preparing the 2026-27 school calendar. The goal is to have a calendar ready to present for a first reading to the board at the December meeting. Mr. Heddinger shared the agenda items for the December board meeting. The list of items includes: approve trash bids (as needed), review non-tenured evaluations, present superintendent’s evaluation and principal’s evaluation, school calendar first reading, approve the completed audit, and program evaluation – professional development.

Old Business

Elementary Building Renovation Project (discussion item) – Mr. Heddinger presented the board with some basic questions and information concerning the next steps with this project after considering the presentation provided by Veregy earlier in the meeting. The fundamental questions that must be addressed are geothermal vs. RTU’s and whether the board wants to borrow money to complete these projects. The board took no action at this time and will come back to this during the December meeting.

CSIP Review (information item) – Mr. Barnes shared with the board a review/update on Focus Area #3 (effective teaching and learning). This information covered Goal 4 and Strategies 1, 2, and 3 of the District CSIP Plan. This information can be found on the school website at www.tarkio.k12.mo.us.

School Resource Officer Update (information item) – Mr. Barnes shared with the board an overview of a recent meeting he and two board members attended concerning the possibility of a school resource officer for Atchison County. This meeting included administration, board members from all three schools in Atchison County, the Atchison County commissioners, and Atchison County Sheriff Andy Riley.

New Business

School Report Card/APR (information item) – Mr. Barnes gave a comprehensive report over the district’s report card and APR report just released. The district showed tremendous improvement in several areas and overall ranked in the top five when compared to schools in northwest Missouri. The school district received a score of 87.5% for the 2025 school year, which shows an increase of 17.3% over last year’s district score.

The 2024-25 audit report was tabled until the December meeting.

A motion was made at 10:07 p.m. by Brooke Vette to enter closed session and the motion was seconded by Amy Hurst and passed by all. The board met in closed session to discuss personnel matters. A motion was made by Amy Hurst at 10:17 p.m. to exit closed session and the motion was seconded by Corey Martin and was approved by all.

The meeting adjourned at 10:18 p.m. The Tarkio R-I Board of Education will hold its next two meetings at 7:00 p.m. on December 17, 2025, and January 21, 2026, in the superintendent’s office at Tarkio High School.