Friday, April 19, 2013
Neither St. Charles School District high school has the capacity to accommodate students from both schools if the district wanted to continue to offer the same level of education, analysts said.
The St. Charles School District would likely spend between $9 and $13 million to consolidate to one high school. And that's way too much if you ask the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board. Dickinson Hussman Architects and Brent Underwood, a retired superintendent, analyzed the viability of consolidating from two to one high school in the future based on expected trends in enrollment. The district contracted with the group in the fall to study the issue because of a perception that closing one high school would save money. However, analysts found there would not be a substantial financial savings. Neither high school has the capacity to accommodate students from both schools currently if the district wanted to continue to offer the …
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
St. Charles Patch wants to hear from those 102 volunteers. How many hours do you think you devoted to the project? What did you find rewarding about the project? Would you volunteer again?
More than 100 volunteers helped create a document that will guide the educational programs and services of the St. Charles City School District for the next five years. Those volunteers, described by Superintendent Jeff Marion as "stakeholders in the district," included parents, staff, teachers, students and residents of the district. "Most of them," Marion said, "are also graduates of the district." The Missouri School Improvement Plan requires each district to have a Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP)—a long-range strategic planning document for the district's educational programs and services. The volunteers completed surveys, reviewed data and served on committees to plan and create the district's CSIP, which was reviewed and…
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Find out who won city council and school board races, and if Prop R passed or failed.
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Monday, March 18, 2013
Katelynn Houghton's brother died of sudden cardiac arrest while at school. She was motivated to try to get one in her school's gymnasium.
Hardin Middle School eighth graders Alex Philipp and Katelynn Houghton started out hoping to raise enough funds to buy an automated external defibrillator for the gymnasium at their school. Thanks to their efforts, Hardin Middle, St. Charles High and St. Charles West High Schools will each have an AED in their gyms. Houghton's efforts to make sure gymnasiums have an AED were inspired by her brother, DJ Chastain. He died from sudden cardiac arrest while in gym class at Silex High School. Although the school had an AED, it wasn't close by when Chastain needed it. Houghton said she wrote about her brother for a class at Hardin Middle School and a teacher suggested she try to bring the proposal to the principal. Principal Ed Gettemeier …
Friday, March 15, 2013
Analysis shows that the district would have to add on to one high school to accomodate all of the district high school students.
The St. Charles School District could expect to spend between $9 and $13 million to consolidate to one high school, according to analysis presented to the Board of Education. Dickinson Hussman Architects and Brent Underwood, a retired superintendent, analyzed the viability of consolidating from two to one high school in the future based on expected trends in enrollment. The district contracted with the group in the fall to study the issue because of a perception that closing one high school would save money. However, analysts found there would not be a substantial financial savings. Neither high school has the capacity to accommodate students from both schools currently if the district wanted to continue to offer the same level of …
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Teachers with 20 years experience could get $21,000 lump sum payment for retiring.
In an effort to plan for future budget constraints, the St. Charles School District may offer an early retirement incentive next year. The incentive is part of several agreements which the Board of Education is expected to consider on Thursday. Negotiating teams for the district and three different groups reached agreement on employee pay, benefits and work conditions for the 2013-14 school year. If the agreements—negotiated with the St. Charles Education Association, the St. Charles Educational Support Staff Association and the St. Charles Transportation Education Association—are approved by the board Thursday, the following will take place next year: Superintendent Jeff Marion said offering an early retirement incentive only makes …
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
A recent fight at St. Charles West has the school encouraging students to come forward when they hear rumors of threats.
Students alerting school officials of rumors of fights and threats on social media could be key to preventing violence in schools, said St. Charles School District Superintendent Jeff Marion. A recent fight that broke out at St. Charles West high school between West students and teenagers who were not district students began on Twitter, Marion said. "The only thing that might have made a difference is if someone, if some of the kids had given us a heads up," Marion said. "Maybe we could have talked to parents and kids and intervened." Beyond that, the doors were locked from the outside and a student opened them. "We can't lock doors from the inside, it's against fire code," he said. District administrators and school leaders are …
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
St. Charles School District seeks feedback from community members, parents and staff as it begins the comprehensive school improvement plan
St. Charles School District plans to spend the next few months working on a strategic plan to guide the work the district will do in the next five years. As part of developing the Comprehensive School Improvement Plan, the district has assembled a team of more than 100 people including community members, students, teachers, staff and alumni to work on various committees starting Jan. 9. "All different stakeholders will be represented in these groups," said Superintendent Jeff Marion. In addition, the district is asking the community for feedback through a survey. The survey asks people to agree or disagree on a scale with several questions, including: To participate in the survey, click on a link below. The surveys will be available …
Friday, December 21, 2012
St. Charles Board of Education raises tuition rate by $50.
Tuition to the half-day preschool program in the St. Charles School District will increase next year by $50 a year. Parents will pay $2,700 a year per student for the half-day program starting with the 2013-14 school year. The Board of Education set tution at $3,200 per student per year, but each student will receive a $500 scholarship. The preschool program is offered at each district elementary school in the morning and afternoon, five days a week. Officials expect a total enrollment of about 90 students. Two-thirds of the students will have their tuition paid for through federal programs like Title 1 and Early Childhood Special Education. Registration for the 2013-14 school year will be available on the school district's website …
Monday, December 17, 2012
The district has had several instances of cyber bullying in the past year.
A 17-year-old male high school student was cited on Dec. 6 for bullying and harassing a student at St. Charles High School. According to Lt. Dave Senter, the suspect posted an obscene photo of another student on Facebook. The student was ticketed under the city's cyber harassment ordinance and will have to appear in municipal court. This is the second time a student has been arrested for cyber harassment within the St. Charles School District this fall. In September, a 15-year-old student was called names by an ex-boyfriend on Facebook, while others joined in, according to a story posted on KMOV.com. In April 2011, police arrested two Hardin Middle School students for posting a YouTube video aimed at another student that included a death…
Sarah
8:58 am on Monday, April 22, 2013
The link in this story leads to another Patch article. Additionally, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch didn't publish this editorial, the St. Charles County Suburban Journal did: http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/stcharles/opinion/in-our-opinion-expel-notion-of-closing-a-st-charles/article_48a930e5-64d0-5f0c-b62c-f0b85c4d2e4a.html more ›