Bevier C-4 and Callao C-8 School District Consolidation Vote

(This article/editorial is based off of the authors opinions taken from the forum she attended. It is not necessarily the views of the paper.)

With the Bevier C-4 and Callao C-8 school district consolidation vote coming up I wanted to share information I have been gathering so residents of both towns can vote with the proper knowledge and information to make the choice that is in best interest of the students. For anyone unaware, the vote will be on the ballot for the August 5th election date. Absentee voting opened June 24th and In Person voting will open July 22nd up untill the day before the election at the Macon County Courthouse in the County Clerks office. I have been emailing with Chad Hall @ Bevier C-4, Lydia McClellan @ Callao C-8 and David Tramel with the DESE, Department of Elementary & Secondary Exucation, in Jeff City. I attended a forum held by Callao C-8 on June 26th that’s purpose was to allow anyone to ask questions and receive answers to the best of their knowledge. This meeting was unfortunately very one sided with comments and questions that would be in favor of the consolidation being dismissed and not given much thought, this was not due to the Callao administration as a whole as the office staff did there best to answer questions but was manly due to Callao’s teachers and towns residents, they were not very nice when making comments and assumptions about Bevier C-4 and the nature behind the consolidation. I left the forum with more questions than I went in with as the meeting felt more like a gossip circle than a way for residents to  actually get answers that were truthful rather than trying to bash Bevier C-4. The following day I emailed all three of the people listed anove with each of them responding and answering all my questions. There have been lots of rumors going around about both schools so hopefully this info will help clear up some of those. I will simplify my questions and the answers and only post the ones that actually matter for the sake of this not being any longer than needed but if anyone would want to see/read the full messages I’d be more than happy to send you screenshots of my email conversations with each person. So without further ado let’s get into the important stuff…

Q&A from Lydia McClellan:
Q: A large talk about the consolidation is the new school board and what it would look like. The fear is that Callao and its students would not have representation. But isn’t it true that if consolidation passes Callao residents would finally beable to run for school board at Bevier which has not been and is currently not possible as you have to live within the school district that your running?
A: Correct, we don’t have any Callao residents on any of our sending school school boards.

Q&A from David Tramel
Q1: During the forum it was stated that Callao administrative came to Jeff city and spoke to you in person about the consolidation, and during that meeting, you had told them the way in which this consolidation has been brought about is not normal and in your words is better described as “ A Hostile Takeover “ could you elaborate on this statement and whether or not this was said?
 A: We did meet a while back, when she described the situation, I mentioned that it was somewhat like a hostile takeover in a business, meaning that only one of the parties seem to be interested in the merger. That certainly wasn’t to imply that there were hostilities it was simply describing the fact that only one of the school boards seems to support the effort.
Q2: Another big topic of conversation during the forum is the possibility and worry of surrounding school districts coming in and wanting “a piece of the Callao school district“. Is this a possibility? On the same note is it true that the school district boarders would be completly redrawn rather than simply combined?
A: If the two schools were to consolidate, the new border would simply be the border of the two areas combined meaning the border that separates the two with simply disappear to create one larger district. The borders would not be redrawn.
Several comments and statements were made about Bevier C-4 during that forum and I inturn emailed Chad Hall to get clarification on each of them. These are hard to shorten but I will do my best.
Q1: During the forum it was stated that Bevier‘s teachers are not certified in the subjects they are teaching specifically in middle school. An example given was that in a past year a band teacher stepped in and taught middle school science as you were unable to find a teacher for that subject could you please shed some light on this topic?
A: Our current middle school math and science teacher is a former conservation agent and is certified in middle school math, but is working towards his certification in middle school science and expects that to be completed at the end of this summer. Several years ago, our music teacher who holds multiple different certifications did teach sixth grade science, this was done to allow our middle school science and math teacher to teach an additional section of eighth grade math that year as it was needed.  I would tell you that every school likely has someone working in a position that is uncertified. There are certain scenarios where a teacher may be certified in one area, but not another. An example of this for us would be that our Ag teacher is certified in high school Ag but not in junior high. This does not mean she’s any less skilled in junior high Ag just that she hasn’t taken the junior high Ag certification exam.
Q2: Another comment made during the forum was that Bevier‘s teachers do not have the want or drive to better their own education to then better teach the students. Could you touch on this subject? Are there any Bevier teachers currently getting a higher qualification or taking extra classes? How was Bevier sitting in the special-needs/learning disability category for teachers that teach those students?
A:   It’s unfortunate to hear that Callao is critical of our teachers as I feel there is no basis for this. I have worked in 4 school districts over the course of my 15 year career and Bevier’s teaching staff is excellent. We have quite a few teachers with master degrees and one who has gone as far as to already complete his specialist degree. We have another teacher that will finish his masters coursework at the end of this summer, our principal is working on his specialist degree, and I am currently 2/3 of the way through my doctorate. Each year we train the entire staff on dyslexia as this is a state requirement. We also train on trauma informed practices , crisis prevention, and a myraid of other things to better accommodate our students. This year we’re thinking outside the box and will be trained in breathing techniques that we can then pass on to our students to help them regulate when they’re having a rough day or emotional time. The idea behind this is it just one more thing in our toolbox to utilize to help our students.
Q3: A statement made during the forum is that Bevier has asbestos in the ceiling and on pipes with no money to fix it without the tax money Callao would bring in which is why the consolidation vote was brought to light in the first place. The topic of Bevier needing Callao’s money has been very popular. Could you touch on this matter?
A: I am unaware of any asbestos in the ceiling. We do have some 9 x 9 floor tile that likely contains it though I’ve never been in a school district that didn’t. We have abated some of that this year and plan to abate more as we replace it with new. Asbestos is not an issue unless it’s disturbed by breaking the tile and introducing it into the air, since all of our floors are waxed and sealed each year this isn’t a health issue.
The issue of the Bevier NEEDING Callao’s money is a farce. Bevier just finished the 24-25 school year with a surplus of $212,000 dispite spending nearly $250,000 on capital projects and projects to finish this next year with a surplus again, despite having and currently completing plans for improvements. (He did go on to list all the things Bevier is currently improving and things already completed, I can post that if it’s wanted).
Q4: a big point of conversation has been that the viewer does not have the space available for classrooms if any grades were too large and needed to be split into two. Do you have a plan if this ends up being the case?
A: This to me is also a farce. Bevier has approximately 220 students and has had more than 270 in past years. My office and the principals office are in what used to be classrooms and we would gladly relocate and split a smaller office if that meant needing to utilize those spaces for more classrooms. It should also be noted if the two districts consolidated into one building they could be more efficient and use any of the money that was needed to run, maintain and upkeep the Callao school building to add onto buildings at Bevier if the new school board chose to. This could include more than just classrooms.
Feel free to share this info and ask any questions you may have as its possible I have already asked it and might have the answer, I did not post every Q&A otherwise this post would have been three times the length it already is. I have thanked each person I emailed with individually but I’d like to say a thank you to them again for taking the time to read and answer my questions.

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