WESTPHALIA — Parochial school principals Debbie Reinkemeyer of Holy Family and Sacred Heart Schools, and Jeremy Horvath of St. Joseph Catholic School, attended the Jan. 21 Fatima R-3 meeting to address the board and hear conversation about the proposed change to a seven-period school day. 

“Whenever I initially showed that set of times, I looked around the board, and everybody’s eyes were really big,” Superintendent John Kitchens told the board. “And so I think I sent back to you guys my proposal right after that, where it is the eight o’clock start time, and then our elementary is dismissed at 2:55, our high school will be dismissed at 2:45. So, that gives us that stagger for the town where the buses and everything aren’t piling up at the same time. That was something requested by the city council.”

Kitchens said the current change would affect the parochial schools by 15 minutes. “Initially, I think the concern was that 7:30 start time was going to really mess things up,” Kitchens explained. “And, so that’s what they were going off of. That’s what we discussed at the last board meeting. That’s what was in the paper.”

Kitchens said the parochial principals expressed concerns because he didn’t come to them sooner, but explained that he needed to make sure the teachers and the board were amenable to the change first. “And once we nailed out those pieces, we met with them and discussed it,” he concluded.

Reinkemeyer said she appreciated Kitchens meeting with them, then explained her initial concern that the previously proposed changes would shave 40 to 50 minutes off of her school days.

Horvath added even a 15-minute change would affect their schedule, causing them to add school days to make up the time. “So, it will still affect us,” he said. “That was our biggest concern. Any change at all does trickle down and affect the Catholic schools in the area.”

“I feel like the parochial schools and Osage R-3 has had a really collaborative relationship in the past,” Reinkemeyer said. “I want to continue that. So, I think we’re off to a good start with that, now that we’ve met. And so, anything that’s going to impact our schools, we just like to have notice before we read about it in the paper.”

“My kids went to Catholic school at St. Joe and I went to Frankenstein,” said President Suzanne Massman. “So, I will say that when I saw that, I was like, ‘Holy cow, what are we doing to our Catholic schools?’ I know that isn’t our primary focus, but it still is, because you guys feed our school, and we appreciate that.”

Massman went on to say coordination with parochial schools may be something Kitchens hasn’t had to consider in previous roles.

Vice President Matt Robertson added that there would have been no need to cause additional confusion by discussing the schedule change with parochial schools if the board had been dead-set against it, but that communicating sooner might also have prevented confusion.

The board then moved on to discuss the credits required for graduation, and Kitchens explained that this year’s juniors would require 26 credits to graduate, and the following year’s seniors will require 25 credits to graduate.