CHAMOIS — Chamois R-1 school board members approved changes to the staff personnel leave policy at their meeting on Wednesday, May 13, following one of the options suggested by Superintendent Lyle Best that decreased the number of days that school district employees could accrue from 90 to 60. Current employees with more than 60 days would be paid for the additional days out at a lesser rate of $58 per day.

Moving forward, employees will only be allowed to build up 60 days. Employees leaving the school district would be paid $65 per day for days accrued up to 60, and retiring employees would be paid $115 per day for any days accrued under 60.

This replaced an outdated policy that paid employees $25 per day for up to 90 days if the employee was retiring and only $5 per day if the employee was leaving the school district. Moving forward, the amount paid per day to employees retiring will mirror the pay that is approved for substitute teachers for the district.

School Board Member Chuck Lamb proposed a controversial option that would leave the maximum number of accrued days at 90 and raise the rate the school would pay to retired teachers to $150 per day.

“My reasoning is that the first year we have to hire a replacement for a retired teacher, we save almost that same amount of money,” Lamb said. “Our average teacher pay for a teacher who is retiring with a master’s degree is $47,000, the first year we hire a replacement, we’re going to hire a young teacher who doesn’t have a master’s, and maybe not even a certificate, and pay them $40,000. To me, it’s simple math. If we can’t afford to give our retiring teachers that amount, we are just slapping them in the face.”

Lamb also wanted to keep the maximum number of days that employees could accrue at 90, noting that to date, there have only been 10 staff members who have retired with the maximum number of days allowed.

“It’s just math for me,” Lamb said.

He argued that currently the district pays substitute teachers $115 per day and that a teacher who stays with the district until retirement is worth exponentially more than a substitute.

“To me, this should have been increased before now,” said School Board Member Nick Schollmeyer. “Now, we are in a bad spot, and you want to go from buying a Pinto to a Cadillac.”

Schollmeyer advocated for the more reasonable option that Best had proposed. “It just seems like you are proposing such a big difference,” he said. “We’re all appreciative of the teachers, but it’s our job to run the financial side of things for the district.”

“This is a business way to look at it,” Lamb explained. “I don’t understand what the struggle is. If we’ve only had 10 staff members retire with the maximum number of days in the last 10 years, why are we talking about this? We weren’t going to blink an eye a few months ago when we were going to buy $18,000 tarps for the gym floor, and we’re blinking at this? How much did we pay to paint the ceiling of the gym? Where are our priorities?”

Ultimately, Lamb’s motion died for lack of a second.

Several staff members were present at the meeting, and when asked how they felt about the proposed changes, first-grade teacher Misty Hilkerbaumer noted that she was grateful for any increase but questioned why the discrepancy of paying out teachers who had accrued over 60 days the lesser amount.

“That’s a big difference,” Hilkerbaumer said. “I think you should pay your staff the higher amount, and that helps keep them here. We need to look at how to reward teachers for longevity, and that is a huge benefit for staff who have been here for a long time.”

“I struggle with it,” said President Steve Cramer. “I know what other entities do, and although I think we have to increase how much money we are paying per day, we do have to compromise. We have to ask questions so that we can balance the budget, but we want you guys (teachers and staff) to know that you are appreciated.”

In other business, the school board members approved the Career Ladder Plan. According to Best, there were no changes to the policy, but it has to be approved annually. Best reported that the district expects to have 13 teachers participate in the program next year.

• Best reported that he did a preliminary walkthrough with the Facility Solutions Group (FSG) to assess new projects and funding options.

“We revisited what our needs were, prioritizing HVAC,” Best explained. “The biggest thing we’ve done is get to gather electrical usage over the past 12 months to show them what we’ve been using.”

The next step will be looking at electrical usage to determine how much more electrical capacity is available, and determine if an upgrade to the electrical system is necessary for a new HVAC system.

“If we can avoid upgrading the electric, that would be a huge thing, but I would be surprised if that could be avoided,” Best said.

FSG will provide a report at an upcoming meeting.

• District Food Service Director Heather Gleason reported that this is only her second year in this position, and she is still learning.

“I have learned a lot so far, but I have a lot more to learn,” Gleason said. “There are certain requirements that I have to follow, including having fresh fruit and vegetables twice per week, a certain number and type of vegetable groups per week, staying within age-appropriate portions, calories, and sodium levels.”

Gleason reported that her goal with the menu is to have student participation as much as possible, but also to stay compliant with federal guidelines.

In the upcoming year, Gleason is open to menu suggestions and hopes to implement farm-to-table and locally grown produce.

“At times, the produce we receive is not the greatest quality, and we do go through it, but some of it is overlooked, and it’s not always the best,” Gleason admitted.

Geason noted that students can exchange a poor-quality item for a better one if it is available.

“I want lunch time to be something students look forward to and enjoy,” Gleason said.

She said earlier in the year she and the staff had tried to plate food up ahead of time to be more efficient and time-conscious, but the temperature of the food was not ok and now they serve everything up fresh as students come into the lunchroom.

“I’m open to suggestions, and my goal is to strive to be better,’ Gleason said.

“I’ve had some calls from teachers and talked to students personally who voiced concerns about the fruit and the temperature of the food as well, but it sounds like you are on top of that and trying to do better,” said board member Kelby Bush.

Cramer noted that he has heard people complain that the serving sizes are small.

“That’s a federal thing,” Best said.

Gleason noted that students are allowed to get additional servings from the shared table, and à la carte items are offered for sale.

Gleason noted that she visually checks “best by” and “use by” dates on foods regularly.

Vice President Rebecca Mehmert noted that she had looked back at the Osage County Health Department’s website, and the district kitchen had passed the last four inspections.

Mehmert said that when she was in the district’s kitchen, she noted that some surfaces were not as clean as she would like them to be.

“I would like to see that addressed,” Mehmert said. “No one wants to eat out of a dirty kitchen.”

Mehmert asked Gleason to come to the board if she needed anything or if they could help solve any problems for her.

“It’s important that we’re providing food for our kids,” Mehmert said, “For some of them, this is the only food they get in a day.”

• Best reported that the budget for the new fiscal year will look similar despite concerns about state funding.

“We may need a few minor tweaks, but we are basically where we are at,” Best said. “I doubt there will be a lot of changes.”

Overall, Best is pleased with the overall financial situation for the district.

“We are in good shape,” Best said. “At the start of the year, our 90% fund balance should go up, which is really healthy and puts us in a good spot moving forward. We’re in about as good a spot as we can be right now. We should be very happy with that.”

Board members will vote on the 2026-27 district budget at the June meeting.

• Summer school will be held July 27 through Aug. 7. The structure will be similar to last year’s, with field trips on Fridays.

• The board approved outstanding expenses totaling $58,123.48.

• Chamois R-1 had the following ending balances in its accounts: general ($3,009,887), special ($63,786), and capital projects ($838,250).

• The next school board meeting is scheduled for June 10 at 7 pm.

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

Best reported that with the state legislative session ending, it is hard to figure out exactly what passed and how it will affect the district.

“The foundation formula was well short of what was requested, but they did try to help it,” Best explained. “It’s about $300 million short of what the actual formula should have. It shouldn’t immediately impact us, but we’ve done this long enough to know they find a way to spread around the hurt.”

Best said that overall, Osage County will be getting less money for education, and that is bad for everyone.

“Hopefully, there will be some adjustment, or the numbers come in higher than we expect or anticipate,” Best said.

He noted that a lot of big things were passed, and it’s unclear exactly what was attached to the bills, and what and when they will go into effect.

Best noted that open enrollment did not ultimately gain much traction this legislative session.

He reported there have been a couple of improvements to the playground equipment, including a new shade awning and a balance beam.

District employees will be working to clear out the band room so the floor can be taken out and epoxy put down to replace it.

The district has applied for a grant for after-school care.

“It is a pretty good proposal that Mrs. Shockley helped work on,” Best said. “It’s a solid proposal, and we are proud of it.”

The grant would be for over $200,000 and would help to fund a three-year program so that the district could offer before and after-school care.

“It has been something I’ve been wanting us to do for a while,” Best said. “We at least have something submitted; I’m happy with that and hope it comes to fruition.”

District staff will participate in several conferences throughout the summer.

The district has curriculum workshops set up for the summer. Best is hoping that the school will be able to make some changes to their benchmark assessments for the junior high students.

“We are hoping that standardized and end-of-course testing will be more accurate moving forward,” Best said.

The district will also be expanding resources offered to students interested in earning industry-ready certifications.

“We are expanding opportunities for our students and expanding our resources going into next year,” Best said. “That’s a good thing.”

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Principal Jeremey McKague reported that all Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) and End of Course (EOC) testing has been completed.

The FFA banquet was held on May 14.

May 15 was decision day for seniors, and the fourth and fifth-graders had a reverse career day where they picked a career they were interested in and made a presentation about it to the class.

May 21 was Elementary field day, and May 22 was high school fun day and the elementary awards ceremony.

Graduation was held on May 22.

Overall attendance for the school year shows elementary average daily attendance (ADA) at 94% and high school and junior high attendance at 93.5%.

Chamois R-1 students scored an average of 18.6 on the ACT, compared to the national average of 19.4.

McKague noted that while reading scores have improved throughout the year for elementary students, overall, the results were not as good as last year.

“In the junior high, it looks like the students are going backwards,” McKague said. “I don’t know if I believe the junior high and high school data. We have to come up with a strategy to make it more meaningful to them. We need to get them more invested.”

Math scores were below grade level.

“That’s not accurate, and it’s something we need to think about and work on,” McKague said.

As an exception, math levels for students in grades three through five are steadily increasing.

• Art Teacher Madelyn Doyle told board members that students participated in Sketch Day on Oct. 8.

“I took five seniors, and they all placed first, second, or third,” she said.

Doyle showcased student art at the Christmas and Spring Concerts.

On April 17-26, artwork from the junior high and high school art students was on display at the performing arts center, and Chamois came home with 13 awards.

“Brooklyn Whited placed in first place overall,” Doyle said proudly.

Whited also submitted artwork to the Congressional Art Chow and won first place overall in Missouri.

She will also be entering a piece in the Modern Art Freedom Art contest in July.

FFA Program

Ag Teacher Kate Kuschel reported that agricultural students have spent the year doing fun things. Kuschel noted that students in her conservation class built dioramas of a habitat and then taught each other what they learned.

“It’s sometimes better if they don’t have to listen to me all the time because I think they learn better that way sometimes,” Kuschel said.

She brought examples of plants, corsages, boutonnières, bud vases, and centerpieces that the horticulture class had created.

Kuschel said that she had four contest teams that she ran this year. The Agronomy/Field Crops team placed second at Lincoln University, first at the area competition, third at districts, and 43rd at state.

“They did a lot of good work,” Kuschel said.

The Entomology team was first at Lincoln University and Area competition. They were fifth at districts and 29th at state.

The Floriculture Team took fourth at Lincoln, sixth place at area, 11th at districts, and finished just below the cutoff for state competitions.

The Livestock Judging Team placed seventh at Lincoln, third at areas, eighth at districts, and just missed the opportunity to compete at state.

Kuschel was proud of the kids and how they competed.