Nancy Hughes: Jerry's Christmas

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you; You will find a baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger.”

Luke 2:11-12 (NIV)

I’ll never forget that precious little boy: freckles scattered like tiny raindrops across his entire face, including his ears. Big brown eyes partially obscured by long else’s property first, but he never seemed to care., wispy blonde hair that brushed against an ever-present smile minus two front teeth.

Jerry was a first-grade student at the elementary school where I worked. He came from a home that was short on money but long on love. His clothes were always someone

And this Christmas season was no different.

As a mother of three, I was frantically trying to balance home, husband, kids and job while I shopped endlessly for the perfect “only thing I want” gifts for my family. Somewhere in the rush of the season, my focus shifted from the birth of a baby in a manger to the number of presents under our Christmas tree.

There was some success but at a price . . . a high price. My Christmas budget was shrinking rapidly. “Why couldn’t my children want something a little cheaper?” I kept thinking. “Why do they think they have to have everything they see on television?”

Those questions were occupying my thoughts as I walked down the first-grade hall and saw Jerry skipping toward me in his winter coat that was about three sizes too large and worn tennis shoes minus the laces.

“Hey, Jerry! How are you?” I asked. “I’m good, Miss Nancy. It’s almost Christmas . . . Jesus’ birthday . . . did you know?” I couldn’t help but smile at that comment. “Yes, I have heard that. So what do you want for Christmas, Jerry?”

He quickly replied “Oh, I already know what I’m getting. It’s the same every year.”

At this point I would have expected a child making that statement to duck his head in disappointment and go on, but not Jerry.

As I knelt down to hug and encourage him, Jerry put his hands on my shoulders and, with a huge smile, continued: “When I wake up on Christmas morning, there will be a BIG candy cane under my pillow!” as he licked his lips and rubbed his tummy in anticipation of that moment. “And then, under the tree, I’ll get a little Matchbox car to add to my others. I can hardly wait, Miss Nancy!”

As I hugged Jerry and watched him skip on to class, I could not hold back the tears of sadness – not for Jerry but for my attitude. Instead of focusing on Christ and His birth, I had gotten caught up in the world’s view that the number of gifts you have under the Christmas tree determines your happiness.

Christmas at our home would never be the same again. All because of a candy cane under a pillow, a Matchbox car under a tree . . . and a very thankful little boy named Jerry.

Father, thank you for the most priceless gift of love you could ever send – the gift of your Son. May we never forget that He went from a manger to the cross for us. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up . . .

Reflect

Do you find yourself focused more on gifts than the Giver of Life at Christmas?

Have you talked with your children about the Ultimate Gift that Jesus gave each of us?

Apply

Sit down with your children and help them write on slips of paper the gifts that they can give Jesus this Christmas, like trusting Him, being obedient, and sharing Him with friends.

Have them wrap each of their gifts for Jesus in a box and offer each one to Him on Christmas morning in prayer.

Power

Luke 2:11-12 (NIV) “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you; You will find a baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger.”

Romans 6:23 (NIV) “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

2 Corinthians 9:15 (NIV) “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”

John 1:14 a (NIV) “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

Isaiah 9:6-7 (NIV) “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

(For more of Nancy Hughes' writing, check out her blog, Encouragement from the War Room.)

50 years ago today: Former President Harry S. Truman dead at age 88

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Missouri's only president and Lamar's most famous native son Harry S. Truman at age 88.

The following is reprinted from my 2019 book The Buck Starts Here: Harry S. Truman and the City of Lamar:

“Death Finally Defeats Truman” was the banner headline at the top of the Tuesday, December 26, 1972 Lamar Democrat.

Lamar and the nation are in mourning for the city’s native son, Harry S. Truman, 32nd President of the United States.

The former president died at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday after a long illness brought on by old age. The famed Missouri Democrat was 88 years old and fought his last illness as fiercely as he fought all his life for what he believed was right.

His wife Bess was not at his bedside when death came but was notified several minutes afterwards. She had stayed at his side throughout Christmas Day, leaving only when the couple’s daughter, Margaret Truman Daniel, arrived in Kansas City.

Truman’s death was the subject of three more page one articles in the Democrat that day. One recalled his August 31, 1944 visit while the other featured reminiscences of the April 19, 1959, Truman Birthplace dedication ceremony.

The 1944 article inaccurately stated that Truman left Lamar 18 months after his birth, rather than 10, and said he never returned until 1944, a visit that was actually at least his fourth since John and Martha Truman left the city.

Former Mayor Guy Ross was quoted in the 1944 article. There appeared to be no interviews with anyone for the 1959 article.

The fourth article was an assessment of Truman’s career by James Kirkpatrick.

Lamar readers were left to wonder what Madeleine Aull Van Haffen would have written about the death of Lamar’s most famous native son.

 

***

Jim Finley placed a wreath at the base of the granite monument in front of the Truman house and closed the historic site at the direction of state officials Thursday, December 28.

Two hundred fifty people gathered on the south lawn of the Truman Birthplace for a memorial service.

“We are in proud in Lamar of Harry S. Truman,” Mayor Gerald Gilkey said. “There is no doubt he will go down in history as one of the greatest presidents of the United States.”

Gilkey remembered the excitement in Lamar when Truman returned for the notification ceremony in 1944 and for the dedication of the birthplace in 1959 and closed his remarks with sentiments that were fervently echoed by those who listened to his words.

“It is with respect and affection that we say farewell to that man born in Lamar, the 33rd President of the United States, Harry S. Truman.”

***
The most eloquent remembrance of Truman written by someone from Lamar came not from the Lamar Democrat, but in the pages of the Carthage Press, where Marvin VanGilder, the one-time teen reporter for the Lamar Republican and reporter and columnist for the Lamar Journal, wrote a tribute to the former president.

VanGilder did not make a habit of personalizing his reporting, but he made an exception for the Truman tribute, recalling some of the correspondence they exchanged over the years concerning Barton County history.

 

He shared the story of the kindness Truman had shown his nine-year-old daughter at the Thomas Hart Benton celebration in Neosho 10 years earlier, recalled ways in which Truman had helped the city of Carthage, then closed by putting into words the powerful connection Truman had with him and with the people of southwest Missouri.

In spite of differences in political philosophy, the writer will remember him as a cherished friend and confidant with a heart big enough to embrace the most famous and the least known with equal ardor and the soul of a historian whose every major act was the result of thorough knowledge of the lessons learned by his predecessors.

He was a big man, he who first was our neighbor, later our chosen leader and always our friend.

The world, which never knew him in quite the way we knew him, will forever remember him as man of strength and purpose who stood firmly in defense of human liberty and individual dignity and who exuberantly achieved his own goal and his own destiny by becoming a good and faithful servant of both the God he worshipped and the people he served.

(Photo- Truman with Walter Earp on August 31, 1944. Earp was the owner of the home where Truman was born on May 8, 1884, and was a relative of legendary lawman Wyatt Earp, who was Lamar's first constable. Photo courtesy of Truman Library and Museum)

***

The Buck Starts Here: Harry S. Truman is available at Always Buying Books, Changing Hands Book Shoppe and the Book Guy in Joplin and at the Lamar Democrat and Truman Birthplace in Lamar. The Buck Starts Here is also available in paperback and e-book editions at Amazon.

Nancy Hughes: A constant reminder

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”

Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)

Several years ago I was asked by an elementary principal to observe Grant, a new student in the second grade at our school. The teacher was concerned that he might have some problems focusing in class and could fall behind. She wanted me, as school nurse, to do an observation of his behavior for a few minutes in the classroom.

What I found was a student who slithered over, around and under his desk, chatted with himself and other students and looked over at me and winked “Hey Nurse Nancy. How’s your day going?” – all while the instructor taught the math lesson.

I was sure he hadn’t heard a single instruction she had given and watched as she wrote a math problem on the board and gave instructions. “Please write this problem down in your math journal,” she told her students, “and I will give you five minutes to see if you can figure out the answer.”

“Eighteen,” we heard a voice instantly say. Shocked, the teacher and I both turned to look at Grant. “What?” she said. Grant smiled. “The answer is eighteen.” He was right! Even though it didn’t appear that he was listening at all, he actually was.

Proverbs 22:6 speaks to so many of us who are praying our children are listening as we share Jesus in a world that is continually preying on their hearts.

First, look at what the verse does NOT say. It does not say that if you raise your children to know the Lord, they will never turn from Him as they get older. Nor does it say that children who have wandered will automatically turn back to the Lord as adults. We all have the ability to make choices in our lives.

But what it DOES say is beautiful to our ears: teach your child about the Lord. Share the words of Jesus over and over and explain what love and trust, mercy and forgiveness, grace and hope mean. Then, if your child wanders down a wrong path as he gets older, God’s Word will return to him again and again.

He will be reminded in his heart of the love Jesus has for him no matter where he is or what he is doing. In other words, “he will not turn from it” because he will remember what you have taught him. What about you and your children? Have you ever felt like giving up because they seem to totally tune you out? Do you feel like you are losing the spiritual battle for their souls?

My encouragement to you is this: please don’t give up! Our hope is in Christ alone! What we have taught and shared about Jesus will be a constant reminder of His love and will not return empty. Just like this little boy who appeared to have not heard a word about his math lesson, and yet he did, so it is for our children and God’s Word in their hearts.

Father, thank you for your encouragement to train my children to know you. May your words stay with them always. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up . . .

Reflect

Do you have a son or daughter who has turned from the Lord even after you have shared Jesus for years?

What has been your response: feeling hope or hopeless?

Apply

If you have small children, teach them wisdom from the Lord through songs, videos, and books and especially from the Bible. Sing along or read along with them. Pray daily for them.

If you have older children, never miss an opportunity to give them a hug and pray over them before they leave for school or on a date. Leave Scripture love notes in their lunch boxes or backpacks or by text on their cell phones. Pray daily for them.

Power

Proverbs 22:6 (NIV) “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”

Isaiah 55:11 (NIV) “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (NIV) “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

(For more of Nancy Hughes' writing, check out her blog, Encouragement from the War Room.)

Federal spending bill ensures one year continuous coverage for Missouri kids in Medicaid, CHIP

By Clara Bates

Missouri Independent

Missouri will be required to provide year-long, continuous coverage for anyone under age 19 enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, as part of a $1.7 trillion spending package approved by Congress Friday.

In a move advocates have long pushed for as a way to avoid unnecessarily forcing children off the rolls, all states will be required to continue public health insurance coverage for one year after a child is enrolled — regardless of whether their family’s income fluctuates.

 

Missouri is one of 17 states that does not already offer any 12-month continuous eligibility for kids.

That means temporary changes in household monthly income, which are particularly common among people who work hourly jobs with unpredictable schedules, can result in the state stripping children of Medicaid or CHIP eligibility, according to Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. States generally conduct Medicaid renewals annually, but in the meantime, can redetermine eligibility based on changes in circumstances.

Research has found disruptions in health coverage pose health and financial risks to families. Cost barriers can cause families to avoid routine care and incur medical debt if an emergency occurs. More years of childhood Medicaid coverage are associated with fewer hospitalizations in adulthood, and states with continuous coverage policies have fewer children who cycle on and off Medicaid within 12 months, a Kaiser Family Foundation study found this month.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled,” said Casey Hanson, director of outreach and engagement for Kids Win Missouri, a coalition of state organizations that advocate for child well-being, about the federal bill.

Kids Win has been pushing for state legislation to provide continuous coverage for children for the last several years. A bill introduced last year that included continuous coverage for kids, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Lauren Arthur of Kansas City, was voted out of committee but did not proceed further.

Hanson said Kids Win planned to prioritize the issue again, but “it’s great when it happens federally.”

“When kids have continuous access to coverage,” Hanson said, “they’re better able to get access to preventative care, to maintain chronic conditions and other things like asthma that we know so many kids in Missouri are affected by.”

With the passage of the federal bill, Kids Win will be able to “be even more laser-focused” on other policies, such as ensuring children maintain coverage through the unwinding of the federal public health emergency, which has prohibited states from removing Medicaid enrollees from their rolls over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic but is set to expire next year.

The federal continuous coverage requirement would take effect Jan. 1, 2024.

Procedural barriers to renewal

Roughly half of the 1.4 million Missourians enrolled in Medicaid are children, according to Washington University in St. Louis’s Medicaid enrollment dashboard. In years past, the state has come under scrutiny for erroneously removing kids from their Medicaid rolls, which advocates hope the continuous coverage provision may mitigate.

In 2019, Missouri’s social service department faced criticism for significant Medicaid enrollment declines, including among children, after they adopted a new renewal process and information system.

Research that year by the Missouri Budget Project, a liberal public policy think tank, found families were often kicked off Medicaid despite being eligible for coverage because of challenges with the renewal process, including not receiving the proper paperwork or submitting the paperwork only for it to be lost or not processed.

Over the course of federally-declared public health emergency, states have been barred from removing Medicaid recipients from their rolls in exchange for receiving enhanced federal funding.

 

Some worry that once the public health emergency ends, Missouri could return to a situation in which the renewal process strips eligible Medicaid recipients of coverage due to administrative barriers. The rate of uninsured children in Missouri declined from 2019 to 2021, a Georgetown study found earlier this month, in large part because the state was barred from making eligibility redeterminations.

In both years covered by the Georgetown study, Missouri had a higher prevalence of uninsured children than the national average.

Missouri was previously identified as one of six states where children are at the highest risk of losing coverage once assessments resume, in part because it lacks continuous coverage.

The federal continuous coverage policy for children would likely go into effect months after states begin redeterminations, wrote Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown’s Center for Children and Families, but will still “mitigate against red tape losses,” in which children lose coverage due to procedural reasons.

The federal bill set a date, for the first time, of when states will be allowed to begin reassessing Medicaid eligibility, regardless of when the federal emergency ends: April 1, 2023.

Republican leaders, including Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, have long been pushing for a clear end date from the federal government. Parson signed a letter earlier this week urging President Joe Biden to allow the public health emergency to expire in April, citing swelling numbers of Medicaid recipients and rising costs.

 

The enhanced federal funds will be gradually phased down over the next calendar year, with several standards states must meet in the process of conducting eligibility redeterminations, according to provisions in the bill.

Heather Dolce, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Social Services, said in an email to The Independent that the agency has been working with the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services “to develop and finalize a robust plan for resuming Medicaid eligibility renewals in preparation for the impending unwinding,” and that Missouri “would be prepared to move forward with implementing this plan” if the unwind begins in April, as expected, based on the federal bill.

Unlike most states, Missouri has not yet publicly provided its plan for the public health emergency unwind or a plan summary, according to Georgetown’s unwinding tracker.

Dolce said DSS is focused on ensuring they have the correct addresses for Medicaid recipients, and urged participants to report their updated information.

Judge grants injunction to keep Agape director off Missouri child abuse registry

By Clara Bates and Annelise Hanshaw

Missouri Independent

Agape Boarding School’s longtime director once again won a court order Wednesday keeping his name off Missouri’s central registry for child abuse and neglect.

Cole County Circuit Court Judge Brian Stumpe granted Bryan Clemensen’s request for a preliminary injunction against Missouri’s Department of Social Services on Wednesday morning, the second time Clemensen has won a ruling keeping his name off the registry that would ban him from working in residential care facilities such as Agape.

The state said it substantiated five preponderance of evidence findings against Clemensen — one count of child neglect and four of physical abuse.

But Stumpe ruled Clemensen will remain off the registry until a final judgment is issued in a full trial, or until further order from the court.

Listing Clemensen on the registry while his appeal is pending, Stumpe ruled, would be “likely to result in significant damage to [his] reputation” and would “directly interfere with [his] employment.”

Stumpe wrote that none of the findings against Clemensen were of sexual abuse, and “some witnesses who initially offered evidence to the initial investigation have since recanted their testimony.” Clemensen’s appeal requires a full de novo hearing, Stumpe wrote, with the rules of evidence.

Clemensen cannot initiate physical contact with any student at Agape, Stumpe ruled, but is allowed to keep working at the school.

Wednesday’s ruling is the latest in the ongoing saga of Stockton-based Agape Boarding School, which Clemensen led from 1990 to 2008 and again from 2018 to November of this year. According to the most recent business filings with the state, he is still listed as the president and registered agent of Agape Baptist Church, the nonprofit which oversees the school. He testified last week he is no longer the director.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and the state’s social services agency has been trying to shut the school down for months over mounting allegations from former students that staff physically, psychologically and sexually abused them.

Clemensen is one of several Agape staff members to have findings of abuse and/or neglect, according to the state’s legal filings. A former staff member, Timas Aryas, who the state also found to have perpetrated abuse, had his case heard in tandem with Clemensen’s last week and was also granted relief to stay off the registry Wednesday.

The state is seeking to place Clemensen on their registry, which subjects alleged perpetrators to limitations on working with children. The central registry information is not public, but employers at facilities which provide services or care to children can request access to the registry’s information.

Anyone on the list is prohibited from working at residential care facilities or childcare facilities.

Clemensen appealed the social service department’s findings, and the state’s Child Abuse and Neglect Review Board independently reviewed and upheld the state’s findings against Clemensen last month. At that point he would typically have been added to the registry, but Clemensen’s attorneys have succeeded in fighting that: First, by obtaining a temporary restraining order last month, which is set to expire this week, and now, a preliminary injunction.

Clemensen’s attorney, Jason Call, has argued that the review board hearing was an insufficient form of due process. The hearings are, under Missouri statute, conducted as reviews rather than contested cases, meaning there is no witness testimony or cross examination. Call also argued Clemensen’s reputation, ability to obtain employment, and the “continued operation” of the school would be at risk, in the original appeal last month.

Last week, Clemensen testified publicly about his longtime commitment and continued desire to work with children.

“If I’m on the central registry in the state of Missouri, I’d effectively no longer be able to work at Agape,” Clemensen testified last week in Cole County, adding that it is a school he helped found, along with his parents and wife in 1990, and that after spending decades working with troubled teens, he would have to seek a “career change.”

According to the attorneys’ characterizations during a hearing last week, the state’s abuse findings deal with allegations of Clemensen’s use of physical restraints and the neglect finding involves allegations that Clemensen withheld food.

Former students told The Kansas City Star in 2021 that Clemensen was known for his “‘Jurassic elbow,’” in which he would strike the back of students’ heads or between their shoulders.

Clemensen denies the allegations.

The full trial on the merits of the allegations against Clemensen has not yet been scheduled.

Widespread allegations

Agape currently faces more than 20 lawsuits alleging a variety of physical and sexual abuse, including accusations that staff would pin students to the ground while pushing on their pressure points.

One former student suing the school, Robert Bucklin, said he was restrained for over an hour at a time as a teenager there in the late 2000s and that staff confiscated letters to his parents in which he had written that he was “treated like a dead rat” and didn’t want to be there.

Other allegations include that students’ food was withheld as a form of punishment, that they were forced to submit to physical labor and extreme exercise and were taken off prescribed medications and reassured that “God would fix them.” Recent court filings detail allegations that students experienced “severe bruising” after being restrained, were slammed into the ground and pushed into walls, attempted suicide and were kept in handcuffs for days at a time.

Agape has denied these allegations.

“For the past 30 years Agape has provided over 6,000 boys with an opportunity to get their life back on track and toward a bright future,” Agape’s attorney in the state’s case to close it, John Schultz, said in the statement in August, calling accusations “sensational” and said that the “24/7” supervision of students meant that several allegations “could not have happened.”

Schmitt and the social services department filed litigation to close Agape in September, alleging a systemic pattern of abuse at the school which raises health and safety concerns to current students. But the case has been tied up in court and the school remains open.

There were only 25 students as of last Monday, down from 121 in February 2021.

Last year, the Cedar County prosecuting attorney Ty Gaither filed only a fraction of the criminal counts against Agape Schmitt recommended after his office conducted an investigation.

Missouri House Speaker Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, alleged the lack of charges was the result of “undeniable corruption” and “inaction” by local officials such as Gaither. The Star has investigated ties between Agape and Cedar County law enforcement, including sheriff’s deputies who worked at Agape.

Gaither has since denied any allegations of corruption and said he filed so few counts because he does not believe the restraint and pain compliance techniques Agape staff allegedly performed qualify as abuse under Missouri law.

Of the five staff members charged by Gaither, two of them pleaded guilty to lesser misdemeanors and the case was dropped against a third.

Clemensen is not the only Agape employee who DSS has found to have abused or neglected children. According to a motion in a former student’s lawsuit last month, there are seven others affiliated with Agape DSS found by preponderance of evidence to have abused or neglected children. DSS did not respond to confirm that figure, or to confirm whether those individuals are in the appeals process, or have been added to the registry.

In 2005, an Agape staff member named Jacob Joseph Mayer was convicted for first-degree statutory sodomy involving a student.

In August of this year, former Agape dean Julio Sandoval, who also ran a transport business to bring children to boarding schools, was federally indicted for violating a protective order. He allegedly arranged for a boy to be transported from Fresno, California to Missouri against his will. The boy had an active protection order against his mother, according to the indictment, and she allegedly worked with Sandoval, who arranged for the child to be brought in a 27 hour long journey, handcuffed, to Agape.

"Not unusual"

Clemensen’s attorney in this case, Jason Call, argued last week that Clemensen lacked due process in the child abuse and neglect registry appeals process, and thus deserved to be left off the registry while they awaited the full trial.

The social services department argued Clemensen’s case did not meet the standard for granting an injunction, primarily because he had adequate recourse in the law. Missouri statute outlines the Child Abuse and Neglect Review Board hearing as a satisfactory form of administrative review and due process, the state argued.

Under Missouri law, child abuse and neglect board hearings are conducted as administrative reviews rather than contested cases, and are conducted informally rather than with the rules of evidence applying, meaning there is no cross examinations or witness testimony.

The governor appoints the members of the review board.

The state also argued Clemensen could not prove his case was likely to succeed on the merits in court, and that the court would be overreaching by enjoining an executive agency’s decision.

The state argued Clemensen should be put on the registry while awaiting trial, saying in a brief last week that “it is not unusual for allegedly abusive adults to be excluded, voluntarily or involuntarily, from the home where children are residing pending the outcome of child protection proceedings.”

Luke Boyer named Carthage R-9 superintendent

(From the Carthage R-9 School District)

The Carthage R-9 Board of Education announces that Dr. Luke Boyer from Conway, Missouri, has been selected as the next Superintendent of the Carthage R-9 School District. 

“Our family is very excited to be a part of the Carthage School District and community,” stated Dr. Luke Boyer. 

"There are many great things happening in the Carthage School District and I'm looking forward to seeing how we can continue to serve Carthage students and families. It’s exciting to be surrounded by educators that are passionate about the pursuit of improving academic and student growth programs.” 

(Note: Boyer has been superintendent of the Laclede County R-1 School District since 2021 and prior to that was assistant superintendent for the West Plains R-7 School District.)

State auditor examines Missouri's use of COVID-19 federal stimulus money

(From State Auditor Nicole Galloway)

The latest monthly reports from State Auditor Nicole Galloway detailing state government's use of federal stimulus dollars intended for the COVID-19 response shows Missouri received $11.83 billion between April 2020 and November 2022. 

As the state's financial watchdog, the State Auditor's Office has issued the reports since June 2020 examining Missouri government's distribution and spending of funding received under the federal CARES Act, American Rescue Plan and other federal assistance programs.

The most recent reports show Missouri's spending of federal assistance for the month of November 2022, as well as the cumulative expenditures since the state began receiving funding in April 2020. Through the end of November 2022, the state has spent $6.47 billion in funding made available by the CARES Act and other federal programs, and $2.35 billion in American Rescue Plan funds.

A significant portion of expenditures to date are for services through the state's Medicaid program (MO HealthNet) and other programs receiving federal matching funds. Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the federal government increased its percentage share of the cost of the state's Medicaid program. The American Rescue Plan also offered Missouri a temporary increase in the federal funds matching rate in exchange for the state's Medicaid expansion. As of Nov. 30, 2022, the increased cost share for the federal government has totaled over $2.07 billion in additional federal funding for Medicaid in Missouri.

Other funding has been provided to local governments, schools, institutions of higher education, child care providers, long-term care facilities and developmental disabilities waiver providers. Funds have also been used for mental health services, purchase of personal protective equipment, virus testing, contact tracing, vaccine preparedness and access, workforce development, economic development programs for small businesses, COVID-19 dedicated personnel costs, emergency rental assistance and other disaster relief purposes.

In addition to the monthly report examining the state's spending, the Auditor's Office also has an online tool to give Missourians a detailed look at expenditures. The COVID-19 Response page tracks not only how much is received and expended in relief funds, but also lists which state and local government departments, vendors and expense categories are receiving the most funding. The information on the website provides data on expenditures and is updated regularly.

Auditor Galloway's efforts are similar to work performed by the previous State Auditor's administration, which reviewed the state's use of funds received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Under Article IV, Section 13 of the Missouri Constitution, the State Auditor has a duty to ensure the accuracy of the state's accounting of its spending.

A copy of the report on Missouri spending of federal CARES Act assistance in November 2022 can be found here. The report for American Rescue Plan spending for November 2022 is here.

Carthage R-9 Board promotes Becky Chadd to Columbian Elementary principal

(From the Carthage R-9 School District)

The Carthage R-9 Board of Education met in regular session on Monday, December 19, 2022, 6:00 pm, at Mark Twain Elementary. Present were Board members Niki Cloud, Bill Lasley, Karen Wilkinson, Nathan Terry, Jeff Jones, Patrick Scott, and Ryan Collier. Mark Twain students Kruz Pearson, Witten Pearson, Easton Mankin, and Billie Eugene led the Pledge of Allegiance. First grade students provided a cheerful song under the direction of vocal music teacher Mrs. Kristi Pearson. 

The Board approved the Consent Agenda for the purpose of approving the meeting agenda, minutes of previous meetings, payment of bills, district financial report, tigers together back to school plan, metal building contract for South Tech Center, storage shed specs/bid packet, and Comprehensive Health Services Plan. 

Dr. Gage Tiller, Director of Carthage Technical Center, presented a CSIP Goal II update regarding 21st Century Success-Ready Graduates. An overview of target areas one, two, and three were discussed. 

Abby Lea Holderbaum was selected as the districts’ Missouri School Boards’ Association John T. Belcher Scholarship nominee. Abby will compete for a regional scholarship; one regional winner will be awarded a state-wide scholarship. 

Mr. Jones provided a Carthage R-9 School Foundation update highlighting January begins the scholarship season. 

Renda Armstrong, DSWA, CPAs, reviewed the FY22 audit report. Carthage R-9 was in compliance with all requirements and received an overall clean audit report with no material weaknesses. 

Dr. Baker and the board reviewed the 2023 April ballot language. Dr. Baker and the board approved the Early Childhood Center and baseball naming rights. 

Dr. Baker updated the Board regarding the following: 

• Board candidate applications will be accepted through December 27, 2022. Voters will decide on three, three-year term board vacancies on April 4, 2023. Karen Wilkinson, Jeff Jones, Lora Phelps, and Patrick Scott have applied.

• Trauma Informed students and staff is a district-wide focus. Jessica McDonald and Deena Murdock will provide the Board Trauma Informed training in January 2023. 

• The deadline to submit Golden Key nominations is December 20, 2022. The 2022-2023 Certified Staff of the Year will be announced at the Carthage Chamber Banquet in February 2023. 

• Christmas break begins December 20, 2022 and students will return on January 5, 2023. Staff will return January 4, 2023 for a Professional Development Day. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

The Board met in closed session immediately following the regular meeting to discuss legal, personnel, and student matters, in compliance with Section 610.021 (1), (3), (6), and (13) of the Revised Statutes of Missouri. 

In closed session the Board approved the following personnel actions: 

Approved the employment of professional, certified, support, substitute, and extra duty staff as presented contingent upon receiving a clear criminal record check from the Missouri Highway Patrol and Federal Bureau of Investigation, and a clear check of the Adult Abuse/Neglect Registry maintained by the Missouri Department of Social Services for all employees new to the district: 

Certified Hire

Hailey Stamper, Teacher, Columbian Elementary/6th Grade Center New Hire 

Audrey Chadd, ("Becky") Principal Columbian Internal Hire 

Hailey Stamper-  Ms. Stamper will be a first-year teacher with the Carthage R-9 School District. She will be graduating in May with a Bachelor's Degree in Art from Missouri Southern State University. 

Aubrey Chadd (Becky)- Mrs. Chadd is in her sixth year with the Carthage R-9 School District, beginning her employment with the Carthage District in 2017 as an Instructional Coach. She is currently in her 3rd year as an Assistant Principal between Steadley Elementary and Columbian Elementary. Mrs. Chadd earned her Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education from College of the Ozarks in 2010. She has since obtained a Master's and Educational Specialist Degrees from Southwest Baptist University in Educational Administration. 

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Willis, Corey Bus Driver Transportation Modification 

Horton, Brenda Title 1 Instructional Assistant Carthage 6th Grade Center Modification 

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Zamouski, Jared Bilingual Writing Fairview Elementary Modification Approved

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Jackson, Rhonda Practical Nursing Instructor (Part Time) Carthage Tech Center - South Resignation Peters, Sydney Admin Assistant Career Center (Evening) Carthage Tech Center-North Resignation Kasperski, Jeff Head Mechanic Transportation Retirement 

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Patterson, Ashley Assistant Volleyball Coach (7th) Carthage Junior High School Resignation

Parson appoints political newcomer as state treasurer

By Jason Hancock

Missouri Independent

 

Gov. Mike Parson has named Vivek Malek to serve as state treasurer, the first Indian American to hold a statewide office in Missouri.

Malek, 45, will replace Republican Scott Fitzpatrick, who was elected state auditor in November.

“We interviewed a lot of great candidates for state treasurer, all of which have promising and rewarding careers ahead of them, and will continue to serve Missouri well,” Parson said Tuesday. “One man rose above the others.”

Melek has been practicing law since 2000 and has practiced law in Missouri since 2006. His St. Louis law firm focuses on immigration, naturalization and asylum.

Parson previously appointed Malek to the Board of Regents for his alma mater, Southeast Missouri State University, in 2020. He has been an occasional Republican donor over the years, including to Parson, but has never held public office.

“It is the honor of my life to be asked to be Missouri’s next state treasurer, and I will give this position by all, as I have with everything I have done,” Melek said Tuesday.

Melek has deep ties to the Cape Girardeau area, where he came in 2001 from Rohtak, India to attend college. He earned two masters degrees, in business and law, and currently lives in Wildwood with his wife, Riju, and three children, Naija, Viraj, and Myra.

“I can attest with strong conviction that the American Dream is alive and well, because I have lived it right here in Missouri,” he said.

The state treasurer manages $1 billion in unclaimed property, manages a small business and agriculture economic development program and administers the state’s tax-advantaged education and disability savings plans.

The treasurer also sits on various boards, such as the Missouri Housing Development Commission.

“The people’s money is in good hands with Vivek,” Parson said. “Vivek understands the incredible responsibility and privilege it is to serve the people in Missouri and appreciates the importance of a true public servant.”

Another symptom of Missouri teacher shortage: Growing number of 4-day school weeks

By Annelise Hanshaw

Missouri Independent

Over a quarter of Missouri school districts learn on a four-day schedule. And up until last week, they were small, rural districts – some with as few as 50 students.

That changed when Independence School District voted to implement the schedule for its 14,000 students next fall.

Missouri policymakers are taking notice, with varying ideas to deal with the key factor for many districts’ shift to a four-day week: Teacher recruitment and retainment.

Four-day school weeks have been growing exponentially across Missouri’s rural school districts since 2009. That year, the state legislature removed a requirement that set a minimum number of days schools must open their doors, leaving a mandate for 1,044 hours of learning.

Roughly 12% of the state’s public school K-8 students now attend class four days per week, according to Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and Missouri State University College of Education data.

Only two of the districts educate over 3,000 students, meaning Independence will be by far the largest in Missouri to make the switch.

“Just the sheer magnitude of the size of the school district makes them a unique case,” said Jon Turner, an associate professor at Missouri State University studying the implementation of the four-day school week.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas voiced concerns on Twitter, calling for salary raises for educators and naming a four-day school week a “gimmick.”

“I am concerned this is more about adults than our kids. I hope I am wrong,” he wrote.

Motive

Dale Herl, superintendent of the Independence School District, starred in a few short videos explaining the four-day school week to families in the run up to the school board’s vote. The first video made it clear what the district’s motivation was for cutting Mondays off the schedule.

“The main thing, looking at this, is we wanted to see if it would help retain and recruit staff,” he said.

State Rep. Doug Richey, R- Excelsior Springs and co-chair of the legislature’s Joint Committee on Education, said an employment perk is what he hears as the key reason for switching to a four-day school week.

Turner has watched rural districts adopt a four-day week in order to have a large enough workforce to operate. Now, he said he wonders if larger districts are having the same problem.

“The dynamic of the four-day week is that many of those districts are smaller, rural school districts, and where they lose their competitive angle is with mid- and late-career teachers,” Turner said.

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education data shows that 40.5% of Missouri teachers are leaving their school districts after three years. In Independence, that rate is slightly higher, with 43.7% choosing to leave their positions.

A four-day work week, which is growing in popularity in the tech industry, is pitched as an incentive for school staff to stay loyal to their professions and the district.

Teacher pay

Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence, doesn't just represent the state's newest four-day school district. His children also attend and he expressed frustration with the district's decision in an interview with The Independent.

Rizzo said he and his wife are considering taking their children out of their current schools.

He wants to see the state increase its investment in public education.

“We're at the bottom when it comes to teacher pay, and we're expecting miracles. We shouldn’t educate on miracles,” he said. “We should educate on dollars and cents and in fully funding the schools in our state.”

Missouri ranks 50th in the nation for the average teacher starting salary, paying new educators an average of $33,234, according to the National Education Association. The state is 47th for overall teacher salary, paying an average of $51,557.

Richey touts local control, wary of raising the state’s minimum wage for educators.

He pointed to Hickman Mills School District, which is also located outside of Kansas City. The district is raising teacher salaries with an operational levy passed by voters in August.

Independence pays teachers an average salary of $53,528, according to DESE data. The Lee’s Summit R-7 School District, located less than 30 minutes away, pays an average of $64,350; less than 30% of its educators leave the district after three years.

“Unless the taxpayers are really ready to kick in with a much higher salary to compensate these people, the only way we can [retain teachers] is by figuring out ways within the schedule, like four days a week, that seem to be attractive to people,” Turner said.

He said he has heard anecdotal evidence that educators are leaving higher-paying jobs to teach at schools that operate four days per week.

Numerous bills filed ahead of the upcoming legislative session address the apparent shortage of teachers. Multiple suggest raising the minimum teacher salary to $38,000.

The current minimum is $25,000, but a one-year grant program allowed participating schools to raise their salary floors to $38,000 with a year of state help.

“I wasn't entirely excited about that because it's a one-year grant program. And districts really can't plan around that,” said Richey, who also serves on the House Budget Committee. “I just thought that was more of a band-aid approach.”

This month, DESE released its legislative priorities. Sitting atop the list is raising teachers’ minimum wage to at least $38,000, along with urging the legislature to establish a fund to help districts afford the higher salaries.

Research

Turner said he can’t predict whether Independence’s shift will help or hurt student outcomes. Either way, he says the impact will be small.

“I have not seen any data that has said over the long term – and I'm talking about more than five years – that you're seeing long-term negative or positive impacts of the four-day week,” he said.

He said it could help keep high-quality instructors around students, but the kids could suffer from more memory loss over longer weekends.

The weekday students are home also allows for more professional development than teachers could otherwise get on the calendar, Turner said.

Oregon State University and NWEA researchers looked at standardized test scores across multiple states over 12 years and tracked academic growth. They found that schools with four-days per week had less academic growth, especially in urban areas.

The effect gets worse the more years a school meets only four days per week, the researchers write.

But they were not able to measure how many hours of instruction students get annually.

Another study, by researchers at Oregon State and the RAND Corporation, divided their data into three categories: Low, medium and high-time at school.

Only those with a low amount of time in the classroom had negative effects from the four-day schedule, they wrote.

Independence School District will be adding 35 minutes to each day, so students will not lose the equivalent of an entire day of class, the district said in an informational video.

Fifth day

Independence will provide its after school program, called "Kids Safari," on the weekday students have off for Kindergarten through eighth grade.

But it would not be free.

Families can utilize childcare on Mondays for elementary and middle-school-aged children for $225 per year per child. Transportation is not provided.

Rizzo described Independence as a “blue-collar, hard-working, middle-class area.” He didn’t know the district’s plan for the fifth day yet, but he said having something would be important to families.

A way he’ll measure the four-day school week’s success is by the district’s enrollment numbers the following year.

Richey said he will be looking at the absenteeism rate and measures of teacher morale. Then, around five years from now, a successful program should have improved test scores, he said.