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May 22, 2026
e-Treasures is sent monthly on the Friday following the Board of Education meeting to District families, staff, and community members who subscribe.
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Congratulations 2026 Graduates! High fives, hugs, and smiles filled the halls as the Class of 2026 returned to their former elementary and middle schools following graduation rehearsal last Friday! Dressed in their caps and gowns, seniors shared one final walk through the schools where their journeys began and were celebrated with plenty of Pirate Pride! Click here for more photos. |
| | DISTRICT CELEBRATIONS AND NOTICES | | |
PCHS Spring Activities Celebrate Success
Conference and district champs, state competitors, and school records broken - just a few of the highlights of PCHS's spring activities! Boys Tennis District Champs and headed back to Final Four at State this weekend, doubles Mitchel McBratney/ Jackson Kluck and Wyatt Beeson/ Jacoby Keith competed at State last week; Baseball Conference Champs; currently 22-12 and will play for District championship on 5/23; Girls Soccer finished the year 15-7, District runners-up; Boys Golf finished 3rd at Districts and 5th as a team at State (Braden Hendee, Brayden Renno, Jack Dillingham, Nick Cangelosi, and Bryson Hevalow); Hendee finished 6th at State; Girls and Boys Track 1st in the conference; boys earned 2nd and girls 3rd at Districts;14 events competing at Sectionals this weekend; new school records - Cale Buntz javelin; Braiden Stevens, Boye Akande, Jackson Goodale, and Ty Christopher boys 4x200; and Adi Benninghoff, Maggie Wagner, Rylee Carr, and Vaness Sarpong girls 4x100; Archery 22nd out of 225 (3D) and 92nd out of 262 (bullseye) at Nationals, Jake Sloan placed 5th in 3D; Boys Volleyball finished inaugural season 14-9-1, 2nd in Conference; Special Olympics 15 Olympians competed at the Spring Games (41 medals), Antonio Whitley earned the Manuel Calderon Spirit Award; Scholar Bowl finished season 31-25, 2nd at conference; Robotics 2 teams competed in the US Open; Speech & Debate Jackson Townsend, Hailey Turner, Kylie Temple, Cole Archer, and Amily Askar will compete at Nationals in June; Band 39 medals at state; Choir 20 medals at state; Theatre school record of 16 Blue Star nominations including Overall Outstanding Musical, made history with PCHS's first ever One-Act State champion trophy
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Foundation Grants, Scholarships Awarded
Congratulations to the Platte County Education Foundation's ten, $1,000 scholarship recipients: Addison Ayers, Owen Bane, Adelaide Bonsignore, Zachary Burch, Peyton Cook, Teagan Hill, Elijah Jackson, Madelyn Stewart, Indigo Teufel, and Mogie Walkingstick.
Foundation grants have also been selected. This year's site grant goes to Cait Parker & Courtney Webster (Parents as Teachers) for Math Learning Resources. Classroom Grants have been awarded to Chris Pfaff (Great Beginnings at DEC): Illuminating Learning: Light Table Exploration in Early Childhood; Amanda Hooten (Great Beginnings at Barry): Adapted Books for AAC Users and Students with Limited Language; Jeff Humburg (Platte City Middle School): Throwing Strikes for PE; Brandy Lister (Platte City Middle School): Sensory Tools for Special Education; Tiffany Flanagan (Compass Elementary): Math Stackers; Daria Opanasenko-Davydova (Platte Purchase Middle School): Reach National Geographic Textbooks for English Learners; and Josh Milne (Platte Purchase Middle School): Archery for Physical Education.
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PCR-3 Announces Teacher and Service Person of the Year
Platte County School District is proud to announce its 2026 Teacher of the Year and Service Person of the Year recipients: Blaire Zessin, Reading Teacher at Barry Elementary, and Erica Hopper, Marketing and Recruitment Specialist at Northland Career Center. Both honorees were surprised with the announcements during celebrations held at their schools in early May. Click here to read more.
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Real World Learning Showcase Recap
Thank you to everyone who attended our recent Real World Learning Showcase! The event highlighted the meaningful experiences happening across our schools and celebrated the many ways our learners are applying their knowledge in creative, authentic, and impactful ways. Get a glimpse of these experiences through the event's featured videos:
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Summer School 2026: June 1-29
K-12 Summer School will be held June 1-29, 8am-noon at the following locations:
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Pathfinder Elementary: For all K-5th grade southern attendance area students (Pathfinder and Barry)
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Siegrist Elementary: For all K-5th grade northern attendance area students (Compass and Siegrist)
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PCMS: For all 6th-8th grade students, and 9th-12th grade students
Summer School enrollment is now closed. Those who registered after the May 15 deadline have been placed on a waiting list.
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Re-Enrollment: Launches in July
For Families with Returning Students: Beginning this year, PCR-3 will shift its annual student re-enrollment process to July. This change helps streamline back-to-school preparation and better aligns with other important forms, such as free and reduced-price meal applications, which become available July 1.
Families can expect re-enrollment information and instructions to be shared this summer. If your student will not be returning to PCR-3 for the upcoming school year, please contact your school’s front office to let them know.
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Y Club Enrollment for 2026-27
The Before and After School Program available to families at PCR-3 is Y Club. Children in pre-kindergarten through 5th grade benefit from homework enrichment, physical activity, and small and large group activities with a focus on building community and youth voice and leadership. Full-time and part-time Y Club is available at each of our elementary buildings, and two pre-K sites, along with Y Club on days when school is out of session for inclement weather, seasonal breaks, and other days off (enrollment permitting). Operating hours are each weekday from 6:30 a.m. until school begins, and again after school until 6:00 p.m. Registration is now open. If you have any questions about the Y Club program, please contact YMCA at (816) 360-3390.
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Great Beginnings and Barry Elementary Principal-in-Waiting
As part of ongoing long-range facility planning, the Board of Education recently reviewed updates related to the reuse of our facilities and specifically early childhood expansion opportunities in Paxton Center. With these plans, the Board of Education approved Kacie Ambrose (current Barry Elementary Principal) as Principal-in-Waiting for our Great Beginnings early childhood education programs and Dr. Mindy Wheeler (current Barry Elementary Assistant Principal) as Principal-in-Waiting for Barry Elementary for the 2026-27 school year, with both transitioning into official roles in 2027-28.
Naming an official principal for Great Beginnings helps us prepare for continued growth and expanded opportunities for our youngest learners, and these leadership transitions reflect the District’s commitment to proactive planning, strong school leadership, and meaningful learning experiences for students and families.
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Join our Team at PCR-3!
Join our team at PCR-3 and be part of a community dedicated to nurturing young minds! We are currently seeking extraordinary educators for the following roles: Paraprofessional, Permanent Substitute, Lunch Monitor, Custodian, Bus Driver, Bus Aide, and more!
Be a part of our community, our family, our team, and our tradition! Visit the Careers section of our website to explore current openings and submit your application today.
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Gambling Community Awareness Survey
Missouri's Prevention Resource Centers are conducting surveys to better understand what is observed, experienced, and perceived across our community regarding gambling and gambling-related activities. Your responses will help guide prevention strategies, improve community awareness, and support the development of programs and resources. Community members and youth ages 13-20 are encouraged to participate:
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Pirate Pride: Students Earn Seal of Biliteracy
For the Pirate Pride portion of the May meeting, the Board recognized Hannah Alonso, Housseinatou Balde, Natalie Fernandez, Nicole Fernandez, Valeria Hernandez, Nargiz Jafarli, Ethan Lee, Sophie Lugo Barra, Jonas Plasencia Mena, Abigayle Polner, Andi Sanchez Pacheco, and Camila Zavala, students who have earned the Missouri Seal of Biliteracy. These scholars have demonstrated proficiency in two or more languages, highlighting their dedication to communication, culture, and global citizenship.
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Extraordinary Educators: Staff Recognition
Each month, PCR-3 will recognize staff members who are bringing our Strategic Plan to life by exemplifying one or more of the following strategies: providing meaningful experiences; creating safe, respectful environments; fostering a culture of innovation and excellence; and building collaborative community partnerships.
At the May meeting we recognized Dakota Brizendine and Josh Jurgens, educators at Platte Purchase Middle School, for their dedication to students and staff. Dakota was celebrated for fostering a culture of innovation and excellence by transforming math instruction through collaborative, student-centered learning; and Josh was recognized for creating a safe, welcoming environment where students feel supported and empowered to be themselves.
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2025 Bond Issue Project Update
Newkirk Novak project managers reviewed construction progress of the PCHS Phase 2 project, and Dr. Devin Doll shared an update on the Compass Elementary Parking Improvements.
PCHS Phase 2: Masonry veneer, drywall at the two-story classroom wing, MEP rough-in at the library, paint in the classroom wing on level 1, and framing in the band and vocal wing will be completed this month. Exterior metal wall panels at the clear story, drywall in the library, and acoustical ceiling will be kicking off in the coming weeks. Sitework for the new parking lots will begin this summer. Starting May 26, the Paxton parking lot and the PCHS east parking lot in front of the new main entrance will be closed. New parking lots in these areas are anticipated to open by August 7.
Compass Elementary Parking Improvements: This project has kicked off and will continue through August 7. The upper parking lot will be closed off starting May 26 and a temporary entrance will be put in place in the lower lot.
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NWDC Project Update
JE Dunn project managers reviewed construction progress of the Northland Workforce Development Center. The roofing operation is underway, and the 2-story portion is progressing well and nearly complete. On the exterior of the building, a large portion of the sheathing has been installed and installation of the horizontal girt system has begun. This system will act as the backing and structure system for the eventual metal panels. Inside, crews are installing hangers and piping for mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire-sprinkler systems, and interior wall framing on the 2nd floor has begun. From a sitework perspective, much of the curb and gutter system has been poured on the west half of the site. This work will continue to the east as we prepare for base course of asphalt this summer.
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Elementary Building Improvement Plan Updates
Leadership teams from Barry, Compass, Pathfinder, and Siegrist Elementaries along with Dr. Jennifer McClure, Director of Elementary Education, provided the Board with an elementary strategic plan update at the May meeting.
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Long-Range Facility Plan Update
At the May Board of Education meeting, Dr. Devin Doll, Executive Director of Facilities and Operations, shared an update on the District’s Long-Range Facility Plan. During the 2025-26 school year, the Long-Range Facility Planning Committee met three times to review facility assessments, refine planning criteria, explore and prioritize future facility needs, develop planning scenarios, collaborate with community stakeholders, and ultimately recommend updates to the Board of Education.
View the Long-Range Facility Plan Summary to see progress on the 1-5 year (2023-28) projects since the original 15-year master plan was approved, as well as revisions to the 6-10 year and 11-15 year recommendations.
A major focus of this year’s work was determining future use plans for Paxton Center and Northland Career Center. Using annual capital improvement budget funds, Paxton Center will be renovated to expand early childhood programming (Paxton Early Education Center), and Northland Career Center (along with the annex) will be renovated to support multi-purpose programming and will be referred to as the Gerald B. Hart Building and the Annex.
| | COMMUNITY EVENTS/INFORMATION | | |
Platte City Summer Concert Series
Enjoy some music on the Platte County Courthouse lawn in Platte City from 7-9 p.m. on the second Saturday of June, July, and August, sponsored by the Platte City Friends of the Arts. See flier for details.
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Platte County Quarterback Club Golf Tourney - Aug 15
The Quarterback Club is hosting its 30th annual Golf Tournament at Shiloh Springs on Saturday, August 15. See flier for details.
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PCR-3 Summer Athletic Camps
Several athletic camps are available this summer for our students. Please click on the fliers/registration forms linked below. Note that the grade will be the grade your child is entering in the 2026-27 school year.
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Save the Date: All School Reunion Weekend - Oct 2-4
Pirate Alumni: Mark your calendars for the weekend of October 2-4, 2026 as we celebrate an All-School Reunion Weekend you won’t want to miss! Plans are underway for a meaningful weekend tied to Homecoming, giving Pirates from every class the chance to reconnect, reminisce, and celebrate the memories that shaped us. The reunion event will be held at the Platte County Fairgrounds on October 3. Details will be shared on the PCR-3 Alumni Facebook page: facebook.com/PlatteCountyR3Alumni
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May 22: Last Day of School, 3-hour early dismissal
May 28: Report Cards Go Home
June 1-29: Summer School
June 18: Board of Education Meeting, 6:30pm, (reconvene from closed session which begins at 5:30pm)
June 19: Juneteenth, No Summer School
July 16: Board of Education Meeting, 6:30pm, (reconvene from closed session which begins at 5:30pm)
August 25: First Day of 2026-27 School Year
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The mission of the Platte County School District is to ensure our learners thrive in an ever-changing world with confidence and resilience, prepared to pursue their unique futures.
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