Hello Josey,

Tiger Talk e-newsletters are distributed the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month as a way to keep our patrons informed with important school information. Archived editions can be found HERE. Have a great week!

Visitors and Volunteers

The Republic School District looks forward to opening up more visitor and volunteer opportunities per updates made to the Return to Learn Plan on October 21. School buildings that have COVID19-related absences at 7% or below are eligible for visitors to begin coming to school on November 8 and for volunteers to begin on October 26.

Please take note of the difference between visitors and volunteers per the provided graphic.

Visitors are able to complete our onsite background check, Raptor, with a personal ID the day of their visit. The reason for our short delay in allowing access to visitors is our need to adjust logistics and to acquire the tables and chairs needed to allow for lunchtime visitors. These extra resources are needed in response to the increase in student enrollment since we last allowed visitors in our buildings, prior to the pandemic.

Volunteers will need to complete a new registration process as the former process is no longer available to us through the state of Missouri. This process is called the Missouri Family Care Safety Registry (FCSR). It provides a more extensive background check than our Raptor system, which is needed for volunteers who spend more individual time with students than our visitors.

The FCSR requires volunteers to complete an online registration process that involves a one-time, lifetime fee of $15.25. It is the responsibility of the volunteer to cover this one-time, lifetime fee. The online registration process can be found at FCSR-BSEES - MO.gov.

Once the online portion is complete, a paper FCSR form must be completed and submitted to your student’s school. This form and details can be found at https://www.republicschools.org/Page/1189.

Take note, the wait time for the FCSR registration to be processed and for the district to be notified can be up to two weeks. We recommend completing this process as early as possible.

Dire Need for Bus Drivers!

Republic School District proudly offers bus services for ALL students in our district! Providing this service requires a large number of trained drivers, and we need more! To avoid having to extend the length of current bus routes, spending funds on chartering buses (who are also seeing driver shortages) and/or reducing the number of trips and experiences for students outside our campuses...WE NEED MORE BUS DRIVERS!

Please share this opportunity with anyone that is interested in making an impact on students and filling this need! CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS AND TO APPLY!

Dr. Debbie Yonke Announces Retirement

After 40 years of service in public and private education, Dr. Debbie Yonke submitted her retirement notification to the Board of Education. Her last day with the district will be August 31, 2022. Dr. Yonke currently serves as the Director of Professional Learning and Instructional Support. Prior to this position, Dr. Yonke was the Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment here in Republic.

Before joining our team Dr. Yonke worked at Springfield Public Schools where she served as the Coordinator of Quality Assurance in Learning, Coordinator of Professional Learning Integration, Instructional Specialist for School Improvement and Staff Development Specialist/STEP UP Coach. Throughout her career in education, Dr. Yonke has also held positions such as elementary classroom teacher, Associate Professor of Education at Evangel University and National Trainer for Kagan Professional Development. 

In addition to the positions she has held, Dr. Yonke has obtained a long list of accolades including her most recent recognition of Springfield Business Journal’s Most Influential Women award. In addition, she has been instrumental in our well-respected curriculum design process, exceptional professional learning opportunities and award winning PLC design. We have been so fortunate to have Dr. Yonke’s expertise and passion in our district for the last eight years. She is an amazingly talented educator who has impacted many lives throughout her career!

In her letter to the Board of Education she shared that she is looking forward to a “slower pace and more time with family” in retirement. As stated above, Dr. Yonke will be with us through August of next year. We look forward to her continued contributions to our district in the coming months, and also to wishing her well as she begins the next chapter in her life. 

As a reminder, the USDA waiver providing FREE BREAKFAST AND LUNCH TO ALL STUDENTS has been extended to June of 2022!!! We are grateful to be able to offer this to our families! Lunch menus can be found HERE.

OCTOBER 25: Our construction projects are coming along nicely! #RepMOProud

The new EC building is about 30% complete, which is right on schedule. The exterior of the high wind shelter is nearly complete. Interior walls are going in, all slab pours have been completed, the storm sewer has been installed along with the water line. Roofing and electric are a few of the next steps.

The Schofield gym/high wind shelter is about 40% complete, also right on schedule. The precast panels are set, the underground rough in is complete and the main concrete slab floor has been poured. Next steps include interior masonry walls, framing of corridor walls, roofing and electrical rough-in.

OCTOBER 21: At tonight’s Board meeting Republic High School was spotlighted! Principal, Mr. Thompson shared that RHS has three main focus areas: academics, culture and leadership. This video showcases these areas for the 2021-22 school year. Check it out! #RepMOProud http://ow.ly/922x50GuL2R

OCTOBER 19: Fifth grade students at Price Elementary have completed a book character pumpkin project during library class! Students worked in teams to brainstorm ideas, plan and create their character pumpkins.

All Price K-4th grade students are now voting for their favorite pumpkin. The team whose pumpkin receives the most votes will win a new book of their choice and a special treat!

We have loved hearing the students' discussions about the characters and books throughout this project! We'd like to give a special shout out to Kathy from the The Hamels Foundation for the generous donation that provided the pumpkins for this project. #RepMOProud

OCTOBER 18: Join us in congratulating Stacey Judson, Instructional Aide at Sweeny Elementary, for being chosen as the SEPTEMBER REPMO HERO OF THE MONTH! We are so thankful that she chooses to serve in Republic!

A compilation of nominations received in regards to Ms. Judson from district employees is below. She will be honored at the October Board of Education meeting and will also receive $500 to be spent on the resources of her choice.

Sweeny Elementary is proud to nominate Stacey Judson for this month’s RepMO Hero. Stacey is a building aide at Sweeny. However, you would never know due to the many hats you see her wear here on a daily basis. You will find Stacey working on Chromebooks, subbing in classrooms, filling in for the secretaries or working with small groups in the area of literacy or numeracy. Stacey is extremely kind-hearted, works so hard and is always going above and beyond expectations for everyone around her. The students absolutely adore Stacey and love working with her. She fills voids that no one realizes need filled! Stacey serves on our Staff Lighthouse Team and facilitates our School Wide Events Action Team. We are so thankful for the way that Stacey perseveres with passion and leads with kindness each day at Sweeny.

Check out this video of Dr. Pearce surprising Ms. Judson! #repmoproud

REGISTER HERE

REGISTER HERE

Week of October 25: Elementary Parent Teacher Conferences

October 29: Progress 3/Term 1 Grade Cards Distributed (RMS/RHS)

November 1: No School - Fall Break

November 12: End of Progress 4 (RMS/RHS)

November 18: Board of Education Meeting, 7:00 p.m. at Central Office

November 19: Progress 4 Reports Distributed (RMS/RHS), End of Progress 2 (Elementary)

November 24-28: Thanksgiving Break

CLICK HERE for the website calendar.

REMINDER: Every Friday during the school year full day preschool through 12th grade students are released one hour early for teacher collaboration time.