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TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2021
TRENTON
R-T REPUBLICAN-TIMES 75¢
©W.B. Rogers Printing Co., Inc.
Established Sept. 4, 1864 - 157th Year - No. 57
12 PAGES
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Candidates On Display Five School Board Candidates Talk To Teachers, Public Attracting and retaining teachers, communication among all the stakeholders in the district and the current culture within the district were recurrent themes when five of the candidates for the Trenton R-9 School Board participated in a forum Thursday evening. Melissa King, Emily Lasley, Bill Miller, Joshua Shuler and Michael Voorhies attended the forum, sponsored by the Trenton Teachers Association and the Republican-Times. Those five and two others, Shaun McCullough and Jeff Spencer, are vying for two vacancies on the R-9 board and have their names on the April 6 election ballot. Prior to the public portion of the meeting, the candidates held an hour-plus long meeting with teachers who were present to answer questions posed by the educators. Mindy Walker, a field representative from the Missouri State Teachers Association, served as moderator for both sessions. The first question posed by
the public asked candidates to address the challenge of recruiting and retaining quality teachers and how to stop the district from becoming a stepping stone for teachers to leave for a higher-paying district. Voorhies said he believes salaries are one of the reasons teachers leave the district, but not the main one, which he said is due to teachers being afraid to speak out in the district for fear of retaliation. He said open communication and treating all teachers and paraprofessionals as “essential” and with respect would help and is one of the biggest issues he would like to address. Shuler said high turnover is usually a culture problem within an organization and can be due to several factors. He noted that different people find value in different things - it might not always be salary; for some people it is having someone say “please” and “thank you.” Giving everyone a voice and actually learning what the issues are might go a long way in addressing the problem. Miller also said there is a culture issue and said if faculty and staff are leaving, then the district needs to be asking why that’s happening. He said those hiring need to approach it by hiring people who aren’t look-
ing to be short-term in the district, if possible. He suggested that the district look at the pay gap with other districts and consider other incentives that can be provided to the lowerpaid staff. He also suggested that when a staff member leaves, someone take the time to ask them why they’re leaving. Mrs. Lasley said she believes turnover is a concern and pay is a small piece of the puzzle. She said that as a parent in the district she is concerned with the turnover and the lack of consistency it leads to for students. She said she wonders if sometimes the district is just looking for applicants to fill a spot, knowing they won’t stay if hired and commented that she’d be curious to know what information is gathered when teachers leave the district. Mrs. King said that as someone who likes to solve problems, the first step would be to establish that turnover is a problem. She said the district needs to look at setting longterm goals, a part of which would include addressing why there is staff turnover, board turnover, etc. She addressed the issue of parents being frustrated with trying to help their kids with the district technol-
R-T Photo/Ronda Lickteig
Trenton R-9 Board of Education candidates who participated in a candidate forum Thursday evening included, from left, Melissa King, Emily Lasley, Bill Miller, Joshua Shuler and Michael Voorhies. A link is available for the public to view the forum, which was sponsored by the Trenton Teachers Association and the Republican-Times.
ogy and not being able to find the help they need. If the parents weren’t so frustrated, she said, maybe the teachers wouldn’t feel so much frustration either. The second question posed to candidates was to provide an example of how they could be objective about an issue they don’t necessarily support. Examples included books that might be controversial or a [See FORUM, Page 7]
I REMEMBER TRENTON
Homemade Bread And Much More
NCMC Board Agenda
The North Central Missouri College Board of Trustees will meet in regular session at 4 o’clock today (Tuesday, March 23) in the Frey Administrative Center. This is a change in the regular meeting time. Items on the announced agenda include new employee introductions, reports from Head Start, the vice president for academic affairs, the vice president for student affairs, the chief information officer and the college president; Head Start items, consideration of bids/purchases, consideration of a four-day work week, consideration of FY2021-22 tuition and fees, consideration of FY2021-22 room and board rates and personnel items, including a retirement, employment transfers, employments, recommendation for emeritus status and revised and new job descriptions. An executive session is planned to discuss personnel, legal matters and real estate.
One New COVID Case
The Grundy County Health Department has reported one new case of COVID-19 since Thursday. That brings the total cases since the pandemic began to 1,061, which includes 820 confirmed cases and 241 probable cases. The county’s death toll from the virus remains steady at 40. The GCHD gave 110 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Friday, March 19. This week GCHD will have Moderna vaccine available for first and second doses. The first dose clinic will be held on Thursday, March 25 by appointment for individuals in the open priority groups. Call (660)359-4196 to schedule an appointment. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced Phase 2 will be open on March 29 and vaccine will be available for all Missouri adults on April 9.
Woman Recounts Growing Up In Trenton Area By Mary Holt I grew up in a wonderful family. There were six kids with 13 years between the oldest and the youngest. We had wonderful great hardworking parents. Dad farmed for others for a few years, did some other jobs and then became a railroader, of course for the Rock Island. He was a fireman and then an engineer. Mom was a very hardworking lady. She cooked, cleaned, sewed, did mountains of laundry, raised huge gardens and canned many things, besides taking care of six children and Dad. But all of us dearly loved her homemade bread. The smell was something that you never forget. We would come home from school just as she got the loaves out of the oven. She would slice it, put homemade butter on each slice and then sprinkle each slice with sugar. That was like eating dessert, only better. [See MEMORIES, Page 7]
BRIEFS
Kiwanis Trivia Night
“Around the World” is the theme of the Third Annual Trenton Kiwanis Club Trivia Night, which will be held Saturday, March 27 at Black Silo Winery. Teams of six to eight people (age 18 or older) will compete at the event, with a registration fee of $120, with one mulligan per round available for $5 each. Teams are encouraged to participate in the team theme contest, dressing and decorating their table with their interpretation of the theme for the chance to earn extra points. Online registration can be completed at https://tinyurl.com/TrentonKiwanisTrivia2021. Contact Kara Helmandollar at 359-5966 for more information or to obtain a paper copy of the registration form and a complete list of rules. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m., with trivia set to begin at 6:30 p.m. The event will include prizes, concessions and a silent auction.
Sunnyview Board Meets
R-T Photo/Seth Herrold
PILE DRIVER Work continued on the 17th Street bridge on Friday with the construction crew driving pilings to help support the bridge structure. Boone Construction of Columbia is heading up the project, which was delayed early on, but June 2 remains a tentative completion date for the bridge.
The Grundy County Nursing Home District Board of Directors met March 16, hearing a presentation on the employee retirement plan. According to information provided by Administrator Jerry Doerhoff, the board heard a presentation from Jeff Pabst of LAGERS concerning the employee retirement plan. They also discussed the status of the energy project, with a special meeting to be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday to discuss that project. Doerhoff reported on February activities, including the Valentine party and the Resident Council meeting, and said there were no positive COVID-19 cases among residents or staff in February. The board also held a closed session to approve the January closed session minutes.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
GIRLS TRACK GEARING UP...
Rain ends Tuesday night with Wednesday featuring mostly cloudy skies and a high temperature of 55. There is a chance of rain Wednesday night into Thurday, which has a high of 52. The high in Trenton on Thursday was 52 with Friday reaching 55 and Sunday hitting 60. Sunday’s high was 67 with a low of 42. The high on Sunday at the Government Weather Station near Spickard was 66 with a low of 48 and .06 of an inch of rain falling.
The Trenton High School girls track and field team is preparing for another season, but doing so with a roster of just 10. Kristi Ewing, the team’s lone senior, will be a state medal contender. SPORTS, PAGE 2
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SPORTS ..........................PAGE 2 NATIONAL.......................PAGE 3 COMMUNITY ..................PAGE 5 CALENDAR .....................PAGE 5 THANK A FARMER .......PAGE 6 COMICS ..........................PAGE 8 CROSSWORDS ................PAGE 9 CLASSIFIEDS.........PAGE 10 & 11 AREA .............................PAGE 12