North Callaway receives go-ahead to start JAG program

The North Callaway Board of Education will meet at 7 p.m. tonight at Williamsburg Elementary School.
The North Callaway Board of Education will meet at 7 p.m. tonight at Williamsburg Elementary School.

KINGDOM CITY, Mo. - With some students struggling to navigate their way through high school, much less devise a plan for the future, North Callaway R-1 believes it has a possible solution.

The North Callaway Board of Education voted 7-0 during its regular meeting Thursday night to add the Jobs for America's Graduates program to the high school curriculum for the 2021-22 school year.

JAG is a state-based, national program that supports youth in helping them graduate from high school and become college- or career-ready.

"I'm super excited that the board supported this endeavor for not only our at-risk students, but beyond," North Callaway High School Principal Brian Jobe said. "I think we're ready to make the step forward in joining the JAG community."

Classroom projects for JAG students include producing resumes and cover letters and completing mock interviews. The program continues to provide follow-up services to students for a year after they graduate, whether it's off to college or joining the workforce.

Jobe told board members Thursday night finding a JAG specialist with the proper fit to guide North Callaway's program would be pivotal.

"We want a dynamic individual with a great personality (someone) with real-world knowledge who has compassion," he said. "Finding the right specialist will make the program. We have to be very particular. We'll fail if we don't find the right person."

Jobe explained Friday afternoon the process will soon begin to hire a JAG specialist, followed by professional development this summer and then enrolling students in the program.

In other business Thursday night in the high school media center, board members gave their OK to send out the district's proposed Comprehensive School Improvement Plan mission and vision to stakeholders for their input.

The district's next five-year CSIP is a guidance document that prioritizes areas of improvement to best meet students' needs. North Callaway's last CSIP covered the years 2015-20.

The CSIP mission and vision were shaped after the district hosted a pair of forums earlier this month to gather public insight.

"The forums allowed for some really rich discussions," Assistant Superintendent Niki Buschmann said Thursday night.

The CSIP mission reads as follows, "North Callaway R-1 School District will foster a safe environment in which students embrace the challenge to develop knowledge and skills for success in a dynamic world."

The vision states, "North Callaway R-1 School District will be a district of excellence providing rigor, relevance, relationships, responsibility and results while being accountable to all stakeholders to develop leaders and contributing citizens."

"We did a lot of wordsmithing, put a lot of time into (the mission and vision)," Buschmann said.

The board also approved Superintendent Nicky Kemp's re-entry plan for North Callaway to return to in-seat learning for the 2021-22 school year. A letter will be sent out to district parents in early April informing them of the plan, Kemp told board members.

The letter also outlines three options for those parents who are not comfortable with their children returning to school. The options were amended in the following order: 1) virtual learning-application process; 2) homebound-medical documentation, or 3) homeschooling.

"We'd like to have them here (in school)," board Vice President Amy Reinhard said of the district's students.