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The Salem R-80 Board of Education held their Reorganization Meeting and Budget Work Session Thursday evening at the district administrative offices boardroom. After a couple changes to the agenda, there was no consideration to budget revisions and in place of resignations was communications, the agenda was then approved. The certification of the election results were then verified showing Chris Heavin and Carrie Coffman-Snider did receive the most votes to fill the two positions that were available on the Board. The Current Vice President of the Board, Clifton Parker then swore in the newly elected Board members. Superintendent Cindy Rumpf then acted as Temporary Chairmen during the selection of the new Board President, Bernie Sirois. New Board President Sirois then presided over the nominations of Clifton Parker as Vice President, Carrie Coffman-Snider as Secretary and Chris Heavin as Treasurer. The Board then elected Carrie Coffman-Snider as the MSBA delegate and Bernie Sirois as the alternate. In Communications, a letter was read addressed to the Board regarding the forming of a committee to review applications, select candidates to interview and participate in the interview process for a Junior High Principal. The Committee started out with 12 members made up of faculty and staff. At the first meeting the importance of confidentiality was expressed and those wanting to be on the committee had to be able to be at all the interviews and three of the original 12 had to drop out, leaving nine members on the Committee. They started out with 19 applicants and were told to cut them down to five. After picking those five applicants, interview dates and times were set up for the interview process. Before the interview process, one of the five applicants had taken another position, thus leaving just four. The interviews went well, considering that two of the applicants were from within the district and then the Committee was asked to narrow their selection down to the top three. Based on secret ballots selections were made. At that point the Committee felt ready for the names to be presented to the Board of Education. On April 2, 2012, Mr. John McColloch informed the Junior High Committee that a breach in confidentiality had occurred. The letter stated that at every session conducted by the Junior High Committee, the importance of confidentiality was expressed and the need for information to stay within the room. The Committee was very disheartened after all the hours spent organizing and preparing for the process only to have it tainted. The Committee went on to state in the letter that this action does not reflect the true professionalism of the employees at Salem R-80 and it was with great regret that the Committee members requested to have their names removed from the interview process. The letter was signed by eight of the Committee members. The Board then voted to go into closed session for the purpose of discussing personnel. In closed session, the Board hired Drew Long as a High School Social Studies teacher and Junior High Football Coach for a year, Heather Carvajal was hired as the Junior High Communication Arts teacher and Bobbie Jo Lewis was hired as the Junior High Principal. After adjourning from closed session, the budget work session began.

The Dent County One Ton Weight Loss Challenge Committee would like to announce the team losing the highest percentage of body weight for February. The team was “The Bowers” who lost 7 pounds or 2% total body weight. This team’s captain is Angie Bowers and team members include: Justin Bowers and Joan Bowers. Each months winning team will receive a traveling trophy to designate their accomplishment. To date the teams have lost a total of 1,024 of the 2,000 that is needed to complete the challenge. Monthly activities are planned to help participants realize their weight loss goals. Tonight, there will be a fundraiser at Pizza Inn from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM. The Lose One Ton Weight Loss Challenge will join the local TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) Group to conduct this fundraiser.  Signs will be posted on the buffet providing the nutrition information as well as the TOPS exchange amounts and the Weight Watchers points. A TOPS information sheet will be available. Enjoy A Family Pizza Night while watching your portions and making healthier choices!! Residents are also encouraged to eat out at our local restaurants who have low calorie menu choices marked with a “Lose One Ton” logo sticker. For additional information, please call Susie Cahill at 247-1877 or e-mail loseoneton@gmail.com.

An accident occurred at 8:45 Friday morning in Crawford County on Highway 49 about a mile east of Cherryville. According to the highway patrol report, a 2002 Pontiac Grand Am driven by 31-year old Deanna Black of Davisville ran off the roadway, struck a driveway, and overturned after Black failed to negotiate a curve. Black suffered serious injuries and was flown by Air Evac to the Mercy Hospital in Creve Coeur. She was not wearing a seat restraint at the time of the accident. The Pontiac sustained extensive damage and was removed from the scene by Abney’s Towing.

The Community Wide Yard Sale will be held on Saturday, May 5^th. If you would like to reserve a space on the City Lot located at 4^th and Iron Street in Salem, the fee is $8.00 and the deadline to reserve your spot is Friday, May 4^th. Call 729-2428 for more information. If you would like your yard sale to be included on the map and in the newspaper advertisements the fee is $10.00 and the deadline for the map and newspaper is Friday, April 27^th. For more information call 729-4126.

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