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The Salem R-80 Board of Education held their monthly meeting Thursday evening at the district administrative offices boardroom, with just enough Board members in attendance for a quorum. After approval of the agenda, during communications, Superintendent Cindy Rumpf read a letter from Dent County Sheriff Rick Stallings commenting on the positive things that he sees in the district. Rumpf reported that the parent/teacher conferences were held October 19th and 21st, William Lynch reported 91% in attendance, the Upper Elementary had 97.5%, the Junior High had 79% and the High School had an 18% attendance. When asked why such a low number for the high school, it was reported that although they were not in attendance, quite a few conferences were done via phone calls and not counted. A Professional Development Day was held on November 5th with breakfast prepared by the administrators for the faculty members, and a celebration was held after the breakfast to announce the Distinction in Performance Award presented to the district by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. In new business there was a brief report given on the MSBA/MASA annual conference and all Board members were encouraged to attend at least one of these meetings for insight. The Board then set the filing dates for the election of three Board openings. The board members whose terms are expiring are Jack Blackwell, Jimmy Williams, and Clifton Parker. Filings will begin December 14th through 17th from 8:00 to 4:00 pm; December 27th through 30th from 8:00 to 3:00 pm; January 3rd through 7th, 10th through 14th, and 17th from 8:00 to 4:00 pm; and January 18th from 8:00 to 5:00 pm at the district administrative offices boardroom. The office will be closed December 23rd, 24th, 25th and 31st. The Board then approved Sarah Medley to represent Salem as the MSBA Belcher Scholarship recipient. The Board approved revisions to the budget with actual figures being in. Matt James, the Salem R-80 auditor, was in to give a brief overview of the audit conducted for the district. He stated that statements look good; debts were way down, and that the membership counts were also down from last year. It was reported that the Salem R-80 district is very healthy right now in preparation of weathering the storms ahead with more federal dollars due to be cut. Rumpf did inform the Board that over the course of the next few months there would be talks and a lot more discussions on the budgets and ways to cut back in the district to maintain the health and well being of the district for the next couple years. The Board members in attendance were then asked to participate in filling out a questionnaire for MSIP, which is due this year by the students, staff and Board members. The Board then voted to move the December meeting to Tuesday, December 21st. In Executive Session the Salem R-80 Board of Education hired Nancy Quinn for High School Special Education. The meeting was then adjourned.The Salvation Army Service Unit of Dent County would like to announce that this year’s Christmas kettle campaign begins tomorrow and will run until Friday, December 24^th. The kettles will be located at Wal-Mart, Country Mart, and Dollar General. Counter Kettles will be placed at various locations around Dent County. This year’s goal is $21,000 and with the continuation of a local mail appeal and the hundreds of volunteer hours donated by individuals, businesses, and clubs to ring the bell at the Christmas kettle, the Salvation Army is hopeful that local citizens will support this campaign generously as they have in the past. This year, David Dittman, a Vice-President at the Bank of Salem, will serve as the Honorary Christmas Campaign Chairman and he thanks everyone for their donation on money, time or both during this Christmas season to make it a brighter 2011 for hose less fortunate. The funds raised during this campaign will be used to assist the citizens of Dent County with utility assistance, and prescriptions. The Salvation Army also supplies local school children with backpacks, and provides assistance to families who have lost everything due to a fire. The generosity of the citizens of Dent County will enable the local Salvation Army to continue to meet the needs of those who need assistance in 2011. If you would like to help by ringing the bell as the Christmas kettle or need additional information about the local Salvation Army, please call Jim and Diane Boulware at 729-6685 or Sherry Lea at 729-8163.

Sports [TOP]

The Missouri Basketball Tigers will be in the Cancun Challenge Tournament tonight against Wyoming starting at 5:30. Missouri is 2-0 on the year. If Missouri wins, they play tomorrow night at 8:00. If they lose, they will play tomorrow afternoon at 5:30. You can hear the game on KSMO Radio.

The St. Louis Blues will be in Nashville tomorrow night to face the Predators starting at 7:00. KSMO will air the game around the Missouri Basketball game in Cancun.

Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto has been named the National League's Most Valuable Player, as voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Votto placed first on 31 of the 32 ballots cast by two writers from each NL city and garnered 443 points to outdistance St. Louis' reigning two-time MVP winner Albert Pujols by 164 points. Pujols, of course, had captured this award the last two years and has now finished in the top-10 in MVP voting in 10 straight seasons. Pujols also won this award in 2005, was second in 2002, 2003 and 2006, third in 2004, fourth in 2001 (his rookie year) and ninth in 2007.

Obituaries   [TOP]