VIENNA — The Maries County R-1 Board of Education on Dec. 16 approved a high school roof project, awarding the contract for $100,357 to Missouri Builder Services.

The project will use upgraded Class 4 shingles, which provide enhanced durability and better resistance to hail and extreme weather compared to standard shingles. Class 4 shingles also offer a longer lifespan, expected between 30 and 50 years, giving the school long-term protection at a manageable cost. Superintendent Teresa Messersmith said she has had no past business problems with Missouri Builder Services.

“They (Missouri Builder Services) have done two roofs for us in the last five years,” Messersmith said. “They’ve done a wonderful job and we’ve had no issues there. They show up, they do the job.”

The decision came after comparing bids. The other bid in competition was GNR Construction who submitted a bid but was more expensive.

The board also discussed track repairs, noting that resurfacing will need to wait until summer due to temperature requirements, but temporary repairs will allow use during track season. Messersmith proposed using the remaining $100,000 in bond funds after the high school roof project to resurface the track this summer. Due to the weather, Messersmith said she has reached out to a couple people about doing a little ‘do it yourself’ repair work on the track over the winter for now.

“What I would like to propose is that we use the remainder of the bond money, which is right at $100,000 and we resurface that track now,” Messersmith said. “This summer, with our bond money. The bids were approximately $96,000 to $103,000 and we have $100,000 left.”

Messersmith advised the board if they’d like to go through with this, they need to jump on this immediately.

“We need to do this properly,” Messersmith said. “We’ll go through the bidding process, I’ll put it in the newspaper and we’ll run those for a couple weeks. We’ll get sealed bids and then we’ll vote. My suggestion is that we go ahead and use the rest of our bond money to resurface the track.”

No action was taken at the meeting.

The board also discussed district progress and Messersmith reported that the district continues to outperform state averages in multiple areas, with rising scores across all grade levels.

Messersmith provided the board with a district-wide overview, noting that attendance rates remain above the state average and graduation rates continue to exceed 95%. Messersmith also shared updates on Annual Performance Rate (APR) scores, which have risen across all buildings.

These improvements are driven by academic achievement status and growth across core subjects including English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. A more indepth report was given by Natalie Martin and information can be found in a separate article in this week’s edition of The Advocate.

Other updates included support for students through the district’s meal program, training for staff on best practices, professional development in teaching strategies and completion of the final walkthrough with Alexander Construction. Messersmith also reported a $500 anonymous donation to cover unpaid lunch accounts and reported on allocations of REAP funds, including $12,000 directed toward technology upgrades.

“We had $21,000 worth of REAP money that we are going to spend,” Messersmith said. “We have things that we spend every year for, subscriptions for certain things, certain things we use annually to pay out of that REAP money. This year we decided that we would need three interactive TVs. Those are $2,100, a piece and this year we’re starting on high school.”

According to Messersmith, three teachers were selected to receive the interactive TVs based on who was expected to use them the most.

“We also bought 25 Chromebooks,” Messersmith said. “So that’s somewhere around $12,600 of our REAP money that we put into technology.”

Discussion about the current chromebooks were brought up with VHS principal Tim Metcalf saying some of the chromebooks used currently look like they are close to exploding. Students have nicknamed them “poofy chromebooks,” according to Metcalf. New chromebooks have arrived and are set to replace the old chromebooks.

“We have them now,” Metcalf said. “They’ll be in place soon. I’ll pick out the worst of the worst and replace them.”

Metcalf also said he is going to check this situation out himself. Messersmith said at the end if Metcalf finds out they need more Chromebooks because giving old laptops to kids is unsafe, she will order more.

“Depending on how many we find, we may have to order some more,” Messersmith said.

The board also approved summer school dates from May 26 to June 24, 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., as well as the 2024–25 audit. Messersmith noted the recurring concern over segregation of duties in the district’s financial processes, which she attributed to staffing limitations and the complexity of payroll management.

“Unless we are willing to hire additional accounting personnel or we’re able to do that, we will always have that in our audit,” Messersmith said. “Other than that, everything was the same as last year, and everything was good.”

Messersmith also praised Vienna Main Street for upcoming banners that will hang around the school. Carrie Kleffner, president of Vienna Main Street, said the banners are provided by donations from Vienna Main Street.

Elementary Principal Shanda Snodgrass opened her report by thanking the community and sharing highlights from Grandparents Week at Vienna Elementary School. Snodgrass said the district helped support 25 families this year through the Giving Tree program, with deliveries currently underway.

She also recognized the finalists for the regional spelling bee in Bunceton: Elayna Bresnahan and Savannah Wann, with alternates Matthew Campbell and Logan Thomas, chosen after classroom competitions over the past month. Current enrollment at the elementary school stands at 222 students.

Tim Metcalf, princiopal at the high school, followed with a report on Vienna High School, highlighting extracurricular efforts, particularly a joint performance by the middle and high school bands, which he described as “magical,” and announced plans for the band to participate in basketball games starting sometime in 2026.

Joe Edwards also gave a report reflecting the school’s commitment to supporting diverse learning needs. Edwards said Maries R-1 currently serves 21 students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).

The meeting ended as the board voted to move into a closed session.