VIENNA — Following a special informational meeting with coaches and teachers on Oct. 11, the Maries R-1 School Board voted unanimously at its Oct. 24 meeting to join the newly formed Show-Me Central Conference beginning in the 2024-2025 school year.

The Show Me-Central Conference will consist of Bunceton, Calvary Lutheran, Chamois, Jamestown, Prairie Home, St. Elizabeth, Tuscumbia and Vienna. During the Oct. 11 meeting, many coaches, teachers and administrators expressed interest in the change. Reasons included more opportunities for academic activities and activities for middle school students.

Board President Kacie James asked if anyone had anything to discuss before the vote.

Superintendent Teresa Messersmith said she had spoken to one of the other superintendents about conference by-laws because board members had asked about them during the special meeting. The other superintendent had told her the conference members planned to write the by-laws once all schools had joined so the districts could work on them together.

In other business, the board approved the district’s Career Ladder plan. The plan remained the same as last year aside from the dates.

Career Ladder is a voluntary performance pay matching program run by the state. The program provides three stages of compensation for extra hours that teachers work. The state pays for 60 percent of the compensation and the school district pays the rest.

Two teachers in the district signed up for stage one. They qualify because they have two years of teaching experience, they have teaching certification and they have met other state requirements such as completion of a mentorship program. Teachers participating in stage one must log 50 hours of eligible work to earn $1,500.

Seven teachers in the district signed up for stage two. They qualify because they have three years of teaching experience while also meeting the requirements for stage one. Teachers participating in stage two must complete 75 hours of extra work to earn $3,000.

Twenty-two teachers in the district signed up for stage three. They qualify because they have five years of teaching experience while also meeting the requirements for the lower stages. Stage three teachers must complete 100 hours of career ladder work to receive $5,000.

The district will pay $74,973 for the program.

Later, the board accepted the resignation of Chandler Harker as softball coach effective at the end of the season. In his resignation letter, Harker offered to help with the transition to a new coach.

The board also renewed its contract with Cintas, the company that washes kitchen equipment such as pot holders and towels. Messersmith said the contract was the same as last year.