BELLE — Maries County R-2 School District officials noted on Dec. 20 that graduation rates are above the state average according to the annual Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Report Card.

“We are on track to (be above state average) again,” said Belle High School Principal Garrett Haslag.

The graduation rate shows 100 percent of the female population graduating from high school in 2022 and 84.85 percent of males graduating.

“I think we were pleased with the graduation rate,” said Superintendent Dr. Lenice Basham. “The demographic information is important for them to have, but I don’t know if there is a level of satisfaction associated.”

The DESE Report Card is full of district-to-state comparison data. 

Basham explained, “Every year we are required to give it out and put it on our website, just like an annual report.” 

According to the DESE Report Card, “Beginning in 2020, the Report Card calculates based on a fixed dataset derived from the current school year to produce a static report; therefore, it may not match other reports on the MCDS Portal. The Report Card is intended to represent a fixed period of time, while all other reports are periodically updated to display current data.”

DESE’s Report Card also provides information about student plans after graduation. After high school, 26.9 percent of students attended a four-year college, 25 percent of students attended a two-year college, 3.8 percent attended a technical institute, 38.5 percent sought employment, and 3.8 percent join the military.

The DESE Report Card describes Maries County R-2 as averaging 80.9 percent attendance compared to the state of Missouri’s 76.2 percent attendance rate. However, the district is averaging a 4.2 percent dropout rate compared to Missouri’s 1.90 percent.

Maries R-2 staff aligns closely with the state numbers.

The district’s average years of experience per educator has 13.7 years of experience while Missouri’s is 13.1 years of experience.

“We’ve had a higher rate of teacher loss over the last few years,” Basham said. “But when looking, our professional staff is still higher on years of experience as far as professional staff. I think that is something we should be proud of.” 

The district boasts a staffing ratio of 1.14 teachers to students compared to Missouri’s 1.167 rates and a 1.14 administrator-to-student ratio compared to the state’s 1.167 ratios.

“I do want to say our school board has really made an effort to keep our staff-to-student ratio lower and I commend them for keeping staff-to-student ratio low,” Basham said. “We do appreciate the board has put financial resources into keeping our class sizes smaller.”

About 29.5 percent of teachers in the district have master’s degrees or higher. The district also spends about $9,416 per student compared to the state average of $13,154 per student.

Each building administrator introduced their portions of the DESE Report Card and discussed how they were working to improve the numbers. Belle High School’s Haslag was able to follow up on several successful plans that were implemented in January 2021 to improve scores.

Haslag mentioned tutoring and intervention opportunities his building teachers began using last year to boost students where they need to be academically.  His program shows positive results.

“I think he is trying hard to put some accountability into place,” Basham commented.

She added that the district is still in need of substitute teachers and anyone who is interested may contact the Administration Building.

“The district is still in need of substitutes and those who are interested in subbing should reach out to Sara at the Admin Building in getting their certification for sub-certificate,” Basham said.