VIENNA — The Maries R-1 Board of Education at its March 18 meeting rehired its certified staff for the 2025-26 school year along with making a few new hires.

The first round of rehires were teachers who have not attained tenure and have probationary contracts. Those teachers were Hannah Bradley, Michele Campbell, McKayla Culver, Casey Curler, Jessica Gibbs, Sharlene Hallett, Wayne Hoy, Dixie Ives, Kacie James, Jennifer Massman, Natalie Metcalf, Andrea Neubert, Mable Paquin, Melanie Snodgrass and Nichoel Snodgrass.

The second round of teachers will receive tenure as they begin the 2025-26 school year with the district. The board rehired Rachel Williams and Chandler Harker.

The final batch of rehires included tenured staff. The board rehired Patrick Bresnahan, Mike Byington, Sara Campbell, Leslie Cremer, Tom Evers, Kristy Helton, Malinda Howard, David Martin, Natalie Martin, Amber Schell, Sara Schwartze, Alyssa Smith, Lisa Swindell, Deana Thompson, Rebekah Weidinger, Ken Willardson and Shayla Willoughby.

Later, the board made a few new hires to some of the district’s open positions.

Terra Huffman will join the district as a paraprofessional next school year after the board’s approval during the meeting. She is currently studying to become a teacher.

The second new hire was Kelli Hagenhoff as the high school special education teacher beginning next year. She currently works for the Iberia R-V School District.

Vienna High School Principal Tim Metcalf had a couple of recommendations for middle school and high school openings. The first was to hire Henry Atkinson as a middle school English teacher. He comes to Vienna from the Waynesville R-VI School District.

The last recommended hire was Elizabeth Driskell for the band teacher position. She joins Vienna from the Glasgow School District.

Next, the board accepted a couple of resignations. The first was from middle school English teacher Debbie Heimbaugh.

“Having been in the classroom for the past 31 years, I’m excited to pursue new endeavors, do some traveling and spend time with family in retirement,” her letter said. “It has been a privilege to work with the exceptional students and staff of Vienna this past year.”

The second resignation came from paraprofessional Mikal Weeks. In her letter, she thanked the district for the valuable experience but cited low pay for paraprofessionals as her reason for leaving.

The board accepted both resignations with regret.

Another action item on the agenda was the replacement of the lower elementary school furnace, which resides in the restroom that is undergoing renovations. Superintendent Teresa Messersmith said it made sense for the district to replace the old furnace while other improvements to the restroom are ongoing. The district received two bids on the project.

Alexander Construction, the company handling many of the district’s bond-funded projects, bid $14,041 on the furnace replacement. The bid included a charge for removing the old furnace.

Thermal Pro Heating & Cooling bid $4,287.63 for the furnace removal. The bid did not include a cost to remove the old furnace.

The board accepted the bid from Thermal Pro Heating & Cooling.

In other business, the board approved an audit engagement letter from Springfield-based accounting firm KPM CPAs. The firm will handle the district’s next audit.

The board also approved the district’s updated reading success plan. Messersmith said changes were minor and mostly to revise dates.

Messersmith also advised board members to read through the comprehensive school improvement plan (CSIP) because the state now requires quarterly reviews to see if the district is meeting its goals. Students, staff members and community members had recently taken a climate and culture survey, and the CSIP committee planned to review the feedback and present a report to the board.