District in search of new tech school director

The Maryville R-II Board of Education approved the resignation of two program directors at its regular meeting this week.

Linda Stevens, director of Adult Education and Literacy, and Jim Cassity, director of the Northwest Technical School, will leave the district at the end of the school year.

Stevens is retiring as AEL director after more than 30 years of service. Cassity has been at the helm of NTS for the last four years.

Superintendent Larry Linthacum said the district is losing two employees who have made significant and positive changes during their tenure.

"We are thankful for the contributions that they have given to the district over the years," Linthacum said. "There have been so many positive things happen in the time they've been here, and we appreciate them all."

Linthacum said the district is currently accepting and reviewing applications for both positions.

The opening for the NTS director position was posted on the district's website earlier this week. The AEL position has yet to be advertised.

Closing date for applications is February 1 for the NTS director, which is a 12-month position.

"For now, we are going to go through the interview process," Linthacum said. "We have to align with our goals and vision and do what is best for the district."

Also accepted by the board was the resignation of Nina Wiederholt, who teaches fifth-grade science at the middle school.

Additional personnel changes include supplemental assignments for Andy Walter and Connor Kellerstraus. Walter is currently a paraprofessional at Maryville Middle School and will now also serve as an assistant boys baseball coach. Kellerstraus will take up assistant track coaching duties at Maryville High School.

In other board news, tuition was set for students from sending schools who attend alternative classes at the Area Cooperative for Educational Support.

Any district wishing to continue sending students to ACES will have to pay $75 a day per pupil. Students within the Maryville district are exempt from tuition.

Currently, three students from Maryville attend the alternative school. Nine come from sending schools.

Late last summer, 21 area school districts who operate as a consortium attempted to qualify for a multi-million-dollar federal Race to the Top grant that would have, among other things, provided ACES funds for students outside of the R-II district.

The consortium was named as a finalist but was not selected as a grant winner.

Prior to the announcement, R-II, as fiscal agent for the regional ACES program, decided that if the grant failed to come through the district would no longer accept ACES students from other schools without additional tuition costs.

In December, after the grant application was rejected, the district moved forward with its plan to cut ACES staff at the end of the spring semester from four teachers and four social workers to two of each. A counselor and paraprofessional will also lose their jobs at the end of the current school year.

Throughout the process, Linthacum and other district officials have maintained that the quality of the ACES program has never been in question, and that the cutbacks are strictly a financial issue.