Children’s Vision Law
According to Senate Bill 16, enacted in 2007 every child enrolling in a public school kindergarten and new enrollees in first grade must receive a comprehensive eye examination from a state-licensed optometrist or physician. The cost of the exam is the responsibility of the parents. By January 1, 2009 parents and guardians shall provide to the school district proof of the required vision exam or a statement that they are opting out of the exam. The form to be used for completing this vision exam is available on the district website at www.pleasant hillschools.com. For more information, please visit the Missouri Optometric Association’s website www.moeye care.org.

Eighty seniors graduate with A+ status
Congratulations to the Pleasant Hill High School students who graduated in May, 2008 with A+ status. The following seniors totaled 6229.16 tutoring / mentoring hours during their 4 years in High School. This select group of students now have the option to receive tuition benefits if they attend any Missouri public community college or vocational / technical school in the next four years. We are very proud of all the hard work and dedication these seniors put fourth to meet all the A+ requirements.
Those seniors are:
Cory Adkins, Zach Anderson, Jacob Bagby, Ashley Bahner, Christian Barger, Levi Barker, Naomi Beattie, Alexis Beck, Tyler Beck, Cynthia Boney, Colton Boyd, Kalin Boyd, Deanna Bradford, Jessie Brown, Matthew Campos, Steven Casey, Josh Clement, Carrie Coffel, Brittany Cole, Kelli Connell, NicK Coon, Savannah Crabtree, Baillie DeHaven, Morgan Dodson, Cara Ederer, Nicole Fenton, Connor Gary, Brittnie German, Lauren Gillespie, Megan Gipfert, Britney Glass, Jessica Guenther, Kyle Gustin, Jamie Haffner, Brett Hale, Paul Hays, Lauren Henley, Andrionna Hensley, Tiffany Herbert, Grady Hoenshell, Aaron Hulse, Britney Keepes, Heather LaRue, Steven Lee, Megan Lee, Holly Lindenmeyer, Brittany Madison, Jacob Marshall, Josh Martin, Kyra McNeal, Alysa Metcalf, Jake Meyer, Adam Miceli, Tyler Monath, Sarah Moran, John Myers, Karrie Parcel, Cody Parris, Emily Pfaff, Nicole Phillips, Josh Predmore, Justine Reece, David Roberts, Kevin Robles, Suzan Ruehter, Dominic Schoenherr, Josh Smith, Brandon Stiverson, Lee Stoppelman, Teryn Tate, Heather Thompson, Katie Thompson, Tyler Thompson, Tommy Verstraete, Allee Votipka, Cody Waight, Sam Walker, Zach Willems, Emily Woodruff and Caleb Yoder.

Pleasant Hill R-III Schools Achieve 'Accreditation with Distinction'

The Pleasant Hill R-III School District was recognized for receiving Accreditation with Distinction in Performance by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education during a banquet April 3 at the University of Central Missouri. Receiving the award on behalf of the district was CTA President, Nicole Albin. Presenting the award were, left to right, Tony Stansberry, left, area supervisor for instruction with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; Julie Blaine, assistant director of the Central Regional Professional Development Center at UCM;  the Rev. Stan Archie of the Missouri State Board of Education; and Stan Johnson, assistant commissioner, Division of School Improvement, Missouri DESE. The event was hosted UCM's College of Education and the Central RPDC.

School Blog
We’re very excited to announce two new blogs at our school. The Pleasant Hill Intermediate School Blog is the place to go to learn about student projects, news, and events that are going on at our school. The posts will be brought to you by the students who are in PHIS Computer Club who will scout out the things going on in our school and display them in the blog for everyone to see. We invite you to take and look and give leave encouraging comments.

David Adamczyk, Ron Baker, Chris Livingston elected to R-III Board of Education
Voters elected David Adamczyk, Ron Baker and Chris Livingston to the R-III Board of Education during the April 8 election.

According to election results, Mr. Baker received 530 votes and was re-elected for a fourth term. Mr. Livingston received 490 votes and was re-elected to serve a second (2^nd) term.  Newcomer, Mr. Adamczyk received 564 votes. Jeanette Hiebert, who was also a candidate, received 486 votes.

The election results will be certified at the April 15 Board of Education meeting, and members will take their oath of office at this time. Board of Education members serve three-year terms.

High School student participates in Job Olympics
Logan Gray and Anthony Pickrell represented Pleasant Hill High School at the 1st Annual Job Olympics. The event was held at Belton Community Center in Belton, MO on March 14.
Each student had to fill out an application, type a resume and complete the job tasks for two different jobs while being judged on each event.
Logan Gray, sophomore received a bronze medal in the place setting event. Gray received two participation ribbons for both his interview and his application.
Anthony Pickrell, sophomore received three silver medals in Custodial Work, Car Detailing and Interviewing Skills. Pickrell also received a participation ribbon for his application.
Others from Pleasant Hill that assisted with judging included Wintress Welliver, Beverly Cline, Arla Emerick Schupp, Janell Hamilton and Mindy Felden.
Local community business that provided support included the Pleasant Hill Bank, Cosentino's Price Chopper and Flower and Friends.

Middle School student receives Outstanding Community Service by a Pleasant Hill resident
Congratulations to 8^th grader, Caleb Streitenberger! He was honored by the Chamber of Commerce on Saturday, Jan. 21 at the 11th Spotlight Gala for 'Outstanding community service by a Pleasant Hill Resident'



Educator of the Year
On Saturday, January 21, the Chamber of Commerce, presented Mrs. Lora Borgstadt the Excellence in Education Award for Educator of the Year. Lora has taught Business in the Pleasant Hill School District for the past 9 years.
Other staff members nominated were: Joanne Finley, Debi Harding, Greg Reeves and Courtney Williams.

School District releases 2008-09 school calendar
The Pleasant Hill R-III Board of Education approved the school district's 2008-09 school calendar at its Jan. 15 meeting. The first day of school will be Aug. 19. Thanksgiving holiday will be Nov. 26 through 28, and winter break will be Dec. 22 through Jan. 4. Spring break is scheduled for April 9, 10 & 13. The last day of school, pending make-up days due to inclement weather, will be May 20.

Spring class picture days are coming
The following dates are set for Spring class picture days. Don't forget to bring your prepayment on picture day.
Elementary School - March 18
Intermediate School - March 19
Primary School - March 20

Make-up day set
The snow/ice make-up days for February 21 and 22 will be made up at the end of the school year. Currently our last day of school is May 23. Snow-day cancellations, due to inclement weather is available to R-III families in a variety of ways, including the automated telephone system, and through broadcasts on major television and radio stations.

SchoolReach enhances communication
The Pleasant Hill R-III School District is continually striving to improve communication between the school and parents, utilizing technologies such as SchoolReach is one way the District can communicate with parents in a quick, efficient manner. The recorded phone service can be used for both community-outreach calls and emergency-notification calls. The service was initiated in the 2005-06 school year as a pilot program in the Middle School. After a successful pilot program, the district implemented the service district wide in the 2006-2007 school year.
The system enables school personnel to notify all parents by phone within minutes of an emergency or unplanned event that causes early dismissal, school cancellation or late start. The service has proven effective in communicating emergency information and notification of school closings. The service will call all parents in the district within 10 minutes and will recall when the line is busy, or no answer and will leave a message on answering machines or voice mail. Parents of students directly affected by the emergency will be notified by a member of district personnel.
Principals will continue to use the recorded telephone service to contact parents from time-to-time to communicate general announcements or reminders.
When the Superintendent makes the decision for irregular dismissal of school due to bad weather or for other reasons, the district contacts the emergency notification center who contacts the broadcast stations listed on page 3. As was the procedure last year, snow-day calls will go out as soon as the decision is made.
Parents are urged to provide schools with updated information for any phone numbers that change throughout the year.

Parent Teacher Conferences Exit Survey
A exit survey was given at the Parent/Teacher Conferences on October 22 -  October 25.  District-wide there were 241 responses collected.  A summary of the results is provided.

Parent Teacher conferences
75.88% of respondents rated conferences as a positive, worth while event.

Communication
73.44% of respondents felt they receive regular communication from faculty/school.
51.45% agreed that email was the best way to communicate with parents.
66.80% felt communication on a ‘as needed’ basis was the best.
54.31% agreed newsletters were very important.
33.49% receive most information about the school via newsletters.

Technology
89.21% have a computer with internet access.
94.61% have access to email.
78% have accessed the District website at: www.pleasanthillschools.com weekly and believe the information on the webpage is useful.

School Climate
92.95% of respondents feel welcome at the school facilities.
55.11% of the questions relating to the climate of the school and the interaction between the school, parent and student fell into the “strongly agree” category.

District Climate
45.85% have lived in the district 10 or more years.
73.8% believes the district has steadily improved over the last 5 years.
87.70% believes the district earned a letter grade of an “A or B”.
81.66% believe summer school is important for the educational process.
39.74% believe school should begin the 3rd week of August.
76% felt the automated phone call system is effective.

You may view the entire survey results by clicking on the links below:
Primary School, Elementary School, Intermediate School, Middle School and High School

Kindergarten search
We need your help to plan for the 2008-09 school year enrollment. If you have a child who will enter kindergarten next fall, please call 987-2143 so that you may enroll your child into school and schedule a screening appointment. Children must be 5 on or before July 31, 2008 to enter kindergarten this fall.

Board sets filing dates
Resident taxpayers who are interested in filing for the Pleasant Hill R-III Board of Education may do so in person in the District Central Office at 318 Cedar St., Pleasant Hill, MO, from December 18, 2007, through January 22, 2008. Office hours are 8:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. and 1:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. The office will be closed from December 20, 2007, at 12:00 p.m., through January 1, 2008. Filing will continue until 5 P.M. on January 22, 2008. Filing will not occur on weekends or days in which the district is closed due to inclement weather. Three seats are up for election. Each seat is for a three-year term. To be eligible for the Board of Education, an individual must be a citizen of the United States, a resident of Missouri for one year preceding the election, a resident taxpayer of the school district, and at least 24 years of age.

Annual Performance Report
The preliminary Annual Performance Report (APR) was released recently. Congratulations to the entire staff are in order because our district, for the third year in a row, has met 100% of Missouri’s performance standards. The administration and Board greatly appreciate your extra effort and focus on improved instruction during the past years.

There are 14 performance standards which include Math and Communications Arts in grades 3 - 11, ACT, advanced courses, career education courses, college placement, career education placement, graduation rate, attendance, and AYP (federal) subgroup achievement. The Pleasant Hill R-III School District met 14 of 14 standards (attached is a summary of the results). These standards measure most areas of the educational process and meeting all 14 confirms the commitment and dedication of our teachers, support staff, administrators, and students. We are extremely proud of everyone involved.

Box Tops for Education
Welcome to another great year! This year, our goal is to raise $500 or more to purchase playground equipment for our school.

One of the easiest ways you can make a difference is to sign up for the Box Tops website. It’s easy, free and you’ll learn about new ways to help our school earn the extra cash it needs.

Plus, you can sign up for regular email updates on our school’s progress!

Box Tops offers three easy ways to earn cash for our school through everyday activities like buying groceries, shopping online and purchasing books– all at no additional cost to you.

Clip - Clip Box Tops from hundreds of participating products. Box Tops are worth 10¢ each when our school redeems them from Box Tops for Education.

Shop - Shop your favorite online stores at the Box Tops Marketplace. Up to 8% of each qualifying purchase is donated to our school.

Buy books through the Box Tops Book Club
Order quality titles from award-winning authors and illustrators throughout the school year. Our school earns one Box Top for every dollar spent, up to $20,000.

To learn more, visit boxtops4education.com. Thanks for choosing to make a difference for our school with Box Tops!

RevTrak
Pleasant Hill R-III School District is providing new ways for parents to pay for meals in the Cafeteria. Parents may now pay with VISA or MasterCard, debit or credit cards for these items. RevTrak is a source for convenient, secure meal account management.  We make it easy to apply funds to your account and check your account balance.  No more worrying about having cash for meals – RevTrak has you covered!   No more lost or stolen lunch money.  Convenient, easy and secure... prepaying with RevTrak makes your life easier. The Pleasant Hill R-III School District will still continue accepting cash or check for meals in the cafeteria, however PHSD is expanding the options for our patrons by offering this convenient service with two options for payments.

Internet Payments:
Pleasant Hill R-III has established a Web Store to accept payments over the Internet. The District has contracted with a company named RevTrak to provide a secure site for making payments. The ease of paying online is further enhanced when parents access the website and see a familiar shopping cart. Parents may add to their student’s Cafeteria Meal Plan at the parent’s convenience. In fact, they can pay for each of their students at any campus, all in the same shopping cart.
You may access the Web Store through the District website at http://www.pleasanthillschools.com. The District home page has a direct link to the Web Store or you may go to the Food Service webpage at http://www.pleasanthillschools.com/Food%20Service.htm and access the link there.

Pre-Authorized Payments:
Parents may now sign up to have their credit card automatically charged to add to their student’s meal plan account. Each student in the District has an account in the cafeteria, similar to a college meal plan. In the past, parents had to send either cash or checks to the cafeteria to provide a balance in the student account, or send cash everyday. Now with the automatic payment plan, the parent knows money will be added automatically. Then the student just gives their ID number to purchase breakfast, lunch or A – La – Carte items.

For the Future:
RevTrak, the processing company chosen by the District, allows expansion of the Web Store, preauthorized payments and in person payments with minimal effort. Right now the choice of products is limited to the cafeteria meal plan but the District will evaluate the response from parents and the efficiencies of the payment methods for the District. If these test products work well, the District may expand the offerings.

Parent Link
Parent link is a website that allows parents to view students attendance, grades, homework and lunch account balances. If you would like to sign up for Parent Link, the form is available on our website at www.pleasanthill schools.com.
If your email address has changed from previous years, you will need to fill out a new form so that we may update your account.

Meal Prices
Due to rising fuel and food costs it was necessary for the District to increase meal prices for the first time in three years. Cafeteria meals will increase by 15 ¢ each. The new prices are listed below.

Primary School / Elementary School
Student Breakfast: 95¢
Adult Breakfast: $1.15
Student Lunch: $1.70
Adult Lunch: $2.25

Intermediate School / Middle School
Student Breakfast: 95¢
Adult Breakfast: $1.15
Student Lunch: $1.80
Adult Lunch: $2.25

High School
Student Breakfast: 95¢
Adult Breakfast: $1.15
Student Lunch: $1.90
Adult Lunch: $2.25

District achieves Accreditation with Distinction
The Pleasant Hill R-III was recognized for receiving Accreditation with Distinction in Performance by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education during a banquet March 8 at the University of Central Missouri. Receiving the award on behalf of the District was David Burge. Presenting the award were Stan Archie, left, a member of the Missouri State Board of Education, and Gerri Ogle, right, associate commissioner, administrative and financial services, with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The event was hosted UCM’s College of Education and the Central RPDC.

Trumba District Calendar
The District has purchased an online calendar and are piloting the Intermediate, Middle and High Schools until Fall.

Snow Day Policy
When the Superintendent makes the decision for irregular dismissal of school due to bad weather or for other reasons, the district contacts the emergency notification center who contacts the broadcast stations listed.

Parents need only listen to the named stations for repeated announcements concerning the closing of school.

Families may sign up for KMBC Channel 9's school cancellation email and text pager / phone notification by visiting www.thekansascitychannel.com and selecting "weather" and then "school closings."

Please do not call the school during bad weather conditions except for emergencies.

The Roost
The Marketing class at the Pleasant Hill High School and the Pleasant Hill Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Roost recently. The Roost is a school store created by Mrs. Amy Franklin's Marketing class. The store is selling a frozen drink called the Breeze Freeze, school supplies and school spirit apparel / items.



Free EPI-Pens
If you have a student with the risk of anaphylactic reactions from food and/or insect allergies, please visit this new website that offers free Twinjet epinephrine! Visit www.epinephrinefree.com and follow the directions. It will need a physician's order to obtain the free offer since it is a medication.