Thursday, May 16, 2013
The school district's CFO said it will exhaust its current bond funding this summer and will not have any funds available for additional capital projects.
With the last bit of funds from a 2008 bond issue scheduled to be spent this summer, the Parkway School District's chief financial officer is recommending the school board began talking about placing a new bond on the ballot next fall. CFO Mark Stockwell made the remarks during a presentation to the board at their May 8 meeting. The bond serves as a source of funding for capital expenses, such as maintenance for the district’s facilities. Parkway has about $5.4 million in various projects set for this summer. After that, the bond funds will be gone. Stockwell said this means the district will no longer have money available for additional capital expense or improvements outside of emergency repairs. His preliminary 2013-14 budget sets aside…
Thursday, May 9, 2013
All but one Parkway high school made Newsweek's "America's Best High Schools" list. Tell us what you think makes a school its best.
Newsweek just released its "America's Best High Schools" list where it ranks 2,000 public schools across the country. All but one Parkway high school made the list. Those include Parkway South ranked at 697, Parkway Central ranked at 668, Parkway West ranked at 684. Parkway North made the list last year, as well. It has moved up the list. Parkway North ranked at 889 this year. Last year, the school came in 947. Read: Newsweek Names Parkway North a Top School Parkway South also ranked in the #11 slot among the 23 Missouri schools on the list. Remember you can like Maryland Heights Patch on Facebook. Don't forget to visit Twitter: @MarylandHtPatch, or signup for the Maryland Heights Patch newsletter here. Newsweek's list is based on six …
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Incumbents Sam Sciortino and Tom Appelbaum kept their Parkway School Board seats in the April 2 election.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Joe Hope and Joey Reeves look forward to full season with the varsity squad after last season's meteoric rise and a ride to the state final four.
When Parkway North needed a boost last season, Head Coach Fred Friedman tapped a pair of pitchers who didn't start the year on varsity. Joe Hope and Joey Reeves came up from the JV squad and pitched the Vikings to a magical run to the state final four in Springfield. All Hope, then a Sophomore (7-1, 3.40 ERA) did was shut out a Westminster Christian Academy team that's been the best in the state the past two seasons. He also threw a no-hitter in the state semifinal. Just a Freshman, Reeves (3-0, 1.58 ERA) was masterful in a state quarterfinal win over SLUH, before shoulder tendinitis and what was diagnosed as a stress fracture in his collarbone caught up with him in the state championship game against Rockwood Summit. But that was last …
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Parkway's 2013 Teacher of the Year award goes to three teachers that work with Maryland Heights-area students. Sam Skibbe, music teacher at Craig Elementary, was also named the district's Teacher of the Year.
The following infomation regarding the 2013 Teacher of the Year award was provided by the Parkway School District in a release. The Parkway School District has selected its 2013 elementary, middle, high school and district teachers of the year. Sam Skibbe, music teacher at Craig Elementary, was named the 2013 Elementary and District Teacher of the Year for Parkway. Skibbe has been with Parkway and teaching at Craig Elementary for two years. Craig Principal Bill Senti said, “What sets Sam apart is how clear he makes it to everyone that he dreams of providing opportunities for all students to grow musically and that he truly believes that all of his students can grow with him.” Skibbe will go on to represent the district in the Missouri…
Saturday, January 19, 2013
The group of 84 will pile into two buses Friday night and have time to explore the capital's landmarks and museums before Monday's swearing-in ceremony.
A group of Parkway high schoolers will be packing aboard two buses Friday evening to drive to Washington, DC, for President Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony on Monday. The group is comprised of 84 students from all five high schools and 14 teacher and administrators. Social Studies Coordinator Toby McQuerrey is helping organizing the trip and said it represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “It's really a capstone experience for our students who have been studying American history and government since first grade,” said McQuerrey. “[The inauguration of a U.S. President] is significant to the whole world.” By driving through the night on Friday, the students and staff will have time to visit some of the landmarks and museums in the…
Monday, January 14, 2013
Changes will roll out this summer and could mean more districts statewide won't meet minimum standards for state accreditation.
A new rating system for Missouri's school districts will intensify pressure on low-performing school districts to improve while exposing some of the best school districts to new scrutiny from parents and the public, the St. Louis Post-Disatch reports. According to the report, the changes will roll out this summer and could mean more districts statewide won't meet minimum standards for state accreditation. For districts like Pattonville and Parkway—two districts that claimed perfect scores in previous ratings—their scores could would even go down. From the Post-Dispatch's: For example, Mehlville, Parkway, Pattonville and Rockwood had perfect scores under the old rating, but under the new scale would score 97.9, 98.2, 87.5 and 96.8 percent, …
Friday, January 11, 2013
The cuts would begin in the 2013-2014 school year and come in the form of approximately 40 jobs through attrition.
The Parkway School Board is reviewing a proposal to cut approximately $4 million from the district's budget over the next two years, beginning with the 2013-2014 school school year. The district has said it needs to cut another $2-4 million, or approximately one to two percent of the district's overall operating budget, to restore its fund balance and prevent borrowing from reserves. "The revenues didn't come in where we thought they'd come in last year," Parkway's CFO Mark Stockwell explained. Last February, the board voted to cut up to $9.63 million over two years and ended up cutting just under $8 million from the 2012-2013 budget. The additional $4 million now being proposed would bring the total budget cuts to between $11 and $12 …
Friday, December 21, 2012
Parkway School officials said they have already asked law enforcement to up their presence by having patrol officers check in at elementary schools.
Posting an armed officer in every Parkway and Pattonville school and in schools across the country is the goal of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the guns-rights lobby announced on Friday. "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," said Wayne LaPierre, the organization's top lobbyist, at a Friday news conference, according to a Huffington Post report. The statement comes on the heels of the tragic school shooting in Newtown, CT, where 20 children and six adults were killed. NRA had remained silent until Wednesday, when it first announced its intention to offer "meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again." The Parkway School District already has school resource officers (SROs) …
Friday, November 9, 2012
A loophole reportedly allows private country clubs in West County to pay less taxes, affecting what school districts like Parkway receive and forcing homeowners to pay more. Watch KMOV's story here.
According to a recent news report by KMOV invstigative reporter Chris Nagus, private country clubs in Missouri receive a "sweetheart deal" which allows them to pay less in taxes. (View Chris Nagus' report on KMOV here.) As a result, homeowners pay more in taxes and school districts, including the Parkway School District, receive less money for education. According to Nagus' report, Town and Country's Bellerive Country Club, Meadowbrook, and Westwood are all country clubs located within the Parkway school district. He said Parkway is losing $218,850 a year due to the loophole. Parkway School District Board President Beth Feldman is interviewed in the KMOV report. She points out that any extra money would help Parkway because the district …
Dr. Detroit
9:19 am on Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Dr. Detroit Someone is not thinking ahead... Armed teachers, armed officers in every school maybe, what about those children on the play ground or walking home after school? What about those in a theater, should there be armed candy cession clerks behind the counter? This is merely a bandaid over an open wound. It's the unknown that is the problem, being unknown, we can't defend ourselves, let … more ›