Ever since COVID-19 invaded our country from China, our local schools have done their best to stay open and continue in-person teaching.
I appreciate the teachers and staff and am proud of the job they have done. I would like to recognize all our schools, both public and private, who have worked to maintain a regular schedule and productive learning environment despite the COVID crisis. These schools are Sacred Heart, St. Teresa, Westwood Baptist Academy, Malden R-I, Neelyville R-IV, Poplar Bluff R-I, and Twin Rivers R-X. They put our kids before anything else, and I appreciate that.
Indeed, we are blessed in our district to have top-notch schools. As an example, I recently learned two local schools received major recognition. The U.S. News and World Report released its rankings for the 2022 Best K-8 Schools and two district schools are in the top 10 for Missouri. It is the first time U.S. News has published rankings for elementary and middle schools.
The methodology for the brand-new rankings focuses on two areas: math and reading proficiency, or how well students perform on state assessments, and math and reading performance, or how well they perform compared to expectations. The state assessment data came from the 2018-2019 school year.
I would like to heartily congratulate the teachers, administrators and students of Eugene Field Elementary (8) and Oak Grove Elementary (9) for achieving this outstanding honor.
Article IX Section 1(a) of our Constitution states “A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the general assembly shall establish and maintain free public schools for the gratuitous instruction of all persons in this state within ages not in excess of twenty-one years as prescribed by law.”
Simply put, as public stewards, our top priority must be ensuring quality education for our children, and I will continue to make this my priority.
A House subcommittee is spending the interim looking at mental health services and access in Missouri. The Subcommittee on Mental Health Policy Research has at least two more hearings scheduled, and its chairman says the committee is taking in information like “drinking water out of a firehose.”
The committee has already received testimony about the staffing shortfall within the Department of Mental Health, and has learned that Missouri ranks 31st in the U.S. for access to mental health services.
The committee has already taken testimony from state organizations and non-profits. The committee will next take testimony on Nov. 3 from individuals with experience dealing with mental health issues. “Either because they’re a guardian for someone or they have a son or a relative affected by that, or maybe even themselves,” said the chair.
The chair of the committee anticipates there will be legislation in the 2022 legislative session that will stem from the hearings. He doesn’t have specific bills in mind, but he has his eye on some pilot programs that he feels have been working well in the Columbia area.
The committee also heard that law enforcement officers often find themselves sitting at hospital bedsides by those who have been arrested and suffer from mental health issues, until a space in mental health institutions can be found for them.
“If there’s anything we can do legislative-wise to increase the number of beds, that would really, really help,” said the chair of the committee.
The committee will prepare a report before the session begins in January, and from its findings could come more legislative proposals.
May God bless and keep you and our great nation.
Hardy Billington represents District 152, which includes parts of Butler and Dunklin counties.