In a subsequent vote, the Twin Rivers School board has successfully approved the establishment of a cooperative for junior high sports in collaboration with a neighboring private school.
Board members voted 5-2 at their May board meeting to join with St. Teresa Catholic School for the effort. Board members Jenny Hester, Kade McBroom, Brandon Vancil, Bobby King and Lee Wright all voted in favor of the sports co-op, while Bruce Goodrich and Keith Parker remained opposed.
This decision was a reversal of a previous vote against the cooperative, which Superintendent Rob Brown attributed to the addition of three new board members.
“I believe it was simply due to newly elected board members this past April, Mr. King, Mr. McBroom and Mr. Vancil were all “yes” votes and were not on the board last fall. The issue passed, we are in the process of being in compliance with MSHSAA and we welcome those students from St. Teresa who will compete in Junior High Basketball next season,” explained Brown.
Principal Jennifer Lynn with St. Teresa’s School said the school has had a sports co-op with Campbell School District for some time, but this will be the first year the school has had the opportunity to participate with the Twin Rivers District.
The cooperative will allow students at the junior high level to be involved in sports at the Twin Rivers District. In a prior board meeting it was explained the school had 12 potential players in junior high, but only four that wished to take part in the co-op with Twin Rivers and according to Sarah Musgraves a Twin Rivers alumni, who spoke on behalf of the St. Teresa students, “three out of the four (of those) families pay taxes in our (Twin Rivers) district.”
Parent Amanda Bayer wrote, “They are interested in playing here because this is where they intend to go to high school. These are future students of your school. I know these children will benefit from the relationships they build through this co-op and the earlier they build these relationships the better.”
“We are excited they voted yes to let these kids in our district participate at the junior high level,” Lynn said.
Lynn explained she feels the co-op will assist students in the transition from junior high into high school since many of the students participating will attend Twin Rivers once they reach the age for high school curriculum.
The board also approved a bid of $58,913 from Bumpus Construction for the remodel of the central office building. Additionally, the district is currently accepting bids for the construction of a wing off of the high school building to accommodate junior high students.
A new five-year contract with Pepsi was also approved by the board. As part of the contract, Pepsi is donating approximately $14,000 toward the erection of a new scoreboard.
For the upcoming 2023-2024 school year, several personnel changes and approvals were announced. Connie Icieans, the VIP coordinator, is retiring and there have been several new hires. Lisa Wilson has been appointed as a counselor at Qulin, Michael Snider joins the high school faculty as a teacher, Chelsea Branch has been hired as a special education teacher at Fisk and Marena Acre will be the early childhood special education teacher at Fisk. Shelly Swift has been hired as a part-time math interventionist at Fisk and Rebecca Shock will head the art department at Fisk. Harlin Goodman has been appointed as an aide at Qulin Middle School, while Natasha Mason, Peyton Howerton and Dana Celenski were appointed as aides at Fisk.
Christy Acre will serve as the testing coordinator, Manda Hedquembourg will assist with testing-related duties, Josh Hancock has been assigned as the high school drama coordinator, Kim Morgeson will oversee health coordination and Kayla Wombles will actively participate in the Fisk Parent-Teacher Association.
Several coaching positions have been filled for the 2023-2024 school year. Michael Snider will be the head high school girls basketball coach, Casey Parson will lead high school softball and Kade McBroom has been selected as the fifth and sixth-grade basketball coach at Qulin.
The next board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. June 22.