A group of citizens attended the October meeting of the Nevada R-5 School District to voice their concern over a proposed policy that would formalize the district's position on outside groups distributing information to students. Most of those attending were affiliated with various youth groups who were concerned that the board action might restrict their ability to interact with students, which would impact their recruiting efforts.

Troy Rainey, Boy Scout leader; Carol Parmenter, 4-H coordinator; Matt Scneringer, YMCA director; Joelle Mason, Girl Scout leader and others were on hand to give the board their feelings on the proposed policy. Rainey told the board that the scouts, as well as other programs for youth, were important to helping children develop into healthy, well-rounded adults and should be consulted before putting a policy in place that might be overkill.

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"I just really felt that there were a lot of good organizations, organizations that do a lot of good in this community, that in the past had an opportunity to share their programs, 4-H, for example, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, the YMCA, that are doing so good," Rainey said. "I think that in a panic to avoid possible lawsuits; including some and not including others; I think we have a sky-is-falling syndrome, we're afraid all the time we might be sued. I think there is a middle ground, I really think there should be some discussion before something is put in writing. Our objective tonight is to just put the brakes on, let's slow down and talk."

Parmenter seconded Rainey and said that youth groups helped develop good character and were partners with the school in proving education.

"As a school teacher for 20 years I can say that these programs are good partners with the school district in helping to educate young people," Parmenter said. "We all want the same thing, to help kids get a good education."

Superintendent Dr. David Stephens told the board that he had consulted with several other district superintendents to get their policies and there was a variation in what the districts did. Board member Dr. Warren Lovinger suggested tabling any decision until a group of youth leaders could meet with the administrators to work out a policy everyone could live with which could be presented at the November board meeting. Stephens said anyone interested in such a meeting should contact the central office and they would be included.

Michelle Gast gave a presentation to the board on a grant the district received to help lower-income students. Materials received included backpacks containing school supplies such as paper, pencils, and calculators among other things; a reading program that had tapes and related books which children could take home after studying in class; and a "weekender" package of food to give some nutritional assistance to children who might not receive a good meal away from school.

"This has some good things in it," Gast said, holding up a package of food. "I've looked in there and thought, "Gee, that peanut butter looks awfully good." There are students who really need something to get them through the weekend and this is great for that."

Assistant Superintendent Christi Peterson presented the board with information from the latest Missouri Assessment Program results released by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Peterson said the data wasn't fully compiled but she gave the board some graphs based on preliminary data.

"As you can see Nevada did fairly well across the board," Peterson said, displaying a graph of a comparison of Nevada to Missouri average math scores. "Except for a dip at the eighth grade, and we'll look at that closer, we're doing a good job."

A possible agreement between the board and L. J. Hart and Company was tabled until the December board meeting. The proposed agreement would be for a three year period and board members were concerned about binding the hands of future board members, especially since no decision had been made to go forward with a bond issue.

Forkner said he was reluctant to approve such a measure.

"For quite awhile we have steered clear of tying the hands of future boards," Forkner said. "There is turnover and we just felt it wasn't right to do that to someone who wasn't here when the decision was made."

The board also voted to send a resolution to Congressman Sam Graves, Tarkio, and to Congressman Ike Skelton urging them to support the No Child Left Behind Recess Until Reauthorization Act which would prevent any district from being punished further under the provisions of NCLB.

Lovinger said he strongly supported the resolution.

"I am behind this 101 percent," Lovinger said.