College and Career Readiness Advisor Trish Lewis said on March 24 that the district is working to prepare students for life after graduation.

Bourbon has been able to provide numerous job shadowing opportunities at places such as Crawford Electric Cooperative, Bourbon Elementary School, Missouri Baptist Hospital and Rep. John Hewkin’s office.

“That’s a great way to let them see what they think an actual job might look like,” Lewis said.

Seven students were interested in the Early College Academy (ECA), and six decided to move forward.

The College and Career Ready Advisor has 41 students on the “E” wall, which indicates the career path they have chosen upon graduation: employed, enrolled or enlisted.

Middle School Principal Nicole McPeters presented the middle school report, starting with an update on the volleyball team.

The Bourbon volleyball A team had a great start to the season, even getting the Bourbon Tournament Championship title.

“They kind of had a little bit of a roller coaster in the middle of the season, but they tell me they’re dedicated. They’re going to keep going and they’re going to finish strong,” McPeters said.

To help improve attendance, they made a bracket for March Madness, where students can receive a certain number of points based on attendance and dressing up for the daily themes. Teachers can also earn points by dressing up for the theme days.

Superintendent Brian Witt announced that the Beta members did well competing in Branson.

“High school, 30 Beta members traveled to Branson, competing across all areas, in academics, visual arts, speech, performing arts and robotics. Our students brought home 12 plaques,” Witt said.

A total of 48 students screened for kindergarten and 16 for preschool, but 12 more are expected to enroll in the preschool.

“This important early indicator of enrollment helps us plan staffing and support more precise curriculum in summer school and transportation,” Witt said.

No one was present to give the elementary and middle school counselor report, but their presentations were attached to the online agenda.

Elementary counselor improvement goals are bullying prevention and increasing outreach collaboration. 

Goals for the middle school are to create successful college/career readiness lessons for all middle school students; increase community engagement and collaboration through a variety of school events; close collaboration within the school district’s counseling team to integrate lessons on behavior, life-skills and academic planning/success into the student experience; and analyzing building-wide behavioral trends to design and deploy proactive intervention strategies.

Bourbon High School Counselor Marian Redhage explained how the counselor’s office was preparing seniors for after graduation.

“We’ve done pre-ACT with sophomores. We’ve done (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) ASVAB with juniors, getting ready to do ASVAB, or ACTs with seniors coming up in about a week-and-a- half, two weeks,” Redhage said. 

Kaitlyn King, student advisor to the board, updated the board on the March activities from each school in the district.

“(The elementary school) had the Scholastic Book Fair and Title One family night, which gave the students and families the opportunity to have some fun outside of school and make those connections,” King said. “The (Bourbon Middle School) volleyball team has had a successful and fun season so far. And then at the high school, the seniors had a meeting with Crawford County Clerk Kim Gibbs to speak with them about getting registered to vote.”

A motion to approve the revision of the Continuous School Improvement Plan (CSIP) for 2026-31 was passed with a 5-0 vote.

Witt explained that a lot of work went into revising it.

“So we have been working on this for the past year, the past six months, and we have gone through the buildings, the building leadership team, the district leadership team (and) the district focus groups. We made some, mostly small changes,...and then we just gave it more of a facelift as far as the looks and the graphics, but it is very consistent with our previous one,” Witt said.

They approved the proposed job description of the student support advisor with a 5-0 vote.

This position is designed to support grades five through eight through academic guidance, behavioral intervention and collaborating with the counseling staff.

Witt explained that this position became available to support the day-to-day operations at the school, students and staff, while trying to even out the numbers between students and staff.

“With our enrollment numbers dropping and our staffing numbers have not changed, this would be a way where we could even out our staffing numbers with our enrollment numbers and still provide support to the middle school that’s needed,” Witt said. “So, elimination of the middle school counselor position, this would help in that, and so the elementary and high school counselors would be splitting the building.”

The transportation director’s job description was approved with a 5-0 vote.

It is an extra-duty assignment that is responsible for coordinating the daily operations of the district’s transportation program. This includes working on the routes, scheduling, safety training and communicating to ensure safe and efficient student transportation.

They approved the update to the assistant principal and director of curriculum and summer school job description with a 5-0 vote. Someone in this position will support their building in daily operations, including student discipline, attendance and activities, as well as overseeing the planning, coordination and administration of the district’s summer school program.

A motion to approve the occupational therapy services agreement with Building Independence Therapy, LLC., was approved with a 5-0 vote.

The next meeting will be at 6 p.m. on March 16 in the Bourbon High School Boardroom.