For the first time since the 2021-22 school year, Cuba High School will have an athletic trainer available for the care of its athletes.

The R-2 District School Board voted during its May 26 meeting to approve a partnership with Missouri Baptist Sullivan Hospital (MBSH) that will provide an athletic trainer for 28 to 30 hours a week during sports seasons and 10 hours per week during the summer. The contract is for one year and will run from June 1, 2026, to May 31, 2027. The R-2 District will pay $2,080 per month to MBSH, which, according to District Superintendent Dr. Scott Davidson, is about half of what the district would have to pay without its partnership with MBSH.

Davidson added that the school didn’t have a trainer the last few years due to circumstances out of anyone’s control.

“To be clear, it fell through not by the fault of anybody. We had Sheila, who we loved but she had a baby. So then, it was just a lack of somebody to fill that void. They’re not a lot of them (trainers) in the area,” Davidson said. 

As stated in the contract agreed upon by the lawyers from Crawford County R-2 School District and Missouri Baptist Sullivan Hospital, “One licensed, certified athletic trainer per district High School will be available after school Monday through Friday for pre-event taping, home event coverage for MSHSAA sanctioned events and away football contests, along with injury assessment, post-game follow-up and rehabilitation for the fall, winter, and spring seasons for the academic school year. Coverage will also be made available on Saturdays per practice and home event schedule as mutually agreed upon by the parties. Athletic Trainer Services coverage will be approximately 28-30 hours per week per season. The trainer shall undergo and pass such records and background checks as are required by the district.”

Summer services are spelled out: “An athletic trainer will be available during the summer approximately 10 hours per week at each district High School to provide injury screenings, manage and clean the training room, organize SA records and prep for the upcoming school year. Summer hours will be mutually agreed upon between MBSH and Client by May 1st of each year.”

The incoming athletic trainer will provide CPR, AED (Automated External Defibrillator) training and First Aid Training (minimum of 2 — maximum of 4) to all district Activity Directors, coaches and assistant principals at no charge to the District.

The athletic trainer will also provide an inventory and medical supply list to the Activities Director for purchase each year. The cost of such supplies will be the responsibility of the District to cover and any supplies provided by MBSH will be reimbursed by the District.

The R-2 District is responsible for the usual collection and maintenance of student-athlete participant liability waivers. Such waivers will now include each participant’s consent to have MBSH athletic trainers, physical therapists, massage therapists tend to their injuries. For student athletes under the age of 18, the waiver must also have the signature of a parent or legal guardian.

MBSH didn’t specify who exactly will be the trainer at Cuba High School in the original contract, but a specific individual should be assigned to the district in the upcoming days after the contract was signed by both parties. The name of the individual assigned as Cuba’s athletic trainer will be updated once The Cuba Free Press receives the information. 

Board approves athletics, activities progressive discipline matrix

Also During the May 26 school board meeting, the R-2 district unanimously approved the implementation of an activities discipline matrix, which was spearheaded by Assistant Superintendent Dr. Myra Siebert. Siebert said that the matrix is meant to put specific disciplinary guidelines in writing, as opposed to practices that have just been verbal in the past. Sibert added that she researched colleges that implemented this type of program and customized the proposed discipline matrix based on Cuba High School, specifically.

“We have some practices in place that have been spoken practices,” she said. “This was basically putting that on paper so that it’s clear. That it gives the Athletic Director and the building principles the opportunity to have some teeth behind the conversations that they’re having.”

Siebert added, “When I developed this document, there were not a lot of school districts who have a policy like this but there were several colleges. So I pulled documents from different colleges and designed the wording to make it fit for what we needed to, in a high school setting, middle school setting in our district. So, I feel like it’s pretty thorough, and will help our athletic director with those expectations outlined, come in to help guide through those conversations that will most likely come in. It’s just like when we do that with our principles and our systems and having those things in place will give us a written guidebook that administrators can go back to.”

The discipline matrix details core expectations for its District’s coaches and sponsors such as: Maintain professional communication with students (no profanity, harassment, or degrading language), model appropriate behavior aligned with district values, follow all district policies (including conduct, safety, and supervision), maintain appropriate boundaries with students and ensure a safe and respectful environment.