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A $250,000 grant has been awarded to Poplar Bluff Schools to add a preschool program that will further help serve the needs of the community in getting district children school-ready. The funding through the Missouri Preschool Program will allow the Early Childhood Center to enroll 60 students ages 3-5, and employ six staff members to manage three classrooms. Pending licensing by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the plan is for the preschool to be operational by Monday, Sept 21. Enrollment will take place on a first come, first serve basis. Cost of tuition will be set on a sliding scale based on the income levels used for the free and reduced lunch program. “Studies have shown over

Jefferson City, Mo - Emails obtained through a Freedom of Information request to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education contained a road map for how our state education agency worked in partnership with numerous federally funded agencies and organizations outside the state to steer the Standards Work Groups, established by HB1490 last year, into retaining the Common Core Standards.  Among the critical findings: DESE personnel actively sought consultation and financial support from out-of-state and federally funded organizations dedicated to the implementation of the common core state standards in opposition to the intent of HB1490  DESE personnel also misused federal Title II funds, which are intended to fund professional development for teacher, to instead fund facilitators and notetakers who attempted

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? At my farm, chickens did.  Right before we moved to the farm, while still living in Poplar Bluff, we bought a chick at Orschelen for each of our kids.  Our enclosed back porch was a suitable place until they started trying to fly after a few weeks.  My husband promptly built a small chicken coop in the backyard and the ladies went outside.  We moved out of town when our pullets were about three months old or so.  In the country, the hens thrived.  Free ranging was our preferred method and the girls soon divested our farm of nearly all the bugs in our yard.  By the end of the summer, we had

Rep. Todd Richardson of Poplar Bluff, the Missouri House speaker, visited the “I’m a Citizen, Too” class during the last day of summer school on Friday, June 26, role-playing with students how a bill becomes a law. Richardson’s guest appearance in the enrichment class has become an annual tradition since he was first elected to serve the 152nd Congressional District in 2010. Last year he was able to host the students at the state Capitol in Jefferson City. For at least 25 years, Jan Desgranges, a retired R-I educator, has led “I’m a Citizen, Too,” teaching students, grades 5-8, how to become productive citizens. Fourth grade teacher Shiela Boyles of Lake Road Elementary has co-taught the popular class since the 2006/07

They are society’s most vulnerable citizens. Unlike adults, they cannot chart their own course in life yet. According to the State of Missouri, about 23 percent of the state’s children live in poverty. That is a matter of concern, and the Child Concern Center in Poplar Bluff does its best to battle those figures. Child Concern Center Executive Director Derrick Miller has made it is personal mission to help these children and their families. He explains the group was formed in 1975, and to this day exists because of the efforts of its dedicated volunteers. They basically seek to turn one person’s junk into another person’s treasure. The group has a store at 601 Poplar Street, and for every $5