With the rap of a gavel in both chambers slightly before 6 p.m. on May 12, the Missouri legislative session came to a close.

Education issues dominated headlines and talking points throughout this year’s session. Despite this rhetoric, and a concentrated push in the final days and hours, the Missouri legislature could not whip the votes to move proposals dangerous to public education across the finish line.

In previous guest columns, I called on many of you to reach out to our SWMO legislators to voice your support for public education so school districts are able to continue to ensure a high-quality, free and public education for all students in Missouri. Several community members reached out to let me know that they contacted our local representatives and senators.

Thank you for taking up the mantle on behalf of all Cassville R-IV students and for all students across the state. Your advocacy efforts do not go unnoticed.

While we can temporarily celebrate the win this year for our students,

we cannot let our guard down or rest on our laurels. The greatest defense we have for our schools is our outcomes, and we must continue to fulfill our mission to ensure every student succeeds.

We can redouble our efforts to ensure our students and those that educate them have the right resources, tools, and support in place for success.

As a school district, our educational staff, leadership team, and board of education have a tremendous impact in building and maintaining public trust. We are doing exceptional things at Cassville R-IV Schools and we plan to continue to share celebrations with you in our social media posts and local newspapers.

Conversely, we will also continue to focus on our local Continuous School Improvement Plan (CSIP) to hold ourselves accountable as a district by addressing areas of concern and opportunities for growth. The CSIP was developed by a team of internal and external stakeholders to provide meaningful collaboration in the development of the plan.

The latest version of the CSIP was updated by all participating stakeholders on May 1, 2023. If you would like to participate in next Spring’s CSIP development process, please reach out to me so that I can add your name to the list. It is our mission at Cassville R-IV to provide a safe and collaborative learning environment that empowers individual success.

We will work hard every day to engage and inspire a community of learners for success in life.

It is through our district and community efforts that we can guarantee a bright future for our students and our state.

Thank you for all you do to support our efforts and to help set a direction for changing and energizing the course of learning and student well-being in our district.

Merlyn Johnson is the superintendent of the Cassville school district. He may be reached at mjohnson@ cassville.k12.mo.us.