Warrensburg Board of Education hears continuous school improvement plan updates
Published 5:08 am Wednesday, October 21, 2026
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WARRENSBURG — Warrensburg Superintendent of Schools Steve Ritter presented the Board of Education with a quarterly update on the district’s continuous school improvement plan during the board’s Tuesday, Oct. 20, meeting.
The plan is used by the district as a tool to enhance the quality of education and ensure the success of both students and staff within the district.
Ritter noted that many of the highlighted items relate to finances, something the district is working through as it continues its cost-reduction discussions. The application included the objective of increasing curriculum offerings and experiences to engage students in career exploration.
Though Ritter said the district is not in the position to expand its curricular offerings, it is looking to continue growing career exploration opportunities for students.
“We’re still working very hard on that when it comes to internship opportunities and the client-connected projects,” Ritter said. “Those are embedded into classes that we already have, and the internships are with partners in the community, so we’re able to still grow in that regard because we don’t have — we’re not placing students here within the district. But that’s something that we’ll need to take into consideration as we make future decisions.”
Ritter also discussed the objective of integrating technology into the classroom to meet the needs of all students.
Ritter noted the technology aspect will look different in the future. For the 2026-27 school year, sixth graders moved away from 1:1 technology – or each individual student having a device – and use mobile carts shared across all classrooms.
The district is also looking at future options for technology, including providing families a vendor to have them be able to purchase their child’s device. Safeguards for those devices would be in place by the district, but the device would belong to the student.
Ritter also encouraged the community to reach out to federal government representatives to advocate for the E-Rate Program. The Federal Communications Commission recently proposed a sunset or limiting the 30-year-old program, designed to assist eligible school districts and libraries in discounts for telecommunications and internet access.
“We get about $150,000 a year with E-Rate,” Ritter said. “E-Rate was designed to originally expand internet broadband out to especially rural areas, places that didn’t have it before. Since then, it’s come to where it has supported the replacement of the hardware and everything to be able to make sure that, as well as your libraries, things like that. They basically have done a call to have everybody provide feedback to see, ‘OK, how are you using it? Do you need it?’ Hopefully a lot of people respond to that.”
Ritter also highlighted the need for the district to begin projecting trends in finance beyond the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school year.
He noted the forecast would include expenditures such as personnel, as well as project funding coming in from state funding and local tax revenue.
Ritter added doing so would also allow the district to plan out any potential improvement projects, such as the Maple Grove Elementary roof – which was brought up by Director of Maintenance Lyle Kreisel during his facilities report.
“We can create a one-year plan to say, ‘Hey, this is going to help roll us back, and this is going to be what’s going to help set us up for the future,’ but then we really are going to have to make some long-term decisions and plans,” Ritter said. “I know some of that will occur; some of that isn’t going to occur until the spring when we start to see if there’s any legislation that comes about … We can make our plans right now for next year, but then once we get through that, I think we’re really going to have to look to see what happens over the next 12 months and really start planning out, ‘OK, what should we be expecting for the next five to 10 years based on some of that information that’s going on’, because I think it’s going to be a very big legislative session this spring, very telling for the future.”
Ritter also highlighted the district’s communications plan, including the development of The Tiger AI Assistant along with the district’s podcasts and newsletters.
Intercom system approved for middle school
The board approved the purchase and installation of a $76,623.03 intercom system for Warrensburg Middle School.
The new system would create a way for school staff to reach classrooms and other areas of the building, enhancing building operations, school safety and emergency preparedness.
Before the vote, board member Natalie Tye inquired if the project could potentially be delayed or if it were a current safety necessity given the district’s ongoing budget discussions.
“We certainly sit and talk about these projects,” assistant superintendent for support services Zachary Danner said. “We want to talk with building administrators, and then, Lyle and I try to communicate on these as well when we’re looking at what is a life safety thing? And this is a safety component that we would like to have brought up to speed so that we can have adequate communication across the building, because where we sit right now, sometimes it’s hard to trust if that system’s getting that message to the students where we need it. It’s also going to help us when they’re outside if they don’t have an amplifier for that communication.”
Board member Toni Hawley, formerly a counselor at the middle school, added that with the current system, communication is not possible with every classroom at once.
Ritter reminded the board of the $.20 cents from the district’s operation levy that goes into capital projects such as the intercom system.
He added being a school safety issue, the item is something that should be prioritized.
WACC House sells
The board approved the sale of the WACC house located at 97 SE 451st Road for $275,000 to Craig C. & Ramona F. Conant Family Trust.
The house, built by Warrensburg Area Career Center students, had been on the market since February.
“We have done our due diligence trying to get it sold, get it out there, and I think it’s time for us to go ahead and get reimbursed for the expenses that we put into all the supplies, purchase services and everything that we do to get that done,” Ritter said.
Other approvals
The district approved a $572,847 increase to the 2026-27 transportation budget due to a $7.98% contract escalation and $301,847 in delayed invoices.
The district is implementing $6,000 in supply budgets from the elementary schools to assist.
“We will have continued work there in the coming months, but that’s something that’s reflected there,” Danner said.
The district approved a $30,956.09 to assist in access management systems at Central Office.
The board also approved the purchase of a $10,100.73 2027 John Deere Gator TX from Ag Power to be used by athletics. Funding came from T-Mobile grants and, if necessary, Booster Club support, leaving no impact on the district’s budget.
Other approvals included the district’s 2026-27 food service handbook, a MOU with Western Missouri Medical Center for workplace learning, an event agreement with UCM to host Prom in 2027, an agreement with Behavioral Health Allis Master Services and a deaf/hard of hearing services contract between the Warrensburg R-VI and the Blue Springs School District.
Joe Andrews can be reached at 660-747-8123.
