Lion's Link #lionpride

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete our annual survey. We appreciate your feedback and suggestions, and we used them on Thursday night to guide our work on our School Improvement Plan. Our staff and students also complete similar surveys, and here are the results for this year:

• Student
• Staff
• Parent/Community

Although we always know we have more work to do, overall, our results show that our students, staff, and stakeholders feel that our school is a safe place where adults care about students. We appreciate your support as we all do the hard work of educating our students. Thank you!

The holiday season and “sickness season” are both here—and we’re welcoming it all with open arms and smiles! As we head into this busy time of year, I hope your family has wonderful plans for both seasons. With that in mind, I want to share a few important reminders to help everything run smoothly at school.

🎄 Holiday Season Reminders

Spending time with family is one of the best parts of this time of year. Before making travel plans, please be aware of the following important school dates:

📚 Elementary Students (K–5)

• Middle of the Year i-Ready Reading and Math Assessments will take place December 10–19. These assessments are required by DESE and help us track your child’s progress.

📝 Middle School & High School Students (6–12)

• Finals Week: December 17–19. Students must be in attendance on these days.
  
  

• If your child misses a final, they will need to make it up on January 5th, during our teacher PD Day, so that teachers can submit grades by January 6th. I will reach out to families during Christmas Break if a make-up final needs to be scheduled.

🤒 Sickness Season Reminders

This is also the time of year when illnesses tend to spread. We are already seeing some sickness and are sending students home when they meet the guidelines for being too ill to remain at school. Our staff continues to clean and sanitize regularly to help reduce germs.

Attendance Reminders:

• If your child is absent, please call the office to let us know. If you forget to call, you will receive an email or text from Infinite Campus—you may reply directly to that message so we can update attendance appropriately. Absences for doctor or dentist appointments should be supported with a doctor’s note.

Make-Up Work:

• It is the student’s responsibility to ask for the work they missed. Students are given one day of make-up time for each day absent, unless additional arrangements are made with the teacher.

Thank you for helping us make this a smooth and successful season for everyone. If you have any questions, please reach out—I’m always here to help!

IMPORTANT DATES

• November 15-THS Playmasters Play “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”🎬

• November 26-30-No School–Happy Thanksgiving🦃

• December 5-Homecoming👑

• December 12-Pillars of Pride and Early Release Day

• December 19-Early Release Day

• March 20-Grandparents Day👵🧓

• April 20-May 1-MAP Testing for 3rd-8th grade students📚

• May 4-8-EOC Testing for high school📚

Mrs. Alicia Burrows

K-12 Principal

If your family has a change in financial circumstances at any time during the school year that might impact your ability to qualify for free or reduced meals for your student, please contact the office for an application to apply. Even if you already completed an application this year and did not qualify, a change in employment status may mean that you would. Applications can be completed at any point during the school year, so please do not hesitate to request one if your household has a change that impacts your income. We want all of our students to have access to hot, nutritious meals throughout the year.

We are working on a project to add a touchscreen video display to our gym lobby. Our composite pictures on display there are slowly deteriorating due to age and light exposure, and we want to make sure they are available for future generations of Tuscumbia students. We also want a central place where all of our MSHSAA-related awards for conference, district, and state competitions in athletics and extra-curriculars are recognized, as well as our FFA/Ag Science Research awards. This display will house all of those, and we can add to it as our future generations of students excel in these areas.

The initial cost of this project is $6,180. Thanks to generous donations of $3,000 by our Booster Club and $2,000 from Tuscumbia Alumni and Pig N Pickle, we have $5,000 toward our goal.

Here are some examples from other schools of similar displays:

https://mywebschooltools.com/Composites/viewComposites.php
https://mywebschooltools.com/Podium/Schuyler/viewComposites.php
https://mywebschooltools.com/Podium/Odessa/viewComposites.php
https://mywebschooltools.com/Podium/Aurora/viewComposites.php

If your organization or you as an individual would like to donate to help us meet the remainder of our fundraising goal, please contact Dr. Tina Spencer, Superintendent, for further information. We appreciate the support!

Show off your #LionPride! This year, anyone can purchase this shirt for $20, wear it to any home athletic event, any season, and get FREE ADMISSION! Buy yours now--adult sizes XS -- XL. You can get one in the main office or at the gate at home ballgames--don't wait!

• Saturday, 11/15: Drama Club Play, Gym, 7:00 p.m.
• Monday, 11/17: Girls BB @ Dixon Jamboree, 5:45 p.m.; Boys BB @ Crocker Jamboree, 5:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, 11/18: FFA Alumni Meeting, Ag Room, 6:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, 11/19: FFA Meeting, Cafeteria, 3:30 p.m.; Board Meeting, HS Library, 6:00 p.m.
• Thursday, 11/20: Tuscumbia Picnic Planning Meeting, HS Library, 6:00 p.m.
• Friday, 11/21: Girls & Boys Basketball vs Climax Springs, 6:00 p.m.

The mission of the Miller County R-III School District, in partnership with our students, parents, staff, and community, is to promote PRIDE and provide a quality education that inspires our students to be lifelong learners.

2025-26 Meal Prices

2025-26 School Calendar

Purchase student accident insurance from K&K

Calendar of All School Events

K-12 Student Handbook

Title I Resources:

School Wide Program Plan

School, Parent, and Family Engagement Policy

Parents Right to Know

Non-Appropriately Certified Staff

The Miller County R-III School District has the following openings available:

• Evening Custodian, full time, $15/hour plus insurance and retirement benefits, flexible hours after school dismisses, must pass a background check.
• Substitute Teachers, as needed, $105/day, must have substitute certificate and pass a background check.
• Substitute Bus Drivers, badly needed! $31.60 per route (a.m. or p.m.) and $15/hour for trip drivers, including wait time. If you do not have a CDL, we have an on-site trainer who will train you if you commit to substituting for our district.

Interested parties should contact Dr. Spencer at tspencer@tuscumbialions.k12.mo.us, or come by central office during working hours for an application.

It's always a great day to be a Lion! Come join our Pride!

The Miller County R-III School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, or disability.

If you are interested in becoming a substitute teacher and you do not have the required 36 college hours, you can do an online course that will allow you to get a substitute certificate. Here is the link to that course, and here is the link to the DESE web page that gives you more information about what you need to do to get a substitute certification. Our daily rate for subs for the 2025-26 school year will be $100/day!