Responsible citizens, cooperation among county fire
departments and availability of the proper equipment kept damage caused
by a Friday night blaze on the roof of the Holden Package Store and
Hotel to a minimum.The Holden Fire Department received the call at approximately 8:30 p.m. and responded, also alerting the Western Johnson County Fire Protection District and the Warrensburg Fire Department. At about the same time, Holden residents Jeremy Calhoun and Guy Barwick were driving by and saw the fire on the roof. They immediately went to the package store and alerted Erica Sollars, daughter of owners Jim and Jenny Sollars, and her friend Jeb Cates. Calhoun, Barwick and Cates started the evacuation process of hotel residents, then went to the roof with extinguishers to begin putting out the fire. They had extinguished part of the flames when the fire department arrived. “ There was a lot of smoke coming from the roof area,” stated Holden Fire Chief Mike Wakeman. “Firemen Larry Miller, Randy Vanscoy and Scott Perkins entered the building with water extinguishers off our truck and went to the roof. We had 11 firemen responding and all of them rotated on and off.” Wakeman explained that they had to carry the seven-gallon extinguishers with them because the age of the building precluded it from having a “stand pipe” system, which is an inside water supply. They found materials from an in-progress roofing job had caught on fire. After completely extinguishing the burning materials, they cut the section of the roof out that had been on fire. “The use of our new thermal-imaging camera was invaluable during this process,” Wakeman continued. “By using it, we could tell exactly what part of the structure was burning and could isolate the property damage to only that portion. Without it, we would have had to cut more of the roof and caused more property damage. It also assured us that the burning portion had been totally extinguished.” The department had recently received the authority to lease the piece of equipment at the September City Council meeting. According to owner Jenny Sollars, “The firemen did a great job - there was no smoke damage to the two floors where people live and the third floor is not occupied. We were very blessed.” Wakeman returned praise to the building owners for getting everybody evacuated and responsible citizens who first alerted package store employees. He also was very complimentary of the other fire departments, “We really want to thank the Western Johnson County Fire Protection District and the Warrensburg Fire Department for their part in handling this fire. The results of the building still standing and no more damage than there was is a tribute to our departments working as a team.” The cause of the fire is yet to be determined. By Steve Sullins Editor
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The topic of student achievement was high on the
list of areas discussed at the Holden R-3 Board of Education special
session held recently at the Missouri School Board Association Meeting. With all board members present, the group gathered at Tan-Tar-A Estates at the Lake of the Ozarks for their annual working retreat. Topics discussed to heighten student achievement were: New foundation formula, per student expenditures across the state, analysis of test/district data and student achievement reports. Ideas to improve achievement were also discussed. They were: Community communication increased to highlight student achievement; increase newspaper coverage; increase district communications; connecting teacher evaluations and how students perform on MAP tests; professional development improvement; analyze data and identify problems; and accountability of teachers and administrators. The board unanimously approved a motion to have monthly student achievement reports sent to the board. Board members also discussed goals, with district superintendent Scott Slava sharing his revised goals with the group. They indicated that they would like quarterly reports on employees that are on professional improvement plans. Another area of discussion was salary structure and bond election. They talked about career ladder and certified salary comparisons with other districts. Slava had discussed the issiue of concerns of the teacher’s salary committee regarding staff morale with the Superintendent’s Instructional Advisory Committee and was told it was not that large of an issue. However, it was more of an individual issue for some. The superintendent indicated that his “Now Hear This” communications program would monitor the situation. The board had a short discussion on raising or maintaining the tax levy. Slava informed the board of election deadline dates and that the district could not continue to deficit spend and would need to look at a tax increase in the near future in order to meet salary compliance and operating issues. In the capital projects and long-range plans area of the meeting, the board discussed involving local businesses and the community by holding home visits to discuss facility needs for the district. Items of need are additional land for future space needs, K-2 facility in the northern portion of the district, high school additions, length of bus routes for younger students, additional room for grades 3-5 and patron surveys. In the meeting that took more than four hours, the board also talked about the possibility of holding another retreat in a few months to further look into pressing issues. By Steve Sullins Editor |
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