Some people may not be aware of the planning and behind-the-scenes work that goes into selecting the curriculum used in the classrooms of public schools. At Callaway Public School, a committee is in place that reviews materials and makes recommendations as curriculum updates become necessary.

“We are in the process of purchasing English Language Arts curriculum for sixth grade through 12th grade, which we are pretty excited about,” said CPS Superintendent J.D. Furrow. “This curriculum will be way more structured and way easier for our teachers. Our English teachers, principals, and ESU went through a lot of work vetting different curriculum sets, and we ended up going with My Perspectives from Savvas Learning Company. We are also getting new preschool curriculum. It’s kind of a big investment for us, but we think it’s well worth it.”

During the March 9 meeting of the Callaway Board of Education, Furrow presented the curriculum update to the board.

One of the items on the agenda that received quite a bit of discussion involved buildings and ground prioritizing - particularly the recently acquired properties of 101 and 103 S Needham. “Future plans were the reason for acquiring the 103 S Needham property, but that is quite a ways down the road,” said Furrow. “There had been some discussion about turning the 101 property into a rental for a young teacher that might move to town. Our principals presented to the board the possibility of making that into a skills house for kids in transition to learn things like housekeeping, laundry, fixing a meal, and those types of things. The principals have done a lot of legwork on that. We still haven’t decided the direction we will take.”

Also discussed was the potential of rotating some classrooms to better serve students. No action was taken.

Action items on the March 9 agenda included approving policies for school food procurement, board member code of ethics, and student performances for things like the national anthem at athletic contests. The school calendar for 2026-27 was also approved, and students will be starting back to school one week later this fall than in previous years. With the new calendar, teachers will also have some flex days to work with.

“We have actually increased instructional minutes with the way we have restructured our day, and we will be doing that in fewer days,” Furrow explained.

The final item was the approval of contracts and pay raises for principals Heath Birkel and Brittany Jesseph. The approved raise for the principals is the equivalent of the teacher’s percentage.

The next meeting of the Callaway school board will be April 13 at 8 p.m.