The Pattonville School District will host a presentation on Zoom with infectious disease expert Dr. Jason Newland from 6 to 7 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 27. During the event, Newland will provide an update on COVID-19 and the preliminary results of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) pilot program studying COVID-19 transmission and mitigation strategies in schools. Pattonville joined other schools in Missouri to partner with the CDC on this project.

Early childhood special education teacher Jillian Sweeney was recognized for earning the 2020-2021 Missouri Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (MACTE) Outstanding Beginning Teacher Award. The surprise presentation came from Dr. Jessica Leonard and Dr. Joy Voss from Saint Louis University School of Education during a staff professional development meeting on Jan. 15.

Jenny Reid, a fifth grade teacher at Willow Brook Elementary, received the 2021 Thesis Award of Excellence in the College of Education at Eastern Illinois University. Reid graduated from the Curriculum and Instruction graduate program in the summer of 2020 and this award is a recognition of the highest achievement in graduate research from each of the four academic colleges at EIU based on a master’s thesis project between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020. She will be honored at the Distinguished Graduate Awards Ceremony in April and featured in the "Graduate Journal of Scholarship." Reid’s thesis was titled "Growth Mindset: A Key to Motivating Students in Reading" and is available to view online.

Five students in PEGS - Program for Exceptionally Gifted Students and Rose Acres fifth grader Aubrey Holdren held a book signing today after they were named finalists in the St. Louis Writers Guild Young Writers Contest and had their stories published in a collection. 

Fourth graders Aliyah Brown and Eva Pulley; fifth graders Devin Garner, Hannah Hope and Harrison Vandernoot; and Holdren had to write an original story that began with the first line of "Beneath the mask …”