Formerly with @JoplinGlobe, now a reporter for @SGFCitizen. If you like #Destiny, #DnD, card magic, talking politics or the #Saints we'll get along GREAT! ⚜♠🐲
Joined May 2017
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How to check for bias in a news report in four steps:
• READ it, don't watch it.
• Check the SOURCES.
• Check for ADJECTIVES and ADVERBS.
• Check your FEELINGS, especially if excited or vindicated.
After leaving his previous post, Doug Van Zyl was a finalist for a superintendent's job in Loveland, Colorado. (My sources tell me it's pronounced "Z-eye-ll," rhyming with "while.")
Springfield Public Schools has chosen its next deputy superintendent of operations. Doug Van Zyl, an educator with 30 years of experience in four states, replaces the retiring Travis Shaw.
Read it: sgfcitizen.org/schools/k12-e…
ALT Doug Van Zyl
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"Teachers are leaving SPS in droves." I can't tell you how many times I've hear people say that casually. While teaching is a hard profession that has gotten more challenging over the last few years, state statistics of SPS' employment picture show that retention is improving.
IN-DEPTH: Springfield Public Schools’ teacher retention rate is improving, but how does it compare with the state average and other districts in the metro? @JoeHadsall has a look at the data and how SPS is working to retain effective educators.
Read it: sgfcitizen.org/schools/k12-e…
ALT Jeffries Elementary and Springfield Public Schools fleet staff participate in a "brain boost" exercise at the back-to-school pep rally. (Photo by Jym Wilson)
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Pending the @springfieldlib board's approval, the memory lab would offer a variety of technical equipment for converting media into digital resources. The project resonated with the Lipscombs because of how much the lab's namesake valued historic preservation.
A six-figure donation from Larry and Tracy Lipscomb will help the Springfield-Greene County Library build the Cathryn Cox Lipscomb Memory Lab in The Library Center’s genealogy department. Memory labs are becoming popular across the country.
Learn more: sgfcitizen.org/government/sp…
ALT (Photo by Shannon Cay)
It's impressive to hear @nixaschools students talk about all the prep work they are putting in for this tournament.
The 41st Bass Pro Tournament of Champions will be streamed to the nation by Nixa Live, a production team made up of @nixaschools students. They might be young, but @JoeHadsall reports team members have plenty of sports broadcasting experience.
Read it: sgfcitizen.org/schools/k12-e…
ALT Nixa students check the camera connection inside Great Southern Bank Arena as they prepare for the Tournament of Champions on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Springfield. (Photo by Ellie Frysztak)
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The last time these two board members campaigned, they raised more than $146,000 collectively. This year, they won't have to raise a dime, and the school district could save as much as $240,000, according to the county clerk.
It appears there won't be an election for the SPS Board of Education in April as only incumbents Judy Brunner and Shurita Thomas-Tate filed to run.
Read it: sgfcitizen.org/schools/k12-e…
Man, am I excited for achaeologists Daniel Pierce and Christopher Bodine, after the discoveries they made in the Amazon! The two will be publishing their findings in scientific journals in a few months, and will then start raising money to fund a return trip.
Two Missouri State professors are back from their expedition to the Amazon. They say they found what they were looking for — and much more.
Read it: sgfcitizen.org/schools/sprin…
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The more I learn about Arthur Mallory, the more I regret not finding the chance to talk to him. Education had a strong advocate and an effective mentor in Mallory, and his legacy will be felt for years across the country. Grateful to the people who talked to me for this report.
Arthur Mallory, a former educator who led @MissouriState as president and the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as commissioner, died Thursday. He was 92.
Read it: sgfcitizen.org/schools/k12-e…
ALT Arthur Mallory and his wife Joann. (Photo by Bob Linder/Missouri State University)
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The loss of a full week for Thanksgiving comes from how the school year will have a later start, thanks to a Missouri law that governs when a school district can set the first day. But don't worry, SPS parents: The never-start-on-Monday rule is holding!
.@officialSPS students will keep their Tuesday start date, but lose their weeklong Thanksgiving break next year. @JoeHadsall has details on the 2026-27 academic calendar.
Read it: sgfcitizen.org/schools/k12-e…
ALT Third/fourth grade teacher Betsy Sharpe teaches subtraction to her class on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, at McGregor Elementary in Springfield. (Photo by Ellie Frysztak)
This is a plate with cashew chicken, McSalty's Pizza, candied bacon, pickles and more of Brent Dunn's favorite food. The director of the Missouri State University Foundation was surprised today with a naming gift. Story coming later today in the @sgfcitizen.
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.@officialSPS marks three consecutive years of improvement under the newest version of the state's school improvement system, and four consecutive years between them. The report card also points out what SPS officials think is their best graduation rate in about two decades.
Data released by DESE today shows a third consecutive year of student improvement for Springfield Public Schools. @JoeHadsall reports SPS made the second-best progress of any district and is now in the top half of Missouri schools.
Learn more: sgfcitizen.org/schools/k12-e…
ALT McGregor Elementary School principal Rebekah Johnson helps a third-grade student with a math problem on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Springfield. (Photo by Ellie Frysztak)
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While I was at this celebration, I asked some parents how they felt about a district-wide committee's recommendation to change Wilson's Creek from a 5-6 intermediate school to a 6-8 middle school. The opinions were mixed.
Wilson’s Creek Intermediate School celebrated its 20th anniversary with a special event that included opening a time capsule that included a wide range of ephemera from 2005.
Read it: sgfcitizen.org/schools/k12-e…
ALT Gracie Brewer points herself out to her son, Jaxon, in a 2005 picture. (Photo by Joe Hadsall)
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I have updated this story to include quotes from Dawn Medley, MSU's vice president of enrollment management. A surge of dual-credit students noted last year has continued into this year, and Medley said those students can help increase numbers of incoming freshmen in the future.
Fueled by an increase in dual-credit students, Missouri State University is reporting record-breaking enrollment this fall.
Read it: sgfcitizen.org/schools/sprin…
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The cum laude system will trade the competition of honoring the top 15% of graduates with a merit-based system that rewards a student's work.
The valedictorians and salutatorians in @officialSPS' Class of 2026 will be the final students to earn those honors. @JoeHadsall reports the district is switching to a cum laude system in 2027.
Read it: sgfcitizen.org/schools/k12-e…
ALT A photo from the Kickapoo High School’s Class of 2020 graduation ceremony. (Photo from Facebook used with permission of Springfield Public Schools)
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Ava Smith was an avid user of the Schweitzer Brentwood Branch Library, checking out books, using meeting rooms for her clubs and using its computers. Her generosity will be remembered in a spot that will be @springfieldlib's highest-profile meeting space.
Ava Smith loved to give four-leaf clovers to her friends. She gave the Springfield-Greene County Library District something more significant: an estate gift worth $2.34 million. It's the largest single gift in the library's history.
Learn more: sgfcitizen.org/government/wo…
ALT Bridget Dierks, executive director of the Springfield-Greene County Library Foundation, holds a set of four-leaf clovers collected by Ava Smith. On the wall is a painting created by Smith before her death on May 15. (Photo by Joe Hadsall)
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This is still a developing story; I'm waiting to hear back from Springfield Public Schools officials. The Glendale chapter is one of the only chapters in a Springfield high school, according to Turning Point USA's website.
The Glendale High School chapter of Turning Point USA will hold a candlelight vigil to honor Charlie Kirk, the organization's founder, at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Read it: sgfcitizen.org/schools/k12-e…
ALT Glendale High School. (Photo by Dean Curtis)
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All the funding for what is @MissouriState's biggest building project came from state and federal sources. Students and professors love the new building's modern, spacious labs, and this is only the completion of the first of two construction phases.
More than 300 people attended a dedication ceremony for Blunt Hall at Missouri State University, including the building's namesake. The event was paired with a ceremonial signing of a bill that will let MSU offer research doctorate degrees.
Read it: sgfcitizen.org/schools/sprin…
ALT Paul Durham, director of Missouri State University’s Center for Biomedical and Life Sciences, speaks Friday to former Sen. Roy Blunt about a federally funded project he and his students are researching. (Photo by Joe Hadsall)
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Hilarious teacher TikToks aside, there is not a lot of training available for teachers on how to spot the use of AI. But educators say that the toolbox for how a teacher follows a student's progress is more than up for the task.
How much should artificial intelligence be in classrooms?
As educators wrangle with a quickly evolving tech question, one Springfield-based group wants to make the U.S. a global leader in K-12 AI education.
Learn more: sgfcitizen.org/schools/k12-e…
ALT Reporter Zoe McIntyre displays the ChatGPT app on her phone. (Photo illustration by Ellie Frysztak)
The expedition's main goal is to figure out whether the geoglyphs they have found are either structures or trenches. Either way, they had to have been made by humans, and that could help redefine what we know about pre-Columbian societies, the archaeologists say.
Two @MissouriState professors believe they've seen evidence of a sophisticated population from the past in the Amazon. They're raising money for an expedition in order to reach the geoglyphs, map them and see what else is there.
Learn more: sgfcitizen.org/schools/sprin…
ALT Archaeologists Christopher Bodine (seated) and David Pierce review lidar images of the Amazon jungle. (Photo by Joe Hadsall)
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The Springfield Clinical Campus already houses third- and fourth-year students for clinical experience, after taking their first two years in Columbia. The expansion means a student never has to leave Springfield to earn an M.D.
MU plans to expand its Springfield clinical campus into a full four-year medical school. @JoeHadsall reports that, pending approval from accrediting groups, the campus could hold as many as 128 students by 2030.
Learn more: sgfcitizen.org/schools/sprin…
ALT The University of Missouri's Springfield Clinical Campus is planned to be expanded into a full four-year medical school. (Photo by Ellie Frystak)
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I updated this story to include more thoughts from @SDECoxHealth, who gave me great information about how long this has been in the works.
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