CON V ERGING CA MPUS & COMMUNIT Y
NORTHWEST MISSOURIAN THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2025
MARYVILLE, MISSOURI
NWMISSOURINEWS.COM
VOL. 113, NO. 13
@THEMISSOURIAN
Maryville R-II Schools see interim leadership changes
Stakeholder forum fairs community successes, city projects DAKOTA OSWALT News Editor | @doswalt_NWMSRN
Community members were welcomed to Downtown Maryville’s Annual Stakeholder Forum 5:30 p.m. March 18 at Rose Hill Acres Event Center to celebrate successes, recognize volunteers, share event plans and encourage community involvement. After brief announcements about new sculptures for the square and building facade improvements, Downtown Maryville Board of Directors President Kim Mildward gave an update about other amenities coming to the area. These include the Downtown Pedestrian Alleyway Project and the Downtown Pavilion Project. The Downtown Pedestrian Alleyway Project will convert the east-west alleyway from vehicle-oriented to pedestrian-oriented. It will be a public space with activities and social areas. The Downtown Pavilion Project aims to construct an openair covered pavilion to hold activities and community events. Mildward encouraged community members to share their ideas on how the pedestrian alleyway murals could look. “The other is going to be the pavilion area, which is there at Fifth and Main next to the library in the city parking lot,” Mildward said. “We will have some design input there as well, as (to) how that area is going to look with the pavilion and some potential other features that could be in there. We’re excited to work with the city on both of those projects.” Next, board members Autumn Quimby and Ashlee Hendrix shared Downtown Maryville event highlights from 2024. Some of its top events were Spring into Fun, Fall into Fun and the Yuletide Magic Holiday Parade and Lighting. One of its biggest events, however, was the weekly Downtown Maryville Markets that operates from May to September each year. Quimby said while the market only began a few years ago, its yearly attendance is expected to grow. “Last year we brought in over 5,000 visitors in our 18 weeks of the market,” Quimby said. “We had an average of 35 vendors each week. We’re anticipating a few more this year, and an average of three volunteers assisted every week. We (volunteers) are there to help set up tents, to tear down, to give people change, we provide water (to) our vendors. It definitely takes a village to run the market.” Quimby said if anyone is interested in participating in any of Downtown Maryville’s events, it can always use volunteers. People can also choose to sponsor it monetarily or donate their time, talent or materials for the activities.
BUILDING
SOURCE: TRANSLATORS WITHOUT BORDERS
INFOGRAPHIC BY SAVANNAH ATHY-SEDBROOK EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
BARRIERS
New executive order names English official language of the U.S. DAKOTA OSWALT News Editor | @doswalt_NWMSRN
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nglish became the official language of the United States March 1 as a result of an executive order by President Donald Trump. This came after his administration took down The White House’s Spanish-language website page and social media shortly after his inauguration. Trump’s order caused some concern, as the top language in the U.S. besides English is Spanish, with about 42 million Spanish speakers living in the country, according to Share America. However, this likely will not have an impact on the way Spanish courses are taught at Northwest.
NATHAN VANDRUFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Northwest associate professor Jose Palacios Perez teaches his Spanish class March 7.
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AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1914.
Jose Palacios Perez is an associate professor who teaches the Spanish language and other Spanish-based classes. English becoming the official language of the U.S. is something he said his classes have discussed before. Palacios Perez said he thinks this move is mostly a political statement meant for show. With English already being used as the main language in the U.S. for practicality purposes, he said making it official is a big effort for little real change. However, he said language education is in a crisis, and this change might affect that. “Since the late 90s, there has been less and less language professors graduating every year, and more and more schools looking for language professors that they cannot find because there are not enough language professors out there,” Palacios Perez said. “That has (a) very significant impact on students and people when they grow up, but they’re not aware of that.” Palacios Perez said knowledge of multiple languages is more important than people realize. Foreign language competency, he said, is important for many different industries, including everything from software development, to biochemistry, to the military. With the removal of The White House’s Spanish-language page, Palacios Perez said non-English speakers will likely be able to find the information they need through the English page. He said most Spanish speakers in the U.S. also speak English. For those who do not, Palacios Perez said most businesses and institutions may have Spanish interpreters on staff regardless.
OUR VIEW A5
People should not overstock on supplies during emergencies, such as pandemics and natural disasters.
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The Superintendent of the Maryville R-II School District Logan Lightfoot was placed on administrative leave Feb. 24 by the district’s Board of Education. Board of Education President Josh McKim said he cannot comment on the reason for Lightfoot’s administrative leave due to it being for personal issues. He also said there is not yet a finalized timeline for the leave. McKim said Maryville R-II School District Assistant Superintendent Philip Pohren is taking on the responsibilities of the job. “We’re leaning heavily on existing staff in the short term to deal with that,” McKim said. “We are very fortunate that we’ve got a very strong team at the Maryville R-II School District, and are really working hard to pick up all of the different tasks.” A hearing to continue discussing Lightfoot’s administrative leave is set for 6 p.m. March 20 in the district administration’s office. McKim said the Board of Education is talking to the school district’s attorney, Duane Martin. He said Martin advised the Board of Education to withhold from sharing information on the matter. “It is a closed session hearing where, and after that I would guess, there’ll be a clearer picture of what’s going to happen going forward,” McKim said. McKim said he advises the Missourian speak with Martin in regard to Lightfoot’s administrative leave; however, Martin did not respond to the Missourian by the time of this publication.
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We are very fortunate that we’ve got a very strong team at the Maryville R-II School District, and are really working hard to pick up all of the different tasks.”
JOSH MCKIM BOARD OF EDUCATION PRESIDENT
The announcement of Lightfoot’s leave was made public by the Maryville Forum in a March 6 article, which was later posted to its Facebook page. Many community members commented. One comment from Stephanie Mclntyre said she believes since the matter affects children, the public should be more informed. “I think since he is supposed to be looking over all our children that the reason for being placed on leave should be public knowledge,” Mclntyre said in her Facebook comment. Others posed questions about why the Board of Education or district did not share the news before the press did. In regards to this, McKim said he cannot comment.
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