Residents Concerned For Roads, Businesses

Goodman residents feel that poor roads should be addressed and more businesses should be recruited.

Results from a recent survey show that residents feel some improvements could be made in Goodman.

The survey was mailed out to residents in early January. Results are now posted on the city of Goodman’s website.

Of 440 surveys mailed out to residents, 59 were returned completed. Sixty-one surveys were returned undeliverable.

Some of the surveys were answered by two people and, in those cases, the data results were adjusted to compensate for this, officials said.

In the city government category, 46% said the quality of city services provided is “good.”

Roads topped the list of priorities with 37%, followed by public safety and preservation at 16 percent each.

Local issues include starting a volunteer group, addressing more rentals, adding sidewalks, and recruiting more businesses and grocery stores.

Residents also feel that “poor roads” should be addressed.

Rating the public services

She then worked another semester as a paraprofessional in Neosho before being hired as a teacher at McDonald County. She has been with the district for six years.

Arnold is a McDonald County High School graduate. She went to Crowder College for two years and earned her bachelor’s degree from Missouri State University at the Neosho campus.

She said the best part of teaching is, “Not only do you get to watch the children grow — in the early childhood years they grow by leaps and bounds — but you also are always growing yourself. Constantly learning something new.”

She added, “The hardest thing about being a teacher is when a child is having a problem. They’re having a difficult moment, and you just have to step back and assess and think, ‘How am I going to help?’ Knowing that you have a class full of children waiting to see how you react.”

Arnold has a paraprofessional in her classroom named Lori Davis.

“She is amazing. My job is impossible without the help of a paraprofessional, and I have the best of the best,” she said.

She explained what kind of work she does with her early childhood special education students.

“We focus a lot on school readiness skills like letters, numbers, colors, shapes, but what is different from pre-K is we focus on language development and social skills,” she said. “Lots of times when we’re doing a lesson and it’s academic-focused, we have to stop and focus on turn-taking. When someone else is talking you can’t ‘walk on their words,’ you have to wait your turn.”

She commented on how she felt about the covid-19 pandemic interrupting the school year.

“It was definitely unexpected,” she said. “But I think that our district has done an amazing job of trying to meet the needs of our learners while recognizing this is difficult on families. I’m really proud of our district, the way they are taking into consideration that not all families have the same internet capabilities … Students may bring their grades up, but nothing is going to bring their grades down in this situation. I think it goes to show that educators are extremely flexible. They just make it work.”

Asked what is unique about her classroom, she said, “We just work really hard to make it feel welcoming. We play lots of games and we never hesitate to be silly when we need to be silly. But I think those are things that most educators do.”

When she learned she was teacher of the year, she said, “I was actually shocked. I did not expect it. I was shocked when I found out I was nominated for Pineville, let alone that I was selected for district-wide, and to say that I am honored is an understatement.”

Her teaching philosophy includes showing students what she needs them to understand, she said.

“Everyone is a learner regardless of cognitive ability or their role in the classroom, teacher or student. Learning looks different for everyone, and that’s OK, and I try to model this, especially in a special ed setting. I think it’s important to point out when I don’t know the answer to a question and let them see me find out so they see the process of how I learn. I also try to model that failure is an option but giving up is not. It’s OK to make mistakes. We’re all going to make mistakes, but we have to keep trying. We don’t say ‘I can’t.’”