Bear Council will meet again in August

The Willow Springs R-IV school district is engaging in direct community engagement via “The Bear Council,” which is a group of community leaders handpicked by the administration to provide input on school issues.

 

The Bear Council was created on May 15, 2025 with its first meeting, said Superintendent Dr. Marty Spence. Its creation was an administrative action, Spence said, not a school board vote. This group will function in an advisory capacity only and does not invalidate or override the authority of the elected members of the board of education. 

 

“It’s a way for the community to engage with the school on current issues,” Spence said in a July 29 interview. The Bear Council will meet again in August, and these meetings are open to the public, he confirms.

 

Howell County News is not aware of, and has never received, any public notice of these meetings, but the school may not be required to do so, as they must with the school board meetings. “Public governmental bodies” are required to give notice, keep minutes, and record votes according to Missouri’s Sunshine Law.

 

The Sunshine Law also governs and applies to advisory committees adjacent to public governmental bodies, but defines them as, “Any committee appointed by or at the direction of any of the entities and which is authorized to report to any [public governmental agencies]…”

 

The Bear Council is a community-based focus group appointed by administrators, not the school board. There is not a quorum of school board members present, Spence said. Usually, Dr. Spence and school board president Mac Gum meet with the committee. 

 

Members of the Bear Council are: Kim McCormick, Josh Henry, Derek Fredrick, Robert Hollis, David Baldridge, Lori Foster, Mary Aye, Mitchell Harris, and Amanda Riviello.