Education

Keep up with Columbia public schools

Below the overview of the district are links to KBIA's coverage of Columbia 93 district schools, updated as more stories are published. Columbia 93 at a glanceThe Columbia 93 school district currently includes 32 different schools. In 2014, the district had a k-12 enrollment of 17,204 students, which is 2% of the total k-12 enrollment for the state. Enrollment has been slightly increasing in recent years, 2% since 2011. While a small percent, that amounts to almost 400 more students. There have also been major re-drawing of attendance areas with the addition of Battle High School. Middle school attendance areas shape high school boundaries 00000178-cc7d-da8b-a77d-ec7d2f9e0000The changes have affected all schools in the district, including causing high school attendance to increase and overcrowding at one middle school at least.

CPS announces names of two candidates for superintendent

KBIA | By Ryan Famuliner

Published March 5, 2014 at 12:29 PM CST

Columbia Board of Education President Christine King announced in a letter to district staff Tuesday the board has narrowed its search for candidates for superintendent to two people.

One is an internal candidate: Dr. Peter Stiepleman. Stiepleman is currently the assistant superintendent for elementary education for Columbia Public Schools. The other candidate is Dr. Dred Scott, deputy superintendent for the Independence School District.

In her letter, King said the two were chosen from a field of 18 applicants, which were winnowed down to four for first round interviews this week. Scott and Stiepleman emerged, and will take part in a moderated discussion and a candidate meet and greet on Tuesday, March 11, from 5:30-7:30pm at the Aslin Administration Building at 1818 W Worley Street.

The position of superintendent was left open following the announcement that superintendent, Chris Belcher, would retire at the end of this June. Superintendent Belcher had been considering this move since mid-December of last year. He has since accepted a position at the University of Missouri's College of Education. Starting September 1, he begins as an assistant teaching professor within MU’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis.