Mark Twain School incorporated a chicken coop into its non-traditional learning environment on Friday, Sept. 23, for students to work in shifts and tend after.

A Mark Twain School sophomore was a guest of honor at the Governor’s Mansion on Tuesday, Nov. 9, in Jefferson City, along with approximately 65 students across Missouri.

A new partnership between Mark Twain and the Poplar Bluff Early Childhood Center is not only proving to be beneficial for the students at both age levels, but for the teachers facilitating.

Mark Twain School students are gaining perhaps just as much as they give while helping to address the food insecurity in the community, organizers say.

Mark Twain School will add staff and expand to include Middle School aged students for the 2021/22 school year, after experiencing initial success despite scaling back the scope of the operation during the health crisis.

The Poplar Bluff School District will open its first comprehensive alternative school for the 2020/21 academic year in the former Early Childhood Center facility centrally located on North Main Street.

The new RISE Transition Center will open during the 2019/20 school year as a pilot program for the planned alternative school to help address behavioral issues that students, grades 7-12, are struggling with in the regular education setting.

Phase two of the district’s long-range plan is beginning to take shape as community leaders work with Poplar Bluff school administrators to prioritize short-term needs that remain.