Santa Fe Times School
Prom Dress Shoppe hours
The final day for the Prom Dress Shoppe (locatd at 16 W. 15th Street, Higginsville) will be Saturday, Feb. 28 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Superintendent Lark warns of dire times ahead
The Santa Fe Board of Education met in regular session Thursday, Feb. 12 at Santa Fe High School. In his report, Superintendent Derek Lark focused on the future of the Santa Fe school district. He reviewed several pieces of legislation for the board and indicated he intends to host a ‘Town Hall’ style meeting in the future to educate and inform interested stakeholders.

State Bank of Missouri presents donation to Trinity Lutheran School
State Bank of Missouri presented a donation to Trinity Lutheran School

Community Helpers at Trinity Lutheran School
Preschoolers celebrate Community Helpers Week at Trinity Lutheran School.

PAT Valentine’s Dance
On Saturday, Feb. 7, the Santa Fe Parents as Teachers held a Valentine’s Family Dance at Santa Fe Elementary school. The event included snacks, music, dancing, coloring pages, books for storytime and various games and activities. Here, Hadley Boland dances with her mom, Brittany Boland while other guests gather around the refreshment table. ( Santa Fe Times photo by Klarissa Olvera)
DESE accepting nominations for Missouri Teacher of the Year
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is now accepting nominations for Regional Teacher of the Year. This is the first step for an educator to become the 2027 Missouri Teacher of the Year.

TL Spelling Bee
Trinity Lutheran School held their annual Spelling Bee for grades 1-8 on Friday, Jan. 30. During this contest, the top four winners from each classroom competed in the gym to determine the overall class winner. Here, first grader Tobias Roll takes his turn at the microphone while Trevor Lovercamp (left) and Rhen Tieman (right) wait their turn. For more from this event, see page 5. (Submitted photo)

SF students attend math contest
On Jan. 31, a group of 8th grade students from Santa Fe travelled to Carrollton to compete in the Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics (MCTM) qualifying math contests. Destiny Medina placed 3rd in the Sprint event (no calculator) and 5th overall in 8th grade(individual). Makenna Stephens placed 1st in the Target event and 3rd in 8th grade overall(individual). The 8th grade team placed 3rd overall, made up of Makenna Stephens, Destiny Medina, Addison Beumer, and Hallie Schuster. Additionally, Makenna qualified for the state competition in March. From left: Medina, Beumer, Schuster, Stephens. (Submitted photo)
SF Board discusses legislation, formally hires Tichenor as Santa Fe High School Principal
The Santa Fe Board of Education met in regular session on Thursday, January 22nd. Mr. Lark shared that school resource office, David Cobb, would be attending a safety workshop sponsored by Missouri School Board Association’s Center for Educational Safety. The training will provide best practices for SRO’s as well as account for mandated training for school districts as a result of legislation passed last session. Additionally, he shared that members of the districts Threat Assessment Team would be undergoing refresher training, which will focus on assessing the validity of threats in schools, such as general threats of violence towards the school as a whole, individual threats, self-harm, bullying, etcetera. The threat assessment process provides a platform that provides a concrete structure for trained individuals to make informed decisions. “Discerning the validity and seriousness of the various and numerous types of threats that are made in all venues of a school district can be very, very challenging. Having a standard process with trained individuals enables us to make decisions that are more informed and consistent,” stated Mr. Lark. He then focused on the Governor’s State of the State Address. Summarizing the educational issues discussed, Mr. Lark noted that Governor Kehoe emphasized his intent to support school choice through legislation involving open enrollment and school voucher systems (MO Scholars). Lark shared that in fiscal year 2026, the state approved $51 million for the MO Scholars funding. He went on to share that more importantly, the major shift is that this funding is
