For years, O’Neal Elementary has been using its school garden to help provide students with a hands-on botany education that extends beyond Missouri Learning Standards.

O’Neal Elementary is the latest school within the R-I district to join in the movement of adding a professional therapy dog to its staff, with help from community sponsorships.

A total of 16 booths were set up with goodies to distribute to all elementary students during O’Neal’s inaugural ‘Cupid Shuffle’ in celebration of Valentine’s Day.

Bright Futures Poplar Bluff hosted a ‘reboot’ event for community partners since the organization’s mission was impacted during the public health crisis. While visitors were limited, student needs increased, according to officials.

Poplar Bluff counselors, grades K-3, have their own curriculum for the first time in recent memory supplied along with a $500 implementation stipend per school building by the Butler County Community Resource Council.

O’Neal Elementary has kicked off a reading incentive program this month with help from a business sponsorship to encourage students to read more at home.

Poplar Bluff R-I has been awarded over $55,000 to help expand Project Lead the Way’s premier science, technology, engineering and math curriculum to its elementary schools.

O’Neal Elementary Principal Dr. Amy Dill earned the 2022 Missouri Association of School Librarians Award for School Administrators on Monday, April 11, during the organization’s spring conference at Osage Beach.

Students across the Poplar Bluff School District helped collect over $4,000 in coins to ensure area children who recently entered foster care received Christmas presents.

Second graders of Shannon Miller’s class at O’Neal Elementary have collaborated to author and illustrate a series of non-fiction books on their own initiative.

Three buildings in the Poplar Bluff School District out of 325 campuses across the U.S. have been named national showcase schools under the Capturing Kids’ Hearts initiative.

Mossy Oak Properties/Mozark Realty donated over $500 so O’Neal can purchase an inflatable movie screen and projector to be used for the elementary school’s annual Movie Night.

More than 100 children’s books were given away to students participating in the fourth annual Book Bingo hosted during Read Across America week on Thursday, March 5, at O’Neal Elementary School.

Gulf War veteran Lisa Bratton of the U.S. Air Force returned to her elementary school to speak with students about her service on Monday, Nov. 11, in observance of Veterans Day.

Southern Bank has agreed to sponsor the Students of the Month program at O’Neal Elementary, supplying a luncheon, book, shirt, balloon, candy bar and certificate to the recipients selected by their teachers.

Chartwells began offering dinner services for free last week at five additional school sites where after school enrichment programs and services such as tutoring, club activities and latch-key are available to all students.

O’Neal was recently awarded a $2,190 grant from Ronald McDonald House Charities to increase technology at the elementary school.

The annual Special Olympics Missouri Southeast Area games were held on Friday, April 12, at Fred M. Morrow Stadium, featuring over 200 athletes representing around 15 area schools and agencies.

The annual Spelling Bee Championship ended in a tie as third grade finalists went back and forth for over 40 minutes live on SAM 96.7 FM on Wednesday, Feb. 28, at Fox Radio Network.

Elementary school music teacher Daniel Cox had the honor of performing alongside the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, promoting music in education, and representing Poplar Bluff R-I.

Poplar Bluff students had the privilege of learning firsthand about the meaning of Veterans Day on Friday, Nov. 10, as servicemen and women were honored across campus.

In light of its 100th anniversary, Poplar Bluff Municipal Utilities put on a live line demonstration at several of the schools within the R-I district last week, teaching students about the hazards of electricity.

O’Neal Elementary and Poplar Bluff Junior High are among 53 school campuses out of over 10,000 to be named national showcase schools by the Flippen Group for topnotch implementation of the Capturing Kids’ Hearts program.

Brume Osiohwo of O’Neal Elementary won the Butler County Community Resource Council’s annual spelling bee Wednesday, Feb. 15, at Fox Radio Network, spelling 142 words correctly – the most in recent memory.

The following self-imposed questionnaire is precisely how 10-year-old Bailey Williams filled out her successful “application for co-librarian” to land a job in the O’Neal library one year ago.

Returning finalist from last year’s spell-off, Blake Brown of O’Neal Elementary School, won the seventh annual Fox Radio Network spelling bee on Wednesday, Feb. 24, at the station headquarters.

The AT&T Pioneers, a nonprofit arm of the telecommunications corporation comprised of employees and retirees, donated two Kindle Fires to the O’Neal Elementary School library on Friday, Jan. 9.

O’Neal Elementary School was granted $250 from the Butler County Soil and Water Conservation District, in collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, to participate in various activities for Earth Month.

The 2013/14 school year will mark the end of an era at O’Neal Elementary School, but school officials say the future is in capable hands.