Students in the Wright City R-II School District had an opportunity to visit with local lawmakers last week during Legislative Day on the campus.

Government officials toured the district on two separate days, with U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer visiting Tuesday. On Wednesday, State Senator Jeanie Riddle joined Wright City Mayor Dan Rowden, City Clerk Karen Girondo and Warren County Commissioner Dan Hampson to get an inside look at how the school is using its federal funding.

Superintendent Dr. David Buck says much of the tour was focused on how the school is putting its E-rate funding to work of educational advances.

“They wanted to see how federal dollars are spent, so we took them around to the buildings and had them interact with the kids and let the kids ask questions,” said Buck.

Luetkeymeyer visited West Elementary School, taking part in a reading intervention program. He also toured the server room, receiving an explanation of how federal dollars assist the district in affording internet services.

“It would be very expensive to hook up to the internet at the level we need without federal funding,” said Buck. “There are several things which we pay 20 cents on the dollar for.”

Luetkemeyer also visited the special education classrooms at East Elementary and finished at the Early Childhood Center.

“He was really interested in the peer modeling that we do with early childhood,” said Buck. “It was a very good tour and day.”

The Wednesday visitors began with a tour of the aerospace engineering class at the high school, witnessing the design of a flight simulation before exploring the development of solar-powered vehicles in another class.

“They also went to the robotics room, and we had a couple of kids walk them through what that looks like and what tasks they are looking at for this year’s competition,” added Buck.

Wednesday’s visitors also toured the server room and received a state of the district regarding demographics, scores and performance.

“It was a really good day, and it was enlightening for all of them,” said Buck. “They drive by the schools all the time, but they said it was good to understand how federal dollars are being put to work.”

Buck says the district plans to host a Legislative Day each year.