School board has lengthy meeting Monday

Posted October 23, 2013 at 2:22 pm

Clinton County Board of Education, meeting in special session Monday evening with all members present, had a full slate, including recognition of students and teachers, various presentations and other general issues to vote on. The meeting was held in lieu of the regular meeting on October 14, which had been cancelled.

The board first recognized several students, including three who participated in the Governor’s Scholar program this past summer, Dustin Daley, Lamon Tyler Hubbs and David Williams and Sienna Staley, who had taken part in the Rogers Scholars program. Also recognized were about two dozen high school students who had been tested (and passed one or more) subjects in the 35-part Advance Kentucky program last year. Each of those students received a $100 check for that accomplishment, with a total of $3,500 to be awarded to the local students.

The board also recognized two retiring teachers, Sandy Duvall and Eric Dicken, neither of whom were able to attend Monday’s meeting.

Supervisor of Instruction Paula Little then gave the board an overview of the student and schools performance from last spring’s state K-PREP assessments, with the high point being the school district’s rate of College and Career Readiness, as compared to the state average.

Superintendent Charlotte Bernard then allowed each of the four principals to give a brief assessment under the TELL (Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning) survey that had been conducted among staff members.

Each principal gave on overview of responses in several areas, including weaknesses that each school is addressing and strengths that each continue to build on to make each school facility a better place to teach and work.

After approving minutes from three previous meetings, a regular and two call meetings, four leave of absences were granted, including: a medical leave for Mark Garner through September 17, 2014; a family medical leave for Sandy Pyles through January 5, 2014; a medical leave for Shirley Williams through October 7, 2014; and a medical leave for Beth Sullivan through January 1, 2014.

Following separate votes to approve between meeting disbursements and paying claims and bills, a brief monthly personnel report was given, as follows: Certified hired–Ashley Braswell Shelton, Future Problem Solving Coach, AES/CCMS; substitute teachers–Kaela Irwin, ECC/AES and Michael Harlan, districtwide; and, retired, Sandy Duvall.

The board then voted to amend the current school calendar to reflect (Tuesday) November 5 as a student instructional day, or class day for students.

The aforementioned date was added into the calendar initially due to it being election day in several areas of the country. However, there will be no general election in Kentucky this year, so the board opted to use the day for classroom instruction instead.

During the public comment period, Walton “Chip” Haddix addressed the board about a need for a new high school facility, asking them to consider having the Department of Education do a feasibility study and also change the make-up of school (per grade). This would include, outside of the Early Childhood Center for preschool and kindergarten, making Albany Elementary for grades 1-3; Clinton County Middle School for grades 4-6; junior high for grades 7-9 and CCHS for grades 10-12.

Haddix also advocated what neighboring Cumberland County imposed several years ago to fund school construction, that being a nickel tax on the occupational tax that would be used for construction. He added it would be cheaper to build a new building now than it will down the road and said the district already had 50 acres of property they could build on.

He further called CCHS “the most inadequate high school (of its size) in Kentucky.”

Board Chairperson Paula Key told Haddix the board would take the suggestion under consideration, and added (pertaining to the nickel tax proposal) that the whole county would have to pay for it, which Haddix replied that people should be willing to do that.

It was noted during the discussion that a tax increase would be subject to a recall vote if passed.

In other business, the board:

* Tabled discussion on approving the schools’ Mission Statement.

* Voted to eliminate two certified–and currently already unfilled–positions at Clinton County Middle School, including one of the two math classes and a time-out class.

* Approved the District Staffing Document listing all certified and classified positions currently established by the board.

* Approved the Intrust Healthcare contract for the 2013-14 school year.

* Approved a revised agreement with the Lake Cumberland District Health Department regarding protected health information as required under the HIPPA laws.

* Approved a shortened school day for two students with disabilities at Albany Elementary, one at Clinton County Middle School and one at Clinton County High School.

* Approved the activity fund budgets for each school for the current school year.

* Voted to allow students and faculty at Albany Elementary to conduct a fundraiser to support Relay for Life.

The board also heard a presentation for Arica Collins, owner and pharmacist of Dyer Drug, about a free vitamin program offered to children ages 2-12 and discussed the method of having parents sign their child up to receive the vitamins on a monthly basis. (A separate article on the free vitamin program for children will be published in next week’s Clinton County News.)

Finally, Director of Pupil Personnel Julie York gave the attendance report for the second month of school, Aug. 22 through Sept. 18.

Attendance districtwide was up from 94.96 a year ago to 95.53 through the same month this year, and ADA (Average Daily Attendance) stood at 1,642.19 currently to 1628.12 the same month last year.

The school with both the highest ADA and most improved average daily attendance for the month was Clinton County Middle School, with an ADA at 96.15 for the second month, up from 94.76 recording the same period a year ago.

This year, instead of trophies, banners will be displayed at each school that has the highest attendance for the month, as well as most improved. York also presented banners to the Early Childhood Center for its past two years of highest attendance in the Region 14 area.

The next regular meeting of Clinton County Board of Education is scheduled for Monday, November 11 at 5 p.m. at the Central Office board room and is open to the general public.