Clinton County Board of Education held a busy meeting Monday night, May 12 with all board members present. The one hour and 15-minute session was the last regular session of the 2013-14 school year.

The board first recognized the Clinton County High School Academic Team, coached by Kathy Conner, for the teams accomplishments during the past school year. Conner summed up students on the team with the word “commitment” and slogan, “team spirit.” Among their accomplishments was winning the District competition and doing extremely well in the Regional competition as well.

Christy Nuetzman with the Clinton County Extension Service, then presented some of the 4-H students who had taken part in the speech competition held recently at Lindsey Wilson College.

In one motion by Jeff Sams, the following items were approved: minutes from two previous special and one regular meeting; a family medical leave for Lisa Savage through August 14; a maternity leave for Celesta Shearer through May 30 and a medical leave for Lisa Gibson through May 30; subsequent disbursements; and claims and bills.

Finance Director Mike Reeves then gave a brief finance report, noting the school system was “slightly under budget” thus far for the fiscal year. Later in the meeting, the board, on a motion by Goldie Stonecipher, approved the ‘tentative’ 2014-15 fiscal year budget of approximately $13.6 million. The final of three total budgets, the working budget, will be approved in September.

Under the monthly personnel report, board chairwoman Paula Key announced the following: Certified hired–Jessica Conner, 9th grade girls basketball coach at CCHS; substitute teacher–Lynn Starnes, district-wide; classified resignation–Jennifer Stearns, aide at AES; and, classified hired–Rocky Tallent, head football coach and Steven McGaw and Chris Smith, assistant football coaches at Clinton Middle School.

On a motion by Junior Cecil, the board voted to declare an emergency submission of a BG-1 (Buildings and Grounds) to the Kentucky Department of Education for replacement of a cooling tower at Albany Elementary, two HVAC units at the high school and eight HVAC units at the Early Childhood Center in the amount of $181,000.00.

A resolution was then approved by the Board of Education authorizing the execution of an educational facilities lease with the Kentucky Interlocal School Transportation Association (KISTA) to implement the board’s participation in KISTA’s pooled financing for school improvement projects through the issuance of KISTA’s educational facilities lease revenue certificates of participation.

A Ross & Sinclair Associates representative said the bonds through the program would be handled through Ross & Sinclair in the amount of approximately $181,000.00. He also updated the board on a recent bond refinancing program that has saved the district, over time with lower interest amounts, over $130,000 in bond refinancing.

On separate votes, the board approved the 2014-15 salary schedules for certified personnel, classified personnel and substitute teachers, all reflecting a one percent, across-the-board increase in salary.

The following pay dates for employees were approved for the 2014-15 year: Thursday, July 31; Friday, August 29; Tuesday, September 30; Friday, October 31; Tuesday, November 25; Monday, December 29; Friday, January 30; Friday, February 27; Friday, March 27; Thursday, April 30; Friday, May 29; and Tuesday, June 30.

The board then approved the extended employment and extra increment days/pay for the 2014-15 school year, all unchanged for the current term.

Beginning in July, all employees of the district will be paid by direct deposit, as the board voted unanimously to require Direct Deposit for all employees effective July 1. They will receive a check stub with payroll information throughout the remainder of the year. Then beginning January 1, 2015, employees will be required to go online to view check and earnings information.

Finance Director Reeves noted that beginning the first of next year, each school would be set up with an e-stub to allow any employee without home computer access, to view all their payroll information at the school where they are employed. Employees W2 tax forms will continue to be printed out in paper form.

The board then voted to approve the standard declaration, declaring an emergency for substitute teachers who approve substitutes who apply through the 2014-15 school year an provides the district with a certified transcript with no less than 64 hours and a grade point average of at least 2.5 out of a 4.0 GPA.

The board then approved K & K Insurance as the provider for student school accident insurance at a cost of $36,503, which includes a 10-year catastrophic benefit of $7.5 million per student, effective for the 2014-15 school year.

John Roberts of Robert’s Insurance out of Richmond, the company who has been working with the district for several years, noted that K & K had offered the lowest premium of companies they had checked with and the amount is lower than the $42,000 premium paid this school year. Also, the amount of catastrophic coverage, due to new KHSAA regulations, increased from the $6 million amount during the current school year.

After renewing membership with the Chamber of Commerce ($50 annually) and approving the recently completed Certified Evaluation Plan for the next school year, some overnight trips were approved, including: the CCHS girls basketball team to Lexington on June 30; and the CCHS boys basketball team to Lexington on June 2, Berea on June 13 and Bowling Green on June 19-20.

After approving the agenda as presented, the board was presented a verbal and PowerPoint presentation from Kathleen Gregory and Alison Thrasher regarding data from the Clinton Elementary Schools counseling grant. The grant program has now been ongoing for the past four school years at the elementary and middle schools.

Gregory and Thrasher gave a detailed perspective of the counseling program and benefits it provides to students who require, request or need some type of counseling during the school year and the many programs in which the program is involved in. The counseling program has been, and continues to be very successful and highly beneficial to hundreds of students and parents as well over the few years.

Georgia Rigney, Food Service Director, then briefly updated the board pertaining to a problem dealing with students who have an outstanding lunch account balance.

The school district is currently attempting to meet what is called the “Community Eligibility Provision” that would not only allow all students in the district to receive free breakfast but free lunch as well and the district being owed a large amount in unpaid lunch accounts could jeopardize that application.

Rigney told the board that unpaid lunch accounts, after the end of the current school year, would be turned over to small claims court. She added that parents of students who are behind have been notified on numerous occasions and in various ways, including using the districts “one-call” service and standard mail.

Rigney added the notifications would continue to be sent to those behind on lunch accounts, as well as information about the importance of them being paid. She noted that around 30-40 families were behind and the amount the district was behind totaled around $25,000.00.

Director of Pupil Personnel Julie York then gave the monthly attendance report for the eighth month of school, and it appears the numbers at the end of the year will be much better than that of the 2013-14 year.

Through the next to the last reporting month of the 2014-15 school term, overall attendance for the year was up by 1.91 percent and for the eight month, was up by 1.95 percent.

Overall attendance for the month was 93.87 percent, compared to 91.96 the same month last year. The school with the highest Average Daily Attendance (ADA) for the month was Clinton County Middle School at 93.88 and the most improved was Albany Elementary at 98.83 (compared with 91.57) the same month a year ago.

Overall student enrollment for the year thus far is down by 14 students, standing at 1,721 compared to 1,735 enrolled the same time last year. The eight month ran from March 20 through April 21.

Superintendent Charlotte Bernard then gave her monthly report, taking note of the recently completed Certified Evaluation Plan for next year, work with students on their K-PREP studies and the recent teacher/staff appreciation week. She said she appreciated all the hard work and dedication from all school personnel.

The next regular meeting of the Clinton County Board of Education is scheduled for Monday, June 9 at 5 p.m. at the Central Office board room and is open to the public.