Beginning next year, the Clinton County School District will once again have a GEAR-UP program. Thanks to a collaboration led by Berea College, Clinton and Cumberland County will offer the program over a six-year grant period through Berea.

The GEAR-UP grant was announced by Superintendent Charlotte Bernard at a special meeting of the Clinton County Board of Education held last Monday evening, November 10. All board members were present for the combined call meeting and non-action work session.

The program is geared toward assisting students in the areas of math and reading and to prepare students in each of the schools to gain college or technical career readiness upon completing high school. The program will see students be able to tour area colleges as part of the program’s initiative.

Supt. Bernard said the GEAR-UP program would begin working with students in the seventh grade and progress upwards with the assistance of an Academic Specialist, partly funded through Berea College.

Bernard recommended opening a 190-day Academic Specialist to work in the program. The position will be posted and applicants will be interviewed by Berea College staff. The program will likely begin in early 2015, she said.

Bernard also gave board members the job description for the position, including qualifications, responsibilities and duties.

Following the announcement of the GEAR-UP grant program, a motion was made by Board Member Jeff Sams to open the certified position, which passed unanimously.

According to the job description to be posted:

“Academic Specialist (AS) (full-time 190 days): The Academic Specialist will devote 100 percent of their time to the partnership and will work 190 days per year. Academic Specialist will be employees of the school district and will follow the policies and procedures of the district. A Memo of Agreement between Berea College and each district will ensure that AS follow all federal personnel policies. AS will have school-based offices. School principals will supervise AS day-to-day, and monthly meetings including the AS, principal and the Associate Director of Academic Strategies will shape the GEAR-UP work and offset any potential problems. Berea College will reimburse the school district for the AS salary and fringe up to $66,500 per school year.

Qualifications: The Academic Specialist must have a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in education or counseling, three (3) years’ experience in Kentucky schools, experience working with low-income youth, and must be a certified employee of the school district.

Responsibilities: The Academic Specialist must work on a full-time basis, consistent with the schedule for all faculty personnel within the school district and devote his or her professional time exclusively to the implementation of the GEAR-UP Program in the School District. The Academic Specialist shall regularly attend and participate in all GEAR-UP Program training, orientation, instructional and program meetings and activities as scheduled by the school district and/or GEAR-UP. The Academic Specialist shall provide direct services to GEAR-UP students–including academic counseling, guidance counseling and tutoring–recruit students for GEAR-UP activities, maintain files on GEAR-UP students, participate in GEAR-UP activities, document participation in GEAR-UP activities, and perform all such other work as may be assigned to the Academic Specialist consistent with the GEAR-UP grant.

Essential duties include:

1. Provide academic interventions to all GEAR-UP students both individually and collectively.

2. Use early warning system to determine individual student needs.

3. Assist all GEAR-UP students in meeting CCR targets and benchmarks.

4. The ability to tutor students in academic disciplines of math and/or English.

5. Understanding of the skills and academic levels needed to be college and career ready.

6. Connect with teachers and families to ensure students receive appropriate interventions.

7. Review student data to determine impact of interventions and next steps.

8. Believe that all students can be college and career ready.

The vote to open the AS position was the only official vote taken at the hour and-a-half session, which concluded with a work session on various topics.

Finance Director Mike Reeves reviewed the recently released 2013-14 year school audit in some details, noting he was “very pleased” with the results with there not being a single fraud or missing invoice found anywhere in the report. Auditors also reviewed their report at another call meeting held this past Monday night and details on that meeting can be found beginning on page 1.

Clinton County Middle School Principal Teresa Scott also discussed in detail with the board the most recent results of the K-PREP state test results.

Although the school had an overall low percentile and was listed as a focus school, Principal Scott inferred the numbers were somewhat misleading compared to actual overall individual student achievement at CCMS.

K-PREP tests all students together, including students with disabilities. The last testing period at the middle school, according to Scott, saw possibly the highest number of students with disabilities enrolled that had been tested in a school year and said that even those students who scored ‘novice’ still improved in their overall scores.

The board discussed with Scott the need for more special education teachers and early intervention.

Principal Scott also showed graphs of students in different grades and academic test areas that showed individual improvement in most areas and noted the school and staff was continuing to work tirelessly to make sure student improvement rises across the board.

After hearing the report, Superintendent Bernard also said the school “has a lot of things to be happy about.”

A few other subjects were discussed at the work session last Monday with no further actions being taken. However, the board verbally agreed that beginning with the next calendar year, they would likely hold work sessions each second Thursday of the month, following its regular meeting, which will likely be changed–after the first of next year–from the second to third Monday of each month.