School board had light agenda Monday

Posted January 21, 2015 at 6:58 pm

Clinton County Board of Education held its regular meeting Monday evening with four of five members present and a light agenda for its initial session of the year.

Superintendent Charlotte Bernard first presented a gift of appreciation to each board member in observance of Board Member’s Appreciation Month.

The board then unanimously re-appointed Paula Key and Junior Cecil as Board Chairperson and Vice-Chairman for a two year period, effective January 1 of this year.

Georgia Rigney, Director of Food Services, then presented the 2014-15 District Health and Wellness Plan. She noted the committee that put together the plan was chaired by Tyonia Sinclair and that only minor changes were made, but did also say that the district’s Health and Wellness Plan was one of the best in the state.

Following the presentation, the board voted unanimously to approve the document.

The board then approved minutes from previous meetings, approved between meeting disbursements, voted to approve claims and bills and granted a maternity leave for Sarah Gosser through February 13 and a non-paid leave of absence for Lisa Savage through May 15.

Finance Director Mike Reeves then gave the monthly finance report as well as reviewing with the board the draft budget for 2015-16.

Reeves noted the draft budget, which requires no action and is the first of three budgets the board deals with in a calendar year, was basically a carryover from the current year’s budget and totals are projected to be about the same overall. He also noted the two percent salary increase for employees, including benefits, were added into the total.

The finance director projected the district would have to make up for about $140,000 due to the wage increase because even though SEEK funding did increase slightly, it was only about $100,000 and did not cover all the added expenses.

Overall, he noted he was pleased with the financial condition of the district and noted that tax revenues collected were about $1.4 million.

Board chairperson Paula Key then gave the monthly personnel report, as follows:

* Certified resignation: Joshua Moons, teacher at CCMS.

* Certified hired: Joshua Moons, GEAR-UP Academic Specialist; Mark Neal, teacher; Kayla Kriek, head volleyball coach, all at the middle school; and Sarah Shaw, teacher at the high school.

* Classified hired: Scottie Stockton, head softball coach at CCHS.

* Classified retired: Penny Dalton, Finance Officer, district-wide.

* Classified resignations: Lessica Guthrie, aide and Pamela Ostertag, head volleyball coach, both at CCHS; Nathan Boils, custodian at AES and the high school and Michael Thompson, bus driver, district-wide.

* Substitute teacher: Joey Glidewell, CCMS/CCHS.

The board then voted to re-hire Lindsey Bell as board attorney for the next two years and approved a resolution to employ Chenoweth Law Office for legal services on an as needed basis.

Also approved was attendance of board members and superintendent for mandatory training to the Kentucky School Boards Association annual conference; a nonresident pupil contract with Cumberland County Schools for the 2015-16 school year; and an overnight trip for the high school cheerleaders to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (cheer competition) March 20-22.

Director of Pupil Personnel Julie York gave the attendance report for the fifth month of school. Attendance for the month was 92.29 compared with 93.32 the same month a year ago. However, York said she was relatively pleased considering the weather and sickness across the area during the month, which entailed December 5 through January 12.

The school with the highest attendance for the month was Albany Elementary at 93.28 and also, enrollment continues to be up by 25 students, at 1,755 compared to 1,730 through the same month a year ago.

Superintendent Charlotte Bernard then gave her monthly report, noting the schools have continued working on evaluations and student academic intervention programs. Also, in noting she was “not a meteorologist,” she said school was called off a couple of times this year after driving roads during winter weather and dismissing schools during those periods were a matter of student safety.

The final item of business was a closed session to discuss pending litigation in James C. Thaxton and Michael P. Sinclair v. Clinton County Board of Education, et al, presently in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Kentucky in Bowling Green.

Upon returning to open session, no action was taken and the meeting was adjourned.

The next meeting of the school board will be a work session on Thursday, February 12 followed by its regular meeting on Monday, February 16. The work session will be at 4:30 and the board meeting at 5 p.m., both at the Central Office and both open to the general public.