Clinton County Board of Education held a lengthy combination special call meeting and non-action work session last Thursday evening, July 16 at the Central Office with all board members present.

The only action officially taken, other than approving the meeting’s agenda, was to approve an overnight trip for the Clinton County High School Cheerleaders to Lexington July 19-22 for cheer camp.

The board also heard a presentation from Ashley Bridgeman with the Lake Cumberland District Health Department with information regarding the Kentucky Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program local grant.

During the work session, Superintendent Charlotte Bernard announced that effective with this coming school year, the Lake Cumberland Head Start program would no longer be renting classrooms at the Early Childhood Center, apparently due to major funding cuts to the Head Start program.

The Head Start will be located instead in the Terry White building in south Albany.

Bernard and Finance Director Mike Reeves discussed with the board the short-term costs it would mean in lost rent, transportation fees paid for bus routes and so forth, which will be tens of thousands of dollars up front.

The bright side, however, is that with the extra classrooms now available at the ECC, it will provide much needed classroom space in the long run for added kindergarten classes, which are expected to be needed in the next few years.

Superintendent Bernard also confirmed that retired educator Joan DeForest, the former long-time assistant principal at Clinton County Middle School, has been appointed as interim principal at Clinton County High School to fill the temporary vacancy left by former principal Sheldon Harlan, who is now principal at the Early Childhood Center.

The CCHS Site Based Decision Making Council is currently in the process of selecting a new principal for the high school, but the exact time line for having a new principal in place isn’t known at present.

The board also discussed other issues during the work session, most of which were to be brought up and voted on at its regular business meeting held Monday night of this week. A separate article on that meeting appears on page one this week.