Clinton County Board of Education held its regular business meeting Monday evening, February 15 with four of five members present. The session lasted just under an hour and included various items of business and a few presentations.

In addition to other items of business, the board heard a recommendation from Superintendent Charlotte Bernard to add an additional three days of nontraditional, or cyber-school, days to the school year, doubling the amount of days originally added into the calendar.

The district has already missed several days due to inclement weather, with three of those being off-set by the use of the three cyber-days already used. The additional days, which may or may not be used in its entirety, would keep the district from having to extend the school year or using spring break as make-up days.

During the pilot year of the program, only 12 districts used non-traditional days, but 40 additional districts, including Clinton, received waivers from the state to participate this year. The state allowed district’s to use up to 10 such days. A committee formed to study the new program initially recommended three days for Clinton County, but due to another harsh winter, several classroom days have had to be cancelled.

Supt. Bernard, in recommending the additional days, said that six would probably be the maximum taken, noting that although the non-traditional days were working well, they still didn’t replace classroom instruction and days missed also cut into revenue for other school entities such as the Food Service program which loses money when students are not in school.

In other business…

The board approved consent items, including minutes of previous meetings, subsequent disbursements and voting to pay claims and bills.

Finance Director Mike Reeves gave a brief monthly finance report, noting revenues for the first month were down a little due to state budgeting issues and said the effects of the state budget woes would be clearer later this spring when a tentative budget is put together for board consideration.

Board chairperson Paula Key then gave the following monthly personnel report:

* Certified hired: Rachel McFall, teacher at Albany Elementary; Kenzie Pharis, teacher at the middle school; Ginger Davis, volleyball coach at the middle school.

* Substitute teachers; Crystal Jones and Jared Hunter, both district-wide.

The board approved the annual student-teacher ratio per school, with the ratio being 24-1 students per teacher at each the Early Childhood Center, Albany Elementary and Clinton County Middle School and 26-1 at the high school.

The board also approved an agreement with Sherman Carter Bernhart Architects for the purpose of amending the District Facility Plan in the proposed amount of $10,861.00. The plan, which has to be updated every five years, lays out a plan that is needed for facilities across the district, insofar as building needs and even new construction.

The state allots an offer of assistance each year to the district, up to 20 years, for updating the plan and currently the district has $43,000 built up. Finance Director Reeves noted that over time, if for example, a new school building may be needed, it could save the district $2 or $3 million dollars in needed funds for school facility projects.

The board then voted unanimously to approve the Clinton County High School Cheerleaders Spirit Week fundraiser to be conducted April 18-22 for the benefit of Relay For Life.

Director of Pupil Personnel Julie York, in her monthly student attendance report, noted that due to the days missed for weather, the sixth month of school would not be complete until around the 22nd of this month, but did note that up through Monday of the week, attendance to this point dating back to January 6 was up, standing at 94.7 percent, well above the same month a year ago.

Board member Key said she felt that the success of the cyber-school days and the school district having an in-house nurse practitioner may have played a small role in seeing that attendance number increase.

The board then heard student data reports from both AES Principal Tim Armstrong and CCHS Principal Stacey Evans, who gave detailed reports on student data up through the first half of school and previewing plans in place to improve each school’s student progress.

Supt. Bernard commended all four principals for their work and detailed presentations, which laid out student data and improvement plans to not only increase each school’s test scores, but more importantly improve each students progress.

During the monthly superintendent’s report, Bernard also noted that participation in the free breakfast program in the district was down, especially among high school students. The district is now trying a new “grab and go” project at CCHS in which students are given bags of breakfast food at the start of the day to either eat then, later in the day, or even take home.

Under a new state program now being implemented by the school district, all students receive both free lunch and breakfast.

The superintendent also discussed the success of the non-traditional school days, revisions to the current year’s calendar and next year’s proposed calendar, which will be presented at a later meeting, and work on the district School Evaluation Plan.

Finally, she discussed the dire condition of the state’s, retirement system, especially pertaining to how it affects teachers and educators, noting that something needed to be done at the state level to address the problem and urged everyone to contact their legislators about the issue.

After approving the agenda as presented, the meeting was adjourned.

The next work session/meeting of the board is scheduled for Thursday, March 10 at 4:30 p.m. and the next regular business meeting Monday, March 14 at 5 p.m., both at the Central Office board room and both open to the general public.