Clinton County Board of Education held its monthly work session last Thursday afternoon at the Central Office with all members present. The lengthy meeting lasted almost two hours and included two separate presentations on a couple of important issues involving the school district.

Sid Scott, District Technology Coordinator, gave a Power Point presentation pertaining to the school district’s Acknowledgement of Data Security Best Practices and Julie York, Director of Pupil Personnel, gave a discussed presentation regarding “Virtual Classes.”

In the technological age we now live in, protecting individual, business, government and, yes, school district information from hackers or malware that steals the information and uses it to not only get rich, but harm others, is a growing concern for anyone using a computer or mobile device.

Scott informed the board that a new state law, passed by the Kentucky legislature, KAR 1:170, now requires that a Data Security and Privacy policy be in place and notification given to school boards that the plans are being implemented before August 31 of each calendar year.

Other than board policies pertaining to privacy of school district security, there are also state and federal regulations in place and that beginning this year, an annual notification of the implementation of the policy was required.

Although Scott noted that with the ever changing technology and people who have the time and know-how to hack into systems, no one can be 100 percent secure, but stressed the district was continually doing all it can to prevent such security information breaches.

Scott cited some major corporations, businesses, etc. that have been the victim of hackers, who obtained information on all their customers. He said, for example, if a hacker were to be able to obtain a student’s personal information, i.e. name, address, social security number, they (hackers) could use that information to fraudulently obtain and use a credit card under that individual’s name.

“We are striving to keep (the school districts) data as secure as humanly possible,” he said, explaining some of the options the district was taking to make information more safe, including requiring a ‘non-disclosure’ agreement with anyone the board does business with in any way.

If a system is breached, it can take months for the breach to be revealed and untold damage could be done, but Scott said there were measures to handle such security breaches, with several steps required involving different agencies.

DDP York then discussed at length a possible new program she would like to see implemented that would help people in certain situations who cannot attend regular school classes, the opportunity to stay in the school system and be able to maintain credits and still graduate…through online learning.

Although the presentation was for the board’s information only at this point, “Virtual Classes” would become a new policy and program eventually put in place by the local school district as a means to offer online courses to some individuals who would otherwise not come back, or could not come back to school for certain critical reasons.

Several school districts across the state, including many area districts such as Cumberland and Wayne counties already have the program in place, and it seems to be working well.

Courses online would be performance based and graded, just as if in a classroom setting, and would allow those who take the classes to be enrolled in school, which is also a financial plus since the districts that have the virtual classes receive normal state funding on an annual basis for those students.

York said there was a pyramid of reasons why some students cannot attend a regular school setting and need the virtual class program to actually stay in school, earn credits and still be able to graduate. She went on to say she knew of a few students right now who could vastly benefit from such a program. Further, she said Clinton County may lose some of those perspective students to bordering districts who already offer the program.

“I have seven students currently that I know of,” that could benefit from Virtual Classes, York said.

The program would be at no cost to the student, but online accessibility would be required and there are options for those students who may not have internet access at home, such as the public library certain days and times during a week in which they can do the course work.

There were also side-related questions to the program, such as whether or not students taking virtual classes could still participate in school events like the prom, etc. The board agreed they should be allowed to, but not allowed to participate in sports, noting if they had the time required to practice and play sports, they probably could manage to be in school.

Students could earn from seven up to 10 credits a year.

York said the program would be a good thing, but would need to be carefully implemented and monitored in the right way. “We have kids in trouble that need it,” she said.

York also supplied a handout for the possible program, self-entitled “Bulldog Virtual Academy,” in which the description reads, “The Bulldog Virtual Academy is a non-traditional program using flexible schedule and creating an alternative for students who may benefit from a differently structured independent mode for credit achievement. This program will address the individual educational needs of select students and allow progress toward academic completion of a CCHS diploma for those who may not have otherwise been able to achieve it.”

The information also listed some criteria, daily schedule, grading scale, academic progress and attendance, as well as attendance requirements and violations, among other information which would be included in the program.

The board took no official action on the Virtual Classes proposal but did seem highly receptive of the program and may take action at a later time.

Following the presentations, Superintendent Charlotte Nasief conducted a non-action work session, which included a financial review of the current budget status from Finance Director Mike Reeves.

The workshop, with many of the issues voted on later, included In-Direct Cost Rate, bids, Supervision of Students Plan, personnel, job descriptions, positions and Clinton County Schools Police Department.

The school board held its regular monthly business meeting Monday evening, August 15 and details on that session can be found in this week’s Clinton County News, beginning on page 1.