Clinton County Board of Education held its final pre-business meeting work session of the calendar year last Thursday evening, December 8 with four of five members present.

There was one action item on the agenda, as the board voted unanimously to approve a trip for high school students to the Early Childhood Center to complete a Reader’s Theatre “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” which was held last Friday, December 9.

Finance Director Mike Reeves then reviewed the latest year’s school district audit report with the board.

Reeves noted that overall the audit was in good shape, with only a few “red book” items that needed to be addressed and corrected during the year. Otherwise, he noted there was no major discrepancies of any type found.

Superintendent Charlotte Nasief also discussed the board attorney position, which comes up for renewal in 2017. She noted that current board attorney Lindsey Bell may not have time to fulfill the needs of the board due to his workload. Bell is currently County Attorney in Cumberland County.

Nasief has been in contact with Angie Capps, also an attorney from Burkesville, who would be interested in the position if it becomes available.

There was a brief discussion as to whether or not an attorney needed to be present at all board meetings, since they usually consult an attorney who is familiar with school law when major issues arise. However, some board members said they felt more comfortable if legal counsel could be available during board meetings in case legal opinions arose.

After a brief discussion, board members agreed to authorize the superintendent to discus the matter with both Bell and Capps so a decision could be made later.

The superintendent also conducted a brief work session on the board meeting schedule, INTRUST Healthcare agreement, a substitute teacher handbook, Cyber Days and the district’s Comprehensive Improvement Plan.

The board dealt with the aforementioned issues, including hearing the audit report, at its regular business meeting held this past Monday night and details on that meeting can be found in a separate article this week beginning on page 1.