The Clinton County Board of Education held its regular monthly business meeting this past Monday night, January 17, at the Clinton College and Career Center.

Four of five members were present, with board members Bobbie Stone and Chairperson Leslie Stockton attending virtually. Board member Gary Norris was absent due to illness.

The session began with a special call meeting of the school board’s Finance Corporation (made up of school board members) to take action on issuance on the sale of bonds.

During regular session, the board approved a resolution entering into a contract, lease, and option with the District Finance Corporation to agree to pay annual rentals equal to the debt payment on the bonds.

The FSCC funding in the amount of $750,000 in bonding over a 10 year period relates to the roofing and bleacher project at the Clinton County High School gymnasium.

Bryan Skinner, who made the presentation to the board on the project, noted the deadline to file for issuance of the bonds for this cycle was February 7, but the latest application will be on February 2 for the current project.

The district will still have $6.3 million in bonding capacity after the issuance of the $750,000 facility update bond issuance.

Following the board’s vote, they then recessed and called a meeting of the District Finance Corporation and voted to approve the resolution of the Finance Corporation with the board to approve advertisement sale of bonds.

Both motions were made by Kevin Marcum and passed unanimously.

After the board had approved the separate resolutions, they proceded with regular business items.

January is School Board Member Appreciation Month and Interim Superintendent Dr. Paula Little presented board members with a certificate and gifts for their service, noting that being a board member was often times a thankless job.

Finance Director Courtney Norris then gave the monthly finance report, noting the district ended the past month with a fund balance of over $4.4 million.

The fund balance included, among other revenue, over $1 million in project reimbursements and over $1.4 million in property tax revenue, the latter which Norris noted was possibly the highest tax revenue amount received by the district from property taxes.

Dr. Little then gave the monthly attendance report, again noting some dismal numbers. The school with the highest attendance for the month was Albany Elementary at 92 percent ADA (Average Daily Attendance) with the rest of the schools hovering around the 89 to 90 percent mark.

Although the superintendent noted there had been adversity, such as sickness and bad weather, she said the attendance needed to be improved.

The board then voted, on a motion by Ronald Albertson, to accept another FSCC offer of assistance in over a 10 year period, which the district will be eligible for in July of this year.

Also on a motion by Albertson, the board unanimously approved KLEFPF funding to be used to help fund the school districts SRO’s (School Resource Officers).

On a motion by Marcum, the board unanimously voted to renew the contract of board attorney Winter Huff for another year.

Dr. Little then briefly discussed a CDC (Centers for Disease Control) change that affects schools, that being that students testing positive for COVID could return to school on the sixth day after being tested positive.

Currently people testing positive have to be in quarantine for 10 days before returning to the classroom.

However, after five days, the person would have to be tested again, and if found negative, would have the option of either wearing a mask for the next five days or remaining in quarantine until the 10 days are up.

Board member Stone also noted that this included both students and staff, saying staff needed to be in school as much as possible.

Little also said it would be a way to help keep students in the classroom.

On a motion by Albertson, the board unanimously approved that revision to the district’s COVID-19 Operations Plan.

On a motion by Marcum, the board approved the annual KSBA (Kentucky School Boards Association) required yearly training.

Finally, on a motion by Chairperson Stockton, the board approved the monthly consent items including approval of minutes; subsequent disbursements; payment of bills; medical leaves; and, an overnight trip.

The brief meeting, that lasted a little less than 20 minutes, was then adjourned.

The board had originally scheduled the recognition of students, but postponed that due to the weather and will recognize students at a later meeting.

The school board’s next work session is scheduled for Thursday, February 17 and next regular business meeting for Monday, February 21. Both meetings begin at 5 p.m. at the Clinton College and Career Center on Ky. Hwy. 90 West and both are open to the general public.