The Clinton County Board of Education voted to approve revisions to the Schools’ COVID-19 Operations Plan, recognized students and faculty and heard monthly reports during its regular business meeting Monday, February 21, with four of five members present. The session lasted approximately 35 minutes.

Interim Superintendent Dr. Paula Little first recognized Megan Rains for the high honor of receiving her National Board Certification. Rains was presented with a plaque in recognition of the achievement.

Dr. Little then recognized several elementary and middle school students who did exceptionally in the Noetic Math competition through the Gifted and Talented Program. The local students competed not only against other students in the state, but across the country.

They were coached by Stacey Guffey, Clinton County Schools Gifted and Talented teacher.

Students recognized with stickers revealing their achievement, by grade, were:

* 2nd grade: Kreed Clunie, Riley Hunter, Piper Perrin.

* 3rd grade: Piper Shearer, Kamryn Rains, James Moons, Jonah Harper.

* 4th grade: Waverly Guffey, Eva Brewington, Emma Sue Thrasher, Aleeah Shelley, Shaylee Albertson, Esther Mielu, Alivia Reese Beaty.

* 5th grade: Luiza Mielu, Abby Davis, DJ Harlan, Jersie Smith, Damian Thrasher.

* 6th grade: Lee Tallent.

Little then gave a report on the district’s Consolidated Monitoring Report, which was recently conducted by several members of the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE).

Those officials, about 30 in number, among other criteria, interviewed staff, students, parents and the superintendent during the course of the monitoring process.

Although Dr. Little told the board the KDE would probably recommend some minor things to work on, and a full report will not be issued for two to three months, a preliminary report indicated KDE officials were “very pleased with what they saw” during the monitoring of the local schools.

Finance Director Courtney Norris then gave the monthly finance report. The district ended the month of January with $4.1 million. She also noted funds in Food Service were up and more tax revenue from December was included in the totals.

Director of Pupil Personnel Julie York then gave the monthly attendance report for the sixth month of school.

York said attendance for the month, which ended February 10, was 93.4 percent ADA (Average Daily Attendance), up slightly from the previous month.

The DPP noted that part of the cause of the lower number was the high number of students who had contracted the flu.

York also discussed the new mentoring program for local SROs (School Resource Officers), noting the new plan was a membership program for new SROs.

A state mentor, who had previously been an SRO in Montgomery County, had spent a day in the schools with the two district SROs recently and had forwarded a complimentary report on how the officers were doing their job.

Dr. Little then discussed, and made recommendations for revisions, to the district’s COVID-19 School Operations Plan.

Little noted that as of January 31, the Lake Cumberland District Health Department ceased doing contract tracing, basically leaving that up to schools. She noted that was not a viable option for schools to handle.

For one, she recommended eliminating contract tracing of COVID cases in the schools.

Further, the superintendent recommended following the updated CDC (Centers for Disease Control) guidelines pertaining to the virus. Among those is to allow a student to return to school (after having COVID) on the sixth day if they have no symptoms.

Also, she said much of the time, children are exposed to the virus in their households, and since contract tracing has ended, there was no way to know where the student contracted the virus.

The latter is where the superintendent is asking parents to keep the schools informed, on a confidential basis.

If a child is in quarantine, the parent should notify the school they attend and show some type of proof of positive tests.

Little said that children needed to be in school and the district would like to “get back to normal.”

The number of students and staff testing positive and/or being in quarantine with the virus, from January 21 to the latest report on February 17, has shown a highly significant decrease.

As of January 21, there were 31 positive cases among students, 30 positive cases among staff, 129 students in quarantine and nine staff members in quarantine.

February 17 statistics showed only nine positive cases among students and one positive case among staff. There were also 25 students in quarantine. No staff members were in quarantine.

Following the revised recommendations, the board voted unanimously, on a motion by Ronald Albertson, to approve the revisions, which were to take effect immediately.

The board then voted 5-0 to approve the acceptance of “electronic signatures” to make it easier on staff and parents that may have to sign necessary documentation.

They then unanimously approved an annual agreement with Somerset Community College to offer Dual Credit Courses and approved RISE Mental Health and Wellness as a new provider for some students who they are currently assisting.

The board then approved the Clinton County School District “Police Department Vehicle Pursuit Policy,” which deals with the district’s SROs.

DPP York noted that the local school officers “do no pursuits” and further, foresees no situation in which they ever would. The district has to have such a pursuit policy in place in order to receive KLEFP money, which helps fund the district’s two School Resource Officers.

Board member Albertson asked about the steps that would be taken if such a pursuit was actually needed. The local policy directs that the DPP be called for permission, and it was also noted that in all cases, other police agencies and all emergency calls would go through 911 Dispatch.

The question of insurance was also raised and it was noted the SROs are fully covered.

Following a brief discussion on the issue, board member Gary Norris made a motion to approve the District Police Department Vehicle Pursuit Policy, with the motion passing by unanimous vote.

On a motion by Bobbie Stone, the board approved monthly consent items of approving minutes, subsequent disbursements, payment of bills and medical leaves.

With no public comments being made, the meeting was adjourned.

The next meeting of the school board will be a work session on Thursday, March 17, and next regular business meeting on Monday, March 21. Both meetings begin at 5 p.m. at the Clinton College & Career Center and are open to the general public.