Clinton County Board of Education held its first regular business meeting of 2023 Monday, January 23, with four of five members present. On hand for his first business session as a new board member was Jeremy Fryman.

Following roll call and adoption of the meeting agenda, the monthly student/staff recognitions were conducted by Superintendent Paula Little.

Students recognized included CCMS media class students and AES art students. Also, school board members were recognized as the month of January is School Board Member Appreciation Month.

A couple of brief monthly reports were then presented. First, Finance Director Courtney Norris gave the finance report for the final month of 2022.

Superintendent Little then gave a brief attendance report. She said attendance for the last month was slightly above the same month a year ago. However, the overall attendance rate remains low and the district continues to work on ways to improve those numbers.

The agenda itself was somewhat shorter than usual for the approximate half-hour meeting.

Board Chairman Leslie Stockton, who was absent Monday night, was nominated and reelected board chairperson on a motion by board member Bobbie Stone and Vice-Chairman Gary Norris was reelected to remain as the board’s vice-chairman, on a motion by board member Ronald Albertson.

Also on a motion by Albertson, seconded by Norris, board attorney Winter Huff was selected to remain as the school board’s legal counsel for the 2023 year.

The 2023-24 school calendar was adopted unanimously by the board. The calendar had been drafted by the district’s calendar committee and, according to Superintendent Little, was about the same as prior years.

On a motion by Stone, they approved an agreement with Western Kentucky University for teacher aides from WKU in the education field to obtain training in local schools.

The board then unanimously voted to enter an Option 9 agreement with Campbellsville University for student aide training in the local school district.

Under this plan, it would allow students working to become teachers to get their credits and coursework while working as aides in the program and eventually become teachers, hopefully in the local school system.

Although the local district would not pay for the students’ education, the credit hours they would obtain as aides would go toward their overall degree work.

Also during the meeting, on a motion by Fryman, they approved KSBA training for board members to be held in late February in Louisville.

On a motion by Albertson, they approved the monthly consent items of minutes, subsequent disbursements, payment of bills, leave of absence, and school trips.

Barrett Speck, during the public comment period which was the last item on the agenda, addressed the board about a couple of concerns he had brought before the board at their December meeting.

Speck, both a parent and member of the Site Based Decision Making Council at AES, asked if there were any updates on two issues he had discussed, the teacher/student classroom ratios, especially at the elementary school, and the progress of getting an SRO (School Resource Officer) in each school.

Speck had said earlier the classroom size (number of students compared to teachers) was too high, and also felt there needed to be an SRO in each school.

Superintendent Little told Speck the state had classified the school district as ‘underneath capacity,’ meaning the district does meet the state criteria for the number of teacher per student ratio in the classroom.

“We’re holding on and waiting” right now,” she said. “Waiting to see about more funding (for teachers),” she added, telling Speck there were a couple of interventionist at the school to help students with special needs.

Little also noted the SBDM receives a budget each year to use, and has options, such as hiring teachers, but both she and Speck agreed it may be at the expense of an interventionist, which apparently the Site Based Council felt they needed.

Speck again noted his primary concern was at the elementary school age level where children develop the skills they take forward, saying “AES is my primary concern. From talking with people, teachers are struggling with the classroom size,” he said.

“We are doing our best,” said Little. “Every teacher in the United States would like to have a smaller class,” she said.

Concerning the issue of an SRO in every school, with the district only having one currently, the superintendent said “We are working hard on (obtaining) SROs. We are actively pursuing people and some have expressed interest.”

Little said money was in the budget for an SRO at every school and will remain in the budget for that purpose.

Last year, the Kentucky State Legislature mandated each school to be equipped with an SRO. However, many districts, including Clinton County, have had to seek waivers to postpone following that mandate.

School Resource Officers are in high demand, but short supply, due to lack of funding, criteria such as training each officer has to complete, etc., and apparently there is a shortage of qualified applicants in many areas.

The local school district has been working on securing a School Resource Officer for each school since the mandate was passed and is continuing to do so.

Following the public comment period, the meeting was adjourned.

The next work session of the school board is scheduled for Thursday, February 16, and its next regular business meeting for Monday, February 20. Both sessions begin at 5 p.m. at the Clinton College & Career Center on KY 90 West and are open to the public.