Clinton County Board of Education held its regular monthly business meeting Monday at the Clinton College & Career Center. The meeting lasted a half-hour with four of five board members present.
The board heard from a couple of concerned parents about bus schedules and safety, recognized students and approved the coming year’s tax rates.
Board Chairwoman Leslie Stockton reviewed for those present the board’s Public Comment Guidelines for board meetings.
The new requirements limit the comment period to 15 minutes and required those wishing to address the board to sign in and state the purpose of their comments, giving each up to five minutes to speak.
Topics and decorum are also spelled out for those wishing to address the board.
Only two individuals had asked to address the board with their concerns, those being Joy Shearer and Erika Roe.
Shearer was first recognized and told the board that her husband, a school district employee, was late for work due to the scheduling of start times at the schools this year, making her husband late for work when he has to meet the bus for their children.
She also noted to the board that buses will pick up a child anywhere except on school property.
Roe then spoke to the board about potential safety concerns, primarily with buses blocking entrance ways to the high school in the afternoons, making it a safety hazard for emergency personnel who may need to access the facility.
A second issue she had was the middle school getting out of school first, causing one of her children, who attends high school, to miss almost a full hour of instructional time a week at the Clinton Center because the buses are needed at the middle school.
Interim Superintendent Boyd Randolph asked Roe to get in touch with him about her issues and Stockton told both citizens their concerns would be taken into consideration.
Randolph then recognized a trio of CCHS students, one of whom was present at the meeting, Tyler Guffey. He is a senior, the son of Randy and Robin Guffey.
In August 2022, Guffey was selected as a participant in the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center’s Appalachian Career Training in Oncology (ACTION) Program.
He is one of 20 students who travels to UK one Saturday a month. He dedicates 40 hours per week to learning about the effects of cancer and cancer research for the future.
In addition, he was also selected for the 2023 Governor’s Scholars Program and attended GSP at Murray State University in late June.
Lauren Winningham, a freshman at CCHS, daughter of Katresa Collins and Anthony Winningham, was recognized for being selected for the 2023 Rogers Explorers Program and she attended Rogers Explorers  Program at Lindsey Wilson College this past June.
Jonna Upchurch, daughter of Pam and Jeff Upchurch, a CCHS senior, was recognized for winning 1st place in the 15-18 age category in .22 sport rifle competition at the Adair County 4-H Fun Shoot as part of the CCHS 4-H Shooting Sports program.
Superintendent Randolph then gave the monthly superintendent’s report, this month reviewing to board members facilities and maintenance expenses through his first few weeks as superintendent, as well as touching on curriculum and assessments.
Finance Director Courtney Norris then presented the monthly finance report, noting the ending balance from all accounts through last month was $7,645,085.89.
Angela Sloan, GLS Grant Coordinator, then gave the board a brief presentation on the grant, which is basically a suicide prevention grant which encompasses many aspects of ways to help students who may be contemplating suicide or in need of mental health intervention.
The program focuses on teaching young adults basic skills they need in life, such as respect, self-control, et al and also has a written crisis plan that is being worked on to be put in place.
Following the reports and presentation, the board, on a motion by Chairwoman Stockton, voted to approve the school district tax rates for the coming year–taking the 4% increase allowed by the state.
The school district tax rates were set at 46.1 cents per $100 assessed value on both real estate and personal property; .53 cents on motor vehicle; three percent on utilities, with the state rate on watercraft.
The board then approved changes on some draft policies, either on first or second reading, mostly on motions by Gary Norris.
One of the changes was recommended by board attorney Winter Huff that pertained to state law changes regarding due process in cases of student expulsion.
The policy basically guarantees any student cited for expulsion due process rights of a hearing, or other legal proceeding protected under the state and federal constitutions.
Also on a motion by Norris, the board voted to establish a position of assistant girls’ soccer coach with a stipend of $750 per year.
They then approved a Subaward Agreement with Partners for Rural Impact with the GEAR-UP program that provides $111,500 in academic assistance to the local GEAR-UP program.
Two counseling agency agreements were approved on motions by Ronald Albertson, including one with  Bluegrass Professional Counseling and the other with Passages of Kentucky.
After approving district wide PTA fund raisers, the board voted unanimously to approve a reciprocal agreement with Wayne County Schools for pre-school students.
The agreement allows pre-school students from either county to attend the other’s district and be eligible to receive state funding for that student.
The board closed the meeting by approving the monthly consent items of minutes, subsequent disbursements, payment of bills, leave of absence and overnight trips.
The next school board work session is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, September 21, and next regular business meeting for Monday, September 25. Both sessions are to begin at 5:00 p.m. at the Clinton College & Career Center on Hwy. 90 West and are open to the public.