Clinton County Board of Education held its final regular meeting of the 2012 calendar year Monday night with just three of five members on hand, as two members, Goldie Stonecipher and Board Chairman Ned Davis were both absent due to illness.

Vice-chairperson Paula Key conducted the meeting in Davis’ absence. He will be leaving the board after having served for decades in that capacity, at the end of the year. He has also served several terms as the board’s chairman. Key noted she had spoken with Davis by phone earlier in the day and he noted much illness within his family and also expressed gratitude for having the opportunity to serve on the board over the past years.

During regular business, the board first recognized several Clinton County Future Farmers of America (FFA) students, including all of this year’s officers, for their recent attendance at the annual National FFA Convention held in Indianapolis, Indiana. (The national convention will be moving back to Louisville, Kentucky in 2013.)

There are a half-million FFA student members nationwide, and approximately 50,000 of those converged on Indianapolis for the final convention to be held in that city, including a dozen local chapter members.

The local FFA has been busy this school year, having competed in several contests and placing high at both the regional and state levels.

John Wilson, CPA from Somerset, then gave the board the 2011-12 fiscal year audit report overview.

Once again, the district’s audit revealed a clean report and healthy financial condition ending June 30 of this year. Overall, the district has $15 million more in assets than in liabilities and although less funds were budgeted due to the economy, the board was able to spend less than anticipated and also the majority of spending was in the area of student instruction.

The board then, somewhat reluctantly, approved the 2012-13 District Health and Wellness Plan submitted by Food Service Director Teresa Boils.

There were some changes, especially menu wise, from past years, which was discussed by the board during Boils’ report.

The Food Service Director noted that several federal regulations pertaining to school lunch menus across the country are in place and have to be followed in order for school districts to be reimbursed in federal dollars for their food service programs.

Boils noted that among the changes was the switch to “whole grain” breads and maximum amounts of calories allowed per day for each school to be served.

Apparently there have been some complaints among students and parents, with reports of some students simply not eating what is on the menu.

Boils and Superintendent Charlotte Bernard both indicated they were going to work to make meals better and come up with recipes for the type food that has to be served more appealing for students to eat. Boils also noted that vendors of whole grain products were also working to make those type products basically ‘taste better.’

After approving board minutes from its November session, they voted to grant a medical leave of absence to Fred Dalton through February 1, 2013 and a family medical leave to Kim Fitzgerald through December 11 and also approved between meeting disbursements and voted to pay claims and bills.

Superintendent Bernard then gave a brief monthly personnel report, with three substitute teachers being announced, all district wide, including Carla Baker, Leandra Brown and Rodney Shelton and two resignations, including Wayne Conn as head baseball coach and Nathan Garner as assistant baseball coach, both at the middle school.

They then voted to change the certified timeout position at Clinton County High School to a part-time position, with the remaining .5 being used for a Science teacher.

The board then voted to reappoint Lindsey Bell as board attorney for a two-year period, effective January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2014; voted to keep their regular meeting date/time unchanged, at 5 p.m. the second Monday of each month; and voted to accept the only food bid for the 2013 spring semester from IWC (Institutional Wholesale Company.)

Julie York then gave the attendance report for the fourth month of school, and despite the flu outbreak in nearby areas, attendance was once again up for the month, compared to the same month a year ago.

Overall average daily attendance in the district was 94.32 percent, 1.75 above a year ago. Also, for the third consecutive month, the trophy for the highest ADA went to Albany Elementary School, which posted a 93.52 percent for the month and also for the third month in a row, the Early Childhood Center got the trophy for most improved ADA, with that school’s attendance for the month standing at 93.09 percent.

Also, overall student enrollment remains to be up this year, with 1,731 students enrolled at the end of the fourth month of school, compared to 1,719 a year ago.

Prior to adjourning, a citizen questioned the board about the status of the baseball field at CCMS and whether or not it would be ready for use by the spring baseball season.

Superintendent Bernard said that Park Director Bobby Reneau is currently working to have the field and dugouts ready for use by next spring and that night games played by the middle school would be played at the park, since the cost of lighting the middle school field was unaffordable at this point–being estimated at around a quarter-million dollars.

By having the middle school field and dugouts ready by next spring, it will free up time for much needed practice by CCMS baseball players and avoid any conflicts with the fields used by Little League at Mountain View Park.

The next regular meeting of the Clinton County Board of Education is scheduled for Monday, January 14 at 5 p.m. at the Central Office and is open to the general public.