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Board of Education Meeting Report Jan. 17, 2008 meeting In last night's regular January 2008 board meeting
By Ed Waggener ColumbiaMagazine.com story Adair County has a new school board chairperson and vice chairperson. Chris Watts (District 3) was unanimously elected to succeed Mike Harris (District 5), who presided at the regular January 17, 2007 meeting last night until the selection of a 2008 board leader. The show of hands vote was 4-0, with Watts himself abstaining. The meeting started 30 minutes early for a scheduled forum to address questions and concerns about the Nutrition and Physical Activity Report, but when no one registered to speak on the matter, the agenda was approved, after Chairperson Harris moved into the board officer elections. In new Chairperson Watts' first action, Marsha Walker, District Two board member, was elected Vice Chairperson. That vote, by show of hands, was also 4-0, with the nominee abstaining. She succeeds Greg Willis (District 1) in that role. As expected, Superintendent Darrell Treece was re-nominated, and approved, 5-0 as the Board's secretary, with all five members, Watts, Walker, Harris, and Floyd Burton (District 4) and Greg Willis, voting affirmatively. Jean Crowley gives upbeat assessment Jean Crowley gave an upbeat assessment in evaluating the District's CATS score testing. Crowley is a member of the VPAT (Voluntary Participation Assistance Team) group. "The budget situation is bleak," she said, "but what we have to do is continue to focus on student achievement." She commended the staff, administration, teachers and students for achievements made in the past year. Crowley recommended continued emphasis on Core Content, and made specific recommendations to the board. These included:
Instructional Supervisor makes presentation on testing Adair County School District Instructional Supervisor Phyllis Curry gave a report on the school's testing, noting that two new tests have been added to the mix, and will account for 5% of the District's test evaluation. The new tests are called "Explore Test" and "Plan Test." Explore will be given in the fall of the eighth grade year. It will evaluate skills in English, math, reading, and science, and will give a composite score. The Explore is a predictor of how students will score on the ACT test, she said. The Plan test will be given in the fall of the 10th grade year, and it, too, is a predictor of how well students will score on ACT. Supervisor Curry said that Adair County students are 1.3 to 1.8% below the national ACT average of 17.5. ACHS students sccored a composite of 16.1%. See PLAN, EXPLORE REPORT Special education report Anita Wethington, Special Education Director for the district gave a report on her department. Wethington said that currently, there are just under 12% of Adair County students in special eduction categories. She said the State says that over 12% is high, but Adair County is still under that figure. She noted that the figure can be affected by the enrollment of Spectrum Care and by the Adair County Youth Development Center students (the maximum security prison for under 18 offenders). Wethington presented a chart showing the enrollments in each school, its special education numbers, speech only special needs students, special education teachers, and para educators at each school. Of the 63 Adair County Youth Development Center students enrolled, the chart showed 44, or 69.84% fall into the special needs category. At Spectrum Care Academy, the percentage was high compared to the rest of the system, at 27.77%, but was still well under the prison's percentage. Wethington said that students who are in the District for 100 days are counted in Adair County's figures. Wethington said that collaborative teaching, moving more special education students in this the mainstream classes, is helping improve learning for special needs students. One positive trend, she said, is that the number of special needs children is down from 456 on December 1, 2006 to 440 on December 1, 2007, according to Director Wethington. Ag building project moves forward Superintendent Darrell Treece told the board that the new FFA Agriculture Training Facility has the funding needed to be built. He said that he will send Building & Grounds Form 1 (BG-1) to Frankfort and that he expects approval to be routine. Board accepts $51,256.00 in debt assistance The board voted to accept $51,256 in State debt assistance. The vote was 5-0. "This will give us an additional $500,000 to $600,000 increased bonding potential," Superintendent Treece said. Consent agreement has item added, another pulled The board approved the consent agenda, with the addition of one item on an out of state trip pulled and considered separately, and an item to approve the contuation grant for all three family resource centers added. The vote was 5-0 to approve the following consent agenda:
A item to approve an Out-of-State trip for teachers Teresa Absher and Marian Grant, pulled from the Consent Agreement was ultimately approved, but by a vote of 4-0, with Vice Chairperson Marsha Walker voting against. She cited the gloomy financial picture for the district as the reason. Adair County Elementary School Principal Robbie Harmon said the cost of the trip, including substitute teachers, would be covered by Title I funds. "These are training the trainer sessions," he said. Adding that the two teachers would be able to train other district teachers after attending the sessions. Harmon said that the sessions would on math and reading, two highest priority subjects. Despite that explanation, Walker voted "No." "I think we should have all training in state or bring the trainers here for the sessions," she said. Board votes to hold two sessions in February 2008 On Mr. Treece's recommendation, the board voted to hold two sessions in February. The first will be Tuesday, February 19, 2008, at 7:00pm; the second will be Thursday, February 26, 2008 at 6:00pm. The regular February meeting was originally set for Thursday, February 21, 2008. The rescheduling was to accommodate members of the board who might attend the Kentucky School Board Association meeting, which starts on the morning of February 22, 2008. Work session scheduled for the board Superintendent Treece said that the board will be holding a non-business work session to look at issues, possibly on February 9, 2008, at Lure Lodge, if a suitable meeting room is available. Heat at Colonel Casey is best it's been, superintendent says Superintendent Treece reported that the heating system at Colonel Wm. Casey School has been repaired. "Teachers who have been there for 20 years told me it is the warmest it has been since they've been there," he said. "We're continuing to look at the situation for short term solutions," he said. Two appear during Citizen's Comment session Juanita Greer, a member of L.E.A.D. Adair County and a foster parent, spoke at the podium, with a very brief comment that her interest was to learn more about everything going on in the community. One man stood at his seat and said that was his interest as well. Both were thanked by Chairperson Chris Watts. Budget looks pretty gloomy Little was said about the budget woes the district is going through, though the draft budget for 2008-2009 was an agenda item. "The state financial forecast is pretty gloomy," Superintendent Treece said. "Right now there is a lot of smoke. We need to wait a few days to see what is real and what is smoke." He was alluding to the atmosphere in Frankfort, where Governor Steve Beshear is telling lawmakers that the state faces serious budget shortfalls, and State Education Cabinet Secretary John Draud is fighting to hold and improve SEEK funding. Superintendent Treece and outgoing Chairperson Mike Harris had hoped that local citizens would conduct a citizens' lobbying effort to secure funding for Adair County schools, but with the situation in Frankfort so uncertain right now, Mr. Treece said, he would not know what to ask individuals to communicate to members of the legislature. Renae Smith, the District Finance Officer, agreed that the situation is bleak, and said that she is waiting for more indication of the level of state funding before making more suggestions to the board. Superintendent issues Letters of Commendation to Board Members Superintendent Treece read this Letter of Commendation to the meeting: Letter of CommendationA copy of the letter was given to each of the five school board members. Meeting very lightly attended The meeting was very lightly attended. The board took no action to change its meetings to a comfortable, more hospitable venue. End of the report of regular January 17, 2007 meetng To read report of last regular meeting, Thursday, December 20, 2007, Click here Information About Your Adair County Schools The Adair County Board of Education holds regular monthly meetings each third Thursday, with additional meetings on the first Thursday of March, September, October, and November, at the Adair County Board Conference Room, Board of Education Office, 1204 Greensburg ST, Columbia, KY. Phone 270-384-2476 Adair County Board of Education: Chairman Mike Harris (District 5); Vice Chairman Greg Willis (District 1), members Chris Watts (District 3), Marsha Walker (District 2), and Floyd Burton (District 4). Three seats on the board will be on the ballot in the Tuesday, November 4, 2008 General Election, District 2, now held by Marsha Walker; District 4, now held by Floyd Burton; and District 5, now held by Board Chairperson Mike Harris. Candidates may file any time between now and the deadline, Tuesday, August 12, 2008, at 4:00pmCT in the office of Adair County Court Clerk Sheila Blair, Courthouse Annex, Downtown Columbia, KY. Phone (270) 384-2801. Superintendent Darrell Treece. School Board Attorney Jeff Hoover. Assistant Superintendent Brenda Mann, Instructional Supervisor Phyllis Curry; Anita Wethington, Special Education Director; Mike Akin, Title 1 Coordinator; Carla Perkins, Technology Coordinator; David Jones, Transportation Director; Ricky Bault, Maintenance Director; Carol Roy, Food Services Director; Renae Smith, Finance Officer. Becky Bailey, Public Affairs/Public Relations Coordinator Click here for Adair County Schools website Direct comments are not available. However comments, subject to editing, are welcome by sending to: ed@columbiamagazine.com or linda@columbiamagazine.com. or through Submit a Story. This story was posted on 2008-01-18 07:25:25
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