by Matt Hughes
J-E News Editor
The Webster County School Board passed a resolution on Monday night challenging the members of the Kentucky General Assembly and Governor Steve Breshear to honor the commitment they made to Kentucky Students when they passed the bill that created “Unbridled Learning,” the KDE’s current educational system.
The resolution, approved and signed by all five members of the board said, “in the Webster County School district, the lack of funding has forced us to postpone facility maintenance, close an elementary/middle school, absorb an under performing and insolvent neighboring district, eliminate health services at two of our schools and drop three vocational programs, among other things...”
The resolution goes on to point out that Webster County, and other districts are having to do more with less, as the state cuts funding and increases the number of unfunded mandates to the schools.
The resolution was a part of Webster County’s commitment to the Council for Better Education (CBE), an organization that represents 168 of Kentucky’s 174 schools in urging legislators to honor their duties to the state’s students.
Although board members adopted the resolution unanimously, a second part of the proposal died without a motion. CBE was asking for a donation of $.25 per student (right around $475) to help pay for an assessment of the financial state of Kentucky’s schools.
In other business, Venita Murphy was sworn in as the Providence area’s newest board member. Murphy, a long time member and president of the Providence Independent Schools board, replaced David Higgins who submitted his resignation in August.
The board took special interest in their dialogue session with Clay Mattingly, the new principal of Clay School. Clay’s middle school grades scored in the 97th percentile in recent state testing, placing them 12th in the state of Kentucky.
Mattingly told the board that Clay was a school full of great teachers, who all deserved credit for the middle school’s success. He said that the teachers themselves were still unsure what made the difference in test scores this year, but that success had pushed the school as a whole to do better next year.
“We’ve seen a 14 percent gain in the number of students who are on target since last month,” Mattingly said.
“In kindergarten through second grade, we’ve found that there are a lot of kids not reading on grade level. If they are behind a grade level in reading, that will effect every other subject area moving forward.”
“In kindergarten through second grade, we’ve found that there are a lot of kids not reading on grade level. If they are behind a grade level in reading, that will effect every other subject area moving forward.”
Clay administrators recently visited Hanson Elementary in Hopkins County, historically one of the top ten elementary schools in the state. The two schools took a look at some things that might help them moving forward.
Mattingly also urged the board to put nurses back in the schools, and to look at creating a Watch D.O.G.S. program. The “Dads (and Granddads) Of Great Students” program took off following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December of 2012. It is a program that brings male family members into the schools on a voluntary basis.
WCHS principal Tim Roy updated the board on the progress with adopting a boys soccer program.
“Matt Bell (WCHS’s athletic director) has been working with our students in ninth through eleventh grades to complete the required student interest study. Those results have been submitted, and we should have the numbers back by either Friday or Monday.”
If the results show enough interest in boys soccer, Bell will meet with the Gender Equity Committee to determine if adding a new sport is justifiable.
Board members voted unanimously to adopt an “E-Meeting” format for board meetings. Estimates show that the board spends roughly $536.84 per board meeting on the preparation of packets that board members receive prior to each meeting. If the board holds two meetings per month, the yearly cost comes to about $12,884.16.
A program offered by the Kentucky School Board Association (KSBA) will provide the ability to distribute the packets electronically to board members a lot cheaper. It would cost only $2,250 the first year, and $1,000 a year for subsequent years.
OTHER BUSINESS
•The board also approved the purchase of five new school buses for a total of $520,300.
•Two change orders for the middle school project; one for a savings of $1.54 and a second for an increase of $915.
•Approved payments for middle school project totalling $178,752.02.
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