by Matt Hughes
J-E News Editor
Monday night the Webster County School Board was in session in the Media Center at Webster County High School for one of its monthly site visits.
Principal Tim Roy and the WCHS Site Based Decision Making (SBDM) council took board members on a tour of the facility, and presented them with a number of issues that needed the board’s attention.
Among these were a number of leaks in the facility and the need for a wall or fence that would allow students to freely use an outside area of the school between the math hall and the English hall. A sidewalk connects the two entrances, but both are secured doors that can only be opened with one of the security badges issued to faculty and staff.
Another area of focus was a discussion of expanding technology and the 1-to-1 initiative. The 1-to-1 initiative is a nationwide initiative to put technology in the hands of students. With Webster County’s new fiber optic internet and district wide WIFI, everything the district needs is ready except for the hardware.
“I would love to go full 1-to-1, but I don’t think we can afford that,” said Assistant Superintendant Riley Ramsey. “But we could do a bring your own device or even a mobile cart.”
In some schools around the country tablets, iPads and e-readers have all but replaced the traditional text book, allowing schools to save money by purchasing the ebook rather than the physical text book.
Ramsey assured the board that as far as security was concerned, if the school issued a student a tablet or laptop, even if they went home or to another state, as soon as they logged onto the computer it would still be controlled by the standards set by the district. This means students would not be able to access inappropriate websites or materials.
At the moment this seems like a far away goal for Webster County, but according to district officials it is no longer an impossible goal.
“I want to see what is out there and what other districts in our area are doing,” Ramsey said.
In other business, the board addressed Board Policy 09.36, which governs school related trips.
In recent months the board has been concerned with the issue of “volunteer coaches” that accompany the academic and athletic teams and clubs on trips to the state level of competition.
At the last meeting, board members asked who was responsible for paying adult volunteers.
“I worried right now it might be worded a little too loosely,” said board chairman Jeff Pettit. “But how do you identify how many volunteers are needed for an event?”
“The whole idea behind this policy was to streamline it so that everything didn’t come before the board,” said board member Tim McCormick. “But the deeper that you get into it, the more questions we have. Maybe we would be better off leaving it alone and letting the board approve all trips.”
But Superintendant Dr. James Kemp pointed out that the board initially created this policy because at times there will only be two or three days between a regional and state level competition, not leaving enough time for the board to give it’s approval.
“All of the volunteer coaches must meet the same KHSAA standards as the full time coaches,” said Tim Roy. “They also must be approved by me. I know who has been working with a team and who has come on at the last minute to try and get a free trip.”
Board member Tim McCormick suggested implementing a policy that would give the high school principal the authority to approve trips.
“I usually recommend that you look at the policies in other districts and compare what they do before you move forward with any new policy,” said Board Attorney Brandi Rogers.
OTHER BUSINESS
•The board approved payment of $5,005.59 to architectural firm Clotfelter-Samokar for 25 percent completion of the middle school project.
•The board approved a payment of $237,148.20 to Princeton Lumber Company for work completed on the middle school as of 11/30/13.
•The board approved various payments totalling $50,113.23 to vendors.
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