Staff report

The Webster County Board of Education met in regular session on Monday night with Superintendent Dr. Rachel Yarbrough and board members Jeff Pettit, Mickey Dunbar, Venita Murphy and Tim McCormick. Board member James Nance was not present.

Following the approval of the agenda for the meeting, Dr. Yarbrough presented each member of the board with a certificate in recognition of “School Board Member Appreciation Month”.

Linda Egbert and Andy Corbin were recognized as the school system’s 1WC employees of the month. Valerie Knight, food service director for the Webster County Schools, hosted a public forum to present the district’s annual food service report.

She told members the food service department is in compliance with all state and federal regulations. She expressed concern that maximum sodium levels for food served students is being lowered for the 2017-18 school year.

Ms. Knight added that monthly menus are posted on the district web site, and each school has a menu posted in the cafeteria. Nutritional values for each item are available at each school, along with recipes.

All district students continue to be eligible for free breakfast and lunch through the Community Eligibility Provision program. She reported that audits conducted this year returned positive results, and comments received from auditors were extremely complimentary to the district personnel.

Her recommendations for improving the school nutrition environment included: continuing to maintain compliance with federal, state and local regulations; moving toward all cafeterias being “Smarter Lunchrooms”; reviewing and updating the School Wellness Policy with the District Wellness Committee; continuing to search for healthier and more cost effective food choices for students; expanding the Farm to School program; and replacing aging equipment with more efficient items as financially feasible.

Jeanie Cannon, RBS Design Group project coordinator, presented the final drawings for the reroofing project at Providence Elementary School. Three sections of the roof at the school will be replaced, and a fourth section will likely be added to the replacement project.

Dr. Yarbrough told members the additional roofing problem at Providence and a series of leaks at Clay Elementary School will have to be addressed.

It is hoped that RBS will be able to coordinate these repairs with the ongoing project at Providence Elementary.

That project will be bid in March, and work is expected to begin immediately following the completion of the 2016 school year.

The board approved the plans on a 4-0 vote.

Brandi Burnett, treasurer for the Webster County Schools, told the board the draft budget, which has been presented, “contains many unknowns”. She added, “The main concerns with the draft budget are funding for payroll and the contingency fund.”

According to Ms. Burnett, additional information will be provided in both the working budget and the final budget.

Board members received updates from Rhonda Callaway and Kim Saalwaechter, concerning ongoing work in the district.

Personnel, led by Ms. Callaway, will be leading in February to attend two days of site training in association with the Kentucky Innovative Lab Network. That training will take place in Wisconsin February 13-14. The Capstone Learning Center, funded through a 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant, has recently been monitored by grant officials.

According to Ms. Callaway and coordinator Rachel Heath, that monitoring showed the local district to be meeting or exceeding goals in 63 of 60 indicators. According to Ms. Heath, the areas of concern for monitors dealt with minor issues and were quickly addressed locally.

Kim Saalwaechter presented board members with a new administrative procedure concerning petition for early enrollment in the Webster County Schools.

Beginning in the 2017-18 school year, children must be five years of age by August 1 in order to enroll in kindergarten. That is a state mandated change which was ordered by the Kentucky General Assembly several years ago, but goes into effect in

August. According to Ms. Saalwaechter, the petition for early enrollment will spell out exact guidelines for both the school district and parents in order for a student to be exempt from that August 1 mandate.

In her report to the board, Dr. Yarbrough told members she will be attending a comprehensive literacy summit with educators from across the state in February. That summit will be held in Amelia Island, Florida, February 12-15. There is no cost to the board for Dr. Yarbrough’s attendance.

She informed members the Webster County Schools can expect a distribution of $1,144.72 for the Webster County School and $621.04 for the former Providence School District for funds which were paid locally to help fund the insolvent Kentucky School Boards Insurance Trust. School districts across the state were required topay into the trust because shortfall in funding. Locally, Webster County Schools paid $56,339 to KSBIT.

Dr. Yarbrough updated board members on the safe schools initiative, noting that the program is being strengthened locally.

Clay Elementary School is participating in a safety school audit, and district personnel are looking at all phases of a safe campus. The district will be conducting lockdown drills at each school, and personnel from the Kentucky State Police have been asked for their input as to how the drills are being conducted and to point out any needed areas ofimprovement.

Dr. Yarbrough reminded board members the annual Kentucky School Boards Association conference is February 24-26.

Board members approved several personnel matters for both certified and classified personnel.

Several consent items, including board minutes, field trips, leaves of absence, out of district travel, and monthly reports were approved.

The board approved a pay application to Q & S Contracting for work completed at Webster County Middle School. That payment is in the amount of $79,902.21.

Board members agreed to participate in a program with KSBA to advocate limited rate increases for utility services to school districts. The cost of that participation will be a onetime payment, ranging from $85.00 to $128.00.

Out of district contracts with several districts were approved for the 2017-18 school year.

After meeting for about an hour, the board entered a closed session to discuss employee discipline. According to Dr. Yarbrough, there was no action coming out of the closed session.

The next regular meeting of the Webster County Board of Education will be Monday, February 13, 5:30 P.M. for a work session.