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The Grant County Board of Education was called to order for its regular monthly meeting at 6:15 p.m. on Thursday, December 14, 2017, with the following members present:
Present--Gene Nelson, Chair (District 4)
Present--Debbie Rogers, Vice Chair (District 5)
Present--Charlotte Schmidt, Member (District 1)
Present--Bryan Slaughter, Member (District 2)
Present--Lisa Smith, Member (District 3)
Also present:  Matt Morgan, Superintendent / Secretary to the Board; Don Ruberg, Board Attorney; Linda Justice, Assistant Secretary to the Board

Mission statement read by Lisa Smith.

“The mission of Grant County Schools is to appreciate each student’s unique potential

and to advocate for excellence in every child.”

Following the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, the agenda was approved as presented.  

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

FALL SPORTS:   The Board recognized the following teams and athletes who qualified for and participated in state-level competition:

Cross Country:  

• Ben Spratt: State Qualifier & Participant
  12th in Boys Region 5 / Class 3A; All Region Honorable Mention

• Jenna Webster:  State Qualifier & Participant
  15th in Girls Region 5 / Class 3A; All Region Honorable Mention 

Boys Golf:  

The 2017 Boys Golf Team was recognized for their FIRST PLACE finish in the 8th Region, then their subsequent 11th place finish in the KHSAA State Golf Tournament.  

Additionally, several individual honors were received in post-season play:

• Ryan Mitts:  First place individual finish in Region 8; Named Player of the Year – Region 8.

• Kyle West:  3rd Place individual finish in Region 8; Named to All Region Team; Leachman Buick-GMC-Cadillac Scholarship Award Winner.

• Tyler Mitts:  5th Place individual finish in Region 8;  Named to All Region Team

• Lucas Allnutt:  7th Place individual finish in Region 8

• Michael Frost:  15th Place individual finish in Region 8

The Board also acknowledged Coach Michael Camacho, 8th Region Boys Golf Coach of the Year.

K-PREP:  The following students were recognized for earning Distinguished in all areas assessed on spring, 2017, K-PREP (then 6-8 graders):  

Sixth Grade (Reading, Math, and Language Mechanics):  Leeann Bresch, Daniel Fox, Caitlyn Grizzell, Jacob Hamilton, Kendra Johnson, Darius Melton, Kalei Moore, Emily Naranjo, Tennyson Spillman, Faith Stolz.  

Seventh Grade (Reading & Math):  Nikolas Dionne, Colby Faulkner, Chandler Haney, Mason Haney, Isabella Iles, William LaFevers, Robert Picklesimer, Colton Scalf, Cheyanne Scherder, Parker Schimpff, Rhiannon Snow, Anna Sobecki, Victoria Spaw, Gavin Sustarich, Evelyn Viebrooks, Garrett Vogt, Callie Webster.  

Eighth Grade (Reading Math, Social Studies, and Writing):  Jordyn Mosley, Abigail Phillips, Claudia Spratt  

BOARD MEMBER APPRECIATION:  Mr. Matt Morgan recognized our Board for their commitment to the students of Grant County Schools.  It is often a thankless job, but one that is important in shaping the futures of our children and community.  Each Board Member was presented with a gift – a small token of appreciation for a job well done.

COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC:  None

PRESENTATIONS:  No Principal’s Report

BOARD DISCUSSIONS AND ACTIONS:
(Unique business items will be listed in this recap first, with recurring/routine reports and business listed at the end.)

T & M Construction Update:  The new Transportation / Maintenance facility is on track to open in January.  Pay Application #8 was approved.

MCE Construction Update:  The BG-4 and BG-5 for MCE’s recent construction update was approved -- meaning the job and all remaining issues are confirmed complete.    

Snow Removal Bids have been received from the same three providers as last year -- all at the same rate or within the allowed 2.2% increase.  Approval was granted to continue with these providers.

Eighth Grade Trip to Washington D.C.:   Approved.

A Special Education Instructional Assistant position was created for DRE due to individual student need.   (We also have another special education assistant position at DRE that is presently unfilled.)

A Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) with Eastern Kentucky University was approved for the purpose of offering a dual-credit aeronautics engineering class at Grant County High School.

Full-Time Substitute Custodian Positions:  Approval was granted to create four (4) full-time substitute custodian positions.  These individuals will be considered full-time employees with all benefits, but will float throughout the district to fill in and meet needs as needed.  The district has utilized this same structure successfully in the transportation department (employing full-time substitute drivers).

A position was approved for an additional Special Education teacher to work between CMZ and MCE.  In the recent child count, we are officially serving 575 special needs students (which is over 15% of our student population.)  The recent increases in the count have been students identified as medium to high needs.  Additionally, there are a number of Preschool students currently in the assessment process.  Mrs. Clay is hopeful this proposed itinerant arrangement will meet the need.  Included in the motion was permission to seek emergency certification should a properly credentialed candidate not be available.

Finance Office Restructured:    Approval was granted for a proposed restructuring of the Finance Office, which was brought about by some recent shifts in personnel.  The restructuring includes:

-A vacant Account Clerk III position will not be filled; duties from that position will be disbursed throughout the Finance Office.

-Shannon Burk will assume additional employee-related duties from Payroll and will be promoted from Account Clerk II to Account Clerk III.

-Shirley Hanna will move from Account Clerk I / 220 days to Account Clerk II / 240 days, and will assume accounts payable duties for Funds 2 and 22 (in addition to her previous duties).  

-A candidate will be hired to fill the currently vacant clerical position at T&M (with the same duties as before).

-Brian Linder, full time finance officer, will assume certain duties formerly assigned to payroll and to the vacant Account Clerk III position.  

-Jennifer Wright will assume responsibility for monitoring special fund budgets. 

(Editor’s Note:  Information will be provided on the For Staff – Finance and Personnel page of the website to assist personnel in contacting the appropriate person for various business related needs.)

SUPERINTENDENT REPORT:

Mr. Morgan distributed information on his Evaluation Standard #3:  Cultural Leadership.

Mr. Morgan reported having recently attended the KASS conference at which pension reform, state/school budgets, and tax reform were the major topics.  

He reported on recent community contacts which has included:  1)  meeting the new Executive Vice President in charge of St. Elizabeth – Grant County, Bruno Giacomuzzi;  2) a meeting with GCEA; and 3) an upcoming meeting with Jamie Baker to discuss re-establishing a Work Ethic Diploma.

Mr. Morgan shared that reports have been generated that indicate Grant County is among several counties that are falling victim to a funding gap from the state with regard to school finance.  It is not yet known how this will be addressed.

BOARD MEMBER REPORTS:  

Lisa True reported that immunization requirements are changing for older students, involving the hepatitis and meningitis vaccines.  She also shared compliments heard at a recent meeting with the local Board of Health in which they expressed pleasure with the quality and quantity of work performed by our nurses.  (The Local Board of Health provides $72,000 each year to help fund our nurses, with the district picking up the remaining costs.)

Bryan Slaughter shared regarding college and career opportunities offered by UPS, with hopes to encourage an expansion of this program to include Grant County students.

Bryan Slaughter reported that he had had quite a bit of fruit donated for the purpose of sending home fruit with Sherman Elementary children and the backpack kids from all schools. Bryan solicited (and received) the help of the Board members (and several others) to help pack and distribute the fruit.

MONTHLY RECURRING AND/OR ROUTINE BUSINESS / REPORTS:

Minutes from previous meeting(s):  Approved as presented.

Claims (Accounts Payable):  Approved as presented.  The Board made inquiry regarding amounts paid to AccuWeather and American Sound, with explanations provided.  Mr. Morgan shared that an upcoming expense will be to address the intercom system at CMZ which has failed, and is old enough that parts are no longer available.  (The intercom system, nor the phone system was updated with their most recent construction update.)  Best solutions will be investigated.

Superintendent’s Travel:  Approved as presented.

DPP Report:  End of 4th month enrollment:  3665.  

4th Month/YTD attendance by school and district is as follows:

Mrs. Herald reported on what she and the schools are doing to address chronic attendance issues.  While attendance affects so much more than just school finances, it was noted that the cost of an absence is roughly $28.00 per day, per student, in lost funding.

Financial Report:  Mr. Linder presented the financial report.  In November Grant County received its largest ever property tax receipt (which represented our portion of property taxes received in October, 2017.)

Energy Report:  The Board office continues to consume a disproportionate amount of energy.

Personnel Actions:  Acknowledged.

Nancy Howe reported that the Grant County Schools Education Foundation has received $35,000 + from the Independence Firefighters in memory of the Pollitt family.  The funds are to be used to provide scholarships for various extra-curricular opportunities for special needs (specifically Downs Syndrome) students.

Nancy Howe also reported that the new Sources of Strength program (at GCMS) has been featured in Kentucky Teacher magazine.

FINAL ACTIONS:

The Board adjourned into Executive Session, then reconvened and adjourned regular meeting.