The Grant County Board of Education was called to order for its regular monthly meeting at 6:15 p.m. on Thursday, September 14, 2017, with the following members present:

? Gene Nelson, Chair (District 4)
? Debbie Rogers, Vice Chair (District 5)
? Charlotte Schmidt, Member (District 1)
? Bryan Slaughter, Member (District 2)
? Lisa Smith, Member (District 3) *Absent*
Also present: Matt Morgan, Supt; Don Ruberg, Attorney; Linda Justice, Ass’t Sec’y to Board.

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS:

ACT: 45 GCHS Seniors were recognized for meeting (or exceeding) the national ACT benchmarks when tested (as juniors) this past Spring. This is the highest number of honorees in a single class since we began administering the ACT to eleventh graders several years ago. Only 25% of students meet the national benchmarks, which are: English 18, Math 22, Reading 22, and Science 23. Congratulations to:

Nolan Beutel, Lance Bitler, Joshua Blackburn, Gabriella Branch, Dylan Brickler, Kaylee Brown, Whitley Calhoun, Kaylee Canafax, Jace Carroll, Sawyer Cobb, John Courtney, Braydon Dungan, Jaclyn Fitzgerald, Koy Gorman, Jasmine Harris, Chyenne Hert, Hannah Howell, Destiny Jackson, Caden Johnson, Ashton Johnson, Mallory Johnson, Trenton Jones, Nicholas Kells, Lindsey Kinard, William Lannigan, Wei Hao Lee, Daniel Meredith, Johnathen Miskell, Shelby Mitchell, Patrick Moran, Shelby Newton, Makayla Nigg, Skylar Pence, Nathan Reeves, Samantha Schawe, Faith Schuster, Aubrie Seibert, Paige Shebley, Alan Simpson, Austin Smith, Chelsey Toomey, Cameron Trent Vaughn, Lindsey Wagner, Marcie Walker, Kylie Wood

YES: ADECCO’S YOUTH EMPLOYMENT SOLUTION PROGRAM: Two students earned welding apprenticeships with a local manufacturing company, Napoleon Products / Wolfe Steele. This is a new program sponsored by Adecco Staffing that allows students younger than 18 to move into a full-scale, on-the-job training program. These are the first two students from Grant County High School to enter this program. Congratulations to: Jacob Facer and Hunter Stidams

PRESENTATIONS:

ACT: Jamie Kellam provided a full report on 2017 ACT results.

GRANT COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL ADMIN TEAM REPORT:. Ms. Foxx introduced her team, including: John Sanders, Cody Ryan, Scott Draud, Tim Mosley, Jodi Mulligan, David Schneider, Nicole Davis, Leigh Simpson and Sonia Guffey.

-Mission Statement shared: “Grant County High School will create positive relationships that actively engage all with rigorous, student centered instruction that results in success.”

-Big Initiatives:

? Positive climate
? Helping students meet post secondary goals.

-New Initiatives:

? ABC (Attendance / Behavior Committee) for 9th graders; plus additional supports for identified at-risk students throughout student population.
? To be Google Docs and tech savvy...ready for the students currently in GCMS blended learning program.
? New Book Club: 29 students have signed up for a new after-school book club.
? Internships and Apprenticeships are now being offered with a class teaching soft skills being attached to the internship program.
? Freshman program geared to ensure student success, which includes Freshmen rotating through each of the career and tech programs for two weeks each.
? Improving Instruction: Working to provide: 1) amenities designed to make tedious (non-instructional) duties less consuming for teachers, and 2) literacy strategies to increase effectiveness.

-Updates:

? Dual credit: GCHS works with NKU, Morehead State University, and Gateway Community Technical College to provide dual credit opportunities to juniors and seniors, with classes provided both on- and off-campus. This year with just NKU and MSU, GCHS students are on track to earn 885 credit hours.
? Advanced Placement (AP) courses are offered in Language, US History, Calculus, and Computer Science Principles.
? Eagle Creek Academy Program: Mr. Mosley is new Director at Eagle Creek Academy Program. We have nine students in each the day and night programs. Night students attend sessions twice a week and sign a contract to complete so many hours at home. Additions to the Eagle Creek experience include: 1) a service learning / recycling project; 2) Life Skills and resume instruction; 3) An Electrical class teaching basic electricity, safety, and energy conservation.
? PBIS / Physical space and climate: Culture is good and reinforced with Braves bucks, pride pins, and attention to attractiveness of physical space. Admin team and staff are cohesive and focused on student well-being and success.

COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC:

Ms. Debbie Barnes spoke on behalf of bus monitors, requesting that consideration be given to raising their pay.

BOARD DISCUSSIONS AND ACTIONS:

Unique business items will be listed in this recap first, with recurring/routine reports and business listed at the end.

Pay application #12 for MCE was approved. This is the final payment on the remodeling project.

Pay application #5 for the new T&M building was approved.

Fundraisers for DRE PTO, GCMS PTT, MCE PTO, and SES PTT were approved.

Civics Assessment: In accordance with a new state law, the Board approved administration of a civics exam upon which every student, starting with our current Junior class, will be required to score at least 60% in order to graduate. The test incorporates topics that should have been taught/learned throughout the student’s academic career, and mirrors the exam required of those seeking United States citizenship. The test will be taken during the junior year, which will provide time to engage in additional learning activities before graduation should a student not score 60%+.

Travel and common carrier for the GCHS Boys basketball trip to Daytona Florida on 12/26-12/30 was approved.

A resolution supporting KSBA in its efforts to challenge rate increase sought by Duke Energy was approved. (KSBA will advocate on behalf of school districts to minimize the financial impact on schools.)

The Substitute Food Service Assistant salary scale was amended to provide for a step increase for subs who work 140+ days during a year.

The Food Service salary scales for hourly employees (food service assistants and driver) were increased, allowing Grant County’s salaries to be more comparable with surrounding districts.

An additional 4 hour food service position for GCMS was approved. The CEP program has generated an increase of 100 additional meals being served each day during the same 1 ½ hours. Even with this extra position, their staffing does not exceed the standard staffing formula.

A salary increase for the Food Service Director was approved, again making Grant County salaries more comparable with surrounding districts. It was clarified that Food Service is its own entity, with funds that are earned and spent separate from other school funds

The 2017-2018 working budget was approved. Discussion ensued regarding the 17% reduction to this year’s budget announced earlier this week by state government / KDE. As contracts are already in place for 2017-2018, Grant County’s contingency/general fund will, for the most part, be utilized to absorb this setback for the 2017-2018 school year.

An additional EBD Instructional Assistant for SES was approved. This was necessary due to numbers and severity of needs.

POLICY CHANGES:

2nd Reading of Board Policy 07.1 was approved. This revision updated language in the policy made necessary by our new participation in the Community Eligibility Program (CEP).

2nd Reading of Board Policy 03.1231 deleting the provision for an “emergency day” and adding another personal day for full time certified and classified personnel, was approved. Staff will now have zero days defined as an “emergency day”, but three (rather than 2) personal days available, with unused days accumulating at the end of the year as an unused sick leave day.

SUPERINTENDENT REPORT:

HayRead, a fun-filled, literacy based event hosted by the GCHS Tech Center for 3rd graders district wide, will be October 17, 5:00 - 7:00. Featured book: Pumpkin Hill by Elizabeth Spurr and Whitney Martin.

Blended Learning: Mrs. Booth provided a quick update on the Blended Learning program initiated this year at GCMS. The program uses Chromebooks which are linked to Google Drives to provide independence and flexibility in instruction, plus real-time feedback. Comments included: “Great learning experience.” “Technology team superb.” “Kids excited.” “Staff on it and making great strides.”

Also, GCMS has adopted a middle school in Texas affected by Hurricane Harvey. At Hambrick Middle School, 50 students were affected; 80 students lost their homes. After contacting their principal and creating a list of needed items, GCMS students collected 3 skids worth of materials that have been sent to Texas. Our students also included a letter of encouragement for each student in their population. Tremendous response of gratitude from Texas. (The GCMS response was spearheaded by teacher, Christine Boroff.)

BOARD MEMBER REPORTS:

Board discussed supporting a bottle cap collection effort (for the purpose of recycling into park benches).

KSBA regional meeting will be Oct 3.

No Work Session in October. Regular meeting will be Oct. 19.

MONTHLY RECURRING and/or ROUTINE BUSINESS / REPORTS:

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

Claims (Accounts Payable): Approved as presented.

Superintendent’s Travel: Approved as presented.

DPP Report: Enrollment at 3650.

Financial Report: Not yet available.

Energy Report: Report revealed $7,000 in savings compared to first two months of previous year.

Personnel Actions: Acknowledged.

Home School Letter of Intent: Board was made award of a revision to document.

FINAL ACTIONS:

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