JANUARY 21, 2016
LOUISA – The Lawrence County Board of Education unanimously selected D. Heath Preston as chairman and Garnett Skaggs as vice chair at the outset of their January meeting on Tuesday evening in the library at Lawrence County High School.
“I want to thank the board for allowing me to serve as their chairman for another year,” Preston said on his FB page yesterday. “I thoroughly enjoy being on the board and serving with such good people. We have a clear path and are heading in the right direction and we will continue to gain and succeed! All in LC!”
The Board recognized student Ethan Reeves, who has overcome great adversity in his own health to establish a record of strong community service as a student at LCHS and then Dr. Fletcher recognized the Board of Education members as January is School Board Recognition month.
During the update from Superintendent Dr. Robbie Fletcher, he informed the board members and audience that the Kentucky Department of Education has been using the district as a model in two different respects.
First, he said that Lawrence County’s Non-Traditional Instruction plan using Google Classroom, which was so successful last year and has been utilized again this year, would be the subject of an online webinar to be shared across the Commonwealth and the nation.
Fletcher then told the attendees that KDE has been using Lawrence County as a model for Breathitt County Schools and personnel from Breathitt County had been to visit Lawrence County and observe and learn about the best practices that had helped the district turn around its performance.
Additionally, Dr. Fletcher told the audience about revisions to the SIG grant application that are pending KDE approval, about conversations that have been ongoing regarding possible changes in accountability procedures coming out of the Prichard Committee, and of meeting with Big Sandy Community and Technical College President Dr. Devin Stephenson.
Fletcher shared with members that three Google Classroom learning days had already been held this year (January 12-14). He also let them know of Lawrence County’s potential to be selected as a District of Innovation and it would mean additional changes in the modes and methods of instruction and learning.
He said that Blaine and Fallsburg had submitted 21st Century Grant applications for funding for academic enrichment programming and that Finance Officer Edris Humphrey had gone above and beyond by personally driving the applications to Frankfort on Tuesday. He informed them that Lawrence County had been awarded a PIPE grant of $40,000 as well.
Finally, he shared the results of the employee payroll schedule survey which the board had asked to be conducted. 83.6% of Lawrence County School System employees were in favor of keeping the payroll schedule of 26 pay periods and the board accepted that and agreed to do so.
A bid for renovating the drainage system of the track and football field area at the high school was awarded to Floyd County Excavating by a 5-0 vote and the board approved a number of requests, including Fallsburg School’s 8th grade trip to Williamsburg, VA.
Academic Officer Cassandra Webb and each building principal, Debbie Delong of Louisa West Elementary, Mary Hall of Louisa East Elementary, Shawn Jennings of Blaine Elementary, Stuart Cook of Fallsburg, Tom Castle of Louisa Middle School and Christy Moore of Lawrence County High School, had the pleasure of sharing academic year-to-date data with the Board.
All showed gains of differing levels and were able to confirm that the data reveals steady academic progress at all schools.
