Wayne County Board of Ed Meeting Nov. 16
The Wayne County Board of Education acknowledged the district’s outstanding participation in the Kentucky Safe Schools 2023 Campaign. The district received a certificate and has been recognized by the Kentucky Center for School Safety. Wayne County Schools had over 1,000 online “Light the Way” pledges during the 2023 campaign. Early in the campaign Monticello Elementary was the first school in the state to participate in the safe schools’ campaign focused on taking proactive measures to create a safe learning environment. As other schools joined in the campaign, the district finished strong placing 13th with 1,359 online pledges among all the school districts in the state, thanks to local students, staff and parents.
“I am very pleased that the Wayne County School District received the certificate of achievement from the Kentucky Center for School Safety,” said DPP/Safety Director Stewart York. “Our principals, our staff, our SROs from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, and obviously a high number of our students take all aspects of school safety very seriously, and I think this award reflects that. We will continue to emphasize school safety and security moving forward, and we will continue to urge students to report any kind of threat or potential danger to staff or to our online STOP! Tipline immediately.”
Assistant Superintendent Brian Dishman reported on the district’s state assessment results recently released that showed all three levels had improved overall in the 2022-23 school year from the previous school year. Dishman explained that the on-going Consolidated School Improvement Plan design is driven by the test results. That plan will be brought to the board next month, where educators will follow a pathway towards improvement.
While strides have been made in specific categories that the test results revealed, they also showed there is much work ahead to make improvements in Reading and Math in the post COVID era. For example, the district has identified 125 students in K-3 who are significantly behind in Reading, so they are providing extra support to those students through their teachers in the classroom, as well as intervention teachers who pull them out to provide them with individualized help. Third and fourth graders were impacted the most because they missed school due to the epidemic at a critical start to learning in kindergarten and first grade.
Highlights to be celebrated from the scores showed Monticello Elementary earning a blue rating indicating very high status/significant increase in English Learner (EL) progress. Wayne County has a relatively large EL Program for this area of the state, with five percent of the student body falling into this category. WCMS posted significant gains in social studies and writing. All of their areas received a green rating, which is level four of five. The high school earned a blue rating indicating very high status/significant increase for postsecondary readiness revealing 86 percent of the seniors met at least one measure of college/career readiness and 36 percent earned an industry certificate.
Following an executive session regarding personnel, no action was taken. The board voted in favor of overseeing the management of custodial services for the district, rather than contracting with an outside company. The district will be hiring and employing custodians in the future and each principal will be in charge of supervision inside their schools. The custodians will be receiving retirement and insurance benefits as school employees. All of the board members voted in favor of the proposal, while board member Benton Sloan voted against the change.
In other business:
*Approved Revised BG 1 in Reference to Land Acquisition from Land Purchase (Gregory Property) in 2013.
*Approved FACPAC BG 5 Project Closeout Form in Reference to the Wayne County District Services Building Project (BG 19-372)
* Approved Pay Request to GRW in amount of $ 14,181.50 for Professional Services Wayne County Schools-Bell Elementary HVAC Project (BG 23-333)
*Agreed to Amend Substitute Teacher Salary Schedule due to ATC Outreach Coordinator Grant.
*Approved Pay Amount for New Hire Bus Driver Training Time to be set at trip rate pay per the after 90 days of employment agreement.
*Approved Capital Funds Transfer to construct, pave roadway and seal coat lot at District Services Building for $19,190.75.
*Approved all the consent items on the agenda.
