Grant County Board of Education

Ehmet Hayes, architect with Robert Ehmet Hayes & Associates, briefly explained the construction change order on the agenda, which largely involved the necessary addition of a set of double doors in the welding lab.

The change order was approved. The board also approved the $173,304 pay application #6 for work on the Area Technology Center.

Hayes reported the roof of the middle school is about ready for a walk-through.

The renovation of Dry Ridge Elementary is moving along. The back part of the school has been gutted, and things are “working well with the kids,” he said.

Work on the front part of the school will take place this summer; the middle part will begin next school year, Hayes said.

Maggy Livingood, director of food service, discussed the 2022-2023 Physical Activity and Nutrition Report. She said Grant County schools “did very well.”

Last year the district served 282,495 breakfasts, 440,690 lunches and 16,934 after school suppers. During the eight-week summer program in June and July, 53,158 breakfasts and 59,860 lunches were served.

Livingood explained that students were given lots of choices at mealtimes. Efforts are also made to make food fun. She mentioned occasional “bars” offered in the cafeteria, giving students the chance to concoct their own creations. Among others, the school has offered a fiesta bar, an Asian bar, and a wings bar.

The schools also use mealtimes to celebrate such occasions as Mickey Mouse’s birthday, popcorn day, and Halloween, Livingood said.

Another unique project is the Birthday Bus, a rehabbed school bus once used for the summer feeding program. The Birthday Bus travels to each school once a month. Any student with a birthday that month gets to board the bus and have a meal that includes Domino’s pizza.

All school meals are healthy and nutritious (including those on the Birthday Bus) and must meet an array of guidelines for calories and other factors.

Livingood concluded her presentation by affirming that the food program is self-sustaining.

Finance Officer Brian Linder said no action was required regarding the draft budget on the agenda. A tentative budget will be presented to the board in spring followed by the working budget in the fall.

Linder addressed the subject of Gov. Beshear’s proposal to raise teacher salaries by 11%.

To give the board an idea of how this might affect finances for the district, he offered some figures. On a local level, raising a Rank 3 Step 0 beginning teacher’s salary to $40,000 would require a 5.7% increase.

Linder took that 5.7% increase and applied it to teacher salaries for all ranks and steps to see what happened to the budget. Raising salaries that amount would create a $2.1 million shortfall given current funding.

“This is not a proposal, just a ‘what if’,” Linder clarified.

During public comment, Kristen Smith, a Grant County High School teacher, indicated the board was scheduled to accept her resignation later that night. She expressed displeasure with her teaching evaluation and the follow-up.

“I had a very troubling post evaluation meeting and a less encouraging meeting with the HR rep,” she said.

On the matter of the purchase of six new buses, Morgan said the cost had increased from $688,000 back in the fall to $833,368 now, or roughly $140,000 per bus.

For further comparison, he noted this represents a $60,000 bump in price from 2010.

The board voted unanimously to approve the purchase.

Assistant Superintendent of School Support Services and Director of Pupil Personnel Claudette Herald presented the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school calendars for the board’s approval.

The 2024-2025 calendar will be variable and includes a later starting date than usual. A variable calendar may have fewer instructional days than the 170 days required in a traditional school year. Both calendar variations must include at least 1062 instructional hours.

Instead of the district’s usual 173-day calendar, the variable version has 168 days. The first day of school will be Aug. 26.

The switch to a variable calendar is due to the renovation of Dry Ridge Elementary, Herald said. As the traditional 2025-2026 calendar demonstrates, the switch is not permanent.

“We wanted everyone to know that the variable calendar was a one year fix,” she stressed.

The calendars were approved unanimously.

The next meeting of the Grant County Board of Education will take place Feb. 8 at 6 p.m. at the board office, 820 Arnie Risen Blvd., Williamstown.