001I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Say by the dawn so proud we held at the twilight last night we were So proof through the night there spangled for the land of the free and the home of the brave before you leave. Before you leave, could I could I just say thank you for the great job you did in Louisville. My wife and I were blessed to be able to come and hear you perform. You all were outstanding. That was just it made it made me proud as somebody from Lawrenceburg and Anderson County. My daughter years ago was in the chorus and she hit that high note when you sing that.
002Anyway, I I know nothing about music and I have no talent when it comes to music, but she does. But you made me proud as somebody who lives here and I know that the other folks who were in there were exceptionally proud of the job that you did. You just have a great sound. You have a great director, conductor. It's just a blessing for those of us in Anderson County to be able to hear you and see you perform. So, thank you very much for all that you're doing. We appreciate it. Can I get a motion to adopt the agenda? >> Motion to adopt agenda. Scott Bram. >> Second. Steve Carmichael >> with first and second. Can I get a roll call vote, please? >> Yes, sir. Mr. Brown. >> Yes. >> Mr. Carmichael. >>
003Yes. >> Mr. Collins. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fentrez. Mr. Sergeant. >> Yes. uh attendance report. Uh please show that all members uh except for Mr. Fentrez are present. Uh approval of minutes. Um can I get an approval of minutes from the uh January 19th, 2026 regular scheduled board meeting? >> Motion approved. Scott Brown. >> Second. Steve Carmichael >> with first and second. Can I get a roll call vote, please? >> Yes, sir. Mr. Brown. >> Yes. >> Mr. Carmichael. >> Yes. >> Mr. Collins. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mr. Sergeant. >> Yes. >> Financial report. >> Good evening. For the financial report this evening, overall our revenues increased 19.2%. Uh it's due to a larger beginning balance and an increase in receipts of approximately 14%. That is a little bit misleading uh because of the inflation
004reduction act rebate we received and being included in that. So about a million $111,000 of that is money that we would not have received had we not received that rebate, which is about half of the receipt increase. Property tax revenue is up approximately 11%, motor vehicle revenue up about 8% and utility tax revenue is actually down a little over 10%. Seek revenue for the year shows an increase of approximately 4.6%. Expenditures for salary and benefits are up 7.2%. That's reasonable based on the step and 4 and a.5% raise approved. Non-s salary expenditures are up just 1.1%. And several of the areas that I follow from month to month are actually showing decreases from year over u year. But as I've previously noted, we have had tremendous cost increases for our insurance, some softwares, and some
005additional bus purchases this year that we did not have in the previous year, and that has driven our cost increase by about $34,000 total. Some other items of note, uh the legislative process is about halfway through um and they are actually crafting the budget right now. House Bill 500 is out that has been uh proposed as a bare bones budget thus far. It's not a final budget. Some of the hot topics that have come out education wise, there is no increase in the seek per student currently. Um, and of course that's subject to change. The student transportation funding is still not at 100% and it's actually uh possibly going to take a step backwards. And probably the biggest hot topic that's come out over the weekend and in recent days is employee health insurance premiums.
006Um, if you haven't seen that, there are some potential increases uh because of a proposed cap on employer contributions to those health uh health insurance premiums and the employer proportion for our health insurance premiums for the vast majority of our employees comes from the state. That is the on behalf payments that are out there that we talk about from uh our budget from 25 to 26. Um, I went back and looked the overall premium increases, if you're looking at the total premiums, went up between 15 and 17% overall. There were no changes to the employee cost from 2025 to 2026. Um, but there were increases to the employer cost of 15 to 17%. House Bill 500 is proposing to put a 5% cap per year on that. So, where does the other 10 to 12%
007go? Uh there's only a couple of options there. You can decrease benefits or you can increase premiums on the employee side. Um you've seen some numbers thrown out there. I don't have access to all of that information, but I can do some simple math just looking at that. And I I took the 25 numbers and compared that to the 26 numbers and said if there was a 5% increase um on the cost overall for the employer side, what would be left over for the employee to pick up? And I went through several scenarios, but I'll just for for me personally, um, my family has a cross reference plan. So, we have right now $86.90 per month is my cost for that health insurance. Based on my calculations, and these are just estimates, but I estimate
008that would go up by $125 a month. So, that would more than be 144% increase for me personally. And if that same thing happened again in the following year, another increase of the same magnitude. The way that the the funding looks though, it would be greater than that because there be a bigger shortfall in the following year. But if it was the same increase, um it would be another $149 a month. So overall, the cost per month would go from about $87 to 361 for for just me. Yes, sir. I've been on the school board. >> Mr. Sergeant, can you turn the microphone? >> As I said, I've been on this is work. I'm working on my 16th year being on this school board. Last year, public education was attacked in the worst I've seen
009in in my 14th year. this year working on the 16 public education's been under attack again. Uh I've ne in the for the 16 years I've never seen folks out there that are so far set on destroying public education. You know, I don't care. Some folks say, "I I'm not into politics." Well, you may not be into politics, but there's a lot of things that affects your life here that's very important. One, if you were an employee here, if we don't have funds to uh to continue to pay you, you will get your job cut. Your insurance is going to go extreme high. Say if you are a bus driver, you're going to be drive, what are you what do you think we're going to get the money at to buy buses? If you're a
010SRO, where do you think we're going to get the funds at to continue for you to be an SRO in our school system? We have to have funds to be able to continue to support the things we do. You know, it really concerns me as a person because I have a seven-month-old grandchild that odds are with my age, I'm never going to see that. I won't be here to see that child graduate from high school. The good if if I'm lucky, the good Lord will keep me here and I'll get to see it. But there's a ch at my age, there's a chance I won't be. So, I'm counting on each one of you all to step up to the plate and lobby with Miss Mitchell. They even they are even threatening the superintendent that
011they can't even speak out because of their job in jeopardy. But I asked each one of you all she can still you can she can still tell you what's the important bills that are out there. And I asked each one of you all she can't do this by herself. And I'm asking each one of you all to lobby behind her and let's stand up and fight for the education, public education. Thank you all. >> Just one more thing I'll add. Thank you, Mr. Sergeant. I agree with everything you said there. Not just health insurance wise, but if I just talk about our insurance costs in general, property insurance, casualty insurance, cyber insurance, whatever insurance we want to pick, um I went back and looked in 2021, we were paying about $200,000 a year. This year,
012we paid $544,000. So, those are those are all real increases that we're absorbing already as a school district. If there's additional increases that we're trying to absorb, we we can't continue to do that if if all our funding stays flat. It just won't happen. That is all I have for the financial report this evening. >> Can I get a motion to approve the financial report, please? >> Motion to approve. Scott Brown. >> Second. Steve Carmichael >> with first and second. Can I get a roll call vote, please? >> Yes, sir. Mr. Brown. >> Yes. >> Mr. Carmichael. >> Yes. >> Mr. Collins. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sergeant. >> Yes. >> Orders of the treasurer. Are there any questions regarding the orders? >> No questions. >> If no questions, can I get a uh motion to
013adopt? >> Second. Steve Carmichael >> with the first second. Can I get a roll call vote, please? >> Yes, sir. Mr. Brown, >> yes. >> Mr. Carmichael. >> Yes. >> Mr. Collins? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sergeant? >> Yes. >> Superintendent report. Thank you. I'd like to welcome everyone to the February 16th um schoolboard meeting and I' I'd like to also welcome everyone online and thank you for your continued support. We have several recognitions tonight, so we're going to go ahead and get started. Anderson County Schools has an exceptional arts and humanities program. This strong tradition of excellence continues to be recognized across the Commonwealth as one of the best programs across the state. This year was no exception. In fact, it was a history-making year with many accolades to recognize and commemorate. Director Bright, would
014you and the Anderson County High School Advanced Choir and Chorus please come forward? Anderson County High School Advanced Choir and course director Mr. Hayden Brightite and his students received an invitation to sing with the University of Kentucky Corers on their fall concert. They were also selected to sing at the Kentucky Music Educators Association annual conference. This is an immense honor and a once ina-lifetime experience. Most students don't get to experience this awesome opportunity. This special program performed at the Cathedral of Assumption was entitled Mansions in the Sky. Was a beautiful performance so eloquent and graceful. Congratulations, Anderson County High School Advanced Choir, Director Bright, Mrs. Smith, and Principal Glass. You made us all so very proud. Mr. Bright, Director Bright, please come forward. I have a special plaque that I would like to present you
015as well as your students, Mrs. Smith, to memorialize your special day and this great honor. While I'm giving him his award, please let's give them an amazing congratulations. Next, I'd like to recognize um the Kentucky American Coral Directors Association Allstar Honors Choir. Um students, please step forward when I call your name. Sawyer Deval. Sawyer, are they out there? Maybe. Do we need to call them in? Okay, we can't move forward unless we have them in the room. Are there any others out there? Yeah. Do you have any others out there that we know? We're not sure. Okay, we will proceed. Sawyer Dval, please step forward. Leland Hood, Harper Kate Hutton, Gabriel Johnson, Sawyer Pritchard, and Molly Kate Wells. Let's give them a great big round of applause. Next, I'll recognize the Kentucky Music Educators Association
016Austin Choir. Students, please step forward when I call your name. Owen Barger, Hannah Compton, Angel Flynn, Hugh Murphy, Anna Robinson, Lillian Rubble, Saberland Smith, Luke Styvers, Caitlyn Sutherland, JC Wilcox, Avery Young, and Holland Soft. Let's give them a great big round of applause. So, I'll put the students on the spot. Is there anyone that would like to talk about your experience at the cathedral? What amazing opportunity it was? And if you don't want to, it's okay. But if you would like to, I want to offer you the opportunity. No, it's okay. Director Bright, would you like to make a few comments about the experience? >> Um, I'll just say that it it truly is an immense honor to get to perform at that cathedral. Um, it it is a tremendous tradition that we have in
017Anderson County, not just choir, but arts and humanities in general and obviously our band program. we just kind of took it to the next level with this one. So, um, thank you so so much for your support throughout, you know, the the last few decades of arts and humanities, and we just we know we're going to take it. We're going to keep rolling with it. Um, and we hope you're along with us. So, that's all. Thanks. >> All right. One more congratulations to our history making Anderson County Allstate Choir. Thank you all. All right. Let's see. Do we have um Mr. Director S, would you please come forward? And Director Taylor, would you please come forward? They're being shy tonight. We're equally as proud of our Anderson County High School marching band. Director Philip Zone
018and band students continue the strong tradition of excellence representing Anderson County Schools at the KMEA state finals, placing third. And we are so very proud of their performance and their overall um ranking of third. Their performance was beautiful as always. They performed with class and grace. Our band students and program continues to make us all so very proud. Director S and the Anderson County High School band students. Who do we have here? If you are in the Anderson County High School band, please come forward. And or if you are in the middle school all state, please come forward. Come on down. Let's clap for them. have some recognitions tonight. Lily Reed Nyer, four time Lily Masilix, you can step forward. Fourtime all district symphonic band member, second time allstate symphonic band member and second time
019UK honor band wind ensemble member. Let's give her a great big round of applause. Our middle school allstate students. Bailey Rake Straw flute five concert band. Clap for Miss. Yes. Logan Jones trombone 6 concert band. Benji Lowry trumpet 8 concert band. All right. Any of our students want to give any comments about your experience with band this season? >> It's okay. All right. Our directors, would you like to make a few remarks? >> Thank you. >> Um, I'll just echo a lot of what Mr. Bright just said. We're blessed in this district to have the support for the arts and humanities, um, that we do at all levels, K through 12, um, and thankful for it. None of this would be possible without that support. So, thank you all. Um, and thank you all for
020just your continued support of these programs. We're excited to see what the future of this program could hold and how to continue to better and offer more opportunities for the students at all levels um of schools in our district. So, thank you >> again. These students work hard. I know most of you all have seen them. You hear them. They are out whether it's rain, whether it's I don't want to say snowing, maybe snowing, I don't know. I know it's hot. I've seen them. You all have seen them. We're super proud. And please know how proud you make all of us. Um, third place is amazing. Um, and um, we are just cannot be more proud. So again, thank you so much for Mr. Carmichael has a comment. >> Since I spoke before, I might
021as well see and it was a very hot day and you did a great job. But I I have a nephew who's in the Lafayette band, and they're a fairly decent band. Um, but I get to hear my sister-in-law talk about what a great job you all do when you perform because I may not be able to follow you along and see all of the performances, but she always speaks very, very highly of the Anderson County band. So, you perform well, you show well, you just you're you're tremendous representatives of Lawrenceburg and Anderson County. and it goes across the state because she travels with the Lafayette band, but she's very complimentary of you all. So, thank you all very much for all that you do and representing all of us and your families the Anderson
022County School System. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, >> Miss Mitchell. Miss Mitchell, >> thank you all. >> Miss Mitchell, just >> Yes, sir. >> before they leave. >> Sorry. I know you say across the state, but um in with my connections in uh across the nation with band directors u of I will say some extremely well-known bands and very large and I'm talking 400 member type u everybody recognizes Anderson or as they keep saying the little band from Anderson. But the uh it it is very very nice to hear. I never hear anything but compliments constantly and a lot of times they don't even know I'm in the forum. You know, I'm I'm just a fly on the wall here. I usually listen pretty close, but uh but I just wanted to uh
023compliment them for all the work that they do and uh you know that you've got my support. >> Again, let's give them one more round of applause for their amazing Thank you again. You make us so proud. Mr. Glass, I've been trying to do this for a couple of board meetings. So, tonight I'd like to congratulate Anderson County High School students and staff on their second US News and World Report best schools rating. Uh we we recognize your hard work and we're so very proud of your accomplishments. Mr. Mr. Glass, would you please come forward to accept this plaque rec recognizing the high academic achievements of Anderson County High School as it rates among the nation's best for college preparation and dual credit opportunities for the students of Anderson County Schools. Congratulations. Let's give him
024have a very special recognition next. And um I think they're all standing out in the in the lobby area. So I'm going to ask all of our um school resource officers to please come forward. Mr. Harley is going to help me out tonight um by giving away a few little um tokens of appreciation. So um it's National School Resource Officer Appreciation Day today. Um, and Anderson County is absolutely blessed with the best. We have an exceptional SRO program and we have for many years as recognized by the state. We are very proud that each of them choose to be a part of our school district. What sets them apart? Not only do they protect and serve, they're an integral part of our schools. the daily interactions with students, building relationships that make a difference. They
025genuinely care about and love our children like we do. They role model for students who admire them and want to grow up to be just like them. They help mold and mentor the little people and they encourage and take time with the big kids. They are true examples of leaders who take the time to teach our children how to be kind, how to be good people. When mistakes are made, they retach and they reassure. Our schools are not only safer, but they are better because of them. Tonight, we'd like to publicly recognize our special team of school resource officers who ensure the safety who not only ensure safety, but make every day a great day to be part of Anderson County Schools. Please join me in congratul or welcoming, excuse me, please join me in
026thanking our school resource officers. I'm going to call them one by one to come forward. I've been so used to thanking all of our or congratulating all of our children. And I want to thank our SRO's. Deputy Allan Culver Sparrow Early Childhood Center, please come forward. Deputy Chris Atkins, Emma Ward Elementary. David Deputy Goodlet, who's not here, but he serves Sappel Street Elementary. Let's congratulate him or thank him as well. Deputy James Dunn, Robert B. Turner Elementary. Deputy Todd Evans, Anderson County Middle School. Last but absolutely not least, the one who takes care of all of us and including our SRO's, Lieutenant Tony Lyens, Anderson County High School. If we could please have all of our SR SRO's come forward. Miss Allison will take a picture with them and we will thank them. I congrat
027Lieutenant Lens, is there anything you'd like to say about our program? >> Oh, you're fine. >> I don't Mr. White will get me. my >> when I first stepped into these schools and I come out off of the road, I call it when you worked out on the road, it was at first it was like culture shock for me when you go from taking calls most every day that normally are negative to most people and you walk into the school system, you don't realize how much positive is there. You don't realize how much you learn and relearn and make yourself better. There's not a day goes by that I don't learn something from a great team of leadership. When I first walked through the doors, I was looking at one of my classmates, Mr. Glass,
028Mr. White, all of them. They all helped mold who I am today along with my sheriff and my chief. And uh one thing I have learned, you're never too old to learn. That's for sure. So, I want to thank the school system for allowing us to be here, Miss Mitchell for allowing us to be here and our principles because we work alongside of them every day and uh I I I'll put my team up against anybody in the state. Thank you all. Next, I'd like to recognize our family resource youth and service center coordinators. Um, the Family Resource and Youth Service Center Coalition of Kentucky officially designated last week, February the 9th through the 13th, as Family Resource and Youth Service Center Week to celebrate and thank our coordinators. Anderson County has four of the
029best across the Commonwealth, and we are grateful for all that they do each day for our students and families. Their mission is to help every student reach their full potential and succeed to adulthood. Ours do just that and so much more. Our coordinators work tirelessly to make sure our students and families needs are met. They are important leaders within our school. We are excited to celebrate 35 years of FRSC's serving Kentucky students and families. And we want to show our sincere gratitude for the four that we so proudly call our own. Coordinators, when I call your name, will you please come forward? Megan Riley is the family resource coordinator for Robert B. Turner and Safel Street School. her colleagues say she is a tremendous asset to our students, families, and staff, consistently going above and
030beyond in all that she does. Her strong community connections and the meaningful relationships she builds provide invaluable opportunities and support for our school community. We are incredibly thankful for Miss Riley. Thank you, Miss Riley. Miss McKenzie Beasley is not here, but I'm going to go ahead and read it because she's so awesome. Miss McKenzie Beasley is the family resource coordinator for MAB Ward and Sparrow Early Childhood Center. Her colleagues say, "Mrs. Beasley is truly a cornerstone of our school family. She works tirelessly to ensure the needs of our students and families are met with care, compassion, and dedication. She's always willing to go the extra mile and always goes above and beyond making a meaningful difference in the lives of everyone she serves. We are incredibly grateful for her commitment and her positive impact that
031she has on our school community. Let's say thank you to Miss Beasley again. Katie Bolan makes a powerful and positive impact as the youth service center coordinator at Anderson County Middle School. her colleagues say she ensures every student's daily needs are met so they can focus on learning and growth through initiatives like the Mustang Mall. She provides essential resources with dignity and care, creating a safe and supportive environment for all students. Her leadership in the creation of the student leadership team and joy lab empower students to build confidence, character, and a sense of belonging, which makes ACMS a stronger, more connected school community. AC is lucky to have Mrs. Bolan on our Mustang team and for her support for students and staff to create a culture of excellence. Thank you, Miss Bolan. Miss Kelly Hume
032is the family resource youth service coordinator at Anderson County High School. Her colleagues say, "Kelly dedicates countless hours that often go unnoticed, ensuring that our students have access to the resources they need to be academically successful. Her work goes far beyond the school day as she consistently advocates for students and families, removes barriers to learning, and helps meet and helps meet needs that might otherwise stand in the way of students success. Through her leadership, she has implemented a wide range of programs and supports to assist students and families. Her efforts ensure that students come to school ready to learn and families feel supported and connected. Kelly's compassion, dedication, and tireless commitment make a lasting impact on our school community. ACS is a better place because of her work. We are incredibly grateful for her. Thank
033you, Miss Hume. >> Mr. Harley, would you like to say a few words? >> Uh, I'll say that this they do the tough one of the toughest jobs. SRO's counselors frisk can't do any of the work that these folks do without. It's dirty work. Period. Across the board. They hear it all, see it all, do it all. Thank you very much. >> All right, let's give them a great big round of applause. They're awesome and amazing and we're grateful for you. Thank you all. Last, but absolutely not least, um, National School Counseling Week was set for February the 2nd through the 6th to thank and celebrate our incredible professionals who make a lasting difference in the lives of our students. School counselors are listeners. They are problem solvers, advocates, and champions, helping students navigate academics,
034relationships, mental health, and plans for the future. Their guidance opens doors, builds confidence, and ensures every child is seen, supported, and encouraged to succeed. We are grateful for our school counselors whose compassion, expertise, and heart is poured into their students every single day. It is with great gratitude that we humbly thank you for all that you do each day. School counselors, please come forward when I call your name. Sparrow Early Childhood Center, Mr. Logan Young. Let's give him a great big round of applause. Emma B. Ward. Excuse me. Mrs. Kristen Barker. Let's clap for her. I don't think she's here tonight. Robert B. Turner. Miss Amy Riley. Sappel Street, Mrs. Katherine Claus, Anderson Learning Academy, Mrs. Kim Jennifer, let's clap for her. I don't believe she's here tonight. Anderson County Middle School, Miss Rachel Baker
035and Miss Katie Norris. Last but not least, our Anderson County High School counselors. We have three. I don't believe they're here tonight, but Mrs. Ashley Kay's Anna Dean, and Miss Heather Snodgrass. Want to say thank you for all that you humbly do for our children every single day. Um, as Mr. Harley said we have three groups here tonight that are just absolutely to be commended for all that you do. So, thank you. Let's give them another round of applause. Chairman, that's all I have this evening. >> Thank you, Miss Mitchell. We do need to make an amendment to the attendance report and show that uh all members are present as of 7:18. Uh next up is comments from visitors and we don't have anyone on the signup sheet. Um so next is school counselors on
036student success presentation. Good evening. My name is Amy Riley and I am proud to be the school counselor at Robert B. Turner Elementary. And I hadn't planned on saying this, but I I just want to say how humbled I am to be among so many accomplished people, so many amazing groups of students, so many exemplary professionals. As I was noticing the groups that were getting recognized, I couldn't help to go back to the comment that the honorable gentleman on our board of education mentioned about how often we fight for legislative support. And many of the groups, if not all of the groups that you all saw tonight, are among those groups who fight often for funding. They're sometimes, not in this district, but sometimes forgotten by our legislature. So, it just does my heart good
037to see that they're recognized tonight to see that we're here in a district that values the entire the whole child in every single way. So, tonight, I'm not going to take much of your all's time, but it I am so honored to be here to share with you all tonight a little bit of what school counselors do. I am proud to represent Anderson County, not only at Robert B. Turner Elementary, but it's been one of the highlights of my career this year to also serve as the president of the Kentucky School Counselor Association and on the board for CASA, the Kentucky Association of School Administrators. So, uh, in both of those roles, I've shared this information with other groups. And Miss Mitchell, Superintendent Mitchell was so gracious to allow me to be able to come
038and share this with you all. And it's just a humbling thing to be able to share what school counselors do on a daily basis. You all feel free to ask me questions as we go through this. And as I mentioned, I promise I will not take too much of your time. So the title of this presentation is just very simply more than guidance, the impact of Kentucky school counselors on student success. And that truly is what we do. If you look at this graphic, this pretty much sums up what school counselors do in public schools. We are highly trained mental health professionals with a master's degree or higher. We are also administrators under the law in Kentucky under Kentucky statute. And our specialty is student support. We receive specialized instruction in four key areas. And
039there's more that we could have listed, but crisis prevention, deescalation strategies, brain science, and comprehensive school counseling programs are the main ones that we focus on. Our profession has changed greatly in the last 20 to 30 years. We are no longer called guidance counselors. And you might notice on this slide, it says, why does the title matter? The main reason the title matters is just very simply because our profession has changed. Gone are the days when a guidance counselor sat behind a desk and talked about career readiness and handled disciplinary actions and didn't really interact with students. School counselors now are certified in their profession. We are prevention and we provide services for all students in Kentucky schools. We also I love the the fourth bullet point down. We teach the work ready and soft
040skills training that employers are begging for when they say that the number one thing they want in their employees are skills like being organized and being on time. Those are skills that school counselors are ready and willing and able and specifically trained to be able to teach our students. Of course, we lead individual and groups as well, and collaboration with families is absolutely critical for our role. School counselors are also vital when it comes to school safety. In fact, when you think about school safety, there are so many different parts to that, but we are the prevention piece. We are proactive. We're there to teach students how to get along with their peers, how to resolve conflicts before some of the bigger issues come about. And some of the statistics I want to share with
041you tonight are to be honest, they're very alarming. You all can see here that in Kentucky, 25% of middle school students and 30% of high school students reported poor mental health during the 30-day period prior to the survey. 30% of high school students missed one or more days of school for mental health concerns. Also, of middle schoolers, 10% have attempted suicide. 26% have seriously considered suicide. And of high schoolers, 8.6% have attempted suicide in the last year and 19% seriously considered suicide. Now, there are not a lot of statistics among elementary students, but I'm here to let you guys know as an elementary counselor that there are students who have suicidal thoughts at the elementary level. It is more common than you think. It's just not as report widely reported in the mainstream media. But
042again, school counselors are usually one of the first groups on the front lines to be able to intervene in those situations. According to Kentucky statute, the goal in Kentucky is for there to be one school counselor for every 200 250 students. Yet, the Kentucky state auditors 2025 report, you all may have read about this in the news, stated that only 50% of Kentucky schools meet this ratio. And the actual ratio is somewhere closer to 1 to 328. But I must mention, and I'm going to go back to this a lot, it is an unfunded mandate. And therefore, while we of course want to hold our Kentucky schools to this and it's so critical, schools have had to become very creative. And we as an organization, as a group, Kentucky school counselors, we are actively trying
043to get the legislature to understand this need and to understand the strain that it puts on schools to try to include this to to meet this ratio with current funding. Just to show you all how difficult it is, these are the current ratios in Anderson County schools at this moment. And you'll notice for a lot of reasons they're they're not some of them are not terrible. But you think about what this means as far as real students and what happens. It means that in some cases and on some days school counselors are putting out a lot of fires. They're handling crises instead of going into classrooms and talking to students about those skills that we were sharing or leading small groups with students who were identified in MTSS meetings as the ones who needed intervention
044and needed skills training. not disciplined, but they needed to be taught those specific skills. Why do those ratios matter? It's not the 250 to1 mandate is not just an arbitrary number. There's research to back it up. There was research that was performed out of Missouri that showed that when school counselors are in schools at a ratio of 250 to1 that there are higher graduation rates, less absences, and fewer discipline referrals, especially in high poverty schools. Also, in this next slide, of all of the research that I found in my role, this is the one that that stopped me in my tracks. I had to read it several times to make sure that I was reading this correctly. Adding one school counselor is more cost-effective than adding a teacher to reduce class sizes or increasing funding
045for PD. study also. This study also showed that the addition of a counselor has significant increases in academic achievement over reducing class sizes. Now, to be clear, we're not saying that class sizes need to be huge. What we're saying is that school counselors and mental health supports need to be equally valued and we need to understand that students cannot learn when there are other barriers that are in the way. if they have other things on their mind at home, trauma, things that have have occurred in the classroom even with if they are not going to perform the way that we would like them to otherwise. We also know that Kentucky every year in November asks um schools to report how much time school counselors are spending in direct service to students. Unfortunately though, we know
046that there are other things that compete for school counselor time. things like chairing 504 and ARC meetings, serving as backs, which are are building assessment coordinators, testing, registering new students, supervising lunch, and enforcing discipline. This is where I have to pause for a second though and really brag on Anderson County Schools because I know that in my building, and I'm not just saying this because he's here, but my principal, Mr. Alexander, works tirelessly to make sure that I am working with students. He values that time and he tries very hard to make sure that I'm only doing the bare minimum of these and and you know you all saw my ratio. I'm one to around 587. So I appreciate that. Kudos to him and and he's not the only one in Anderson County schools that
047is working very hard to shift some of these roles away from school counselors so they can work with students. So what are those direct student services that school counselors should be doing? It's things like individual counseling, classroom counseling, instruction, it's my favorite personally, and small groupoup counseling for again those students who are identified in MTSS meetings as needing more intentional, deliberate support. There's a whole big list of appropriate versus inappropriate um activities and responsibilities for school counselors. I'm not going to read all of those to you all because I will just sum it up by saying that we do a good job here in Anderson County for the size of our district. We truly do and that's why it is a blessing to me. It is an honor to me to be able to work
048here in a school district that values students and their needs. So the last slide I'm going to share with you all then is what is the solution? It may sound like doom and gloom. It may sound like what do we do in this situation where our ratios are not where they need to be. Well, the number one solution is increase statewide funding. We know that. We know that. And as I mentioned, we are working hard for that. Um, I sometimes I get told by legislators things like, "Well, the school districts are getting the money. They get to choose how they spend it." Now, being someone who works in a school and has for over 20 years, I understand that's not exactly the case always. I know that we are always trying to just balance all
049of the different groups and programs that we need. But the last thing that I would just ask you all to consider is when board of the board of education makes budgeting decisions and when sitebased councils make decisions at the school level that you just consider the mental health support that our students have. And it may be that there's not additional funding for that. It may be that we we do have some funding. I truly don't know. But what I can say is the last bullet point here is one that doesn't really cost a dime. and that is just to reassign duties when possible. If you see a school counselor getting overwhelmed, if you see someone who who really is not being able to work with with students to be able to reassign those duties. Just
050want to end again by thanking you all so much for your time and for listening to me. And I I know I I probably sound like a broken record, but I haven't been in this district very long, but I can tell you that I am truly truly honored and that this district is the real deal. What you see from Miss Mitchell, what you see from our administrators is a genuine compassion for children and it comes out through every one of us. I'm proud to be an employee here and I'm proud that we have a board of education who makes every part of the child a priority. Do you all have any questions at all? >> I don't have any question. >> Sure. >> First of all, I totally agree. I'm a graduate of the the
051class that I graduated from, we had 48 students in my graduating class. You know, the most students in my class every day was probably 12 to 15. That'd be the most I, you know, when I was young, I visited Franklin County Schools, which had 35, 40 students. They were overpopulated. That was before Western Hills was built. And I visited there a time or two. And there's no way that I could have I could have made it in that type of environment. I don't I didn't have the ability and I didn't have the discipline coming from a poor family of a mother that was 18 years old when I was born and had five kids, one right after another. Uh, and I love my mother to death, but I would have not been able to make
052it in a large classroom environment because I uh, it's just the way it was with me. And I do believe that we should have small classrooms uh, with and we should have we should continue and try to have the ratio for you counselors and but you said another thing. It's an unfunded mandate and that's the stop right there. That's what stops us from being able to do what what we should. >> Absolutely. Thank you so much for that comment. Anyone else have a question for me or comment? >> I don't have a question, but I might as well say this since I'm thinking it. Uh I think the history and the tradition of valuing the input that counselors have in this community goes back and my experience goes back to Mr. interest, but I think
053superintendents have valued the job that you do and the job that counselors do and understanding at the building level, counselors are part of the administrative team and it's an it's an incredibly valuable piece of input that you have in making decisions about how the school should operate and how we should address the needs of our kids. And I would also agree with you, the mental health component of what we do has grown over the time just in my time as an administrator and then having been retired. uh your jobs are incredibly important to the success of our our schools, but really to the success of our kids because they have so many things going on that we haven't dealt with for a long time that you all are addressing that are making a huge difference.
054It's hard to be successful in class when you're dealing with all of these other issues. And so I I just have always valued and appreciated uh the counselors that I've been blessed to work with and I I appreciate you more each and every day. So thank all of you for what you're doing to make an impact on kids. Thank you. Thank you for saying that. I I will say too, and I appreciate you recognizing that the that we are administrators. I will say though that most counselors, they are not going to toot their own horn. There were they were all very clear tonight that I was the speaker. Very clear because most counselors, the things that we do mostly are done behind behind and we're they are done without people knowing them necessarily. We can't
055go out and broadcast the the problems, the supports that we're offering to students. So, a lot of times it's easy to just think, well, what is that counselor doing all day when they're doing things that are critically important for achievement by reducing some of those barriers? >> I would say that they're some of the most humble people that you would ever meet. >> You're right. >> Kind of piggyback exactly what you're saying. They're the most humble people and some of the most caring people that you would ever meet and they give more than what the job expectation would ever be. you know, the difference that you make is just it's you can't measure what you do. >> Thank you for saying that. Thank you. One last compliment and I will be quiet. I forgot and
056I had this in my notes and forgot it, but I also wanted to brag on Mr. Harley as well because Mr. Harley who is in charge of of school safety and helps with that. um has even, you know, I had a conversation with him about how important prevention and mental health services are in the district and he was so gracious and said that school counselors and mental health can even be included on the safety committee here in Anderson County schools and wow wow that he he gets it and he recognizes that. So want to thank him and and that's the way it is here. It is truly a community approach and and it's an honor. Anyone else have a question? >> All right. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you all so much for
057having me. Next up, we have MMA Ward School improvement plan. Okay. Good evening. Thank you all so much for the opportunity to share about Emma Ward. My name is Gina Slusher. I'm the principal at Emma Ward. I've been there, this is year 20 for me at Emma. Um I started out as a classroom teacher. Um was an instructional coach and now as the principal. So it's been a great experience. Um and to see how Emma Ward has changed and grown over the years has been remarkable. and to getting to see it from different lenses um has been great. Um so to start this evening, I just kind of want to show our why. Um the why behind why we come to school each day. Um back in January when we came back right after Christmas
058break and we had our reset with teachers re revisiting expectations, we revisited our why. And that's important because when days get hard um and things may not be going the way, we have 444 W's as to why we come to school each day. Um, and we have some amazing students and I would love for you to come visit our students. Um, they are they smile. They and if you were to ask them their favorite person in the building, Officer Chris would probably be their most favorite person. Um, just because he interacts with them each day, they know who he is. He knows them all by name. Um, and he high-fives them and fist bumps them in the hallway each and every day. So, um, thank you for allowing us to have school resource officers in
059our building as well. Um, so just to kind of go along with our why, we also have 72 staff members um, in our building. That's ranging from daycare workers, uh, cafeteria workers, our school or um, teaching staff. Um, we have 18 classrooms. We have 18 um, general education classrooms. Um, our special education numbers have grown. You will see that we have two MSD classrooms this year. And in my entire time at Emma Ward, we've only had one. Um so our numbers have increased in that area um this year to to cause a need um for an additional MSD unit this year. Um we have great PAR educators that you will constantly see if you walk into classrooms. You would not know if it's the classroom teacher or a PAR educator instructing our students. Um they
060work closely with our interventionists and our classroom teachers. Um the same with our interventionists and our um special education teachers. They are pushed in the classroom as much as possible. It's very rare that you see them in that resource setting because that's something that we've really worked on um with our staff is making sure that they're pushed in and allowing our kids to have those grade level expectations and opportunities um with their peers. Um so we have some great staff and like I said, you can see on there there's some with stars at the bottom. So we share those staff members with other buildings in the district. Um but we're very blessed to have those people in our building as well because um they're a huge part of what we're able to do each day.
061So, our mission and vision at Emma Ward, um our mission is to be always moving forward. Um our goal is to be blue. So, you notice the blue finish line there at the end. Um that's what we're striving for. That's what we're continuing to work towards each and every day. Um each of the the letters in forward um stands for something that we're working on with our kids. Um, so we want to foster those positive relationships and I think that's something our teachers are top-notch um at building those those positive relationships with students. Um, and making our kids want to be at school each day. We want our kids to to learn and grow. That's the whole reason we're we're in education. Um, we want to see that from our students. Um, teaching respect. That
062goes back to our guidance counselors. Our guidance counselors are huge at helping us being able to teach those social emotional skills um with our students. Working towards common goals. Our kids are part of that. It's not just our teachers doing that. Our our kids are part of working towards those goals. Um achieving their personal best. Um that's been something that we've worked on with MAP testing. It's going on right now. Um to see some of the the smiles and confidence that has built in some of our students and their excitement for how much they've grown from fall to winter. um our kids are starting to to learn um how to strive and set goals for themselves. Um recognizing those successes, that's something we're really trying to to work on this year. Um we're great at
063pointing out the things we need to fix, but really pointing out those successes and being able to do that with our kids. Um too, we've got fabulous students, um fabulous staff at Emma Ward. Um so recognizing those and um praising those opportunities when they come about as well. Um, and then just continuing to dedicate ourselves to continuing to learn. One of the things that we worked on prior to the school year, we went back and revisited um, PBIS, um, which is positive behavior interventions and supports. Um, we went back because we'd had some turnover since we have done that in the past, just staff that that have left. Um, so we spent some time over the summer, part of that is creating anchor statements that you you live by each day. Um, so ours is
064being accountable, respectful, and exceptional. Um, and this is something that our teachers reiterate with our students. Our guidance counselor, um, is doing some of this in their guidance classes with students, just teaching them what that is and how to be able to recognize that. Um, we also worked on common area expectations and back to those classroom management plans as well. So, just some of our demographics, like I said, we have 444 students. Um we are have roughly 21.6% um special education population. Um that's ranging from our LBD students, our MSD um and also our speech students. Um our free and reduced population were about 48.2% um and our English language um percentage were about 1.1. So attendance is something that we focused a lot on here lately. We uh about 3 years ago went to
065a neighboring school um in a neighboring district and this is one of the things that they had really worked on with their kids. Um so each day um one of our teachers has kind of led the helm on this and she gets on the announcements um and tells which home rooms have perfect attendance for that day which means they no kids checked in late, they didn't check out and they've been in attendance all day. Um I had a phone call from a parent earlier in the year. She's like my kid doesn't want to miss school. She's like, "The kids are getting mad at them." And I was like, "Well, why is that?" She's like, "Because they all want the perfect attendance award." So, kids are starting to hold each other accountable for being at school.
066Um, so part of that you saw everybody was glad for the snowman to go away. We're to February and hearts now. Um, but each day, um, classrooms get announced. Um, the class at the end of the month, um, and it's an incentive. They get a snack off a snack cart and they get extra recess. So, you couldn't imagine what what a little extra snack and and recess will do for some elementary kids. Um, and then also within that month, there goes there it came back. Um, individual students are recognized as well. Um, so Friday we had our January perfect attendance and it was as simple as they came down, they got a little craft baggie um and they got five extra bulldog bucks. Um, they when you get more than a dollar bulldog buck, they
067think it's pretty amazing. So, and and they hoard those. Um, so we have a bulldog store that they can go and they can spend their bulldog bucks on as well. We've done ice cream parties. Um, just kind of depends on the month. we have a different theme um that they celebrate each month. Um so beyond academics, we're going to focus on academics here in just a minute. Um but just some things we have in place. When we did that PBIS training at the beginning, we did um it's called a 2x10. Each teacher had to identify a student that was coming in their class that they knew nothing about. Um you didn't know it had to be beyond academics. We all know where they stand academically, but do we know anything about our kids outside of
068school? Um, and that was a piece to build those relationships with our students. Um, and what that was for two minutes each day for 10 days, you talked to a kid about something other than academics at school. Um, once you built that relationship with that kid, you picked another one. Um, and that really helped establish some relationships um, with a lot of our grade levels. Um, especially with um, we have one grade level right now that we knew that relationships were going to be huge. kids needed to know that you respected them, they trust you, um, and that you're there for them and care for them. Um, so that's made a huge impact, just spending that little bit of extra time, um, with them to kind of get to know them outside of school as
069well. Um, just some other things we have in place, citizen of the month. We do that with our community partners each month. Um, we have that this Friday, so we get to recognize about 40 awesome kids um, on Fridays. Um, so their families get to come in. Our community partners come in, help celebrate that. Um, Bulldog Bash, it's an annual event that we host. It is not academic related. It's just for families to come in. Um, and get to enjoy games and staff and families interact. Um, students love to pie their teachers. Um, so they will pay a quarter to come in and pie their teacher. Um, and that's a big huge fundraiser and incentive for us. Um, as well as some other things. um Thanksgiving lunch, pumpkin carving. Um you see our principles 200
070board here at the bottom. Students get bulldog brag tickets um for following those um um our anchor statements that acceptable or um accountable, respectful, and exceptional. Um we have archery, harmony hounds, SDLP. Um our librarian has also started a book club that kids come in once a week. um they have a book they're reading friendle right now and they just have a book discussion and eat their breakfast um prior to going to class each day. Um Lemonade War is kind of a right of passage for our fifth graders. Um some of you may have visited our lemonade war. Um this was started several years ago and has evolved over time. Um but our fifth grade reading teacher um does this. So she speaks to our fourth graders before they leave on for summer and gives
071them their their reading packet. Um they read the book The Lemonade War. Um they actually have activities and things that they complete over the summer along with their reading assignment. Um they come in, they do their activities and then they have a true um project-based learning experience when they come in. Um so the book centers around um two friends that have a lemonade stand um and they have a competing. So, our students get put into groups and they have their own lemonade stands to where they create their own currency, their own um commercials, and it involves our whole school. Our kids come in and get to to experience that. So, like I said, our kids know when they get to fifth grade, that's something that that they get to look forward to. Going back to
072arts and humanities and that celebration, um our um specials teams do a great job of performances. Our music teacher does a phenomenal job doing a performance with each of our grade levels. One of my favorites is our Veterans Day performance that our fifth graders get to do each year. Um she brings in outsiders to kind of help with that. You see ROC comes in and kind of helps our students um see what the folding of the flag looks like and what that represents. Um our family veteran members um come in and are part of that as well. Um we also involve our daycare in that during the daytime performance. So those students um get to kind of experience what that looks like. So just some continued professional learning and collaboration that we're working on. Um
073the quality control work, we continue that with Robert B. Turner and Saffl Street. Um, we were very blessed to get to kind of collaborate with the high school back in January, which was nice to kind of see how we are at the elementary and how that unfolds at the high school and get their feedback on some things that we could do differently. Um, like I mentioned, we did that PBIS work um, to continue those expectations and making sure we're all on the same page um, as far as the school. And I just want to brag on our teachers during our NTI days and just some of the work that they continued to do during those days. um not only were they working with students and answering questions um to help support them, but they continued
074their professional learning. Um we've had some staff since we've started this control quality control work um that are new. So, we spent some time working on congruence. What does that mean? How does that impact our work overall? Um focusing on restructuring pacing guides. We know we had a lot of snow and we need to look at where we are in our pacing guts and how we need to restructure those um to make sure that we're still getting everything covered um by the end of the year. We continued with our data team meetings. We did those online. Um we had some staff that were able to come in came in and met in person. Um but we continued with those meetings and then working with our MTSS teams which also included our guidance counselors um our
075school psychologists to be able to to make intervention plans for students based on the data that we had. Um our instructional coaches continued to work on that quality control work. They continued to have data team meetings via Google Meets um to continue that work as well. um our special education team worked with um our related service providers with OT and PT and speech um and looked at schedules and how those needed to be changed and revised as well. So looking at our KSA results, you can see overall we were green. Um in 2025 we were at a 70.1. In reading and math we were also green. Science, social studies, and combined writing we were green. And then that quality of school climate and safety survey, we were blue. Um, so just looking at some of
076that data, we had an increase in the overall population and our special education and reading and math. Um, we had a significant increase in our special education subgroup on science, social studies, and combined writing. Um, we also had an increase in our special education and economically disadvantaged population. And on that survey, um, our special education population is our group that we're really focusing on. Um, but you can see with our schedule changes, our pushin supports that they are really starting to grow based on those opportunities. So, our goals moving forward for this year, um, looking at our overall, our goal is 65% proficient and distinguished in all of our content areas. Um, we know that's a lofty goal, but we know if we don't aim high, we're not going to get there. Um, so that's
077what we're moving for. Um, we're continuing with those small groups and station teaching. That's something we've worked on the past three years and those schedules have changed the past three years based on data and needs. Um really working on that pushin support naming and claiming students. We're getting ready to do that again next week after all of our MAP data is finalized. Um just continuing to look at our plans and our congruency offering specific coaching um for not only grade level teams but individual teachers um based on that data that we have and the supports that we have. Um, I just kind of talked a little bit about our special education subgroups, our subgroup that we're focusing a lot on. Um, we had, um, CKEC come in over the summer, the director of special ed,
078we asked her to come work with us on our schedules. Um, how could we take our schedules and make sure we're meeting the legal requirements of the IEPs, um, but to be able to push in and provide that co-eing support, um, to keep our students in the classroom as much as possible. Um, since then with guidance and continued feedback, we've changed that schedule about three times cuz it looked pretty on paper and then you get in the midst of it and then you realize you need to change it. Um, so with that, we just had our most recent change right after Christmas break. Um, that change then allowed our special education teachers to be able to co-plan with the grade levels that they were pushing in with. Um, so that's been a huge benefit for
079them to be able to attend meetings um and have those daily discussions with teachers. Um, we've meet monthly as a sped team. Um, we looked at our name and claim and identified how many students that needed to be. How many students do we need to to move to the next performance level and out of novice. Um, our goal is to move every kid, but really starting to name and claim the kids that we need need to be able to move. And then lastly, just to continue to increase that climate and culture survey um with reteing and revisiting our expectations um continuing with that bulldog store and our student recognitions is what we're really trying to hone in on um because we know we need to recognize our students successes um and the great things that
080they're doing as well. So just looking at our current academic standings, this was in January. Um we'll have some of this updated tomorrow for our admin meeting. Um but you see four different lines there. The bottom one is our KSA where we were at a 70.1 we were green. Um like I said, our goal is to be blue. That's where we're moving towards. Um you see two January 20th um rows there. Um and the only difference between those two rows is that social studies score. Um the reason for that looking at social studies um we don't have an assessment other than KSA except for our common assessments that we do and that's something that we're continuing to work on. Uh but working with our teachers to see how much of an impact those science, social
081studies, and writing scores have on our overall score as well. Um we've made growth in reading and math already. Um science is continuing to grow. when they took fall map, they were already higher than they were last year in the winter. Um, so we're anxious to see tomorrow morning what science looks like because they took that today. Um, but we know that that's the goal that we're shooting towards. And we've really been looking at those numbers. Um, talking with even our um, first, second, and third grade on how much they can help support that science and social studies prior to them getting to that tested grade level. So, just some things that we're doing to continue moving forward. Um, we had a January reset with our teachers as well. Um, like I said, we started
082with that why. Um, why why are we here every day and what do we keep doing um to keep moving ourselves to to meet those expectations that we have for ourel. Um, we looked at lesson planning and and how much that um initial planning um can impact what our scores look like. So, really focusing on that. Um, we've made lots of schedule changes um but we know we can't wait until the end to make those changes. we have to make them in the moment. Um, continuing that common planning for our teachers. Um, walkthroughs, support from CKEC. We have CKC coming in on Wednesday. Um, and again next week just to continue giving us outside feedback, um, because we're always willing for feedback to continue to grow. Um, just continuing that differentiation, um, individual coaching, um,
083and just that continued quality control work, um, that we're doing. Any questions or comments? Thank you very much. Next is uh student accident insurance renewal. uh Robert's Insurance uh obtained three quotes for 2026 2027 student accident insurance. Um, as you can see there, uh, on plan plan three, 100% of the usual and, uh, uh, customary with $1,000, um, on limit on physical therapy. Uh, Zurich came in at $72,41727. Access at 93,6127 and Hartford at $92,992 92,9927. Uh, additionally, Roberts obtained a quote for an alternate policy from Zurich, uh, including a $7.5 million catastrophic coverage, uh, with Zurich American Insurance Company, uh, for consideration. The other plan is the 100% um of usual and customary with a $2,000 limit on physical therapy uh at $75,999.37. >> Mr. White, do you have any additional information you'd like
084to add for the board consideration? The only thing I will say is that there's only one difference there between the two Zurich numbers, and that is the coverage on physical therapy. It's either $1,000 or $2,000. And to get the $2,000 worth of coverage, we would have to jump up to the $759.99 overall. >> Any questions? >> We have a lot of physical therapy. So, according to our insurance agent, the number one um coverage that is provided from this policy is physical therapy. It accounts for about 16% of the claims that come through. Um, but the only thing he cautioned me on on jumping up to that other plan was if there's $2,000 worth of uh coverage, more than likely $2,000 worth of coverage will be used, which then could potentially increase cost overall moving forward,
085which then could potentially increase renewal costs in the future. Um, so it's really just a preference. Right now we have the thousand is what we have. And Mr. >> Roberts told us told me one year that we was probably the lowest district he had in occurrences. That's why our rate stays low. It's been uh like 68,000 the last 10 years. It's hadn't went up hardly at all. This is only a $400 increase. And the last three renewals have been identical renewals as far as I remember, right at $72,000. And it's because of our claims are are lower than our premium typically. Um this past year they were over the premium, but they still kept our policy at pretty flat. Looks like Mr. Car comments. all week. >> No, I was just I was just asking
086what Josh was recommending. Are you recommending >> What do you recommend? >> I would recommend we stay with what we have. Uh I think it's worked for us and we haven't had any complaints on and it's covered what we needed to cover. So, I don't see any need to spend any additional money at this time. >> This is through the Roberts. We've had them for years and they they're >> Yeah, >> they take care of everything. We have no problems. So, I'll make a motion to go with Zurich Zurich Insurance through Roberts. A second. Steve Carmichael >> with the first. >> Just clarification. Plan three with a 100%. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. Thank you. >> With the first and second. Can I get a roll call vote, please? >> Yes, sir. Mr. Brown? >>
087Yes. >> Mr. Carmichael? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Mr. Collins? >> Yes. >> Mr. Fentress? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sergeant? >> Yes. Next up, we have uh Sparrow Early Childhood Center uh improvement plan. >> Good evening. Um I'm not the best public speaker. I wish I could do um our school justice. It's such a wonderful place and I'm just so proud to be a part of it. Um, and I always have to say this, um, being a preachers's kid from Eastern Kentucky, one of the first songs that I learned was, "A wise man builds his house upon a rock." So, when it comes to education, how important it is that our foundation is strong. And I'm so proud of Anderson County of the resources and that wonderful facility that they provide and the staffing that they
088provide that takes care of our smallest learners. So let's talk about that wonderful school over there. Um, the Ezer Sparrow Early Childhood Center seeks to create a challenging learning environment that encourages high expectations for success through developmentally appropriate instruction for all students. Our school promotes a safe, nurturing, and positive environment where families, staff, and community work as a team to set a foundation for a lifelong love of learning. our demographics. Um, we have around 364 students. We have three or four coming in soon. It's going to go up a little bit. So, we are up 39 to 41 students from this time last year, which is always good to hear. And, u Mr. Harley probably knows the numbers way better than I do. Um, we have around I think that's going to change soon too.
089213 preschool students and 151 kindergarten students. Um, one thing, um, we'll go ahead. Um, 49% economically disadvantaged, um, students receiving qualified special education services, 41% for preschool, and 19% for kindergarten, 15% minority. And a fun fact, we have um over 364 students over there. Their ages are from three to six and we have 48 more boys. >> So if you see our staff, it's a fun tired, but we that's why we look tired at the end of the day, but we love our boys and girls. our staff. We have 28 certified teachers and that includes classroom teachers, special education teachers, instructional coach, counselor, um and um me. I just get to be a part of that great staff. Uh 24 classified, as you know, we have a larger number of classified because of your 10:1.
090There's very strict regulations with preschool 10 to one. Um but 10 to one we could be 5 to one if we could uh 10 to one for preschool and um 12 to one for uh kindergarten. Uh nurse SRO, our Frisk, we could not do it without them. Uh we're so thankful to have them and that's our wonderful staff. So thankful for them. and then some of our community partners. Our long-term goal, I'm not going to go into every little detail. This is shared with you if you want to read into detail. But the biggest thing, um, when our students leave our school, our goal is that they are 80% proficient in reading and in math. Now, how do you get to that? We've spelled that out here. But what what the heart of the matter
091is is that what do you teach? How do you teach it and when you teach it? And how do you assess that you're effective? And we are very uh congruent at our school. Um we teach the standards. uh we pace out our standards, we assess our standards, and then as we get together through our uh multi-ter systems of supports, we look at that. Are we effective? If we're not, how are we going to meet the individualized needs of students? And we do that through looking at data and using our intervention system. We came very close to meeting that goal last year. um proud to say that 71% of children that left ECC were proficient in reading and 81% we went over our goal in math were proficient when they left and a good um indicator
092uh this year even though our bants bance is given to every student across the state of Kentucky it is an individualized test and it is scripted so it's a very strict way that you uh procured the test and our MAP test the measure of academic progress which all the students up through the elementaryaries middle and high take um it correlated it was around 39 to 40% of children entering kindergarten um were on level. So that means around 60% of kindergarten students were below benchmark. But just now our winter data has come in through math and already uh we're proud to say 63% of our students are proficient in reading and 69% of our students are proficient in math. So we've been really working hard. I want to just move down and real quick developmentally appropriate
093practices. We really believe that you have to look at the whole child and that starts with our preschool program. How fortunate we are. We are fully staffed with certified preschool teachers. There is a shortage of pres uh of those in the state of Kentucky. They are certified. That means they are certified teachers, but they have a dual certified uh certification that they're special ed teachers. So, not only do they teach, they also write their IEPs, they uh attend their ARCs, they lead um and they create goals, and then they have to meet the needs of those teachers. And not only do we have six uh class preschool classrooms with those teachers, we even have one PAR educator who has the IEC degree. So, we're very fortunate. And um so again as we say you have
094if a child cannot use their words if their if a child cannot be a good friend if a child does not know how to regulate their emotions how do we expect them to learn academically. So, it is so important that we intervene early. And again, Anderson County has dedicated their resources to provide to to um intervene early because the state of Kentucky just looks at children who may qualify in a different area. And Anderson County, Miss Mitchell and Mr. White came to me last year and said, "How about we open up another preschool classroom?" And that allowed us to offer more tuition children. So I feel like that allowed us to bring more students that before I was able to get the word out. Uh because you cannot be full in preschool because if somebody
095walks in the door that qualifies, you have to open another classroom and provide another teacher. You cannot go over cap. I could put five teachers in a room and you can't. So, it's important that Miss Mitchell um well, and you and the district allowed us to open another classroom that allowed me to say, "Yes, you can come on in. We will we'll we'll let you have a tuition spot while still while still having the resources and the room to provide um to intervene early for those services." So, and just take a good look at this is what a day in preschool might look like. And I just really want to just tell you real quick. Um, you come into a preschool classroom, you would go into whole group. That may be reading books. That may
096be answering the question of the day. Um, that might be something they've connected to a a project that they're doing. Every child has small group instruction every day. that small group where they we break into three groups and they will have small groupoup instruction that's usually math or literacy or and then they bring in art, science um and all of those things and hands-on. It's just wonderful way to learn and then they go into um an hour of work time which I wish everybody could see our facilities. We are so blessed with the facilities that we have. They're set up. They have a science area, an art area. There are u there are magnifying glasses. There are measuring tape. You know, when everybody says, "Why don't they teach kids let kids to work with their
097hands?" These kids have building blocks. They have um tools. They have uh beads and um paint. And so they're a able to create and explore. And um I see one of my wonderful SLPs back there. The staff during that time they they work with them. They have conversations with them. They're teaching them how to be good friends. And so we're just very um blessed. I remember when my former principal I ECC has been my life in Turner uh in education and I remember when my principal came over from the middle school and I said, "You better be ready. I'm going to tell you this is the Disney of Anderson County schools and I and I still believe that. So, um move on down to kindergarten. Kindergarten, we fight the fight of having developmentally appropriate. Uh
098it's all day kindergarten, but let's be real, the kindergarten of today was your first grade. Um this the standards dictate what we should teach. So, we truly try to balance that to still say these are five and six-year-old kids. We we believe in hands-on learning. Um, we teach math, we teach reading, but they are not sitting with their hands folded with a worksheet. Um, so they have three hours of literacy a day. They have whole group literacy CKLA which brings in fables and fairy tales and science and um in their whole group and great conversations and comprehension and uh then they move into small group and they have individualized or differentiated instruction and then they have writing that's connected to something they have writer's workshop and then they have handwrite good old handwriting. Yes, we
099teach handwriting at ECC. And then the same thing, you model that with a math lesson, a whole group, and then they move into centers. And um but I want to show you some pictures real quick. I I'm not going to take up too much more of your time. This is what getting to that benchmark, how well our students are doing. But you see children sitting with their hands folded. I want you to look at the picture. It looks like the little boy's holding a carrot. I walked in his the classroom the other day and >> yeah, >> the teacher I've gone the teach Thank you. The teacher was um teaching decomposing to 10 and um she had them in pairs. They were their little buddies and they were all on the carpet and they were
100they were teamed up and they had to to to break the unifix cubes behind their back and then they had to show their uh friend and then they had to make the equation as you see right there. They made their equation and they added it in and they were just having the best time and that's what learning is all about. And you can see there's blocks and and counters on tables, there's markers, there's books, and that's what learning looks like at our school. And um so we do we try to balance we might we try to make learning fun and still make sure that those children are are um you know moving ahead and um and I know um speaking of kindergarten, Turner has kindergarten, too. We all work together. We're a team in this
101district. you know, we say from bear cubs to bear cats and we're big um we're glad to be a part of that. And so, just um finishing up talking to you about this wonderful school and as we always say at the Ezra Sparrow Early Childhood Center, they might have small hands, but they have big plans. Thank you. Next up, we have a memorandum of understanding um consideration to approve a uhou with Franklin board of education uh to offer services for administrating CDL class B driving uh examinations. Um KDE is no longer paying for CDL road tests for thirdparty examiners. Uh Franklin charges $461 and will bill us for the services. Uh the other surrounding district who offers these services charges a flat rate of $75. >> The request tonight is to to um to ask
102for approval for theou so that we can um utilize um Franklin County um to administer these tests for us. um their rate is cheaper um than the other surrounding counties and um we're just asking consideration for this approval tonight. Any questions I can answer? >> Do we have our own um instructors? >> The answer is yes, we do have our own instructors. So, is there anything else you'd like to add, Mr. Harley? Okay. >> Right. >> Okay. Make a motion to approve Frank County at $46 and a penny. >> Thank you. >> With a first and second. Can I get a roll call vote, please? >> Yes, sir. Mr. Brown? >> Yes. >> Mr. Carmichael? >> Yes. >> Mr. Collins? >> Yes. >> Mr. Fentress? Yes. >> Mr. Sergeant? Yes. >> Uh next up is
103family resource center uh continuing uh program plan. >> So the request is to continue um and with our family resource center. Um we have four as you saw tonight very blessed with coordinators that do amazing work. Um they've been with us for um several years. Um and um it is time for um you to consider approval for their asurances for the 2-year period of 2026 to 2028. Are there any questions around these asurances? I can answer. >> I think it's a very important program. Make a motion to approve. Scott Brown, >> I agree. Terrific program. Both of them. Second. Steve Carmichael >> with first and second. Could I get a roll call vote, please? >> Yes, sir. Mr. Brown? >> Yes. >> Mr. Carmichael? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Mr. Collins? Yes, >> Mr. Fentress. >>
104Mr. Sergeant, >> yes. >> Donations over $1,000. Uh, SECCC PTO is donating 7 thou or donating $1,763 to Sparrow Early Childhood Center uh general fund to purchase a projector for the multi-purpose room. Second. Steve Carmichael >> with first and second. Cigar roll, please. >> Yes, sir. Mr. Brown. >> Yes. >> Mr. Carmichael. >> Yes. >> Mr. Collins. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ventress. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sergeant. >> Yes. Uh, next up is uh project graduation donation request. Uh, consideration to approve project graduation committee request to uh approve a $4,000 donation and a $2,500 um matching fund uh donation. Uh this is an increase from the previous donation years. As you know, we are very blessed to have um families, parents are our um own employees who um are parents of our um high school seniors.
105Um they do a great job of working to provide um an opportunity for them to spend um quite a bit of time after graduation um doing a lot of fun activities. um they spend a lot of time preparing u for this special evening for our children and the costs are um it it is quite expensive. So the request tonight is um to increase um the match um not really the match the donation to $4,000 um and then the match 2500. So this is an increase of $500 this year um and 1,500 the from the previous two years. So, any questions I can answer regarding um this request? >> Yes, sir. It's a $500 increase from last year. Steve Carmichael >> with the first and second. Can I get a roll call vote, please? >> Yes,
106sir. Mr. Brown, >> recall say yes. >> Mr. Carmichael. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Mr. Collins? >> Yes. >> Mr. Fentrez? Yes. >> Mr. Sergeant? >> Yes. Early graduation requests consideration to approve uh one early uh graduation request. >> Are there any questions? Second answer regarding the early graduation request. >> Move to approve Scott Brown. Second Steve Carmichael >> with a first and second. Can I get a roll call vote, please? >> Yes, sir. Mr. Brown, >> yes. >> Mr. Carmichael. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Mr. Collins? >> Yes. >> Mr. Fentress? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sergeant >> uh field trip requests. Uh we have three. Uh if y'all want to look over those real quick. >> Motion approved. Scott Bram. I just tell you why UPS scared me to death when I >> Is that a
107second? >> I think the kids will sleep right through. >> We're the first to second. Can get a roll call vote, please. >> Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Brown. >> Yes, >> Mr. Carmichael. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Mr. Collins? >> Yes. >> Mr. Fentress? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sergeant? >> Can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion to motion to adjourn. Steve Carmichael. >> Second. Scott Brown. >> With the first and second. Can I get a roll call vote, please? >> Yes, sir. Mr. Brown. >> Yes. >> Mr. Carmichael. >> Yes. >> Mr. Collins. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fentrez. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sergeant. >> Yes. >> We are adjourned. >> Thank you. in the morning.