By Gary Stuber
The Clay County School Board met on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at Clay County Elementary. All Board members were present. The public meeting lasted more than two hours and ended as the board went into a closed executive session to address the expulsion of a Clay County student.
The meeting began with a small group of Clay Elementary students who under the direction of Megan Starcher sang God Bless America. She invited those in attendance to stand and sing.
Megan and Erica Smith were the first presenters. With the help of charts she explained the iReady Program that Clay Elementary uses to test and access student learning and attendance. And while this is only the second year for this program at Clay Elementary, they are seeing the advantages of such close monitoring. By year’s end, they are expected to meet or exceed goals.
Their presentation was followed up by Leslie Coe and Josselyn Kiser, Principal and Vice Principal at Clay Middle School. And while iReady is new for them this year, the presentation did not fare as hopeful. Clay Middle School is on the critical list. They have time to turn this around and the iReady testing gives them a base for where to start. Math, Reading and Attendance are areas they are putting work into this year.
And as if that presentation wasn’t enough, Dr. Michelle Samples and Tina Burnette gave the board a ‘Balanced Scorecard Review’ or a grade card on Clay County Schools. Again while at times it appeared brutal, there are programs and systems in place to improve the score for the future.
The final presenter was Stephanie Wayne of the Georgetown University School of Nursing who introduced a grant for Clay County High School. She had two students with her from Clay County High: Lauren Peyton and Grace Johnson. The grant she introduced was for a ‘Blue/Green’ space at the high school. This is an outdoor space for ‘interrupting’ stress. It could be a garden, flower beds, a dock over the Elk River or outdoor game space that students could visit to give them a classroom break, relieving stress, improving mood and mental health. While the grant comes from the Georgetown University School of Nursing, Clay County High School students propose and design and actual engineering may involve the carpentry and agricultural classes.
The board took care of routine business, approving some overnight trips for students; approved bills and invoices; and granted Superintendent Dobbins the power to advertise and establish bids for the public auction of the former H.E. White School and all personal property in it.
They also made a number of personnel changes. They approved the resignation of the following: Sharon Brown, a substitute teacher; Bethany Frankenfield; Amy Scarbro, substitute secretary; Beverly Clevenger, bus operator; and Alicia Johnson as assistant girls basketball coach.
They approved the employment of the following professional personnel. For Afterschool Homebound Instructors at Clay High School: Taylor Connard, Robert Morris, Joanne Nine and Jessica Taylor Detamore. For Afterschool Homebound Instructors at Clay Middle School they employed Joanne Nine and Kristan Stone.
For service personnel they approved the following: Kathy Foster as First Grade ECCAT Aid at Clay Elementary; John Paxton as Head Boys Basketball Coach at Clay County Middle School; Landon Williams as Assistant Boys Basketball Coach at Clay County Middle School, and J.C. Osborne as Volunteer Boys Basketball Coach at Clay County High School.
At the end of this two hour meeting the board then closed the public portion of the meeting and went into executive session to conduct a student expulsion hearing. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 4 at 6 p.m. at Clay County High School.
