Monroe County Schools

News Release

For immediate release - January 20, 2010

Mountain View School’s Local School Improvement Council opened their presentation to the Monroe County Board of Education with music and a short dance presentation to illustrate the successes of the arts programs at the school. Held January 19, 2010, 4:30 p.m. at the school, this meeting was for the purpose of hearing from the LSIC at Mountain View.

Elementary music teacher John Hazelwood had his elementary chorus perform, as did Greg Morgan’s after school theater program, along with other elementary chorus presentations. Science teacher Tim Hancock, reported on the 7^th and 8^th grade students who visited Spruce Knob to learn about watersheds and water quality; second grade teacher Misty Nelson spoke about her students work with the Monarchs in Space program, where students watched the development of Monarch butterflies both in the classroom, and via internet link to the Atlantis space shuttle crew’s experiments with having the butterflies hatch while in space.

Nathaniel Norton spoke about the virtual Spanish program; Doris Franklin spoke about the new discipline program, as well as the on-line reporting of information related to discipline. In addition, Adam Neel spoke about the infusion of technology at the school and Anne Jameson spoke about the development of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) at the school where teachers did book studies and focused on improving student achievement as a team effort. She also spoke about teachers commenting about book studies on a blog for that purpose. Finally, Kris Allen presented information about the school’s improvement plan, designed to meet the requirements of NCLB.

Principal Jeff Dunbar rounded out the presentation by telling the Board that the school was using data to guide both instruction and improvements at the school. Board President, Bill Shiflet thanked the school for the report, thanked the staff for their hard work not just for the presentation but every day of working with students, and thanked those responsible for the refreshments and hospitality.

Policy discussions and adoptions then dominated the agenda. The following policies, which had been out on comment for more than thirty days were adopted by the Board: Math Administrative Guidelines; Staff Conflict of Interest Policy; Distinguished Performance Award for Graduation (a policy designed to begin the 2010-2011 school year); Promotion and Retention of Students Policy; amendments to the Travel Policy; amendments to the Guidelines for Volunteers; and finally the program of studies for high school students found in the Graduation Requirements for 2011 and Beyond.

Under Finance the Board approved paying a mowing invoice for Peterstown Middle, approved paying bills, and approved budget supplements and transfers. A bid for upgrading the broadband internet services to all schools was tabled until the Feb. 2 meeting. The Board approved using the make-up days in the calendar for school days, which would mean that the last day for students would be June 8 instead of May 28.

Under Personnel, the Board approved the hiring of Kimberly Lucas-Newhouse as a substitute aide; Tammy Pence as a regular half-time cook at Peterstown Middle; Tracy Dransfield as the girls’ head basketball coach at Mountain View; and Regina Weikle as a lunchroom supervisor at Peterstown Elementary. They also accepted the following resignations: Robbie Jackson as girls head basketball coach and head baseball coach at Mountain View; Jossie Spencer as substitute aide; Jodi Karnes as after-school program teacher; Linda Coffman as head volleyball coach at Peterstown Middle; and Steve Ballengee as Athletic Trainer at James Monroe. Heidi Houck was granted maternity leave and Sophia Sibold was approved as a school volunteer.

The meeting ended at 7:15 p.m. The next meeting will be a special meeting on January 28, 2010, 6:30 p.m. at the Board Office in Union for the purpose of addressing personnel through Reduction in Force and for the purpose of a personnel hearing and an expulsion hearing.

The next regular meeting will be February 2, 2010, 4:00 p.m. at the Board Office in Union. There will also be a special meeting at the courthouse at 9:00 a.m. on February 5, 2010, for the purpose of canvassing votes jointly with the County Commission.