Turner is Fulton Co. BOE Chair

Perry Turner was elected to serve as Chairperson of the Fulton County Board of Education, and Kim Hagler, Vice-Chairperson, during the board’s special called session Jan. 25, at the Board Conference Room

Board members Brian Emmons, Rob Garrigan, Perry Turner, and Superintendent PaTrice Chambers attended in person and board member Kim Hagler attended via Zoom.

Fulton County High School students Lamarius Stray gave the Invocation and Lee Uzzle led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Student recognitions were presented by Superintendent Chambers.
Luke Jackson, was recognized for earning ASE Certified Electrical; David Young, ASE Certified Heating and Air Conditioning; and Jay Smith, Max Gibbs, D.K. Gossett, Luke Jackson, Drake Manus, Todd Isbell, Rez Westbrook, Damien Hill, and Terrance Johnson were recognized for being named to the All West Kentucky Conference team.

Dana Crawford, Principal at the Four Rivers Career Academy, shared with the board, information about the Career Academy.

“I know most of your faces, but some I have not met. Currently, we are working on transitioning some of our programs. We currently have programs in Automotive, Welding certifications, Business, E-Commerce, and Entrepreneurships, and Health Science. You will see some changes in that program for next year. We have added an Allied Health component to our Health Science, and we are currently working with Superintendents to propose a new pathway to the State Department, called Advanced Integrated Technology, offering students an opportunity to create their own path,” Crawford said.

Best Pilot in the House honors for December was awarded to Jill Jackson, and for January, Taylor Greer.

Jackson received accolades from her fellow workers stating, “She is hardworking and always sees that her students are growing in their learning”, as well as Jackson is “A fantastic team member and easy to work with. She exhibits true Pilot Pride!”.

“She is full of positive words”, “greets her students with a smile and a compliment each day”, and “is always willing to help in any situation” were other reasons shared, for her nomination.

Co-workers commented Greer “is diligent about staying on track and meeting the individual needs of each student”, “loves her job and is passionate about making sure the kids feel loved and secure in her classroom”, “is always willing to help! A True Pilot!”, and “she loves to incorporate fun activities to keep the kids engaged”.

With January designated as School Board Recognition month, the Superintendent’s Special Spotlight honored the Fulton County Board of Education members, Brian Emmons, Rob Garrigan, Kim Hagler, Barry Patrick, and Perry Turner.

“I have the Best Board in the State of Kentucky,” Supt. Chambers said.

The Board was presented their favorite candy, special music by Abigail Emmons, cards from Fulton County Elementary students, and mini Cherry Cheesecakes.

Fulton County High School Principal Ellen Murphy said, “Our jobs are hard, and I know yours is too. We appreciate your support.”

“Being a former Superintendent, I know success starts at the top. You run the Board successfully,” Kim Dublin, Fulton County Middle School Principal said.

Sondra Gibbs, Fulton County Elementary School Principal, said, “The Elementary School thanks you a bunch for all your support.”

“I would like to thank the Board for their support. Like Kim, I’ve been a Superintendent. You’re the best and work so well to do what you do. I really appreciate you for supporting our Superintendent,” Diane Owen, Fulton County Schools Supervisor of Instruction said.

Students in Beth McWhirt’s Social Studies class attended the Board meeting and provided a presentation on Djembe drums. The students have learned about them in class and made played for the BOE on the drums they created.

Information shared included that Djembe drums are of the Mali Empire, which existed between 800 – 1200 AD, they are loud drums and were used for communication more than music.
Personnel notifications included the hiring of Gabrielle Moss as Pilot SOAR coach; and Retiazsha Chambers as Substitute Teacher.

The Superintendent’s Report included areas in Strategic Leadership, with Chambers reporting she had met with the Administration team and Transportation Department. She also reported the School nurse is keeping the schools safe during the pandemic.

Regarding Instructional Leadership, Chambers shared she had been meeting with Superintendents to discuss benchmarks data, learning gaps, ACT data, Transition Readiness, which is College and Career Readiness.

She said she had met with the Assistant Superintendent, doing walk-throughs to get a pulse of student engagement and teacher engagement.

Resources included meeting with the CFO (Chief Financial Officer), and Assistant Superintendent with budget issues, communicating daily with the school nurse and administrators to make informed decisions relating to the pandemic.

In addressing Collaborative Leadership, the Superintendent said she had been collaborating with other West Kentucky Superintendents, the co-op WKEC, KSBA, and KASA about our District needs regarding funding. Influential Leadership.

“ I’m calling and texting Legislatures on Bills that are beneficial to our District, and am attending KWEL (Kentucky Women in Education on Leadership) to support Tamara Parker and Ellen Murphy as they will be inducted into KWEL. Dana Crawford is a member of KWEL and myself. It is very prestigious to have four women from this District representing Fulton County Schools at the conference the rest of the week,” Chambers said.

Owen updated the board on the receipt of a $16,000 Project Lead the Way grant.

“This will allow us to have two introductory engineering courses. This will be a part of the pathway Ms. Crawford talked about earlier. I’m really excited about the partnership we have with the Four Rivers Career Academy and the new pathway she is developing. We now have money to pay for the annual fees for two years and all expenses for the four people being trained. Ms. Crawford is working with us to make sure we have state of the art equipment for our students to use,” Owen said.

The Board approved the Board Members, Superintendent, and Board Secretary travel for the KSBA Conference; additional preschool assistant position; student insurance renewal with Roberts Insurance; and amended 2022 Board meeting dates.

The second reading of the 2022-2023 School Calendar was heard with the addition of Election day and a day at the beginning for Professional Development in August.

The Fulton County Schools calendar for 2022-2023 is as follows: Aug. 16, Opening Day; Aug. 17, First Day for Students; Sept. 5, No School; Sept. 30, Early Release Day; Oct. 3 – 7, Fall Break; Nov. 8, No School; Nov. 23 – 25, Thanksgiving Break; Dec. 19 – Jan. 3, Christmas Break; Jan. 16, No School; Feb. 20, No School; March 20, No School; April 3 – 7, Spring Break; May 25, Last Day for Students; May 26, Closing Day.

Julie Jackson, Fulton County Schools Food Service Coordinator, discussed the 2020-2021 school nutrition report card.

“We have received recognition in past years for all schools. Most everything we have is in place. One of the things we marked as partially in place was student and family involvement in the meal program. This would be very easy for us to do, but with COVID, it is kind of hard. We have had kids do taste tests, but there are other things we can do to bump this up. Another activity is our Farm to School. This is getting local produce in and activities at the high school with hydroponics. Food and beverage will probably continue to be partially in place because we use Coke advertising for scoreboards. We have worked on employee wellness and did a gratitude and self-care for the staff in January and several have asked to continue in February. We have some student and family involvement in student meal program. We plan to bring more vendors in, and student activity for kids not in sports,” Jackson said.

The Board approved a rate increase for adult meals, Breakfast will be $3, and Lunch $5.

Owen presented information on the district’s CSIPS (Comprehensive School Improvement Plan) and CDIP (Comprehensive District Improvement Plan).

“There are certain areas that have to be covered including design, delivering instruction, assessment, support for students and how to establish goals, professional growth, GAP, transition and graduation rate. We had a drop in scores, but are excited this year. The scores may not be as high as we would like, but we hope to bring good news in the Fall,” Owen said.

“ We had a wonderful three days at our retreat and have planned out the year. We continue with our new teacher academy and we meet every month with them to help guide them. I continue to be amazed how professional the teachers are. We have Mary Giles as a literacy coach. We have started Pre ACT and ACT in the middle school and continue in the high school, and adopted a new Science curriculum. Intervention is the best program we have right now. Fulton County High School Seniors who have met their benchmarks come and help middle school students, and all qualified Seniors wanted to help. We are adopting a new reading program for elementary students as ours is obsolete; looking for a Math program for third through eighth grades; and teachers would like more professional development days,” Owen said.

The Board also approved the Emergency BG-1; the SFCC Offer of Assistance; the 2022-2023 Draft Budget; and approved to pay the bills.

Jennifer Davis, Fulton County Schools Chief Financial Officer, presented the Financial Report.

“Our Year-to-Date Revenue is $3,784,811.60, against a budget of $4,967,767, or 76.19% has been received. Last Year-to-Date Revenue was $3,100,612.71, against a budget of $5,007,344, or 61.92%. Year-to-Date Expenses are $1,705,247.81, against a budget of $4,4967,767, or 34.44%. Last Year-to-Date Expenses were $1,526,360.16, against a budget of $5,007,344, or 30.48%,” Davis reported.