School board reviews 2015-16 calendar; discusses students leaving the district
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Nelson County School Board Chairman Frank Hall gestures during a discussion Thursday at the board’s working session hosted by Bloomfield Elementary School.
Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014, 8:55 p.m. — Nelson County Schools need to do a better job of promoting themselves to parents and potential students. That was the message Frank Hall, the outgoing chairman of the Nelson County Board of Education, had for his fellow board members at the board’s working session Tuesday at Bloomfield Elementary School.
The board’s agenda included a discussion of out-of-district contracts — which are the approvals granted for students who wish to leave their school district and attend a school in the Nelson County district. Chairman Hall said he wanted to see a comparison of the numbers showing the students moving into the district versus those who are leaving the district.
“If we have more leaving than coming in, we need to look and see if there’s a problem there,” Hall told the board, adding that he thought the numbers should be about equal.
Board member Diane Berry said the board should know if the reason a student leaves is related to something the board could do to improve the situation. “Are we not providing something they need?”
Hall and Berry also noted seeing Bardstown Independent School District buses operating far outside their district. “For them to be pursuing our students is unfair,” Hall said.
Board member Nicky Rapier.
Superintendent Anthony Orr said transfers often depend on where a parent works, and if an out-of-district school is closer to that workplace. Some are what Orr called “legacy decisions” — a parent or guardian attended a certain school and would like their children to go there as well.
“We just need to do a better job of selling ourselves,” Hall said. “We have a tremendous school system.”
2015-16 DISTRICT CALENDAR. The board reviewed a draft of the proposed 2015-16 school calendar. Sara Wilson, the district’s executive director of student support, told the board the calendar is very close to last year’s calendar in the timing of breaks and snow days.
While not finalized yet, the draft calendar sets fall break as the first week of October, a two-week break at Christmas and spring break the first week of April. The first student day of class would be Aug. 5, 2015, and the last day of school — barring snow days or other delays — May 19, 2016. The proposed calendar has 174 instructional days.
Board member Nicky Rapier commended Wilson for creating a calendar that provides continuous days of instruction. Rapier said when a school week is interrupted by days off, he believes it disrupts a students’ learning processes.
2015 BOARD CALENDAR. The board also reviewed a tentative calendar for its meetings for the next calendar year. The proposed calendar schedules regular board meetings on the third Tuesday of every month.
The working session schedule — usually held the at 11 a.m. on first Thursday of every month — will have to change because of scheduling conflicts the board new members will have after they join the board next month.
The district’s schools have taken turns hosting the board’s working sessions, which have given the board a chance to visit each school during the school day. Orr encouraged the board members to continue to visit the schools even if it necessary to move the working sessions outside school hours.
In other business, the board viewed a presentation by Tim Beck, the director of elementary schools, about the Professional Growth and Effective System’s fourth domain: professional responsibility, and part of a draft of the district’s Comprehensive District Improvement Plan.
NEXT UP. The board’s next meeting is 5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014, in the media center at the Thomas Nelson High School. A reception for retiring board members Frank Hall and Nicky Rapier will precede the meeting at 4 p.m. in the school cafeteria.
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