County school board opts not to OK out-of-district contracts with city schools

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Board member Diane Berry, show, and others have expressed concerns with the high numbers of students leaving the county district to attend the Bardstown Independent Schools. The board approved contracts with all surrounding districts with the lone exception of the Bardstown city school district.

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, 11 p.m. — The Nelson County Board of Education approved contracts for out-of-district students with all the surrounding districts with the exception of one —  the Bardstown Independent Schools.

The board’s unanimous vote follows several months of discussion at board working sessions about the increasing number of county students leaving the district to attend city schools. At its working session earlier this month, board members Diane Beery and Larry Pate both expressed frustration that there were no answers to the question “Why are students leaving our school district?”

Superintendent Anthony Orr said the vote was an expression of the board’s frustration with the fact that approximately 450 more students leave the district for city schools than leave the city district for county schools.

“The board has talked about this for several years and we’ve talked about it publicly in the hopes we would see some concern on the part of the Bardstown City Schools,” he said. “Even if we don’t see (the number of transfer students) decrease and go the other way, at least see those numbers flatten out.” But they haven’t flattened out, they’ve continued to increase.”

Members of the Nelson County board of education pose with Ray Drury, Kevin Mattingly and Martina Amshoff after they were presented with “Expect the Best” awards at Tuesday night’s board meeting. Pat Miller and Todd Sanders were honored, but were unable to attend.

The contract the board has approved each year allows the state money to follow the student to the out-of-district school. “The board has put a hold on that to see if we can reach a contract agreement that will narrow that gap.”

Orr acknowledged that the issue of out-of-district student contracts has created friction in some Kentucky communities with competing districts.

“We want to avoid that at all costs,” he said. “I’ve had some informal discussions with (Brent Holsclaw, superintendent of Bardstown Independent Schools) and he’s expressed the same desire.”

“We don’t want to pull kids back, we understand students and parents like the schools they’re in and we don’t want to upset that balance,” he said. “We just want to see things shift going forward.”

EXPECT THE BEST. The board honored one teacher and four classified employees for their support of the district with “Expect the Best” awards.

Teacher Martina Amshoff was honored for her work contributions at the Boston School. Kevin Mattingly, Ray Jury, Pat Miller and Todd Sanders were commended for their work taking care of a frozen water line at Thomas Nelson High School.

ENERGY RATE INTERVENTION. The board approved a recommendation from Tim Hockensmith, the district’s chief operating officer, to participate in the Kentucky School Board Association’s intervention in an electric utility rate increase before the Kentucky Public Service Commission. The proposed rate increase would mean an increase of about $30,000 in total electricity costs for three district schools, Hockensmith told the board. Joining the effort would cost the district between $300-400, he said.

In other business, the board:

— approved graduation requirements that establish credit thresholds for students to be considered sophomore (6 credits), junior (12 credits) or senior (18 credits);

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