City school board reviews audit, middle school improvement plan
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015, 2 p.m. — The Bardstown Independent Schools board of education met Tuesday to receive a report on the district’s fiscal year 2015 audit from Jason Strange with Smith & Company CPAs.
Jason Strange, of Smith & Co. CPAs, answers questions about the school district audit from the board of education at its meeting Tuesday.
The audit gave the district a clean bill of health and identified several opportunities to improve its internal accounting and control practices.
Strange also told the board that in light of new reporting requirements, the district must now list its County Employees Retirement System (CERS) pension obligation as a long-term liability. The district’s obligation stands at $5.6 million.
The number can change each year, depending on how the investment performance of the retirement fund’s assets.
CERS includes employees of city and county governments, police and firefighters, non-teaching staff of local boards of education, circuit clerks, local library employees, and other local government agency employees.
The board also listened to a report from Bardstown Middle School principal Ryan Clark about plans to improve instruction based on this year’s K-PREP test scores..
The school will work to improve students in math and reading, particularly with special education students, Clark said.
“That particular population of students is where we need to be sure we are laser-focused,” he said, “And I can assure you we are.”
Bardstown Middle School Principal Ryan Clark discusses plans to improve instruction at the school this academic year.
The school will make use of instructional resources to assist students during intervention periods, and measure academic progress three times during the school year. The teachers in common content areas are assessing student performance and setting goals, he said.
The board also heard a report from Natalie Kiser, Bardstown Primary School assistant principal, about the school’s efforts to improve its students’ global competency by incorporating more information about countries and cultures around the world.
The board also renewed its lease on the space it leases from the Bardstown Housing Authority on property across street from Bardstown High School. The monthly rent for the 4,000 square-feet of space will increase from $700 to $900 a month, the first increase in at least 11 years, superintendent Brent Holsclaw told the board.
NEXT UP. The Bardstown Board of Education will meet at noon Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015, in the board meeting room at the district’s Central Office, 400 North Fifth St.
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