Board reviews construction updates, tentative high school graduation date

Board of Education member Diane Berry asks questions about the district’s construction projects during Thursday’s board meeting while member Damon Jackey listens.

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Thursday, March 2, 2017, 11 p.m. — Construction to expand the Nelson County School District’s Early Learning Center is 98 percent complete, and is on schedule to be finished by the end of March.

That information was part of an update the board of education received from Tim Hockensmith, the district’s chief financial officer, and BCD vice president Tim Wensil, at the board’s working session Thursday.

Steven Ward, an architect with Studio Kremer in Louisville, answers questions at the Nelson County Board of Education meeting Thursday evening.

The new $2.8 million auditorium at Thomas Nelson High School is more than halfway complete, Wensil told the board, showing photos of the last portions of drywall being installed.

One of the final parts of the auditorium that will be installed is the seating, Wensil explained. After a punch list of the auditorium interior is completed, its 500 seats will then be installed, which should happen in May, he said.

GRADUATION DATE. Bob Morris, the district’s director of student support services, told the board the tentative date for both high schools’ graduation ceremonies is Friday, May 26, 2017.

Thomas Nelson High School’s graduation ceremony will be held at 5:30 p.m. Friday, May 26, and Nelson County High School’s graduation till take place at 7:30 p.m.

“We’re comfortable [setting the date] at this time,” Orr told the board. “Even if we had to make up a day, we could still hit that Friday.”

A missed day could be made up with the use of a non-traditional instruction if necessary, he said.

The board will give its final approval of graduation date at its regular meeting Tuesday, March 21.

BOND RESOLUTION. The board also heard details of the plan to conduct a bond sale to finance the energy efficiency upgrade project at Bloomfield Middle School. At the board’s March 21 meeting, it will be asked to approve a resolution to authorize the sale of approximately $3.5 million in bonds by the district’s finance corporation.

Amber Gottee, left, the district’s college and career readiness coordinator and Kimberly Brown, the district’s director of secondary schools, discuss college and career readiness at Thursday’s board meeting.

Hockensmith said half of the bond issue would be paid for by the energy savings the district will see once the project is completed.

In other business, the board:

— listened to a report on the district’s college and career readiness that included a review of student career-related activities, including job shadowing, mock interviews, and a job fair.

— reviewed a grant application the board will be asked to approve at its next regular meeting. The grant will provide life skills training designed to students in the 9th and 10th grades develop personal, interpersonal, and drug resistance skills. The grant application seeks $250 for each high school. The lessons will be incorporated in the freshman health classes.

— gave final approval to the job description for Digital Learning Coach. Approval was delayed after several board members raised concerns about plans to periodically change who the Digital Learning Coach would report to. In the job description the board approved Thursday, the Digital Learning Coach will report to the district’s director of elementary education.

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