Whitley County Board of Education seeking technology funding

Getting more funding for technology was one of the main topics of discussion during the Whitley County Board of Education’s monthly meeting Thursday evening.

During the meeting, the board approved a resolution authorizing Superintendent John Siler to enter into an agreement with the Kentucky Department of Local Government in order to receive $15,000 in coal severance funds that will be used to update technology.

Siler noted that Whitley County Judge-Executive Pat White Jr. had informed the district that some coal severance funds might become available.

“This $15,000 will go quite a way towards putting new technology in our classrooms,” he added.

Also during Thursday’s meeting, the board accepted the Kentucky Education Technology Systems (KETS) first offer of assistance, which totals $32,230.

Chief Information Officer Kevin Anderson noted that KETS typically makes three offers of assistance annually based upon average daily attendance (ADA), which is the average number of students attending school each day.

The first offer is usually $9 per student. He said the second offer will hopefully be $7 per student and the third offer $5 per student.

Each funding cycle requires an equal match by the school district.

“This is the majority of how we take care of technology across the district,” Anderson noted.

In addition, the board approved a memorandum of agreement with Intrust Healthcare.

Special Education Director Dr. Ralph Johnson noted that the private healthcare agency serves a number of Whitley County students, and this would allow students to access those services during the school day at no cost to the district.

In other business, the board authorized the purchase of an 84-passenger school bus, and a 72-passenger school bus from Thomas School Bus.

“You want to keep your fleet as up to date as you can. This is us trying to keep our fleet updated and kids safe on buses,” Siler noted.

He added that if the order for the buses is placed now the district should be able to take delivery of the buses about May.