Whitley County Board of Education votes to join regional grant co-op

How can you get grant money to do things when, in many cases, the big grants may require that 15,000 – 20,000 students to be serviced by the grants and you don’t even have that many students in your entire school district?

Whitley County High School Art Teacher Anthony Osborne was recently presented with the Whitley County School District’s Above and Beyond Award for January. Superintendent John Siler and Whitley County High School Principal Julie Osborne presented Osborne with the award.

The Whitley County School District and a few other local ones may have a partial solution to that problem thanks to a new local education agency that is being formed in the region by Berea College.

During its monthly meeting on Jan. 13, the Whitley County Board of Education voted to sign an interlocal agreement for the Appalachian Educational Service Agency.

“It would serve to develop, manage and provide services and programs that would benefit Appalachian and local education agencies,” said Deputy Superintendent Paula Rickett.

“What this agency would do, they would provide programs that would take a child from cradle to career, all the way from being kindergarten ready all the way to maintaining meaningful employment after high school or college or whatever.”

The group will be composed of potentially 16 school districts, which are located in the Kentucky Highlands Promise Zone, which includes Bell, Clay, Harlan, Knox, Leslie, Letcher, Perry and most of Whitley County.

Superintendents of the member school districts would be the board members for the Appalachian Education Service Agency.

Whitley County Superintendent John Siler noted that even if all the school districts in the region don’t join the agency, it would still be possible if enough districts joined.

Siler noted that the vast majority of big grants go to large urban areas because those districts have large numbers of students, who would be serviced by the grants.

By applying for federal, state and private grants through the Appalachian Educational Service Agency, smaller districts would be grouped together in order to apply for the grant, and then grant funding would be divided up between those school districts, Rickett said.

“I’m excited about the opportunities that may come from this,” Siler noted.

Board member J.E. Jones added that it sounds like a win-win situation to him.

Also, during its monthly meeting, the board approved payments on various construction projects.

A $12,645 payment was approved for the drilling of a geo-thermal test bore at Whitley North Elementary School. The bore went down 400 feet so architects and contractors have a better idea about the type of materials they will be drilling through. Construction is expected to start next month on the new HVAC system, which will be geo-thermal.

A total of $64,219.30 was approved in payments for construction on the Whitley County High School Career and Technical Education. Part of the footer has been poured and the plumbing has been roughed in.

An additional $1,910 payment was approved for third party consulting services to monitor to ensure that the concrete is poured correctly and to test it. This is a requirement, Siler noted.

January is National School Board Member Appreciation Month, and during a recent meeting, Whitley County Superintendent John Siler presented school board members with a rolling bag  in appreciation of their efforts. Pictured with Siler are Vice-Chair J.E. Jones and Board Member Brenda Rose.

In other business, the board:

• Accepted a $26,556 offer of assistance from the School Facilities Construction Commission. The commission provides funding for debt service to school districts every two years, and is used for building projects.

The projects must first be approved by the state, but the funding can be used for projects, such as construction of a new building or upgrades to an existing structure.

Siler noted that the current offer of assistance would cover debt payments on a $320,000 project.

The funding can also be combined with other commission funding offers over an eight-year period to help cover the debt payment on larger projects.

• Presented the January Above and Beyond Award to Anthony Osborne, an art teacher at Whitley County High School for the past 18 months. With the help of the vo-ag department and the welding teachers, Osborne helped come up with the float for last year’s Christmas parade.

• Changed the board’s monthly meeting date from the second Thursday of the month to the third Thursday of the month at 5 p.m. in fourth floor board room at the central office.

• Re-appointed Brenda Hill as board chair and J.E. Jones as vice-chair.

• Met in executive session for 35 minutes for preliminary discussions related to the superintendent’s evaluation, but took no formal action.

• Reviewed the 2022-2023 draft budget, but took no formal action. Officials noted that the budget will likely change before the start of the next school year. Among other things, school officials are hoping to purchase some new school buses next fiscal year, but this will partially be dependent on how much money the school district rolls over from the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2022.