WEBSTER COUNTY, Ky. (1/9/13) - At the first meeting for the new Webster County School Board, the new members may have set the tone for their term by shaking up tradition.

The first item of business was to elect the new Chairman of the Board. Traditionally the board has always voted the senior most member Chairman, which would have been Tim McCormick. This board showed that they weren’t interested in just following tradition.

Jeff Petitte was elected chairman on a 4-1 vote with McCormick being the lone holdout.

“I appreciate the opportunity to serve the Webster County Board of Education,” Pettit said. “It is my goal to bring some respect and dignity to this office and this position. I think all of the new board members coming on as well as Tim want to see us provide the best educational opportunity for our kids as we can.”

They followed that up by electing new board member Mickey Dunbar as the Vice Chair on a second 4-1 vote. Once again McCormick voted against.

In honor of School Board Recognition Month Doctor Kemp presented each of the board members with a certificate.

“Our school board members do a lot more than just show up, cast a couple of votes and collect their $75,” Dr. James Kemp said. “They end up putting in 70-80 hours on this job sometimes.”

Shane Bosaw, Webster County School District Food Service Director, gave the board the annual food service report.

“The Kentucky Department of Education has just sent us more information on the paid lunch program,” he said. “The price of a meal is currently $1.90. The Federal Government reimburses us $2.50. So, the government sees that we’re using some of that money for lower priced meals and not putting enough of the money towards creating a good healthy meal.”

Bosaw said the KDE would send them further guidelines on this program.

There will be a public forum at the January 28, 2013 board meeting to discuss ways to improve the school nutrition in the district.

There was no action taken on the report at this meeting, members will vote whether or not to accept it following the public forum.

Last month Mike Overby presented the board with its annual audit report of financial statement for the previous school year. At the time they failed to vote to approve the report. They cleared that up with a 5-0 vote.

Doctor Kemp’s monthly report included several issues that needed action. The first was implementation of a new District Emergency Operations plan recommended by the West Kentucky Educational Cooperative (WKEC).

The plan would instruct educators and administrators how to react in case of an emergency. That could cover anything from a fire to an intruder in the building.

Dr. Kemp’s report said that most of the administrators and principals in the district had already been instructed in this plan, therefore he believed it important that the plan be accepted as the new Emergency Operations Plan for the Webster County School District.

“I haven’t seen this plan, so I can’t recommend approval,” said Board Attorney Amelia Zachary, stating that if the plan was made official that the board could be leaving themselves liable if an administrator failed to follow the plan in the event of an emergency.

The board voted to approve the plan pending review by Zachary, Assistant Superintendant Alan Lossner and district administrators.

Dr. Kemp then reported that Sebree Mayor Ron Todd had approached him about buying the stage curtains from Slaughters Elementary School. The board agreed to list the curtains as surplus and gave Dr. Kemp permission to open negotiations with Mayor Todd.

Next the board voted 5-0 in favor of renewing CPA Mike Overby’s contract as the Board Auditor. According to board policy, the auditor is hired for one year with two possible one year extensions. This renewal would be the final on his contract.

Finally was the issue of the roof on Providence Elementary School. Tremco, the contractor that maintains the district’s roofs, was under contract for general maintenance on the Providence roof, but that contract ran out on December 18, 2012.

Dr. Kemp recommended renewing the contract for $9,577 and paying an addition $7,199 for a section that was in need of fairly major repair.

The board voted 5-0 to approve this proposal.

The next board meeting is scheduled for January 28 at the Annex.

Matt Hughes
J-E News Editor

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