Fayette County Board of Education Meeting Summary

February 11, 2002 Board Meeting

Resolution

The Board approved a Resolution expressing sympathy and deep regret of the passing of Sheena Kiser, a second grade student at Lansdowne Elementary. The Board directed that the Resolution be sent to the family of Sheena.

Summer Shades collaborative program

Twenty thousand dollars in funding and in-kind support traditionally provided for the Summer Shades Program was approved by the Board. The program is jointly sponsored by Fayette County Board of Education and the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government to provide an affordable summer-time educational/enrichment program for youth ages 10-14. The Board requested that Urban County Government staff work on an evaluation of the program and questions for parents related to the academic portion of the program.

Other approvals by the Board

1. Approved the job description for the Culturally Responsive Psychologist as part of the Equity and Student Achievement Plan. The job description has been reviewed by staff, the African American Coalition and the Equity Division of the Kentucky Department of Education.
2. Approved the transfer of $25,000 from the Dads Are Doing Something Project to the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership Project to provide the district with its own parent leadership program for the 2002-2003 year. The program recruits parents to participate in training session after which parents return to their schools charged with implementing projects which are identified during their training based on analyses of their schools' data and priority needs. The Board stressed that there would be an expectation that the parents trained would go out and train other parents, ensuring a ripple effect. It was requested that the evaluation of the program activities include the number of parents trained by the initial parents that had received the training. The vote was 4 to 1.
3. Revisions in the School Staff Policy were approved that were based on the changes for Magnet School/Programs approved earlier this year by the Board.
4. Approved awarding the audit contract for Fiscal 2002 to Carpenter, Mountjoy & Bressler and instructed the staff to prepare an RFP (Request For Proposal and solicit bids for audit services for Fiscal 2003 through 2005.
5. Approved a request from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School to name the school's baseball field Hanson Field in honor of Skip Hanson.

February 12, 2002 work session

The Board was presented the Preliminary Recommendations from the Overcrowding Solutions Committee and the Local Planning Committee (Facilities). The work of these two committees has focused on solutions for relieving overcrowding in schools and school facilities needs.

Preliminary Recommendations to relieve overcrowding including the following strategies:

Boundary changes

• Place approximately 1600 additional elementary school students in area of closest school

Three mergers of elementary schools where sufficient capacity exists:

• Johnson and Russell at Johnson
• Mary Todd and Russell Cave at Mary Todd
• Ashland and J. R. Ewan at Ashland

Three new elementary schools replacing primarily schools needing major renovations:

• Athens replaced near Jacobson Park
• Linlee replaced in Masterson Station area
• Yates replaced on Liberty Road

Three clusters of primary and intermediate elementary schools:

• Clays Mill as a 4-5 grade Intermediate Elementary School clustered with Stonewall and Picadome as a Primary Elementary School (Kindergarten-grade 3)
• Garden Springs as a 4-5 grade Intermediate Elementary School clustered with James Lane Allen and Rosa Parks as Primary Elementary Schools (Kindergarten-grade 3)
• Meadowthorpe as a 4-5 grade Intermediate Elementary School clustered with Booker T. Washington as a Primary Elementary School (Kindergarten-grade 3)

Preliminary recommendations from the Local Planning Committee (Facilities) included the following ranking of school projects:

RANK SCHOOL PROJECT

1. Johnson/Russell Elementary Major Renovation of Johnson
2. Bryan Station H.S. Major Renovation, detailed work may raise cost
3. New Elementary Replace Athens Elementary near Jacobson Park
4. Arlington Elementary Major Renovation
5. New Elementary Replace Linlee in Masterson Station Area
6. Cassidy Elementary Major Renovation
7. Leestown Middle Major Renovation
8. Bryan Station Middle Major Renovation
9. New Elementary New Facility on Liberty Road
10. Mary Todd/Russell Cave Major Renovation of Mary Todd
11. Clays Mill Elementary Major Renovation
12. Millcreek Major Renovation
13. Tates Creek Middle Major Renovation
14. Breckinridge Elementary Major Renovation
15. Garden Springs Elementary Major Renovation
16. Glendover Elementary Major Renovation
17. Tates Creek Elementary Major Renovation
18. Stonewall Elementary Major Renovation
19. Yates Elementary Major Renovation

Members of the Board of Education asked that additional information and clarification be given to the Board to include: How many would not attend schools closest to their home? Was any consideration given for schools in the Reynolds Road area and near I-75? What does research say about changes in organizational patterns? The staff was asked to research organizational changes and to determine how other schools have been affected by such changes (K-3, 4-5 and clusters).

The staff was asked to also provide answers to the following: How far does the projection go? Did you take a blank slate-consider growth-then determine new school? Were historical maintenance and repair costs taken into consideration? How was student achievement addressed for the mergers? How much weight was student achievement given for mergers? Would mergers require more money for renovation? Are savings significant enough to disrupt (i.e. Russell Cave).

Board members indicated that they would have additional questions and could not make any determinations until more statistical information was provided by the committees.

The work session will be rebroadcast on Cable Channel 13 at various times to be announced. Families and the public also will have opportunities to attend Public Meetings to respond to the Preliminary Recommendations from the Overcrowding Solutions and the Local Planning Committee (Facilities) beginning February 19, 2002 and/or may complete a Preliminary Recommendations Response Form to be available on the district's web site by the end of the day on February 19, 2002. The schedule of meetings is listed on the district web site at www.fcps.net .

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Last update: 3/16/2006 9:46:17 AM