Beech Tree News Network

For the Butler County School District, the filling of one principal position has led to the vacancy of another.  Earlier this month Jeff Jennings was hired as the new principal at North Butler Elementary, creating a principal vacancy at Butler County Middle School.  

With the position already posted, the school's site-based decision making council began the process this week to fill the position.  Earlier this morning both the current SBDM and the incoming one attended a meeting that included mandatory principal selection training.  The current SBDM council members, whose term expire June 30, is set to begin the principal selection process and if possible make the hire.  If the current council can reach a decision, Superintendent Scott Howard plans to ask the Kentucky Department of Education for a waiver that would allow the position to be filled before the 30-day job posting requirement is met.  Howard indicated that he would request the waiver due to the need to get a new principal in place as soon as possible considering the opening day of school is in early August.  

Current SBDM council members are teachers Sherlyn Bratcher, Calvin Dockery, and Leslie Shultz; parent members are Chris Burden and Aimee Henderson.  

The new council that takes over July 1 is made up of teachers Sherlyn Bratcher, Latisha Cardwell, and John Embry; parent members are Mark Allen and Aimee Henderson.  

As superintendent, Howard is a voting member of the SBDM principal selection committee.  

Several called SBDM meetings are planned in the coming days as part of the principal selection process.

The council will meet on Friday, June 22, at 8 a.m. to create interview questions and review applications.  Additional meetings are set for June 25, 26, and 29 at 8 a.m. for the purpose of reviewing applicants and interviews.  All meetings are open but the council will be going into closed session periodically to discuss specific individuals.  

According to Superintendent Scott Howard, five applications for the position have been received thus far.  

At today's meeting, Howard also expressed his desire to get the community involved as much as possible in this process despite the abbreviated nature of this particular principal search.  The superintendent said the district received a lot of input in the North Butler principal search and that he'd like to see that with the BCMS position as well.  

Individuals interested in making suggestions or offering comments on the B.C.M.S. principal search may click the link below, which will direct them to district web site and allow them to post their comment.  All submissions are through a third part survey service and are anonymous.  The survey will close on Thursday, June 21, at midnight.   

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5Z2LX3T

If the current council is not able to reach a decision by June 30 or if a waiver is not granted by the KDE, then the new council will continue the process on July 1.