Advertisement

firehouse pizza banner

Energy savings and recycling among topics discussed at monthly School Board meeting

Butler County Board of Education met in a special session Tuesday night.  In the Superintendent’s Report, Scott Howard praised the Site Based Decision Making Council’s from North Butler Elementary and Butler County Middle School on their hard work in selecting new principals.  Howard explained to the board that this was the first year that they were able to apply the new law in which the Superintendent could serve on the committee to select a principal.  Howard went on to say “the new procedure was met with great success and I enjoyed working with both councils. I’ll tell Mr. Jennings and Mr. Tuck that they are fortunate to have the councils that they have.  They seem to be 100 percent committed to what the kids need.”

Superintendent Howard and the other administrators in the district will be leaving on Wednesday to attend the annual KASA Leadership Institute.  Howard mentioned that this year would be particularly special because one local administrator will be receiving an award, but that it would be discussed at the August board meeting.

Aleris of Morgantown has teamed up with the district for a recycling partnership.  They are providing recycling bins for every school free of charge. Jeff Lee from Aleris helped deliver all of the bins a few days ago. Any money made on recycling will be spent on Butler County’s students.

Under Communications on the agenda, Howard discussed Opening Day Ceremonies.  The upcoming ceremony will include the “Singing Motivator” Gary Griesser.  He will be presenting his program, “Even Eagles Need to Push”. Superintendent Howard will also be giving a presentation on his new theme for the upcoming school year.

Butler County High School is receiving renovations to the front entrance to the building to improve its welcoming appearance. Morgantown Elementary has been working on replacing the tile throughout the building to match the new addition.  According to Greg Woodcock, there are only eleven classrooms left to be tiled and they will be finished by next summer.

Jimmy Arnold gave the annual energy report which showed success for the past year.  Each school has to be at 75 percent efficiency and all the schools are above that.  Morgantown Elementary is at 87 percent, North Butler at 86, BCMS is at 89, and the High School is at 92 percent.  Arnold went on to say that the high school is the most efficient building in the district.  The district saved $9000 from May to June and $4000 of that was due to the high school.  According to Arnold, "Last year we were the most efficient district in the state with an Energy Use Index (EUI) of 40.27 kBtu/ft2 (amount of energy used per square foot).  This year Morgantown Elementary has a EUI of 43 kBtu/ft2, North Butler Elementary and Butler County Middle School's EUI is 37 kBtu/ft2, and Butler County High School's EUI is 34 kBtu/ft2.  The district's average EUI is less than 38 kBtu/ft2."

Howard introduced a proposal from DE & J Recycling to the board.  The business offered to give the school district recycling bins for paper and textile products and further said they would pay the district for any materials collected.  Paper products would include: copy paper, cardboard, notebooks, envelopes, etc. while textiles would include: clothing, shoes, old curtains, stuffed animals, and things of that nature.  The price for paper would be two cents per pound and textiles would yield four cents per pound. Board member Amy Hooten mentioned that she thought it sounded like a good plan.  Howard said that his only concern was whether or not it would be a burden for the schools as far as keeping up with it all.  The company is also requesting a five year contract in which Howard thought may be able to be negotiated.  Howard decided to follow up with the company and discuss additional information with principals before making a final decision.

The bus garage has a new mechanic. Mike Embry who has until recently been a bus mechanic in Ohio County, has joined the staff at the garage.

Jim Green, Principal of Green River School addressed the board on all of the accomplishments made by students of the school this past year.  For the 2011-2012 school year, 7 students received GED’s, 14 students received high school diplomas, and 6,247 total accelerated reading points were earned by the students of Green River School.  The school is at full capacity right now. Green commended the board, Howard, and the support of the community for all they do to help ensure success at the school.  Green left the board with a quote that can be found on a sign at the school, “Education is power, education creates opportunities, opportunities create kids who are able to make money and have power in their future.”

The following items were approved at the meeting:  FY 13 Master Calendar Schedule for Each School, KDE Personnel MOA and Contract for Sara Jennings, Submission of BG-4 for New Bus Garage, Fieldhouse, and  Baseball Fields, Change Order #3 for New Bus Garage, Fieldhouse, and Baseball Fields to Sunbelt Construction in the amount of -$13,500.00 for Refund of Unused Allowance for  Unsuitable Soils Replacement,  Pay Application #5 for New Bus Garage, Fieldhouse, and Baseball Fields to JKS Architects Engineers in the Amount of $15,849.39, Pay Application #11 (Final) to Sunbelt Construction in the Amount of $15,000.00, 2012-2013 KSBA Recommended Policy and Procedure Revisions, Revision of BCHS End of Course Grades from 10% to 15% , BCMS Band Trip Request to Murfreesboro, Tennessee on July 27th, 2012 for Drum Corps International.

***

Story and photos by Carissa Poston, Beech Tree News

Tags: 

Comments

I am so happy that the schools will have the opportunity to teach our students about recycling!


Bookmark and Share

Advertisements