Beech Tree News Network

The Butler County Board of Education met in regular session on Tuesday, July 10, at the Butler County Education Complex. All board members were in attendance. District Finance Officer Eric Elms gave his monthly treasurer’s report.  He reported that the balance at the beginning of June was $2,676,507.41, and the end-of-the-month balance was $1,584,908.70.  Elms informed the board that a change had been made to the pay schedule.  The first check of a new school year will be on August 15th now, instead of August 30th. 

Superintendent Scott Howard gave his monthly report and welcomed Jimmy Felty and Chad Flener, both attending the meeting and having new job titles. Jimmy Felty was recently named Principal of Morgantown Elementary School, and Chad Flener is the new District Assessment Coordinator and Title 1 Coordinator.  Mr. Howard said, “I want to praise the Site-Base Council for MES and Mr. Flener for the smooth transition. The council did a great job.  They had a lot of great discussion and a lot of good questions. I really enjoyed working with them.  We had a lot of good candidates and a lot of good interviews, and I know we got the right person.”  Superintendent Howard told the board he has been asked to be a part of the Superintendent Mentor Program through the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents.  He will be mentoring Todd County’s new superintendent, Ed Oyler, in the upcoming school year. 

Howard updated the board members on the high school football field.  He said “They did a great job with the laser grading, rebuilding the crown, working on the drainage, all the sprinkler system . . . it looks really good.  They will be here tomorrow with 11 tractor and trailer loads of sod.  It will take them three days to lay it.” According to Jimmy Arnold, they will hold everything off the field until the first varsity football game. 

Superintendent Howard also talked to the board members about the school safety report. He discussed the possibility of installing safety glass and the possibility of purchasing stand alone metal detectors.  Howard said, “Anything we can do in the area of safety, we ought to try to explore doing.”  Fifth district Board Member Ryan Daugherty said he would like to see a demonstration of the metal detectors being used.  Mr. Howard said he would check on getting a representative to give a demonstration. Howard said, “Our staff does a great job of wanding. We had three or four districts come visit us this year to look at our procedures.  But this is just one more tool that we can add.”

Assistant Superintendent Robert Tuck presented the SAAR (Superintendent Annual Attendance Report). According to Tuck, “The AADA (adjusted average daily attendance) data showed that we are moving in the right direction.  After a few years of trending down, our current and projected data shows we should be trending in the direction we want.  Last year and this year are two of the best years we have had in the last ten years. Our virtual program and Sunset Academy have played a big part, as has our partnership with SKY Tech that allows our students to take classes on their campus.” 

The board approved the following:

Butler County Schools FY 19 Self-Guided Virtual Program 

FY 19 The Sunset Academy Program 

FY 19 Employee Handbook 

FY 19 Substitute Teacher Handbook 

FY 18 SBDM Carry-Over Monies to FY 19 SBDM Budgets 

FY 19 Revised Preschool Handbook 

FY 19 School Year ARC Chairpersons 

FY 19 Code of Acceptable Behavior and Discipline Revisions 

Student Free Speech and Religious Liberty Rights Document

2nd and Final Reading of FY 19 KSBA Recommended Policies and Procedures Updates 

Letter of Intent for Guaranteed Energy Savings Project

Request for Proposal- Energy Savings Project