By Burton Cole
BUTLER — Pendleton County Schools have an attendance problem, and Superintendent Joe Buerkley hopes that a large, silver cup will help solve the problem.
Buerkley noted at the school board meeting last week at Sharp Middle School that almost a quarter of district’s population is considered chronically absent.
“Chronic absenteeism (according to the commonwealth) is missing 10% or more of a school year,” Buerkley said. “In our district, that’s 17 days.”
Both excused and unexcused absences are counted toward the 17 days.
“Twenty-two percent of our students are considered chronically absent,” Buerkley said.
The district can’t accomplish its teaching goals if the students don’t show up, he said.
To begin addressing the issue, the principals in all four county school buildings will set attendance goals, he said.
And the district will award a traveling trophy each month to the building with best attendance.
Assistant Superintendent Matt Compton announced that the for the first month, the trophy rests with Northern Elementary School, which recorded 95 percent attendance for September.
SCHOOL CALENDAR
The district also dealt with the school calendar for next year. A calendar committee presented three options after surveying teachers on preferences.
Buerkley said the board won’t vote on the options until its November meeting, but that he will recommend that it go with the first option.
Under that plan, students would return to school Aug. 13; fall break would be Oct. 6 to 10, with the preceding Friday, Oct. 3, also a day off for the Kentucky Wool Festival; spring break would be April 6 to 10; and students last day would be May 21. With the usual Christmas break, that schedule ensures at least one day off every month.
Option 2 is essentially the same but it adds a day off on Friday, April 3, so that spring break would mimic the fall break. The last day of classes would bump to May 21.
Option 3 would have students started on Aug. 6 and ending on May 12. But the earlier schedule doesn’t match up well with other programs in which students might participate, such as the Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics, Buerkley said.
Compton also noted that calendar has to allow room for the possibility of make-up days in case of too many snow days.
NEW BUSES
The board unanimously agreed to buy two school buses for a total of $286,933. One would be a conventional 72-passenger bus, at about $145,504, and the other a 20-seat special needs bus with all the equipment installed to handle wheelchairs and other needs, for about $141,429.
Buerkley noted that when he was hired as superintendent seven years ago, a conventional bus cost $80,000. Now it’s $145,000.
He said that the district has been on a plan of replacing on bus a year, but this year, he recommended two—the traditional bus, plus the special needs bus.
The special needs bus will be financed at 3.5 percent through the Kentucky Interlocal School Transportation Association lease agreement, and the convention bus will be purchased outright by the district.
Delivery will take about one year, Buerkley said, but bus production is backed up. The district still is awaiting delivery of the bus it ordered last year. Meanwhile, at least one of the buses in use has more than 300,000 miles on it and needs to be replaced, he said.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business:
• Board Chairman Cheryl Griffin noted that the district is down five bus drivers and thanked Compton for driving a bus himself in the interim.
• The district accepted a $1,300 donation from the Pendleton County Education Foundation for the FAA program.
• The board accepted the low bid of $5,901.60 from Pitney Bowes for postage meter lease for four district builds over a five-year span.
• Teacher and resident Shonda Justice thanked the school board for being attending school events and other activities, such as the Wool Festival, held in the county in which students participate. “I just really appreciate seeing you at these events.”
She also thanked Compton for the teacher survey of options for the school calendar.