Clark school board hires EMT instructor
The Clark County Board of Education approved a motion to hire a part-time teacher for an EMT program at the Clark County Area Technology Center at George Rogers Clark High School during its meeting Tuesday.
ATC Principal Todd Wilson said hiring the part-time teacher would expand the health sciences program and give the school system another potential career pathway for GRC students.
The EMT program also meets a community need and will provide Clark County students another opportunity for certification, he said.
The first-time cost to hire a part-time teacher would be about $29,000, and about $23,000 in consecutive years. Eventually, the city may be able to split costs, though nothing is guaranteed, Wilson said.
“This is a chance for our kids to be involved in the community, be employed here,” Wilson said. “We’re also doing a service for the city.”
The program will serve more than 15 students in its first year and will offer the opportunity for students to become certified EMTs, he said. Eventually, the ATC would like to add a paramedics program. Wilson said there’s a shortage of EMTs in Clark and surrounding counties.
The board also acknowledged the superintendent’s summative evaluation.
Superintendent Paul Christy is entering his sixth year as superintendent, and the board noted Christy has succeeded in establishing new cultures and expectations in all district schools, focusing on learning and college and career readiness.
The board also highlighted some growth goals such as gaining a greater understanding of business needs in the community, pushing the restart of the Community Education program as well as leading the charge of recruiting and retaining more minority role models.
Board member Gordon Parido was absent and excused from Tuesday’s meeting.
The board also tabled the consideration of approval of Docuware Cloud-service EULA between Clark County School District and Toshiba and the consideration of approval of the new organizational chart. Both items had been tabled from the previous regular board meeting.
The board is still waiting on additional language to be added to the contract before taking action on the EULA between Clark County School District and Toshiba.
Board member Judy Hicks said she didn’t like the potential change in indices, which would potentially increase salaries of certain positions if approved as is, that was presented in Christy’s organizational chart. Hicks noted if job descriptions weren’t changing, there wasn’t a need to change indices. Hicks said she would also like to see the new job descriptions before taking action.
Board Chairman Scott Hisle said he would like to see comparisons of organizational charts between similar districts. Christy’s chart had presented a reorganization of certain departments under new directors he said would help reduce administrative costs.
During his report, Christy recognized Hunter Redmon and Avery Brown, members of the GRC Bass Fishing team who won second place in a national championship tournament in early July, falling behind first place by a mere four ounces.
Greg Hollon, director of pupil personnel, student support services, also gave the final attendance report for the 2017-18 school year in comparison to the 2016-17 school year attendance rates. Overall, the district’s attendance rate was down .01 percent in the 2017-18 school year (93.91 percent) compared to the 2016-17 school year (93.92 percent). Phoenix Academy had the most significant increase in attendance between the two school years, going from a 71.95 percent attendance rate in 2016-18 to 79.65 percent in 2017-18.
George Rogers Clark High School attendance had dropped less than a percent as did Campbell Junior High School, Baker Intermediate School and Strode Station Elementary schools’ attendance.
The remaining three schools — Conkwright Elementary School, Justice Elementary School and Shearer Elementary School — had slight increases in attendance rates in the comparison between the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years.
The board also adjourned to a closed session for litigation hearing which could include discussions of proposed or pending litigation against or on behalf of the public agency.
In other action, the board:
— reviewed preliminary fourth-quarter finances for the general fund.
— approved the Ridge Behavioral Health System memorandum of agreement.
— approved the second reading of policy updates.
— approved the 2018-19 transportation manual.
— approved Duke’s roofing proposal to complete the roof recoat project on Baker Intermediate School.
— approved the district code of conduct handbook.
— approved 2018-19 student handbooks for GRC, Phoenix Academy, K-8 and preschool.
— approved pay application 1514-019 to RossTarrant Architects, for the GRC gymnasium and athletic fields project for $9,236.49.
— approved pay application 1829-02 to RossTarrant Architects, for the GRC fields house and athletics phase 3 project for $41,071.63.
— approved pay application 7 to Codell Construction, contractors, and suppliers for the GRC gymnasium and athletic fields project in the total amount of $1,185,828.51.
— approved pay application 13 to Performance Services, Inc., for guaranteed energy conservation savings project (bg 17-178) for $314,091.