The Middlesboro School Board heard some good news on attendance during their December meeting. Dr. Jamie Johnson, director of pupil personnel, reported that the monthly attendance was up 5.17% from this time last year.

Johnson said the year to date average daily attendance for the elementary school was 94.83, the middle school was 95.50 and the high school was 94.67.

She shared the attendance report with the board that showed the monthly numbers and pointed out the overall growth for the year.

“Compared to where we were last year, we’re up 5.17%,” Johnson said.

“That’s big in attendance,” Superintendent Waylor Allen said. “That’s huge.”

Johnson said she was very happy to see those numbers and said a lot of it was due to the schools competing against each other.

“You all have so much going on in your buildings,” she said. “Attendance teams, school competitions, competitions between grade levels — everybody has a hand in attendance. We’ve used Attendance Buddies, a mentorship program, the Jacket Exchange, recognizing good attendance. Everybody has taken part in that and it’s really showing.”

While the district has lost some students to Pineville and Tennessee, the overall enrollment is up compared to last year.

“We’re still up and that hasn’t been done two years in a row in a long time,” Johnson said.

Allen said it had been over 20 years since the district showed overall net growth in enrollment in back-to-back years.

Consultant Andy Kim also attended the meeting and took time at the end for a sit-down discussion with the board.

“I want to welcome Dr. Andy Kim this evening. The board has hired him to be our consultant for a little bit and we’re looking forward to that transition with him,” Board Chairman Teresa Brown said. “He is from Texas so we’re glad he has traveled here to meet with us.”

Brown also said she was proud of the new Lego teams at the middle school and the elementary school.

“Both teams that went to competition and our academic teams are also off to a fabulous start already,” she said.

Allen said the annual Cops for Kids Christmas party went very well.

“I really appreciate the Police Department doing that. It’s really a good thing that they do that for underprivileged kids,” he said.

Judy Grandey gave a brief update to the board on the district-wide STEM conference.

“It took a while to get 12 people, four from each building, on the same schedule, but we finally did it and met at the Middle School Library,” she said. “The consorted effort is to make sure that we are publicizing all of the good stuff that is going on in all four buildings and to communicate between the buildings the things that are upcoming.”

She said the group works really well together and took off with everything once she started the meeting. They communicate with each principal and with each staff within the buildings.

“They get that information to the proper person responsible for putting it on the Facebook page and other social media pages and getting it out to the public,” Grandey said. “It’s not that those things weren’t happening, it’s just that they weren’t being publicized.”

She added that a big reason for having the committee was to see more events bridging between the schools. The goal is to have at least two meetings each year to make sure everyone is on the same page.

The board also approved a stipend for the engineering teacher at the high school. That teacher is spending 80 hours on training outside of the classroom to get certified in Engineering I, Engineering II, Aerospace and Civil Engineering.

Jim Kennedy gave a progress report to the board on various construction projects.

He said the new case work in the new science labs at the high school were completed with the exception of an exhaust fan.

“If everything works out, our goal is to have it in and installed by the time kids return after the break,” he said.

Work on the drainage problems at the tennis courts has been completed and plans are for the courts to be resurfaced in the spring in time for the start of tennis season.

Work on the new canopy between the Central Arts Auditorium and the middle school and high school should begin in January with footers being dug and the installation of the canopy should start in mid January.

He also said he would be asking the same company that will be striping the tennis courts for an estimate on the cost of re-striping the track.

SRO Gary Lambdin addressed the board, asking for three new sidearms with optics so all three SROs would have the same weapons and use the same ammunition. The estimated cost is $1500 per weapon.

“It could be a liability issue and a little bit of a safety issue if we don’t have the same weapons and the same ammo. Hopefully, a situation never arises where we have to use them,” he said. “But it just makes sense if we can work it out to all have the same issued equipment.”

Allen said the board will have to vote on buying the weapons at their January meeting.

Lambdin also took a moment to thank Allen for reaching out to him about being an SRO.

“I appreciate you calling me because, honestly, this has been a real good experience for me. Hopefully we’ve put together a program that everybody is proud of and everybody is getting what they need out of us,” he said. “I just want to say thank you. This is probably one of the better jobs I’ve ever had.”

Michele Schneider spoke about a new Head Start regulation that requires a third party to come in and test the water at the school for lead. She said this testing is free and done by Kentucky Rural Water and has to take place every two years.

“If lead is found there is a grant available to remedy the issue,” she said. “They foresee this trickling down to K-12. Our Head Start had our local water company check our water last year and it was lead-free so I do not foresee any issues.”

In other business, the board:

— nominated Joyce Hoskins to serve as the board member on the calendar committee;

— approved the overall calendar committee members;

— approved an occupational therapy student practicum contract with EKU, this allows a student to complete their training at the school similar to a student teacher;

— approved a revised job description for the school psychologist position, changing it from a 240 day position to a 210 day position.

The next school board meeting will be January 21 at 5 p.m. at  the Middlesboro High School Library.