Looking to encourage, nurture and steward a strategic plan and leadership development within the district, Trigg County Schools Board of Education unanimously approved a three-year contract with Huron Studer Education Thursday night — one valued annually at $46,900, plus a flat annual 14% administration fee for travel, lodging, materials and other ancillary costs.
According to the contract, this will total $53,466 per year through June 2027, before other planning steps and options can be taken.
The decision comes more than two weeks after board members had time to process a lengthy and lauded public presentation from former Hopkins County Superintendent DeDe Ashby — now a rep with the organization — in which she confirmed campus leaders would have access to assets like feedback from classified and certified employees, follow up assessments of logistics, consulting opportunities, and more.
Theresa Cunningham Allen and Clara Beth Hyde both noted the cost was higher than previous plans implemented in the district, but understood its worth.
It’s worth noting that several schools in the Commonwealth use the Florida-based organization as a tool for their district, including a handful in western Kentucky. Furthermore, Superintendent Rex Booth and Director of Curriculum Lacey Schrock also have previous experience with the guidance system — which uses a trademarked Nine Principals Framework for its methods.
They are:
1) Commit to excellence.
2) Measure the important things.
3) Build a culture around service.
4) Develop leaders to develop people.
5) Focus on employee engagement.
6) Be accountable.
7) Align behaviors with goals and values.
8) Communicate at all levels.
And 9) Recognize and reward success.
More than a mission statement, it’s a tested platform that can be graded from administration all the way down to part-time employees.
School Attorney Jack Lackey confirmed that Christian County Public Schools has already moved through the first two phases, and has moved on to annual monitoring of these guardrails within their walls.
In other school news:
— Board members also unanimously approved a new amendment for discipline within Harbor Academy. If parents and/or guardians pay for a drug test after 20 school days, and the student passes, then the family now has the option to reinstate said student to their home school, instead of the student having to wait 45 days before returning to the classroom.
Lackey noted that the only drug that might linger in a system longer than 20 school days, which does not include Saturdays and Sundays, would be marijuana, but only in major cases. THC, he said, can stay in the system up to 45 days.
— Laura James, director of student services and personnel, said average daily attendance was currently hovering around 95%, and that’s with recent stomach bugs and other illnesses in the district.
— Allen also noted that while the recent Trigg County High School Alumni celebration was nearly perfect, Wildcat Gymnasium remains in dire need of improved acoustics and a public announcements system. She and Hyde said they would like to see the issue rectified before 2025 Commencement.
