Safety, facilities management and salary scales were major subjects during last week’s workshop session for the Trigg County Board of Education — in which no action could be taken, but serious conversation could spur kinetic energy for future decisions.
According to Superintendent Rex Booth, the district did not receive good news on its most recent grant application under former Superintendent Bill Thorpe for weapons detection systems and campus gating.
As such, Booth said he and other school officials will reapply for funds in the next fiscal year, but in the meantime, he would like to explore other options.
Most notably: an AI weapon detection system called “Zero Eyes,” that uses the school’s cameras to scan visitors and students for abnormal, odd-shaped materials.
Booth said Director of Operations Matt Ladd received a live demonstration of the service last year, and the superintendent is proposing for Title IV funds to help pay for a 1-year pilot program costing $16,000.
Booth also noted that other measures — like bulletproof film on outer windows, extra gating for enclosure, portable metal detectors, and the possibility of a fourth school resource officer coming either from Cadiz Police or the Trigg County Sheriff’s Office — could be part of the solution.
The budget for SRO’s, however, is already north of $140,000, and because Trigg County has been deemed as a “one-campus” school, Booth said the Kentucky Department of Education only requires the district have one such officer — despite the district owning multiple buildings.
This means that reimbursements for officers are limited.
Board member Gayle Rufli, meanwhile, said the “See Something, Say Something” campaign needs to be promoted even more, as students and teachers work to report odd or questionable behavior, threats of violence, and/or weapons on school property.
As for facilities, Chief Finance Officer Holly Greene reported that the district still has access to roughly $7 million in bonding potential — meaning officials could possibly grapple with another semi-major project.
Board members Charlene Sheehan and Clara Beth Hyde made a request that the Trigg County High School, and especially its Little Theater, receives attention sooner, rather than later. Sheehan specifically said that several parents and visitors during the recent Miss Trigg County Pageant enjoyed the theater’s seats and carpet, but the stage, curtains and lights “needed work.”
Board member Theresa Cunningham Allen also continued to reiterate that Trigg County’s gymnasium, at the very least, needs some sort of railing for its main concrete stairs, and the installation of an elevator needs to be explored. Booth said the only feasible location for one, according to engineering documents, is the girls locker room — possibly creating Title IX issues — and that any expansion on the gym’s backside would bump into space for Trigg Tots.
Booth also said that Rory Fundora, the district’s chief information officer, has alerted leadership of Trigg County High School’s faltering internal network wiring, with the middle school’s “not far behind it.” Total cost: $60,000.
On salary discussion, Sheehan said that substitute pay — especially for Trigg County’s retired teachers — needs an increase up from $135/day, possibly up to a daily wage threshold.
Greene said that input from said retired teachers would be more than welcome, in order to discuss pay equity, and that classified employees — in general — have started to “find the divide” between the private and public sectors.
And it’s a gap that’s “quickly widened.”
Trigg County’s Board of Education next meets this Thursday, in what will be lengthy discussion of Kentucky’s Summative Assessment with each school.
