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District reports construction progress, rising tax receipts and a Marshall University admission partnership
Summary
District staff told the board the Duval gym project advanced with steel and lumber deliveries, Hanlon PreK–8 air-conditioning work is near substantial completion, county attendance teams are cutting chronic absenteeism, and the district is pursuing an automatic-admit MOU with Marshall University for students with a 2.5 GPA.
Mr. Barnett (district staff) updated the Lincoln County Board of Education on Jan. 28 about construction, attendance and postsecondary partnerships.
Barnett said the Duval project had received steel and lumber deliveries and that, "if all the planets line up at the middle of next month, we'll start seeing steel go in the air." He reported the Hanlon PreK–8 air-conditioning project was about 90 percent to substantial completion and that an air-balancing contractor will review dampers and set points after unit installation.
On attendance, Barnett said districtwide chronic absenteeism has fallen since last year. He reported that, with the exception of Lincoln County High School, “all of our schools are at 90% or better attendance” and that the district chronic-absence rate dropped from about 52 percent at the start of last year to roughly 30 percent now. Barnett attributed the improvement to attendance teams, community-school staff, social workers and quadrant-based home visits to families shown on chronic-absence lists.
Barnett said those teams have also visited homeschool families to present new offerings and encourage enrollment. He said the district is working with the high school on career-technical offerings such as tourism and culinary programs and has scheduled a meeting between the high school and Southern’s math department to address Early College Academy course sequencing.
The district reported higher-than-expected tax revenues during the finance discussion. When asked, Mr. Lucas (finance staff) said, “They’re higher. K. So what we thought was going to happen is happening.”
Barnett also reported a potential partnership with Marshall University that would offer automatic admission to any Lincoln County student who reaches a 2.5 cumulative GPA at the end of senior year. He said the district is negotiating a memorandum of understanding to avoid application fees and smooth transitions for students who meet the academic threshold.
Barnett closed with calendar items: reminders about ethics filings and proposed February work sessions on test scores and athletic procedures. The board asked staff to finalize dates based on when assessment results (I-Ready) are available.
No board action was recorded to authorize contracts or additional spending in this report; Barnett said air-balancing and construction punch lists remain next steps.
