Superintendent, principals report on middle-school funding talks, assessments, enrollment and student outcomes
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Summary
Superintendent Brock reported meetings with state lawmakers on middle-school funding and described district instructional changes from a TE day; principals highlighted student events, improved assessment rigor, senior readiness figures and industry certifications.
Superintendent Brock told the Estill County Board of Education on Oct. 16 that he met in Frankfort with state senators to discuss the district’s middle-school project, including funding schedules and draw timelines, and described the meeting as productive while noting that legislative approval is required. “I am very optimistic, and…they can't promise you anything because it's got to be a session. People have to vote,” Brock said.
Brock described a recent teacher-effectiveness (TE) day in which teachers and coaches developed recurring proficiency measures intended to assess student mastery about every five to six weeks. He said the district revised many questions to raise depth-of-knowledge levels from mostly DOK Level 1 toward DOK 2–4 so assessments better measure application and mastery.
Brock reported current attendance and enrollment figures: “we're sitting at about 18 56, and our total enrollment right now is 2,048. That does not include our virtual students,” he said.
Principals reported school activities and student outcomes. Estill County High School reported several items: WYMT offered a $1,000 scholarship and the school’s five submissions each received the award; early senior-readiness numbers cited were 127 seniors meeting academic readiness out of 178, 112 meeting career readiness and 68 meeting both. The high school also reported industry certifications earned by seniors to date: 26 in health sciences, 16 in industrial maintenance, nine in engineering, six in diesel mechanics and three in information technology.
The high school principal reported discipline referrals down about 64% compared with the same six-week period last year and credited counselors, school resource officers and restorative/preventive practices for the reduction. The high school also noted athletic and fine-arts successes, including a girls soccer regional championship and potential hosting of state tournament rounds.
Other school principals described family-engagement events, classroom projects (room transformations, novel studies, hands-on science), PBIS implementation and specialized programming such as ROTC and JAG. Several principals cited teacher collaboration during the TE day and said they are implementing more rigorous instructional expectations and targeted small groups.
Operations and support updates included maintenance staffing and upcoming retirements: maintenance staff currently total five districtwide, with three doing major repair work; Philip Smith is expected to retire Dec. 31 and the district plans to hire an additional maintenance employee in December. Technology staff reported replacement of the district network infrastructure and upcoming changes required by a state contract transition, including implementation of a new identity system and replacement of antivirus/provisioning systems.
No formal board action was taken on the middle-school funding at the meeting; Brock said continued meetings with legislators and agency staff will follow.