STUDENT OF THE MONTH AND HOPE AWARD PRESENTATION:

Mr. Ryan Smith opened the March 5 board meeting with the recognition of the February student of the month and HOPE award winners. The theme for the Student of the Month in February was “Leadership,” and the winners were recognized in front of the board, friends, family and all other community members in attendance. All of the students were also given a shirt from Freedom Fortune 500.

Mr. Edward Shephard, as the winner of the HOPE award for “Someone Important Along the Way,” was also recognized at the meeting. Sophomore Jarrett Boyd and Junior Trevor Adams were invited to speak about the reasons they had nominated Shephard for the award.

A middle school and an elementary school teacher were also HOPE award winners and recognized for their accomplishments at the meeting. Ms. Kelly Guerra, a fifth grade teacher, was the winner for the theme “Goes Above and Beyond.” Mrs. Stephanie Hill, who teaches third grade, was the winner at Big Knob Elementary for the theme of “Caring.”

2015-2016 SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR:
The 2015-2016 school calendar was discussed briefly at the meeting with two different drafts being presented to the board. Both options have students starting school on the day after Labor Day, Sept. 8, to ensure that the new elementary school is complete for students on the first day of school. Both drafts also have students ending school on Friday, June 10, with commencements scheduled for that evening. The only difference between the two drafts is the number of snow days scheduled for students.

BIG KNOB GRANTS:
Big Knob Elementary School was one of 14 schools to be awarded the Title 1 Distinguished School Grant out of the 68 schools that applied. This grant will go towards purchasing Elmo Cameras for each of the Big Knob teachers to use within their classrooms. Cameras will also be purchased for all of the Conway teachers since they’ll all be in one school next year. Elmo Cameras will allow teachers to be able to project papers onto a board just by sliding them under the camera.

Big Knob was also awarded the Penguins Foundation Tablets in Education Grant, which will be used to purchase 20 Kindle Fires for elementary school kids to use in the classroom. These devices come with new education opportunities that the kids were unable to utilize in the past.

DIRECTOR OF BUILDING & GROUNDS REPORT:
Mr. Gary Mortimer informed the board that more salt has been used this year than he can remember ever being used in previous years. He also gave an update on the girls’ locker room hot water project and stated that the project would be complete by Friday, March 6.

FACULTY NEWS:
Smith was officially approved for the Assistant Principal position at the high school on a permanent basis, effective March 5.
Next month’s board meetings will take place on April 16 and April 23 at 7:00 p.m. in the middle school library.