Special Education Director Mandy Bird was all smiles Thursday night as she delivered two pieces of good news to the Trigg County Board of Education.
First and foremost, the preschool received a $100,000 grant through the Early Learning Bus Grant from the Kentucky Department of Education. This grant will completely renovate existing buses to better accommodate special needs.
And secondly, the special education monitoring visit last semester went very well. Among them, the district received an unusual 100% compliance rating from state officials in three categories: individualized education plans, least restrictive environments, and required transitions after age 14.
Bird, who was informed last fall that a performance audit would be conducted, said his team answered the challenge.
As of Dec. 1, 2023, there were 332 students with disabilities in Trigg County Schools, an increase of 31 from the previous year, Bird said. Of these, 38 were on the autism spectrum, 14 had emotional/behavioral disorders, 31 had developmental delays, 28 had mild mental disorders, and 25 had other health conditions. Of these, 32 had a specific learning disability and 153 had some kind of language impairment. Language disconnection.
Bird's staff includes five ICEC-certified preschool teachers, six preschool instructional assistants, 18 full-time K-12 teachers, 12 K-12 instructional assistants, and several case-by-case nuanced experts and experts.
In other school news:
— Concerned parent Kathryn Ballengy opened Thursday's meeting with an emotional plea for improved safety on Trigg County campuses. She believed an incident last week in which an anonymous student was in possession of a BB gun on the premises was not handled as effectively as possible. She said she “didn't like receiving urgent emails and phone calls” from her daughter, who was under the cafeteria table during her short-term lockdown, and that she felt safe with her daughter at the moment. She said she did not feel that way. She asked why there were no metal detectors installed at the school and questioned what punishment, if any, students would receive.
Board members Charlene Sheehan, Gail Ruffley and Joe Alice Harper all assured that money was not an issue, but $500,000 for protected vestibules and SROs in each building in the district. The above was spent systematically. Additionally, although District 5 schools do not have entrance metal detectors, the trio said metal detectors have been discussed before and will likely be brought up again in Trigg County at some point.
Superintendent Bill Thorpe, a Marshall County native, was working in the Draffenville school district on a difficult morning in 2018 when Gabe Parker opened fire, killing students Preston Cope and Bailey Holt. He said Trigg County's protocols, which were thought to be chaotic, are actually working well.
All major disciplinary actions are within the scope of executive board meetings and are not available to the public.
— Trigg County High School teachers Matt Harper and Mikayla Hopson made their familiar pitch for “The Shake” competition. In this competition, 200 first-year students and second-year students compete against each other in a series of soft skills and interpersonal communication challenges for the ultimate prize. . However, in order to better support the Rotary Club of Cadiz and its members, the three-day campus meeting has been moved from April to May 7-9.
— Trigg County Intermediate Principal Brian Futrell, who released the annual STAR summary report, said there has been an overall increase in aptitude and academic performance in both reading and math skills. From the fall of 2023 to the winter of 2024, his reading and special grades rose from 52% to 58%, and his math skills rose from 48% to 56%. Beginners in reading decreased from 25% to 19%, and beginners in math decreased from 32% to 21%.
He added that the focus is on children who are “in the gap,” or students whose scores on one test are creeping up from jumping to scores on another. Twice-weekly tutoring for 40 students was helpful.
— Graduation ceremonies were approved on Tuesday, May 21, at 7 p.m., at the Trigg County Wildcat Gymnasium.
— and board members unanimously approved staying with their current insurance company, Lake Berkeley Insurance. This comes two weeks after three companies, including Higgins Insurance, reportedly made a strong pitch to regulators. Chief Financial Officer Holly Green said all three presentations were effective enough that the board left the decision to itself rather than a recommendation. Lufri and others agreed that a local company was best and chose to maintain the status quo.
