BY KATLAN THOMERSON
Glasgow News 1
The Caverna board of education met for its regularly scheduled meeting to discuss seven items on the agenda. All members were present other than Jennifer Ballard on Thursday, March 14.
Because no one made a public comment, the meeting began with the superintendent’s report.
“One thing I didn’t put on there is that [Friday] our band is doing an assessment at WKU and that is something that is required for them to be a fully functioning marching band,” said Superintendent Amanada Abell.
After Abell finished her report, she presented student of the month certificates to Savannah Dice of Caverna Elementary, Jessie Philpott of Caverna Middle School, and Daweson Daniels of Caverna High School.
Senior Jamison Pippin received the “athlete of the month” certificate.
“I’ve got three things that I want to say about Jamison,” said boys basketball coach Steve Barker. “As a coach you like these kinds of guys because they’re smart and they bring the team GPA up. That’s one good thing. The second thing is that I’m not real sharp in math, so he always told me how much we were behind or how much we were ahead. The last thing and the most important is that this was his first year playing, so I only got to coach him for one season. After the first time that he came out, when I got home my son, who’s a senior, said that Jamison is the real deal.”
As Pippin made his way to his seat, Abell played a YouTube video of Addison Gower and Sophia Felty reading their award-winning poem.
“Last month I had asked Addison Gower and Sophia Felty to come present and read their poem that they received second place for in the Martin Luther King Jr. contest in Frankfort, but they couldn’t come last month, and they couldn’t come this month because they have sports. So, they made us a video that want me to play for you all,” Abell said.
Before moving to the next item on the agenda, Abell asked Patrick Cronin to speak about the three programs he’s implemented at Caverna High School. Cronin is a social studies teacher who helped five students become certified, sworn in members of the Kentucky Teen Court System, entered six teams into The Stock Market Game, and became one of the 10 chosen national representatives for the iCivics program founded by Justice Sandra Day O’Conor.
“Thank you, Mr. Cronin. We are very proud of the things that he’s doing at the high school,” Abell said. “That is all that I have in my report. We’re getting ready to get into the business of the meeting. You all are welcomed to join us, or you can leave.”
While attendees made their way to the exit, Chairman Wayne Hatcher directed the board’s attention to the fifth item of their agenda, during which the board voted to approve consent for the following: board minutes from Feb. 15, 2024, meeting, finance reports, bus inspections, superintendent’s travel, seasonal travel, schoolwide fundraisers and fields trips, and grants.
Next the board rejected a $238,964 bid received from Blue Ladder Construction for a project designed to create bathrooms for the outdoor classrooms. According to Abell, RBS Design estimated that the construction fees for the project should cost approximately $75,000.
Before adjourning, the board discussed whether they should approve a reimbursement request submitted by a teacher who attended a CTE conference without submitting the documents needed to receive approval for reimbursement ahead of time.
“We had a teacher that did not fill out her travel request forms until after she returned,” Abell said.
Though many boards members voiced that they would have preferred that the teacher followed protocol, they unanimously voted to approve a reimbursement of $415.61.
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