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T.J. Poliskie, school energy manager, Central Kentucky Region, presents the ENERGY STAR Leader award Thursday night to the Lincoln County Board of Education. (Photo submitted / April 14, 2012) |
STANFORD — Lincoln County Board of Education swore in a new member Thursday and discussed remediation options for Lincoln County High School.
Theresa Long of Stanford will serve on the Board of Education until the end of the year and also plans to run for the office. The state recently appointed Long, who has a long history of volunteerism with the Lincoln County school system.
“I feel she will be an asset to the board,” said Superintendent Karen Hatter. “I think her perspective can really help us during this time.”
Long replaces Eddie Whittemore, who resigned in January. Long retired in 2008 from the Bluegrass Community Action Partnership in Danville and currently works in marketing and admissions for the Christian Care Center in Lancaster.
“I want to be a voice for the parents,” Long said during a telephone interview Saturday.
She hopes to get more community members involved in the schools and focused on the positive aspects of education in Lincoln County.
“Most of what is talked about in the community is the negative,” Long said. “But there are a lot of positive things, too, that we need to also remember no matter what challenges are going on.”
One of the school system’s significant challenges was discussed at the meeting Thursday.
Hatter presented to board members four remediation options for the high school. The state ranked the school as persistently low-achieving, so local officials must work closely with state educators to revitalize education at the high school starting with the 2012-13 academic year.
The option that seems most feasible for a rural area such as Lincoln County is the transformation model, according to Hatter.
The transformation model would provide ongoing professional development for teachers, link teacher evaluations to student performance, and implement strategies to provide students with expanded learning opportunities.
The Board of Education did not vote on the matter because the state will decide by the summer which option Lincoln County must use to remediate the high school.
However, other options such as closing the high school or restaffing at least 50 percent of the workforce at the school would not work for a county with just one high school, according to Hatter.
In other business, officials voted to discontinue transportation for the county’s preschool program. The sole reason for the decision was budget cuts, Hatter said.
“We had to think long and hard about it,” Hatter said. “It was a really tough decision.”
Lincoln County also received its fourth ENERGY STAR award since 2011. Crab Orchard Elementary was the latest school honored for conserving energy.
ENERGY STAR awards, a program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are only given to the top 25 percent of facilities nationwide for energy efficiency.
To earn its four awards, Lincoln educators worked with Kentucky-based energy services company Harshaw Trane to upgrade lighting at Crab Orchard, Hustonville and Waynesburg elementary schools as well as at Lincoln County High School.
The school system expects to save about $133,234 annually by using more efficient lighting systems throughout the district.
“The Lincoln County Board of Education has proved that they are good stewards to the taxpayers and the environment,” said Ernie Tacogue, Harshaw Trane account executive.
“Not only did they have the vision to invest in the infrastructure upgrades to make their buildings energy efficient, but they also used new technologies to operate the building efficiently. Proper operation of a building is key to the long term success of an energy conservation program.”
