Meeting in regular session last week the Lewis County Board of Education entered closed session to discuss a proposal from the local Health Department to purchase the lot in front of the Central Office on Plummer Lane.

Speaking for the Health Department, Dr. Karl Smith told the Board that the report the current facility would be torn down and a new building erected at that location was premature. He said that was actually the last alternative.

Smith explained that rebuilding on the current location on Fairlane Drive would require the old building to be torn down. A lot of grading would have to be done and the department would have to move to a temporary location at great expense.

He said that the project was about a $1.6 million enterprise.

Smith said a committee appointed for the purpose had checked some other locations. The land near Bee Mart on the AA Highway is priced out of their reach and other property owners are not willing to sell.

The doctor informed the board that funding for the project was possible through two $500,000 grants plus another $600,000 coming from another source through the Appalachian Regional Commission. In addition to that the current location with the present structure was appraised for $105,000 in 1988, and that is another source of revenue if the Health Department can sell that property.

After re-entering open session the board moved to refuse the Health Department’s proposal to buy the property. Board Chairman Joe LeMaster explained that the planning committees have the requested lot under consideration for several potential projects in the future and selling it would not be in the best interest of the Board of Education.

The board approved the first reading of one section of the Policies and Procedures Manual. That section deals with procedures concerning students with disabilities. Second reading on the rest of the Policies and Procedures was given and approved.

Superintendent Maurice Reeder, Jr., recommended that the issue of terminating Head Start transportation be tabled until the board’s next session. He said that when a Head Start student gets on one of our state buses that bus becomes a federal bus and must meet federal regulations. That means that every child weighing more than 50 pounds would have to have seat belts and those weighing less than 50 pounds must have safety restraints. These must be installed by Jan. 20, 2004.

Reeder explained that the seats on every Lewis County school bus carrying even one Head Start pupil would have to be replaced.

He told the board that most counties do not provide transportation for Head Start students but Lewis County has in the past because of the size and rural nature of the county and because so many parents had to drive long distances to get to their jobs.

Transportation Director Robert Hall was not at the meeting, and the superintendent wanted him to explain the situation in more detail. The board moved to table the issue until next month’s regular session.

The Board approved a contract with Qore Property Services in Lexington at a cost of nearly $7,000.

Reeder said that the state legislature passed a law requiring special inspection for certain things in all new construction. He said that referred to such things as mortar and cement, welding of steel and that kind of thing. The architects for the Lewis County Middle School Addition and Renovation Project recommended Qore Property Services to meet that need.

In that case they find the best alternatives available. Teachers are hired to teach those courses if they are pursuing certification in that particular field.

The board gave second reading and approval to the alternative school handbook.

Barbara Kennedy reported to the board on the success of the 21^st Century Program conducted in ESS this summer. A $450,000 21st Century Learning Community Grant made the program possible. The grant is spread over three years with $150,000 allotted for each year.

Kennedy lauded Gigi Wamsley and Nancy Dillow for their leadership during the 18-day summer school stint. She also praised the entire staff for working to make the program so successful

Kennedy told the board that the school broke numerous attendance records. She said they served around 600 kids. During that time 167 students had perfect attendance.

The program consists of three components.

The academic component was comprised of a science camp, math and reading and computers.

The sports component involved soccer, volleyball, swimming and that sort of thing.

The arts and humanities component involved a lot of practical living vocational studies kind of activities.

Kennedy said, "We did a lot of hands on work creating different kinds of art projects, and we tied that in with the Kentucky CORE content program. So we felt real good about that."

She said that they surveyed all the parents that had children involved in the summer program and they were overwhelming in their positive responses.

Kennedy related that student safety was an incredible issue this summer. In the interest of safety the school ended up hiring a lot more staff than initially planned.

She pointed out that both the drug and alcohol prevention program and the violence prevention program worked out beautifully.

This summer the educators added a parent training component. Penny Hall attended training for this component and will follow up on it on Tuesday nights during the coming school year.

The Lewis County Detention Center and the Kentucky Department of Corrections held a training class for Class D inmate supervisors in the county on July 16.

This class teaches those volunteer citizens who wish to use the inmates for service work in the community how to handle any situation that may arise.

Class D inmates are those who are currently serving a one to five year sentence. These men are non-violent and have no serious mental health problems.

The inmates that work out in the community have not been convicted of violent or sexual crimes, have not had any Emergency Protection Orders and have not been convicted of any domestic violence crimes. They are mostly inmates who will be available for parole in 18 months of less.

According to the Kentucky Department of Corrections, Class D offenders may be used to service the community for any non-profit organizations excluding churches and cemeteries. The detention center currently has 36 Class D inmates who are willing and able to work.

During the supervisor training course, citizens learned three areas to concentrate on while watching the offenders. These include public safety, institutional safety and the custodial level of care and custody.

The volunteers also learned how to deal with different types of manipulation that offenders will try to use on supervisors.

According to Jailer Tim Underwood, all inmates are required to wear orange shirts while working out in public. The shirts read "Lewis County Detention Center" in bold, black letters on the front and the back so that these men may be easily identified.

Supervisors are also required to have eye contact and communication with the inmates at all times and communication with the public is extremely minimal.

The bid, from Davis H. Elliot Company, was for $43,645 and is for repairs to the 138,000 volt transmission line located near Flat hollow in Greenup County.

The items were reportedly taken between Midnight Tuesday and when Dyer discovered them missing the next morning.