Marianne Davis, District 1

Larry Yeager, District 2

Billy Montgomery, District 3

Christie Devine, District 4

Randy Phillips, District 5

The agenda is being presented for approval. Any changes are to be made at this time.

1. TITAN PROUD – No Exceptions - A student from each school (Mercer Elementary, Mercer Co. Intermediate School, King Middle, and Mercer County Senior High School) will be recognized each month at the board of education meetings for their efforts in the classroom, leadership skills and attitude. The student award recipient must meet the following guidelines:

• Perfect attendance during the month student(s) are being observed.
• Completed all homework assignments and tests.
• Passing grade.
• No discipline issues.
• Student demonstrates good leadership skills.
• Student exhibits a winning attitude and spirit toward learning and peers.

MERCER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL - Seth Chunglo, 2nd Grade

MERCER INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL – Allison Osoy de la Cruz, 3rd Grade

KING MIDDLE SCHOOL – Presley Boyne, 7th Grade

MERCER COUNTY SENIOR HIGH – Courtney Fletcher, 11th Grade

This section of the agenda is reserved for reports only, no action will be taken.

The Superintendent will report to the board at this time.

Greg Souder will present an update for KSBIT at this time.

The Finance Officer will report to the board at this time.

Board Meeting – March 21, 2019

February 2019 Monthly Recap - Ending GF Cash Balance $5,250,426 (LY $6,519,764)

• General Fund Revenue:
  • Overall revenue is down 5% compared to last February, this includes the beginning balance. Receipts received in the year are down 2% compared to last year at this time.
  • Increase in Revenue of $1,320,134 between January and February
  • Received 71.4% of the revenue that is budgeted for this fiscal year
    • Suggests that more revenue than budgeted will be received due to being 66.7% through the year in February

       

• Expenditures:
  • Up 5% compared to last February
  • Increase in Expenses of $1.72 million between January
  • Expended 57.9% of the expenses that are budgeted for this fiscal year
    • Suggests that less expenses than budgeted will be expended due to being 66.7% through the year in February

       

• Other:
  • SEEK
    • Final SEEK for 2018-19 is $10,597,666 and $248,932 in Capital Outlay Funds
    • Tentative SEEK was $10,446,190, so we ended with an increase of $151,476 for the year

• Timeline:

March:

• Review bids for services (Mowing, Snow Removal, Audit, etc.)
• Start discussing and reviewing salary schedules for fiscal year 2020

   

  April/May:

• Review salary schedules for fiscal year 2020
• Review and approval of Tentative Budget by May 31^st
• Review and approval of school fees for fiscal year 2020
• Review and approval of SBDM carry forward

• ActivityAcctsJan2019
• BalnceSheetRptFeb2019
• Bank Rec Feb 2019
• Financial Summary Feb 2019
• Monthly Financial Rpt Feb 2019

• Payment Summary March 21, 2019

Any principal may report to the board at this time if needed.

Mr. Guerra will present at this time. 

Please see attachments

• 01_18_19_MercerCoDT_approved - Jaziel Guerra.pdf
• Medicaid Mercer County Day Treatment 9.25.18Final - Jaziel Guerra

KRS 160.390; KRS 160.38; KRS 160.370    The Superintendent is responsible for all personnel actions including hiring, assignments, transfer, dismissal, suspension, reinstatement, promotion, and for reporting these actions to the board of education (KRS 160.390 (1)).  All appointments, promotions and transfers of principals, supervisors, teachers, and other school employees shall be made only by the Superintendent of schools, who shall notify the Board of the action taken (KRS 160.380(2a)).

Pursuant to Board Policy 01.421, persons wishing to address the Board must first be recognized by the Chairperson and stand behind the podium. An individual or group granted the privilege of being heard must give his/her name, address, and reason for speaking. The Chairperson may rule on the relevance of the topic to the Board's Agenda, and will set the time limit to five (5) minutes. The Board will only act on/respond to items on the published agenda. If you wish to have an item placed on the agenda, you must first meet with the Superintendent.

At this time the board will receive comments from the public.

“Consent Agenda” items are voted on with one motion and one vote. 

These are, typically, items that happen on a regular basis, are annual fees, or routine items in doing business. 

The board may discuss any item they wish.

The board has the option to pull any item out for a separate vote.

• Meeting Minutes 02-19-2019

• Paid Warrant Reports-February 2019

Approval of SBDM Meeting Minutes as presented.

• KMS SBDM February 13, 2019

The board must deem equipment/furniture as surplus before they can be destroyed or sold. Attached are items that need to be deemed as surplus.

• Surplus Equipment.pdf

Enter into agreement with Midway University's Teacher Education Program.

• Midway University MOA.pdf

Reward field trip for band to Kings Island. The costs are for transportation and entrance to the park of which the students will be paying.

The Harrodsburg Kiwanis Club is requesting the use of a school bus and driver for some programs that they will have. They will incur all costs such as mileage and reimbursement of the personnel costs.

• Harrodsburg Kiwanis Club.pdf

Nikki Lake- Teacher, requesting unpaid personal leave from March 18th, 19th and 20th.

An independent indoor marching group from Tennessee is looking for housing the night of March 22 into the morning of March 23 (Fri-Sat) before a competition at NKU on the afternoon of the 23rd. They would need use of gym, locker rooms, and parking lot at the HS from 9pm-7-8am the next day.

• Certificate Of Insurance.pdf
• Facility Request

The Archery Booster Club would like permission to start fundraising for a building that will be built on Mercer County Schools property.

Calendar Updates: 18-19

We have missed 4 days of school due to weather or illness.  We have used 3 of our NTI days.   

Dec. 5th:  NTI instructional day

Jan. 22:    Canceled for weather

Jan. 24:    NTI instructional day

Jan 30:     Canceled for weather

Jan. 31:    NTI instructional day

Feb. 8th:  Closed for Illness

Mar 8th:  Closed for Weather

Added to the Calendar:

May 15:   Full Instructional Day (Was Early Release)

May 16:   Instructional Day

May 17:   Instructional Day (Early Release/Last Student day)

May 20:   Teacher Work Day

May 21:  Teacher Work Day

May 22:   Closing Day

At the October board meeting, the Mercer County Board of Education formed our calendar committee to review, develop, and recommend school calendar options to the board for consideration.  The calendar committee was comprised of the following members based upon the requirements of KRS 158.070:

Lee Ann Divine                                                    Jennifer Hatton                                    Marianne Davis

Susan Campbell                                                   Andrea Whitenack                              Kelly Tyler

Julie Hammons                                                   Paula Montgomery                             Brian Rowland

Tina Kelly                                                             Mike Preston                                        Tia Taylor

Heather Wessling

GUIDELINES USED TO DEVELOP THE CALENDAR:

• Provide students as many instructional days prior to May.  This is very important to our high school students taking the ACT/AP exams.  These test dates are not flexible.
• For safety purposes, we start after the 127-Yard Sale Days.  The date is Aug 6-9.
• We must have 185 staff days; traditionally we schedule 173 instructional days. Some years we use 2-3 days for bank time for emergencies.   If we decided to start school after August 24, we can have fewer instructional days but must still meet the 1062-hour requirement.  We would have to extend the school day or consider using some days during our breaks.  If we do this, the instructional day cannot be longer than 7 hours (depending upon the school, it is about 6 hours and 25 minutes now.) 
• NTI days are not guaranteed.  We must include makeup days in our school calendar.  Typically, we add these to the end of the calendar but we can add these other places if we want.  
• We must keep the Career Academy in mind when we develop our calendar.  Our students are attending classes with Anderson Co. and Burgin and we need to be mindful of this as well.

We are required to have the following dates:
1- Opening Day                   1- Closing Day                     4: PD days            2- Planning Days                 4- Holidays

Dates we are required to be out of school for the 20/21 SY:

-Sept. 7^th:  Labor Day (Holiday)                                                       -Nov. 3, 2020:  Presidential Election

-Nov. 26^th:  Thanksgiving (Holiday)                                               -Dec. 25:  Christmas (Holiday)

-Jan. 1:  New Year’s Eve (Holiday)                                                 -Jan. 18:  MLK

-May 31:  Memorial Day                                  

Feb. 15^th:  Traditionally we also take off President’s day but this is not required.

Calendar Committee Recommendations:

1.  19-20 SY:  2 calendar options are provided for the board to consider.  In both options, the main change to the already approved calendar is to add 3 additional early release days for students throughout the school year to imbed professional development throughout the school year.  These additional early release dates are as followed:

August 30th

November 1st

March 6th

Option 1:  President’s Day is a break

Option 2:  President’s Day could be used as a makeup day.

2.  20-21 SY: 2 calendar options are provided for the board to consider.  Both options are the same with the exception of President’s Day. 

Option 1:  President’s Day is a break

Option 2:  President’s Day could be used as a makeup day.

Mercer County Schools have been with Liberty Mutual Insurance and Whitenack and Souder for seven years now and KEMI for four years, and the relationship has paid off in keeping our premiums relatively low.  Our “Mod” has decreased due to the actions of our Safety Committee and having training for staff. 

The Superintendent and Finance Officer recommend choosing Liberty Mutual for Property, General Liability, Automobile, and Umbrella and KEMI for Worker’s Compensation as we have done in 2018-19. 

Student Accident Insurance

Mercer County Schools has used Bob Roberts Insurance in Richmond, Kentucky for our Student Accident coverage for a number of years. They are very well known and utilized among Kentucky school districts.

Three years ago the board approved a plan that was less expensive due to the schedule of benefits rather than just a limit to the physical therapy amount. That resulted in a savings to the district of almost $5,000. We have not seen any reason to increase that coverage more than what it has been in the last two school years. We have been very satisfied with the lower rate and the coverage that is guaranteed with that rate.

The options that have been narrowed down for the 2019-20 school year are all Plan 4 rates. Plan 4 is less expensive and contains a schedule of benefits or limited benefits which will reduce our losses and continue to bring our premium down in future years.  These plans cover up to maximum benefit of $25,000 for each injury for 26 week loss period, and medical charges within two years of injury.  They also include an accidental death benefit of $10,000 and catastrophic coverage up $7,500,000. The following quotes are all Plan 4 rates:

Berkley Accident and Health - $84,796

Nationwide Life Insurance Company - $82,119

Zurich American Insurance Company - $107,844

AXIS Insurance Company - $80,969

The Hartford - $92,964

Liberty Mutual - $89,012

The increase in premium is due to a larger number of student accident claims in this fiscal year, which increases the projected number of claims for next year. Hopefully we will be able to see a decrease in upcoming years.

SUPERINTENDENT’S RECOMMENDATION:  I recommend approval of

• Liberty Mutual Insurance/ Whitenack and Souder for Property, Liability and Vehicle insurance;
• Kentucky Employees Mutual Insurance/Whitenack and Souder for Worker’s Compensation; and
• Bob Roberts Insurance with AXIS Insurance Company for Plan 4 Student Accident insurance.

Approved Audit Contracts are due to KDE’s Division of District Support prior to their May meeting. 

Mercer County put out a Request for Proposals for audit work and opened those proposals on Friday, March 15, 2019 at 2:00 p.m.

There were two responses to the RFP, you will see those attached.

White and Company, PSC provided a quote of $18,300 to complete audit services for 2018-19.  This is no increase compared to last fiscal year. We have contracted with them for multiple years and they have always been great to work with.

Recommendation is to approve to enter in an Audit Contract with White and Company, PSC for the audit year 2018-19.

• Auditor Bid Results

The grounds maintenance contract currently in place will expire as of April 1, 2019. Therefore, the district advertised for bids and opened those bids on February 25, 2019 at 10:00 a.m.

Results are attached.

Superintendent's Recommendation: Entering into a new contract to last up to two years with Isaiah House, utilizing option two in the bid specifications.

• Mowing Bid Results

The district advertised for bids at the beginning of February and opened those bids on February 25, 2019 at 10:00 a.m.

The responses are attached.

True Cutt Lawn Service withdrew their bid on February 26, 2019.

Superintendent's Recommendation: Accepting the bid from Isaiah House with the option to renew for up to two years.

• Snow Removal Bid Results

The district advertised for bids at the beginning of February and opened those bids on February 25, 2019 at 10:00 a.m.

Responses to the bid are attached.

True Cutt Lawn Service withdrew their bid on February 26, 2019.

Superintendent's Recommendation: Accepting the bid from Levi Maddox in the amount of $600.00 paid to the district for removal of the hay from the property.

• Hay Bid Results