It is requested for the Covington Board of Education to allocate at least $90,000 with the flexibility to increase based on elevated participation, if an in-person summer program is allowed based on the Governor's recommendations. 

The personnel actions listed on the exhibit have taken place since the board meeting of March 26, 2020.

Teach for America is the national corps of top recent college graduates of all academic majors who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in the effort to expand educational opportunity.  Teach for America partners with districts and charter schools nationwide.

The proposed three year contract renewal would be applicable through the 2022 - 2023 school year.

Teach for America Southwest Ohio currently has both corps members and alumni working in a variety of roles within Covington schools.

• Holmes Middle School: Brittney Riffle and Tara Sorrell

• Holmes High School: Tony Magner, Brian Moore, Heather Axton, Megan O'Brien, Eli Rolfes

• Transformational Learning Center: Marissa Masters

Covington Independent Schools has used PD Express to track professional development hours and professional development opportunities over the past several years. While the system meets the basic needs for tracking professional development hours, it lacks other features that can be found in many other programs. Research was conducted into other programs and their capabilities. TeachPoint Professional Development Tracking Software by Vector Solutions provides a professional development tracking tool with expanded capabilities to meet our needs. The program allows for electronic sign-in at professional development events, capability for building supervisors to run reports and customized program evaluations to gauge effectiveness of professional development offerings. This is all provided at a cost lower than the PD Express Software we are currently using. 

The recommended draft guidelines for future PILOT Agreements and Local Participation Agreements will be reviewed and discussed for possible action. The guidelines will address the concerns relative to these types of agreements. This is not a policy so that the Board can retain discretionary decision-making when faced with these types of agreements. The goal of these guidelines are to preserve the flexibility and discretionary decision-making of the Board members, while at the same time, provide direction to the applicant and to staff as to what information is needed in order for the Board to properly evaluate the application. 

Professional services such as Auditing Services does not have to be bided out by a school district.  However, it is good business sense to bid out every 2-5 years at least.  The last time the district bided out auditing services was for the 18/19 school year.  The budget committee met in February of 2020 and discussed our options.  It is the budget committee’s recommendation not to bid out at this time and stay with Barnes Dennig. 

Budget Narrative for March FY2020 monthly financial statement:

1. General fund (fund 1) – as of 3/31/20, revenue received of 37.3 million with expenses of 25.3 million. 

2. Special revenue (fund 2) – as of 3/31/20, revenue received of 5.5 million with expenses of 5.9 million.  Many grants in fund 2 are on a reimbursement basis.  Money is requested after the expenses have occurred.  There is a delay on receiving fund 2 revenue. 

3. Capital outlay (fund 310) - as of 3/31/20, revenue received of $162,000 with expenses of $0.  The state does not provide all the capital outlay funding until the end of the fiscal year.  This fund is used to pay the district’s bond payments.  Bond payments occur throughout the whole fiscal year under fund 400 (new for FY’13 per KDE).  Money will be transferred out of capital outlay into the debt service fund throughout the fiscal year. 

4. Building fund (fund 320) - as of 3/31/20, revenue received of 1.1 million with expenses of $0.  This fund is used to pay the district’s bond payments.  Bond payments occur throughout the whole fiscal year under fund 400 (new for FY’13 per KDE).  Money will be transferred out of building fund into the debt service fund throughout the fiscal year. 

5. Construction fund (fund 360) - as of 3/31/20, revenue received of $1,092,000 with expenses of $908,000.  This fund is used to pay for the district’s construction projects. 

6. Debt Service fund (fund 400) – as of 3/31/20, revenue received of $0 with expenses of $669,000.  See detailed explanation under capital outlay and building fund.

7. Daycare fund (originally fund 50 – switched to fund 52 per KDE) – as of 3/31/20, revenue received of $369,000 with expenses of $244,000.  Revenue comes in throughout the fiscal year.

8. Food service fund (fund 51) – as of 3/31/20, revenue received of 3.3 million with expenses of 2.1 million. 

   Completed 4/1/20 by Annette Burtschy

Pursuant to Policy 04.3111, the treasurer shall prepare warrants or "Orders of the Treasurer" to be acted upon at each regular Board meeting. The Board shall give subsequent approval to all budgeted disbursements made between meetings of the Board. Disbursements shall only be made on invoices for purchases made in accordance with District policy and procedures.

Pursuant to CIPS Policies 03.121 Salaries – Certified Personnel and 03.221 Salaries – Classified Personnel, the Board must approve a yearly payroll calendar.

The Kentucky Education Professional Standards Boards has implemented an online application for processing certification for emergency substitute teachers and has suggested creating a blanket approval and one Board order number to use on all applications for emergency certification for all substitutes not holding regular Kentucky certification. 

Covington Independent Public Schools intends to participate in the following memberships and programs with the Northern Kentucky Cooperative Extension Services (NKCES) for the 2020-2021 School Year:

• NKCES Membership ($7000 base plus ADA *.50)
• NKCES Grants Program ($5500)
• Northern Kentucky Superintendent Roundtable ($1000 per Superintendent)
• Regional School Program ($24,062 per slot)
• Challenge Program ($52,500 per slot)

Under advisement of Governor Beshear, Covington Independent Public Schools closed schools on March 16, 2020 in an effort to minimize the spread of the Novel Coronavirus. SB 177 was signed into law in April of 2020 and allows for a school district to complete the school year with a minimum of 1,062 hours of instruction. SB 177 only applies for the 2019-2020 school year. On May 15, 2020, the Covington Independent Public Schools will have completed 1,069 hours of instruction. 

SB 177 was signed into law in April of 2020 that enables the Board of Education to grant additional emergency days to staff due to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency through June 30, 2020. With the exception of the Superintendent, we are recommending approval to grant three additional emergency leave days to all staff. With approval, closing day for staff will be June 3, 2020.

As recommended by the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), Gary Leist, after submitting BG 19-202 for the roofing projects the Local Planning Committee met on April 27^th @ 9 a.m. via Google Meet to revise the current District Facility Plan (DFP). 

The purpose of the LPC “Finding” Meeting was to make minor changes to the DFP to meet the roofing needs of the CAHS/Levassor/Urban Learning Center Facility. The changes will allow the district to proceed with the work efforts that have been approved by the Local BOE. 

 *FINDING - a “minor” change to the District Facilities Plan that is undertaken by the district during the four (4) year planning cycle. Our current DFP was approved by KDE & the Local BOE in June 2019.                                                                                              

• Change #1: Item 2c. 7 – Remove the unoccupied CAHS located in Latonia from the DFP due to the unoccupied status/no students & no student use
• Change #2: Item 2c. 6 – Add the roof as a need for the listed renovations of the occupied Urban Learning Center/CAHS/Levassor Facility

Next Steps:

• If Local BOE approves LPC changes to the DFP, the LPC and Local BOE Meeting Minutes will be presented to KDE for approval
• KDE approval will allow for the roofing projects to proceed

May 4-8 ~ National Teacher Appreciation Week 

May 6 ~ National School Nurse Day

July 10-11 ~ KSBA's Summer Leadership Institute, Lexington 

Pursuant to KRS 61.810 (1) the Board may go into executive session.