Kindergarten students from Flat Lick Elementary joined the Board in calling the meeting to order by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Each student received an American Flag coloring book and a book donated by Save the Children for participation.
Brother Dexter Smith, pastor at Woodbine Baptist Church, led the Board and attendees in a moment of silence followed by prayer.
School Report to the Board
Jason Cornett, principal at Flat Lick Elementary, presented a report on progress being made at his school. He stated that science has been a focus area as it was previously the lowest assessed area without much growth evident. In the past year, writing was their focus area, and it increased in proficiency by 50% and novice reduction by nearly 30%.
He shared with the Board that he and his staff were excited that Flat Lick attained blue status on last year’s assessment, ranked #23 in the state among all elementary schools. There was increased proficiency in both reading and math. The school also saw a novice reduction in reading and math from the prior year.
Superintendent’s Report
Superintendent Jeremy Ledford presented his monthly report to the Board. He focused on superintendent leadership standards in strategic, managerial, cultural and collaborative.
“I have been meeting with all our ADs (athletic directors) to come up with policies and procedures in Athletics/Academics to ensure that all our students have an opportunity to participate in different activities based on the feeder programs in KCPS,” stated Ledford.
“We also want to give students who excel at a high level in different areas the opportunity to do so. Having worked with all our ADs we feel this will give our student athletes that opportunity while putting emphasis on communication between all coaches.”
The first reading of the new handbook containing the policies and procedures was conducted and will be approved at the April meeting.
Ledford also thanked the Board and the community for celebrating Read Across America.
“Our schools had a lot of guests from our community to read to our students. Our board and I want to thank each of you for taking time out of your day to show the importance of reading to our students. It takes the whole community to have a great school system, and we have a great community that cares about kids and education.”
Architect Updates on Current Projects
Scott Noel, president of Summit Engineering, presented the monthly report on current projects in the district. The action agenda included several pay applications for completed parts of the district’s HVAC upgrade at Knox County Middle and Lynn Camp Middle/High School.
Action Agenda
- The District accepted its second offer of assistance from KDE Educational Technology for $28,053 which must be matched locally.
- Pay applications and change orders for HVAC projects.
- First reading of the Athletic/Academic policies that Superintendent Ledford reviewed in his report to the Board.
- An extension of the Knox Promise Neighborhood contract through December 31, 2025.
- A request for copier purchase by Knox Central High School.
The next regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Knox County Board of Education will be held on Thursday, April 24, 2025.
View the agenda and video from the March meeting on the Board’s page of the KCPS website, https://www.knoxkyschools.com/board/