For the last six weeks, Trigg County Schools and its officials have exuded and embraced what feels like a genuinely positive start to the 2022-23 calendar year.
Classes seem energized. Teachers look and feel invigorated. Administrators can, well, administrate. Students are back together again, and consistently.
But one minor problem remains: overall attendance is lagging. Still.
During Thursday’s regularly-scheduled Board of Education meeting, Director of Personnel and Student Services James Mangels reported the district currently sits at a 92.4% attendance rate — and it’s a far cry from the 96% or better marks the district desires.
The two main culprits, he added, are COVID-19 cases once again raging in the area, alongside a strong strain of strep throat.
That $24 per school day is a reference to SEEK, or “Support Education Excellence in Kentucky.” It’s a state funding program pumped directly back into districts, and it’s formula driven and based heavily on pupil attendance. Every public school system in the Commonwealth relies on it.
With SEEK set at $4,100, an average daily attendance of 92.4% for a single student equates to an end-of-year value of $3,788, which is a loss of more than $300.
Now imagine if all of Trigg County’s 1,900-plus students maintained that kind of attendance through the entire school year. That’s a loss of more than $500,000.
On Thursday alone, Mangels said he made 15 home visits — all with students either just coming off of medications related to COVID-19 treatment, or were a severe case of strep throat.
The counterbalance to this, of course, is to create an even safer environment within the classroom, the district’s hallways, its busses and its lunchroom. Board member Gayle Rufli and Superintendent Bill Thorpe were among several to discuss the viability of purchasing industrial air purifiers — much like the McCracken County School District has done.
Mangels added that a vaccine clinic for the school district will be held October 7 for COVID-19 and flu defense, and a follow up clinic in November will address “loose ends” for anyone wishing to ramp up on other protections.
In other school board news:
— Members approved the purchase of two 84-passenger, undercarriage luggage, air-conditioned busses at the price of $188,894 each, with a pair of digital radios costing $2,000 total. Director of Transportation Erin Eagleson noted the price had increased nearly $30,000 per bus following his filed grant application.
But they’re reportedly needed, specifically for in-town routes and traveling trips for athletics.
— Director of Operations Matt Ladd said considerable construction efforts are underway at the vocational school, with major work very much on the horizon.
The district will be overseeing three construction projects at once during the next few months, too, including the bus garage improvements coming, and the co-curricular activities building set in the heart of the campus.
It’s this latter work that will disrupt local traffic for the foreseeable future.
Beginning next Monday, all traffic patterns and parking at Trigg County Middle School will change. Field House parking will be closed until further notice. Parents and staff will need to park in lots directly in front of the entrance to the building. Parents who drop off, or pick up, their students from the middle school will need to use these lots instead of the field house area. Student-athletes and community members will need to do the same, especially if attending events at Perdue Field.
During the week of September 19, drivers traveling along Lafayette Street behind the district will need to be aware of potential delays, too, as large semi-truck loads, hauling steel, will be regularly entering and exiting the field house area.
