Board approves grant request to facilitate Japanese instructor

By Mary Garrison
Tribune-Courier Reporter
mgarrison@tribunecourier.com

DRAFFENVILLE – The Marshall County School board was pleased to recognize the achievements of Benton Middle School (BMS) staff and students in its monthly board meeting.

• BMS was recently named a “school to watch” by the National Forum on Education. A celebration will be held on May 7 at BMS.

• Attendance numbers were up slightly from last month’s total in the district, with Jonathan Elementary currently holding the highest record of attendance for the month.

• Construction is steadily coming to a close at Calvert City Elementary. Reports by construction manager Dwayne Brown indicate that classrooms, landscaping, plumbing and various other odds and ends, will be complete during the week of spring break.

“All we’re waiting on now is a certificate of occupancy,” Brown said.

• Four out of five new school buses purchased in the last few months have arrived, perhaps none too soon. Facilities and Transportation Director Danny Davis has reported a steady increase in the number of children utilizing the school bus system.

“I feel like it’s due to rising fuel costs,” Davis said. “It’s lead to some overcrowding issues, but I’ve ridden each bus route, and we’re working on getting a solution to the problem.”
The cost of diesel fuel for the school system has increased some 83 cents from the beginning of 2008.

• The school calendar has once again been amended to compensate for bad weather days. March 26, which was previously listed as an early release day, has now been shifted back to a full day of school for students.

The board also heard recommendations by attendence supervisor Mike Casteel concerning next year’s school calendar that are contingent upon legislation currently underway in Kentucky’s House and Senate.

“As of right now, we’re looking to start school on Aug. 4 and have four early-release days,” Casteel said. “But that could be changed. We won’t have anything set in stone until we know the outcome of legislative movements.”

• The board approved a request by IKids of Draffenville, to use the Kenneth Shadowen Performing Arts Center for the purposes of this year’s pre-school graduation ceremony.

• Educational supervisor Angie Murdock petitioned the board to apply for a grant with the Freeman Foundation and Murray State University, that would allow the school district to bring a Japanese teacher into Marshall County High School.

The instructor would be fully trained in the educational field, Murdock said.

“It’s a wonderful program that would be really beneficial to the kids,” Murdock said. “Not only would they have another foreign language option, they could learn so much about world culture, geography and history.”

Trent Lovett, current principal of MCHS and soon to be district superintendent, seemed to agree, stating that students must have at least two years of a foreign language to be accepted into a university.

“Right now, we’ve got Spanish and French,” Lovett said. “And there are waiting lists for both.”

Board members unanimously approved the request.

• Graduation for MCHS seniors was officially set for 7 p.m. Friday, May 23.