Kevin Turpin
Kathy Watson
Pauline Muncie
On Thursday night, the school board honored four employees who have recently retired from their jobs with the school system.
Randall Christopher read a letter from Ken Rose, retiring bus driver, who was unable to attend the meeting. Rose joked that he had enjoyed driving but had never truly appreciated the job until Mr. Click assigned him a brand new bus last year.
Christopher also introduced Kevin Turpin, or “Turp,” who has retired after 30 years with the school system. As custodial manager, Kevin ordered all custodial supplies and delivered them to the schools and was responsible for all lawn maintenance. He also served as a basketball coach for many of those years.
Christopher called him “the guy we’d use as a model of dependability and respectability in a school employee.”
Arthur Ballard introduced Kathy Watson who worked for the school cafeteria for 37 years.
“Sometimes the general public doesn’t realize how important the cook’s job is,” said Ballard. He went on to say that Cathy had helped prepare approximately 6500 lunches and about 4500 breakfasts. Multiplied by the number of students who ate those lunches and breakfasts, Cathy has served about 5,200,000 servings to Estill County school children.
Renee Wainscott, guidance counselor at Estill Springs Elementary, introduced Pauline Muncie, who is retiring after working many roles in the school system. She has been sub-cook, full-time cook, instructional aide and administrative secretary. Pauline worked as administrative secretary at Estill Springs from 1998 to 2013.
Renee said that Pauline had planned to retire last spring, and had even filled out the necessary paperwork, but she decided to stay when she learned of the big changes coming in the elementary schools. Renee said she is sure that Pauline helped make the transition easier.
After honoring retirees, the board approved a comprehensive district improvement plan. Tonya Isaacs, curriculum specialist, said the state sets many of the school system’s goals for them.
She also said the teachers are “very, very excited” about their new Literacy by Design reading books and the students are as well. They will begin to use them right after the Christmas break.
In other business, Superintendent Bert Hensley spoke of the inequality of funds between the school districts. Some school boards approved the maximum four percent property tax increase that was voted down by voters in Estill County. Hensley said there is a disparity in funding between poorer school districts and richer ones.
The Estill County district only receives $27 per child, per year, but students in Fayette County, for example, receive $188 in funding per child per year because Fayette County has a greater tax base.
Board Vice-chair Robbie Starling said he’d like to see all the people who got so upset about the proposed tax increase contact their state representatives and ask them to fund all school districts in the state equally. He said the number to call District 91 Representative Toby Herald is 1-800-372-7181. Callers can leave a message, urging Herald to “Support equalization in schools.”
In other developments, Hensley reported that Estill County’s school system ranked 50th in the state on the Energy Utilization Index, which is less than it’s been since 2010. Although there is now a much larger building (West Irvine Elementary) in the district, it is a more energy-efficient one.
Randall Christopher reported that the building project at the high school is almost completed. He said the roofing project looks good, and it is scheduled to be completed by Christmas.
In the report of personnel actions, it was noted that Jennifer Elliot was hired as administrative secretary at West Irvine, and Jessica Mullins was hired as principal at Estill Springs.
Allen Plowman, Jr., Elvira Sparks and Michaela Trent were hired as bus assistants, and Rebecca Shumate was hired as a bus driver.
Beverly Rose retired as substitute bus assistant, and Pauline Muncie retired from her position as administrative secretary at West Irvine. Ken Rose retired as a bus driver, and Kevin Turpin retired as custodial services manager.
Approval was also given to the Middle School Lego Robotics team to travel to state competition.