School Policy Changes Brought Before the Board

By Beth Hunolt
 
The July meeting of the Knox County School Board began at 7 o’clock in the Knox County High School, all members of the board were present.
 One of the topics up for discussion was the homecoming parade date. Seeing as Homecoming weekend and Cornfest weekend will be on the same date the homecoming parade will be set for the Thursday before the game.
 The board was then notified of the progress made with maintenance of the school. Two rooms are left to paint at this time, and there will be new carpet put in the computer lab, this will be completed within the first week of August. The high school gym floor is finished and is awaiting the fall population. The flooring for the new coolers in the high school cafeteria will be finished within the first few weeks of school, and at this time the Elementary school roof is not as of yet finished. The summer help was reported to be very good and moving along in progress well.
 Joni Triplett then gave the updates on programs and services with in the groups of FBMA and the Young Farmers Association. There are 15 farmers who have taken classes with the FBMA in both Scotland and Knox counties. The program began three years ago growing five farmers per year, and the Young Farmers Association has given out two scholarships in the past two years to one of its twenty-two members.
 Nancy Goodwin then reported on Early Childhood Development on behalf of the Northeast Missouri Special Education Cooperate. Mrs. Goodwin announced that they are in the planning process of a sensory room or claming room being added to the elementary school. This room will provide a calming place for behavioral needs of the children to give them a place to calm down without disrupting the other students. The sensory room will be purchased with grant money and left over funds from the ARA.
 Kathy Palmer, Knox County School Nurse, gave her concerns for the children’s health. She reports that the number of children with private insurance has gone down, while the number of Medicare and Medicade insured children have gone up to counterbalance. She also expressed her concerns for unreturned Health History Reports, without this information your child’s health will be more difficult to accurately treat. She also notes that Well Child Exams and Dental Screening have been declining due to the rising cost in health care. By teaching the smaller children in the school about proper teeth cleaning techniques she hopes to insure healthy teeth with preparation. Mrs. Palmer then expressed the importance of not letting children return to school until twenty-four hours after a fever has lifted to protect the population of the schools.
 Policy updates brought to the board, where either highly recommend or mandatory from the Missouri Consultants of Education. Cell phones will have a three-offense discipline plan. All cell phones must be turned off during school hours; continuous offenders will lose cell phone privileges at the school. Attendance policies have also changed, five “tardys” for all seven classes, has taken place of the previous year’s policy.
 Breakfast policies have also changed, the high school and middle school students will be served breakfast in the high school cafeteria as opposed to the previous arrangement of all the children eating breakfast in the elementary school.
 The meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm by a unanimous roll call vote.